The Child

He grabbed the child from her arms. "No!" she screamed. Her cry's could be heard all down the old street. He looked at her with glaring eyes. "She's as much mine as she is yours! Why do you want her so much?!?" The Mother cried "What do you want her for!" He froze and looked her in the eye. "Better things than you could ever do with her!" Getting back on her weak feet, she rushed at him once again grabbing for the small bundle. He slammed her against the brick wall. To weak to pull her self up ones more, she lay in the dust her tears turning to mud, not knowing what would become of the only thing she loved. He looked down at her with no care, no feeling for her. He started to walk a way, and in almost a whisper she says. "Take care of her please, because with out her I have no hope to live, so please care for her with all your heart."


~


The tall blonde woman ran across the busy street. Two months ago she was running across the dirt roads of her little town in Ohio, but now she was on her own in New York city trying to pursue career in photography. Things were so different in the city. Everyone lived there own life and would never thing of helping a neighbor or showing kindness to a stranger.
Her mother had told her to stay away from back streets, but to day she was late and had no choice but to run through the alley across from her apartment. Going around dumpsters and trash cans she made her way through the dumpy street. Suddenly her foot got caught on something. She glanced down, to her horror there was pale foot! Someone was laying beneath the dumpster she, was standing next to. The foot looked to be a woman's, it seemed safe to investigate. She got on her hands and knees. There in the dirt, lay a girl that seemed to be about sixteen. She was dressed in clothes that appeared to have been very expensive at one time, but were now ripped and spoiled. Her face seemed as though she had been crying. She looked very weak, her hair was long and beautiful but hadn't been washed in some time. The girls big brown eyes flew open. "Let me die... please, don't take pity on me, its better if I die." Then the girl took a deep breath and turned away. Had this poor girl died right before her eyes? The woman questioned. She grabbed the girl's legs and drug her out from under the dumpster. Standing over her discovery the woman studied the girl. She seemed very thin, all but her stomach. It was very apparent she just had a baby not long before. The teenager seem to be unconscious. The woman picked up the girl and carried her back to the apartment.
Laying the girl on her bed she took most of the grimy clothes off the battered body and washed her cuts and scrapes. Some of them the girl had given to her self, while some were inflicted upon her. When woman began to wash her face she opened her eyes. Scanning the room quickly, the girl attempted to sit up but her muscles wouldn't allow her to. "Where am I?" she questioned. "Your in my apartment." The woman looked at her with softness and care in her eyes. "Who are you and how did you find me?" The teenager almost seem re leaved that some one had uncovered her. "I'm Nicole Parker, and I found you this morning on my way to work. Now I should ask you who are you and why on earth were you laying under that dumpster?" The teenager hesitated then relented "My name is Lacey Burns, and I was under there because I was trying to get away from the world and my problems." "Well Lacey, do you have family?" Tears started to well up inside of her. "Yes a baby girl." She said in a shaky voice. "Oh, my! That's not the kind of family I was thinking of." Nicole was surprised. "Do you have parents?" She asked. "My mother told me to leave her, she doesn't want me. And I have no idea who or where my father is. I'm guessing your going to ask about my sweet little baby next, so I'll just tell you. She's, well, about a week and a half old." Choking back tears once more she pressed on. "Her father, is, or was, my boyfriend. I had lived with him since I moved out of my mom's about two years ago. Rob never told me where he worked or how he was receiving all his money. A few days before the baby was born I found a letter, that he later said was from "work", it had plans to brake into an apartment. I asked him some questions about he's "work", he got very upset with me. The day came for me to have the baby. On our way to the hospital, he got scared and told me to get out of the car along the street. Fortunately, I remembered where a woman had told me to go, if I ever needed help with having my baby. She had said she could help". Lacey paused, and tried to sit up. With Nicole's help and a lot of pillows they got it accomplished. "After having the baby I got out of there as fast as I could. The woman seemed to nosey, I couldn't trust her." "So where is the baby now? If you don't mind me asking?" Nicole said politely. "No I don't mind because I really don't know what else to do..." Lacey's voice drifted off and she slowly started to cry. "Awe, sweet heart, its ok to cry." Nicole took the frail girl into her arms and held her close. Lacey let out all she had been holding back since she had been discovered that morning and took comfort in Nicole's embrace. Sobbing, Lacey finished. "Last night, Rob, the baby's father, found me in that alley and took my daughter away from me and I don't know why! After he left I was so weak from eating close to nothing the last couple days and not getting much rest after having the baby, all I could do was lay there. Sometime during the night I made my way under the dumpster, so if I did die, no one would find me." Lacey finished with a sob. There was so much more Nicole wanted to ask, but observing how exhausted Lacey was, there was time for more questions later. After giving Lacey something warm to eat and getting her to go to sleep, Nicole called into to the studio saying that an emergence had came up and she needed the next week off. This was going to take more then a week to straighten out, but it was a start.