AJ and Howie left to get Mickey D’s. Kevin asked Jordan when the last time she ate was.
“Around two days ago,” she said in a very quiet and shy voice.
“WHAT?!” he screeched. She jumped back, startled and put her hands up in defense, afraid he would hit her.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare ya. Jordan…” he began not knowing what to say as she let her guard down.
“Jordan no one is going to hurt you okay? I promise.”
“Okay,” she replied softly. He could see that she didn’t believe him so he convinced her that him and the guys would never hit her or beat her.
“Jordan I promise if you’re ever in need of a friend or someone to talk to, I’m here and so are the others. Okay?”
“You promise?” She asked trying not to get her hopes up.
“Yes I do.”
“What if the others don’t agree with your promise?”
“Don’t worry they will. Okay?” he said trying to sound reassuring.
“Okay. Well I’m sorry I’m kinda jumpy. It’s just sorta a reflex. I guess,” she said. “It’s because my foster parents don’t often let me out of my room, except for school. They often forget about me and if I speak up, they beat me.”
“Oh..” was all he could say.
“Let’s see what Brian and Blondie are up to,” she said.
“Good idea. Who knows what they could be doing,” he said laughing. They went to Brian and Nick’s room to find them engrossed in a game of Nintendo. Jordan plopped down on the bed next to the ‘Nintendo Freaks.’ She was just drifting off to sleep when someone (who she thought was Nick) yelled “FOOD!!!” After they ate Kevin noticed some of the color returned to Jordan’s face. They decided now was the time for her to finish the story.
“Okay,” she started slowly.
“After I was sold to that guy I was sold again. But this time it was to a couple who took me to an orphanage. I was shipped around about a million times to a million different places like luggage until I got to my current home. I’ve lived there for almost a year now. At first they seemed a little harsh and strict. They would punish me if I asked for help on my homework.”
“They punished you for that?!” Brian, who had been quiet until now, asked her. She nodded. Then Howie asked her, “How do they punish you?”
“At first it was a lot of yelling and stuff. Then they started calling me names. Then they would cuss at me and then they started to hit me and it kept getting worse and worse. Like one I was one minute late from school and Chris started to hit me.”
“Is that where you got that bruise?” Nick asked.
*shrug* “Sorta.”
“What do you mean by sorta?” AJ asked.
“Chris hit me because I was ‘supposedly’ late. But not for that.”
“What’s his wife’s name,” Kevin asked.
“Cassie. And they have a really mean daughter Chrissy, too,” she said and continued with her story.
“I wanted to kill myself and AJ here stopped me.” She bit her lower lip
to keep from crying, but it didn’t work. Soon she was bawling her eyes
out as Kevin hugged her. He had watery eyes and noticed everyone else
did too. It hurt him so much to see someone so young go through something
like this. All the pain and abuse she had been through…
