Adopted by Pentatonix

Forty One- Park

Kirstin

After breakfast we all walk down to the park. Ana had been begging us to go to the park because we haven't been in a while. Just as they all started playing, Melody comes up with a man and a Saint Bernard.

"Hi, Mrs. Maldonado." She greets me
"Hi, please, call me Kirstin." I say, we shake hands and Ana comes up next to me. The guys follow her and stand protectively around us. Melody senses their uneasiness and introduces herself. Ana stands behind Avi nervously and he gives her his hand to hold.

"Hi, I'm Ana's therapist, Melody Clark. This is my husband Jamie and our dog, Nick. Our son is at a friends house." Her husband waves with his hand that's not around her waist and smiles.

Next it's my turn to introduce everyone. I turn to them so I can point them out.
"This is Mitch, Kevin, Scott, and Avi." I say, they offer a small wave as I point them out. "I'm Kirstin and that's Ana." I say to her husband. He nods "Nice to meet you."

I can tell Ana wants to pet the dog. I'm not going to lie, I want to too. It's adorably fluffy. She keeps looking at it with wide, happy eyes. She fiddles with her fingers behind her back and rocks on her heels. Melody looks at her and chuckles.

"You can pet him, he doesn't bite." She says, Ana's face lights up and she turns to me for approval. "Go ahead." I nudge her. She looks ecstatic and walks to the dog. She kneels down in front of it and holds out her hand. It sniffs her hand and wags it's tail excitedly. It pushes into her hand and she begins rubbing it. It jumps around happily and licks her. She giggles as she is overtaken by the humongous canine. It dances around her, begging to play. It's runs to us and we all pet it before it goes back to Ana. More giggles come from her as it licks her all over. We all laugh as we watch her and the dog.

Jamie helps her up with a lending hand after it pushes her down and starts rubbing against her, so she can't get up. "He's so fluffy." She laughs
Melody holds out a frisbee and tennis ball to her. "Do you want to play with him?" She offers. Ana smiles wider and takes the toys from her.
"Go take her to play." She orders Jamie. He says okay and kisses her cheek. Ana runs back to us with excitement traveling across her. "Come on." She begs us. "We're coming, princess." Avi assures her.
"Lets go, mommy." She urges me, taking my hand, pulling it slightly.
"I'm going to stay here and talk to Ms. Melody. You go play. I'll come in a little bit, okay?" I say
"Okay." She says, she starts to run off but rushes back to me.

I'm wrapped in her little arms in no time. I hug her back and then she runs to go play. Melody watches us with a smile. We go sit down at one of the picnic tables in the shade.

"She's such a sweet kid." Melody says, watching Ana play with them.
"She would do anything to keep other people happy." I say admiring my daughter.
"She really seems to be happy with you all."

"We do everything we can to keep her happy. Even though she's a teenager, she never got a childhood, so basically whenever we do something other than our routine, it's her first time. It isn't hard to keep her happy though. Small things like this are special to her. I don't even know if she's ever played with a dog before." I explain sadly. I watch her play with them. She's running around playing tag with the dog right beside her. "Was there something in particular you wanted to talk about?"

She snaps her gaze back to me, and scrolls through her phone looking for something. "Um yes, I had it in my phone so I wouldn't forget. It can be easier to work with a child if I know their whole story. Sometimes, they can leave important details out when telling me. I find it easiest to ask their parents if I feel like they don't want to tell me everything or if they have been through so much it might be hard to say everything at once. In Ana's case, I believe it's both." She says, then pushes up her glasses.

"Where do you want me to begin?" I ask cluelessly
"When she was little. Then go from there."

I think back to what Ana said. "Well, she used to have a happy family. Her mother died when she was six from cancer. She said they were really close before. Then when her mother died, her father took out his anger on other people at his office and became an alcoholic. He was the dentist named Harper who is now in jail. She knew about it and wanted him to stop hurting other people." I take a deep breath to keep myself calm. "Ana thought if she allowed him to do it to her then he would stop with other people. Sadly, that's not what happened. He continued with the other patients and her. She said he would do stuff to her teeth, beat her and stick her with needles for no reason or if she did something 'wrong'." I air quote my last word to emphasize the incorrectness of wrong.

"Almost every day for five years. She said on her mothers sixth death anniversary he beat her worse than ever before. Broke a few of her ribs and did everything to her to her the same as before, just worse." I have to stop and breath to stay calm. I drum my fingers on my lap to occupy my hands. She takes notes on her phone as I talk.

"She said, the next day she ran away. She lived on the streets doing whatever she had to do to survive. Nothing illegal though. She never does anything against the rules. Never lies, steals, anything. No matter what. For two years she was out there, until that night." I give up with my hands and rest my head in them instead. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"A man, dragged her in an alley, and..." my voice cracks and a tear rolls down my cheek. I wipe it away with the back of my hand. "He raped her." I force out. It takes all I can, not to break down. Melody reaches across and rubs my arm.

"Scott and I were driving to get food for everyone because we all had to work late. On the way there, I was looking out the window and saw her laying in the alley. We took her to the clinic so Avi and Kevin could make sure she was alright. She was terrified. I was the only one who could get close to her with out making her freak out more. Everything was going somewhat decent until we had to do a blood test. We had already gone over the basics. No head trauma, heart problems, and I was able to examine her with their help. When I went to take her samples to be tested, they had already prepared the needle and vials, but she started having a panic attack when she found out." I rub my temples as I talk and remember these events.

"Avi had to hold her while Kevin did it. I tried to calm her down but nothing worked. She screamed so much. Oh God she screamed. It was horrible to watch, much less experience." I struggle to keep my composure as the sounds of her screams go through my mind.

"You did what had to be done. She's fine now." Melody reassures me. I nod and keep talking.

"She was fine, physically at least. Nothing you wouldn't expect from a rape victim. Cuts, bruises, fear.... I took her home and convinced her to stay. Her first nightmare that I know of was that night. She woke up screaming and crying. I let her sleep with me and was fine after that. She ended up finding out about Scott and Mitch being dentist the next night at dinner. She got scared and hid in the bathroom. I was able to calm her down and she was weary of them after that. That's it really. Now we're here." I huff, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest.

"That's her story?" She questions
"That's her story."