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Chapter 3 - Help

Regina watched Emma every day for two weeks looking for any sign that would prove she was being abused. From the way Emma acted in class, she could tell the little girl was trying to put on a happy face, but she looked sad when she thought no one was watching.

On the third week of school, Regina saw the proof she needed. Emma had on a blue skirt and white short-sleeved blouse. She could see a bruise on her upper arm when she reached for a crayon across the table. Regina decided she would talk to Emma the first chance she had.

After Emma ate her snack, Regina called her to her desk. The rest of the children were playing so she could speak with her quietly without anyone else hearing.

"How are you doing, Emma?" The little girl smiled at her, but Regina noticed it didn't reach her eyes.

"I'm okay, Mrs. Elrod. Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble?" Regina saw tears begin to form in Emma's eyes, so she quickly reassured her.

"No, sweetheart, you're not in trouble. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute. Is that okay?" Emma wiped her tears away and nodded.

"I saw the bruise on your arm. Can you tell me how that happened?" Emma pulled her shirt over the bruise to try and cover it up. Regina could see the bruise was in the shape of a large hand.

"I probably got it when I fell down, but I don't remember." Emma looked away, not wanting her teacher to see that she was lying to her. She couldn't tell her where it really came from, or Martin would hurt her even more.

"Emma, I don't think you got it from falling down. You can tell me the truth. I promise you're not in trouble. I want to help you and your mom." Regina watched as Emma began to cry. She understood she was scared that she was going to get punished for telling the truth.

"Mrs. Elrod, if I tell you what happened, he will hurt us even more. I promised my mommy that I would keep it a secret." Emma wanted to tell Mrs. Elrod the truth but didn't want to break her promise. Her mom had told her to make sure the teacher didn't see her bruises, or they would both get hurt by Martin.

"Emma, if someone is hurting you and your mommy, they will be in trouble, not you. I want to have someone help you, but I can't if you don't tell me what happened." Regina was hoping Emma would talk. She knew she didn't want to disappoint her mom, though.

Emma thought about what Mrs. Elrod said. If someone could help them, maybe, they could move so Martin couldn't hurt them anymore.

"Alright, Mrs. Elrod, I'll tell you what happened. Do you promise that he won't be able to hurt us if I tell you?" Regina felt relief flood through her.

"Yes, I promise he won't hurt you anymore."

"Yesterday, when I got home from school, Martin came home, and my brother Leo had just spilled his milk on the kitchen floor. Martin doesn't like messes, so he grabbed my mom by her hair and held her face in the milk. He kicked her in her side and then hit her over and over. When I told him to stop, he grabbed my arm and pushed me to the floor hard. He said it was my fault that Leo spilled his milk because I wasn't watching him." Emma looked down at the floor. If only she had made sure Leo didn't spill his milk, her mommy wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"Emma, has he done this to you before?" Regina was holding back her tears. Seeing the pain in Emma's face broke her heart.

"He does that to my mommy every day. She tries to keep him from hurting me, but he does it anyway." Emma hoped Mrs. Elrod was telling her the truth about Martin not hurting them anymore.

"Is Martin your dad Emma?"

"Not my real dad. He makes me call him dad, but my real dad died."

"Okay, you can go play now. I'm going to call someone, and you may have to tell them all of this again, but they'll help you and your mommy." Regina wanted to hug Emma but didn't think she would be receptive.

"Okay." Emma walked over to her friend Melora who was doing a puzzle.

Regina watched Emma walk away, and she had to take a few minutes so she wouldn't cry. She was mad at both Martin and Paula. How a man could hurt a child was beyond her, and for Paula not to leave him also upset her. Regina understood that Paula may have been abused for so long she didn't know how to leave, but Emma shouldn't be the one to pay the price.

She walked over to the phone in her room and called the front office. Regina explained everything to Brice Gregory, the principal, and he said he would call a police officer to come to speak with Emma.

About thirty minutes before the bell, Officer Ezra Hart came to the school to see Emma. Brice called Regina and told her to send Emma to the office so the officer could talk to her privately.

Emma walked slowly to the front office. She was still scared she would get in trouble for telling about Martin. When she got to the office, she saw a large police officer sitting in one of the chairs. He had dark brown skin and light brown eyes. When he smiled at her, Emma felt herself calm down a little. This man would be able to stop Martin from hurting them; she was sure of it.

"Hi, Emma. My name is Officer Hart, but you can call me Ezra. Can I talk to you for a little bit?" Emma sat down in the chair next to him.

"Yes, Ezra. Can you promise that me and mommy won't get hurt?" Emma looked up at the big man next to her.

"Yes, Emma, I won't let anyone hurt you." Ezra smiled at the scared little girl.

Emma relayed everything she had told Mrs. Elrod. Ezra had difficulty keeping his face straight, but he didn't want to scare Emma. When he asked her to show him the bruise. She raised her sleeve up, where he saw the bruise in the shape of a hand that went around her entire upper arm.

Emma then stood so he could look at her back. He saw a large bruise that covered part of her back and side. She said that was from where Martin pushed her to the floor. Ezra did everything he could to hold in his anger. No child should have anyone hurt them this way.

"Emma, the bell is getting ready to ring. I'm going to have your mommy come in here so we can talk to her too. After that, I'm going to have Martin arrested." Emma stared at Ezra.

"Does that mean he will go to jail where bad people go?"

"Yes. Can you look out the window and tell me if you see your mommy?" Emma looked outside and saw her mom standing with Leo off to the side. She pointed her out to Ezra, then sat back down to wait.

Paula stood with Leo, waiting for Emma. The beating that Martin gave her last night was so bad it took her double the time to walk to school today.

As she waited for the bell to ring, she looked toward the school's front door and saw a police officer walking toward her. Paula knew immediately why he was there. Mrs. Elrod must have seen Emma's bruises. Paula wanted to run away. If Martin learned that others knew what he did, he would kill her and Emma.

"Mrs. Edwards, please come with me." Ezra saw the fear in the young mother's eyes. He also noticed that her frail body was covered in bruises just from the little bit of skin she didn't have covered. He had seen this more times than he could count, but it never got any easier.

Paula put her head down and followed him into the school. She didn't want to talk to him outside where the other parents were already gawking at her. Emma ran to her mother and hugged her as soon as she got to the office.

"Mommy, I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise. Mrs. Elrod saw the bruise on my arm, and I couldn't lie. Ezra said Martin can't hurt us anymore. He's going to go where the bad people go." Emma looked up at her mom, hoping she wasn't mad at her.

"It's alright, Emma. I know it's not your fault." Paula felt like crying, knowing their secret was out.

Ezra had Leo sit with Emma in the front office while he took Paula to another room to talk to her away from the children. She was determined to tell them to forget everything and let them go home.

Paula knew nothing good could come from this. If they arrested Martin, he would hurt them even worse when he got out. He was one of the top defense attornies in Indianapolis, so he may not even go to jail. This would just be another excuse for him to beat them.

"Officer, you need to let us go home before my husband finds out about this. He's a defense attorney, so I know he won't be there long, even if he goes to jail. Please just let us leave and pretend this never happened." Paula begged him as tears ran down her face. She sat in one of the chairs he pointed to.

"Mrs. Edwards, I can't do that. Emma is hurt badly, and I can see you are too. No man should be able to do that and get away with it; I don't care who he is." Paula looked down at her hands as her tears fell. At least he wasn't saying she was a terrible mother for letting Martin hit Emma. She tried to protect her the best she could.

"Please let us go home. Emma and I will pay the price if his dinner is not ready when he gets there." Paula looked up at Ezra with tears streaming down her face, and he could see how broken she was. He wasn't letting them leave, not until Martin was behind bars.

"I can't do that. I'm calling my sergeant and having him send a car to pick up Martin. Once he's in custody, then you can go home. Tonight you and your children can have peace."

"Tonight maybe, but what happens when he gets out of jail tomorrow? He will blame Emma and me for him being there. Are you going to move in with us to keep him from hurting us? Once he comes home, you should prepare our funerals because he'll kill us both." Paula looked him in the eye, and Ezra knew she believed what she said.

"Mrs. Edwards, we don't have a choice. We have to arrest him." Ezra picked up the phone in the room and called his sergeant. He explained everything Emma had said and what he witnessed on Paula. His sergeant said they would go pick Martin up at his office.

Ezra hung up the phone and looked at Paula. He hoped he could keep his promise to Emma. He wanted to keep Martin from hurting them, but he knew that Paula was right. If Martin gets released, they might have just made their nightmare worse.

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