However, the red-haired girl doesn’t know that her friends are going for help. She thinks that she’s being abandoned. Tears stream down her face as Jimmy keeps holding her down.
He is on top of the child and has one hand over her mouth as he goes to unzip his pants.
“Let’s have some fun, sweetheart!”
The two men over by the cars are now running toward the school.
One of the men says to the children, “Stay put!”
The child being held down by Jimmy kicks him in his groin. Jimmy screams, “Ah, you little!”
Jimmy slaps the child, which dazes her.
As the two men arrive, Jimmy takes off running. Hailey is too high to even try to move. One of the men chases after Jimmy and the other stays with the child and Hailey. Jimmy runs into the street, but he doesn’t notice a truck heading toward his path. The truck kills Jimmy instantly. The only family Hailey had left is now gone. Hailey is left alone to deal with a crime.
The men call 911. Hailey is so high that she doesn’t know where she is. She never tries to escape from the men that helped the child. The red-haired child is still in pain from Jimmy’s slap to her face. However, she is dealing with a more internal pain in her heart over her friends abandoning her. Seeing the dead body of her attacker doesn’t faze her.
It seems like before the final one of the 911 calls is dialed, the first officer arrives. The East Hartford Police Department is quick to emergency calls; however, they tend to put a little bit of an extra pep in their step when children are at risk. Most of the men and women on the force have children of their own, children they understand can’t defend themselves.
Officer Cooper David is the first officer on the scene. Two separate Emergency Medical Teams are right there as he arrives. One of the EMT’s goes to Jimmy’s body, as directed by Officer David, as Officer David then directs the other EMT to where the two men are still comforting the child.
Three more policemen arrive to assist Officer David. He pulls both of the men away from the child while the Emergency Medical Team treats her to find out what happened.
“I’m Officer David. Can I get both of your names and what happened here?”
“I’m John Lee.”
“I’m William Klein.”
“This child was attacked by this woman here and the punk there in the street.”
“A group of children along with her were playing on school grounds when these two wandered into our neighborhood,” says John.
“Were any other children attacked?”
“No, all the other children are fine,” says John.
“Do you know this child’s name or where she lives?”
“Her name is Jade Hughes,” says John “She lives at that house right there.”
John points to the two-story beige colonial house.
“Thank you.”
Officer David goes over to Jade. “Hi, I’m Officer David.”
Jade continues to wear a blank expression as she’s still being tended to by the Emergency Medical Team. She hasn’t said one single word since the attack.
“Can you tell me your name?”
Jade briefly looks at him, then at Hailey Peterson. Next, she looks at the covered body of Jimmy lying in the middle of the street. Her eyes return to Officer David who patiently waits for her answer which never comes. Her body is present, but her mind seems to be elsewhere.
“She’s in shock, Officer,” says one of the EMT’s.
Jade looks at the EMT uncomprehendingly. She doesn’t say a word.
“I’m going over to see her parents,” says Officer David.
It takes Officer David just under two minutes to arrive at the front door the colonial house. Prior to ringing the doorbell, David follows his routine of rubbing his right thumb and index finger on his left collar before addressing someone. His caution reminds him that you never know what’s behind a door when on a service call. After a deep breath, he rings the doorbell.
“Who is it?” calls a voice from inside.
“East Hartford police!”
The door opens and Officer David introduces himself.
“What can I do for you, Officer?”
“Are you the mother of Jade Hughes?”
“Yes,” she says, with fear in her eyes. “I’m Lisa, her mother! What happened to my baby?”
“Unfortunately, she’s been attacked, ma’am.”
Tears begin to stream down the woman’s face.
“She’s being attended to by the Emergency Medical Team at the school across the street as we speak. Come, I’ll go with you to her.”
She runs out of the house at top speed. Officer David is in great shape, but he has to dig a little deeper just to keep up with Lisa, who could have won a gold medal in any 100-meter race. Once they arrive, she holds her daughter to comfort her. But Jade does not react.
Officer David whispers to one of the EMT workers, “This is her mother, Lisa Hughes. The child’s name is Jade Hughes.” Officer David is into his fifth year as a patrol officer. He has been called to several dozen attacks or episodes of child abuse. Each time, the child would be visually upset and look for the comfort of a parent. This time it’s different. This child seems empty inside.
“We’re ready to go to the hospital, ma’am,” says one of the EMT’s. “You may ride along also.”
Lisa, of course, does. As they travel toward the hospital, the EMT treating Jade informs Lisa of all the information she’s aware of. She tells Lisa all about the attack, the arrest of Hailey, and death of Jimmy.
Dr. Gavin Buckley
His cruiser’s sirens blaring, Officer David escorts them all the way to the children’s hospital emergency room. The emergency room staff quickly takes Jade in. Officer David pulls out a card to hand to Lisa.
“This is my contact information. I’ll keep you informed of what’s going on at my end, and please feel free to contact me if you need me.”
“Officer, that bastard got what he deserved. Now that bitch needs to be dealt with,” Lisa says.
He then walks out of the hospital. A short time later, a nurse comes out to speak to Lisa.
“Your daughter will be all right; however, the emergency room doctor would like to speak to you.”
Inside the examination room, Lisa sees her daughter sitting up in bed, still emotionless.
“I’m Doctor Belton, the treating doctor for Jade,” she says, motioning to talk in the corner of the room.
“Is my baby okay?”
“She’s healthy; she has a little bruise on her cheek. The swelling will go down with a few days of rest and some ice.”
“Thank God!”
“However,” the doctor continues, “I’m more concerned with her psychological wellness than her physical wellness. We have a child psychiatrist on staff here.”
Doctor Belton and Lisa head out of the room to continue their conversation as a female nurse tries to interest Jade in watching some television by flipping channels with the remote control to see if there’s something that she’ll like.
As Doctor Belton and Lisa step out, the doctor sees the very person she needs.
“Dr. Buckley, could you come over here, please?”
“This is Dr. Gavin Buckley, the psychiatrist for the hospital.”
He puts out his hand to shake Lisa’s and says hello as she introduces herself.
“Her young daughter over there was assaulted and could probably use your assistance with recovery.”
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Hughes.” He pulls out his card to give to Lisa.
“If you think that I could help, feel free to contact me at this number or my email address.”
“I’ll keep it in mind, thank you.” Lisa walks away from both of the doctors to return to her daughter.
“Thanks, Gavin. Dr. Belton says.
“If she calls, please see them right away.”
Dr. Buckley nods in agreement.
• • •
A few weeks go by and Lisa decides that her daughter needs that counseling, so she calls Dr. Gavin Buckley.
On their first visit, Jade is as silent as on the day of the attack. Lisa looks at her daughter and then at Dr. Buckley.
“This is how she’s been for the past few weeks, doctor. Ever since that incident, she hasn’t said a word.” “I see,” he says, and scribbles some notes. He readjusts his glasses and ponders the situation.
“Can you tell me something about you and your daughter?” he finally asks.
“It’s just the two of us. My ex-husband, her father, left us a few years ago for another woman. We divorced shortly afterwards. It hasn’t been easy on us, but we’re managing.”
As the session continues, Lisa recalls in detail the day Mr. Hughes left the family.
• • •
Flashback
Jade is peeking out of her bedroom door upstairs toward her parents arguing downstairs. She sees her father with several pieces of luggage around him on this sunny afternoon, but she’s too young to understand their meaning.
“The marriage is over!” he says.
“We can get through this!” sobs Lisa. “Just say what you want!”
“There’s nothing worth saying! We’ve been kidding ourselves for too long.”
“I don’t believe that! I believe in this, I believe in our family!”
“I’ll be in touch through my attorney,” he says, grabbing his bags and heading out the door toward his car. He opens the trunk to his Black BMW 545i, and tosses his bags into it. He puts on his dark sunglasses, strokes his red hair, and gets into his car to drive off.
That was the last time Jade Hughes saw her father.
• • •
Back to the present
The session ends with Jade never saying a word.
“May I speak to you privately?”
“Sure.”
They both step out of office door, leaving Jade alone.
“We should set up a weekly schedule of visits. This will take time, and-we will need patience. Things won’t go back to normal overnight.”
“I understand, doctor.”
“I do have a request. Next time, could you wait outside in the waiting room? I have a hunch that she may open up if it’s just us two talking.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes, the door can stay cracked open so you would feel comfortable with her being alone with me in the room.”
“Thank you.”
Jade opens up
A week later; Lisa is in the waiting room as Dr. Buckley begins his first session with Jade alone.
“Are you excited about going into the third grade?”
Jade is silent. She doesn’t even look into his direction. It’s as if she in a room alone.
Dr. Buckley begins to write some notes onto his pad. He thinks to himself how this may be his most difficult patient to date. He’s frustrated but tries to hide his emotions. He takes a deep breath, briefly closes his eyes, and then draws one more deep breath as a quick meditation for himself. He thinks about all his years of education now being challenged. He thinks, This patient will let me know if it was worth it. He looks up from his pad at this Venetian red haired girl. Have patience, Gavin, he thinks to himself; you can help her. Nearly five minutes go by with neither saying a word. Gavin looks over at his water cooler in the corner of his office. He walks over for a drink.
“Thirsty? Would you like a cup of water?”
Jade doesn’t acknowledge the sound of his voice. Dr. Buckley begins to drink his cup of water with his eyes closed and goes back to his patient. He ponders what course of action to take. Suddenly, he’s surprised by his patient’s soft voice.
“They left me.”
Startled to hear her voice, Dr. Buckley asks,
“Excuse me?”
“They left me.”
He notices her eyes are beginning to well up. He reaches to give her some tissues and sits near her on the office couch.
The tears now flow freely.
Lisa peeks through the cracked door when she hears Jade crying, but Dr. Buckley motions for the concerned woman to stop. Lisa backs up before Jade can look up to see her mother.
“Who are they?” Dr. Buckley asks.
“My friends.”
“What do you mean, they left you?”
“They left me with those bad people, alone.”
“Can you tell me what happened on that day, Jade?”
Jade nods yes, half-heartedly.
She goes on to tell Dr. Buckley about the game all her friends in her neighborhood were playing together, how she started the game off by being “it.” Jade explains that she was having fun, until those bad people grabbed her. She explains that when she took off her blindfold, her friends were running away instead of helping her. She doesn’t realize her friends were going for help.
“So them leaving you was the worst part of what happened? Not the attack?”
“People always want to leave me.”
The time for their session ends and Dr. Buckley walks with her out of his office. They greet her mother, who’s on her feet, eager to speak with the doctor.
“We crossed a hurdle today. I believe we’re on the right path.”
“I heard and I’m grateful that we’re finally getting somewhere.”
They both look over at Jade, who’s looking at some toys in the waiting room. She doesn’t touch any of them, only looks.
As Lisa and Jade leave the office, Dr. Buckley watches them go out. He breathes a sigh of relief, grateful that he doesn’t have another patient for the next hour. He goes back into his office, removes his glasses, takes a little bit of water from his water cooler, and splashes it onto his face. Then he walks over to his office couch, kicks off his shoes, and lays his body down onto it. He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose as if to remedy a headache.
• • •
A Week Later
“Hello, how have you been?” Dr. Buckley asks, to begin the next session.
Jade only shrugs.
Gavin hopes that they don’t take steps backwards from last week.
“You seem very smart; I’ll bet you’ve learned a lot of new things this week in school. Tell me what you’ve learned?”
Jade shrugs again, and says, “I guess so.”
“When I was your age, I used to love to go on field trips at school. I recall one time when we went to the zoo. I love animals.”
The doctor now has her full attention.
“I had so much fun that I had my dad take me again a few days later. Have you ever been to the zoo?”
“Yes, it was fun! The monkeys are silly!”
“Did your dad take you there? Or was it your mommy?”
“Mommy did; daddy was always too busy.”
“Could you tell me a little bit about your daddy?”
“Why him? He’s not my daddy anymore.”
“That’s how you feel? Then express to me how you feel about daddy and why you think that he isn’t your daddy anymore.”
“He doesn’t love me anymore. He never said goodbye.”
“He never said goodbye? What else?”
“When he was home with me and mommy, he didn’t play with me. He was always on his phone or computer. When I was little, I would ask him to play a game and he’d say, ‘Some other time, sweetheart.’”
Gavin grits his teeth in order to refrain from laughing at her “When I was little” statement.
“How did it make you feel?”
“Very sad.”
“How do you feel about your father now?”
“He’s a stinky
butt, I hate him! He’s not nice.”
“Do you miss your dad?”
“No…Yes.”
“If your father walked into this room, what would you do?”
“Hug him and ask him to don’t go away again.”
“Do you think that you’ll ever see him again?”
Jade shrugs her shoulders.
“If he were here, he could have beat those bad people up that wanted to hurt me! He left me just like my friends left me!”
“So do you see your friends like the way you see your father?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re angry with your father for leaving you. Do you feel the exact same way about your friends that played the game that day?”
“Yes, they are all the same. I don’t like any of them anymore, just like I hate daddy!”
Jade looks to her right, vaguely, away from Dr. Buckley who’s sitting in a chair directly in front of her. He stares at her. He doesn’t have any doubts now that she’s dealing with abandonment issues with her father, and that she feels that the game Blind Man’s Bluff is connected to it all. Their session ends.
Jade is comfortable with Dr. Buckley now; in fact, she looks forward to seeing him every week. Lisa is happy that her daughter is slowly showing signs of going back to normal, but Dr. Buckley knows that Jade has anger that could explode at any time. Unless he can get her to suppress her anger or eventually dissolve it, the anger will become a major part of her life, and even control her life as a woman.
Hailey Peterson, Six Years Later
It’s spring. In the office of an upstate prison, correctional counselor Marilyn Cepeda has just gotten the latest results of a recent drug test of Hailey Peterson’s urine.
“Counselor Cepeda, you wanted to see me?” Hailey asks.
“Yes, come in, Peterson. Have a seat.”
Hailey does so, while Counselor Cepeda is going through some of her backed up paper work she needs to get caught up on. Hailey takes her routine look around the office she’s become familiar with these last six years. College degree hanging on the wall, check. Lava lamp on the book shelf, check. Pictures of Cepeda and co-workers out celebrating away from work, check.
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