75 We’ll Be Ready

(Jayden)

“It’s so complicated,” she murmurs, her voice filled with pain.

“Tell me about what it was like, before you got to live with Anne,” I urged gently.

Her shaking increases, her breath hitching with each sob.

“I got you. I think you need to talk about this, get it out. Otherwise, you are going to explode,” I say in encouragement.

“He was awful. I was his meal ticket. If he wanted stuff off people, I had to go too. Said they’d feel sorry for me. I had to go beg on the streets, and if I didn’t get enough, I never got to eat anything,” she confesses, her voice raw with emotion.

“Jesus, Winona, I’m so sorry you went through that,” I say, my anger towards her father burning hotter.

“School saved me. I knew an education was my only way out, and we had a school breakfast program. I got to eat there,” she continues, her voice a little stronger now.

“Your mother?” I ask, not sure if I want to hear the answer.

“She hated me. Hated that I’d come into her life and ruined it. So did he, but