When it rains in the desert

Rosa

(Warning: Mention of trafficking)

I walked into the office and was practically assaulted by my assistant. It still felt weird saying that. A lot had happened in the past few months. Like I said, I did almost get fired but when I came back I'd asked for my work load to be doubled, I'd decided the distraction would be good for me.

At first it was tiring but then I got noticed more. I got given higher profile cases and soon I'd gotten a pay rise and an office. Oh and an assistant.

He was a skinny little teenager (Okay that's an exaggeration he was probably only a few years younger than me but he looked way too young) He wore these massive frames that reminded me of that one kid from My Girl, gosh it hurts to just think about that movie. But I won't deny, he was handy. He always arrived before me and left after me. He got me coffee every morning and had all of my files placed on  my desk before I even walked through the door.

I heard him talking about me to one of my colleagues once, I only heard a little bit of the conversation before I was dragged away but lets just say I never pegged myself for Henry's type. But I understand of course, I am extremely attractive you see.

I never dared to bring it up but it still makes me chuckle sometimes. Right now he was shoving a case file in my face and a coffee at the same time.

"Wai- Hen- Here" I took the coffee out of his hands and then the case file and looked at him, amused.

"Why do you insist on making your own life impossible Henry? All that fuss over a coffee and a file." I raised my eyebrows at him and he smiled back.

"Of course, Sorry sir- I- I mean Sorry Jacob" I shook my head, walking up towards my office. The first time I interviewed Henry, he called me sir, multiple times and I told him, multiple times, that my name was Jacob and I'd like to be addressed as such, all that formal stuff wasn't for me.

He'd been there for a month and a half and still couldn't shake the habit but he was trying. Maybe he had one of those kinks, No, Jacob stop. Back to the point.

I opened the case file and saw the picture inside. I'd requested this case a few weeks ago, someone had sent it to our office and I looked over it, It was the picture that caught me.

It was a 5 year old child, Mary Coreker. She had blonde hair and these prefect blue eyes. But there was something about the picture, I was so sure i'd seen her before. My brain was making the connection, but it was quite impossible. There was no way that what I was thinking was the case so I pushed the thought aside.

I was even more stunned when I saw the child's past. Her adoptive parents were getting a divorce and fighting over custody of the child. It broke my heart. I mean this child had come to them a year ago, looking for a stable home and now they were fighting over her. It was the father that had contacted us to represent him.

I dialed the number and organised a meeting for us. The rest of the day went by in a blur, while the promotion did mean more benefits, it also meant more work and divorce rates were through the roof.

It's a wonder that these people actually loved each other at some point. I mean, I've seen wives attack husbands in the middle of a court room before, like a full on bear attack. Three security guards had to tackle her to the floor.

It was Tuesday today, which meant I finished work at 4 and went down to the community center to do my pro-bono cases. It was my favorite part of the job. The amount of people that couldn't afford lawyers was astonishing. I took on all cases, whether they were civil, criminal, family, it made no difference, as long as they were getting the help they needed. However, it took it's toll. Some days i'd go home feeling like i'd aged 30 years.

We'd once been approached by this child, she couldn't have been more that 10. She'd said that her name was Rosa ad that someone had told her that I could help her with her situation. When I asked her what her situation was she broke down. I took note of the fact that she was hardly wearing any clothes, her tights were ripped and she was wearing no shoes.

She told me that there was an apartment being used to traffic young girls, they were being sold. An auction was being held in a weeks time and this child had escaped. I went to comfort her and when she flinched at my touch I told her that it was alright, that I wasn't going to hurt her. It took a good few minutes to calm her down but when she did, she collapsed in my arms. Lord only knows what she went through. 

She'd clearly not been fed properly, or even at all. When I took her to the hospital I stayed by her side until the social worker came, it took three hours for her to gain consciousness and when I got home that day the social worker called me back, said that Rosa would talk to me and me only.

She was younger that Lia when she'd gone missing and the thought of that young child being Lia sent daggers through my chest. She wouldn't tell anyone the details of what had happened to her but she remembered the address and do you know what the police did? Absolutely jack and shit.

I couldn't leave it at that. They'd said that there was no evidence of rape on Rosa and that the apartment building had been abandoned for years. 

They had the audacity to convince me that she had made it up to get a warm meal and a bed for the night. It made me want to murder them. I assured her that we would get the other children out. I wasn't sure how but if I had to go myself and get them out, then so be it.

My mother worked closely with the FBI from time to time, I had called her to see if she had any suggestions, to see if she could pull some strings and it turned out that she had an associate who specialized in sex crimes and was willing to help as a favor to my mother. I almost cried from relief. It took all of three days for them to get authorization and make a move.

They ended up raiding the building and found 30 children there. Both boys and girls. I didn't know what was more sickening, the fact that there were people willing to sell children or the fact there were people willing to buy children.

I gave Rosa my number, she texts me from time to time, telling me how she does in school and how she's made new friends. Mostly I wanted to keep tabs on whether she was being treated right, whether she was being fed or looked after properly.

I wish that the state would've let me adopt her, because the worst part is, her parents sold her to these scumbags. Their defense was that they needed money and Rosa was " Too expensive" . I had a spare room at the apartment, I had plenty of money for the both of us. But she went into the care of her grandmother.

Still I visited her every day until she was placed, safely into the care of her grandmother, i'd given her my card and told her if there was anything she ever needed, she only need call.

"No ask is too big, do you understand? If you need money or any sort of help let me know, okay?" She nodded before she launched herself at me.

"You're a nice man Mr Jacob" She said into my coat. I hugged her back and then told her grandmother the same thing i'd told Rosa, she squeezed my hand and smiled at me before saying "Thank you." and something about the way she said it made me believe she meant it.

It surprised me, how attached i'd grown to this child in such a short period of time. It reminded me of why I did what I did.

Today Henry and I spent 2 hours talking to everyone that had showed up. I ran a tired hand over the length of my face as we were packing everything away and I let Henry know I was going to be on my way. I'd made my way to the subway station when I realized I still had the same case file in my hands. I looked over the contents and closed it again.