t/w
implied child sexual abuse, trafficking

-

Natalia Haden was no longer a child when she was eight years old. Or, from a certain day forward, she never truly felt like a child.

What she remembers is sitting alone in a room. She'd somehow fallen asleep in that van. The room was pink, almost a little too pink. Natalia called out for her mom and then for her brothers and then for her sister. She received no answer. She had to wonder: was she even still in Germany?

She reached for the stuffed elephant, Eli, hugging him close to her chest. She had on the same pink shirt and white shorts she'd had on when her mother abandoned her. "Why'd she do that?" She whimpered into the elephant. It was then she heard the door unlock and a tall, burly white man with an almost graying beard walked in.

She kept silent as the man moved closer to her. She wanted him to get away from her, but the words wouldn't form. She couldn't even move, as she was paralyzed with fear.

"Natalia, is that it?"

After a few seconds, she said "Mhm."

"Wonderful." He grabbed Eli from her arms and tossed him aside as he began taking off Natalia's shorts.

She hated how it felt so much. She hated every last thing about this. About him. About herself. Had she done something to upset her mother? Is that why this was happening?

-

"Maeve!" Natalia could only call her name. Maeve was gone, vanished, disappeared. Was she alive or dead? Natalia had no way of knowing. 

She'd found family and once again, it was ripped right out from under her.

(I was gonna add more to that last scene but then I didn't)