Snippet #2414507

"Em, this women her is Sindy. She is our Social Service case worker. She's going to take you back in my bedroom and talk to you alone. Is that alright?" Emily turned frantically to Zane, latching her hand onto his and shaking her head as she felt tears prick her vision. "What?! No. Zane, please don't leave." She asked with a terrified tone in her voice. She was terrified that if Zane left, she wouldn't be able to bring herself back from her past.

The woman named Sindy rose and said hello, placing a hand on Emily's shoulder. Emily flinched and moved away a fraction of an inch. That was the bruised shoulder, but that wasn't why she flinched away. The only person she had ever let touch her was Zane, and she didn't even know why. But other people touching her terrified her, made her think of times when she was touched against her will. Sindy asked Zane to get cookies and Emily let go of his hand so he could get the cookies. When he returned, she moved closer to him so her arm was barely brushing his, but his prescense was intensely soothing, and it helped Emily breathe. Sindy offered her a cookie, even eating one herself, but Emily simply shook her head and glanced at the floor. She was always starving, and a part of her seriously wanted to scarf down that whole tray, but when she was nervous, she couldn't eat a bite. And she was nervous, insanely nervous.

She had always been told to stay away from the police, social workers, etc. It went against her entire upbringing to be this close to one. She remembered her father yelling at her, as he had her chained up against the wall. There had been some suspicion at her elementary school about her being abused, and her father had had to go threw some interview to prove he was not an abusive parent. He passed, but as her punishment, he threw her against the wall and chained her up tight, leaving her there for the whole weekend. When Emily looked into Sindy's eyes, all she experienced was the fear of being chained to the wall, being yelled at the law could not be trusted. This woman was nice, but could she override Emily's long-standing trauma? She didn't think so.