I looked at this fifteen-year-old girl who’d stolen a car and kidnapped her siblings to save their lives. This child who was so terrified of the system that she’d rather risk everything on a desperate highway escape than call for help.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay, Madison. First things first. Let’s get those kids out of the trunk. They need air.”
“It’s midnight on a country highway. Nobody’s seeing anything. Come on.”
She opened the trunk with trembling hands. Three little kids were curled up inside—two boys and a tiny girl, all holding each other. They were wearing pajamas. The oldest boy was clutching a stuffed dinosaur. The little girl was crying silently.
“It’s okay,” Madison told them. “This man is going to help us. He’s safe.”
I helped lift them out of the trunk. They were terrified of me at first, but Madison vouched for me, and slowly they relaxed. The eight-year-old boy, Tyler, had a bruise on his cheek. The six-year-old, Mason, had a healing burn mark on his arm. The four-year-old girl, Lily, wouldn’t speak at all—just clung to Madison’s leg and stared at me with huge, haunted eyes.Continue reading…
