Revealing

She asked for a pass to the counselor's office and got it. She walked there alone. Knocked. Went in and sat on the couch. She told Mrs. Silver that she needed to tell her something. The Girl must have looked uncomfortable, because Mrs. Silver gave her Timmy the Tiger to hold.
 
It took a long time to find Her voice. When she did, She was more concerned that the bell had rung and that she would miss the bus home. Mrs. Silver told her that they'd call her mom and it was okay, but She wasn't convinced. Finally She spoke. In very matter of fact terms, She told the school counselor that She was being molested by her father.
 
The rest begins to blur in memory. She remembers her heart pounding and being terrified. Mrs. Silver must have called her mother, and clearly she was driven home. The next thing She remembers is talking to her mother. Her mother asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
 
The Girl replied that she didn't know. Later, She would remember that she tried to tell, but she couldn't find the words to tell her mother and She had been too afraid to try again.
 
Everything is blurry again. The next place she remembers is a small room with a child's table and chairs, a couple of toys. The Girl sat on the sofa with two detectives facing her. She refused to speak.
 
They asked her questions, trying to gently probe and pry a response out of Her. The Girl had her hands in the pockets of her heavy denim coat. There was a wad of tissues in the left pockets that She was systematically shredding into confetti.
 
The detectives left and brought back diagrams. One of a man, one of a girl. She must have at least uttered that she was being touched, because they asked if She could just label body parts. They pointed, She responded with one word answers. Head, arms, chest, hands, fingers, legs, etc. Then the genital area on each - She said they were "privates."
 
The detectives asked then if she could point to the areas and circle the ones that had been touched. He said the words that She had provided and She answered yes. They moved to the adult male diagram and asked to her similar questions regarding what appendages She had been touched with. The hand.
 
Once She began to speak, She found it was a little easier. Her answers were clipped and brief, but verbal.
 
How long had this happened?
She didn't remember, so she tossed a random answer out. "A few months."
 
How many times?
The Girl struggled to remember, but must have blocked the memories. Again, she made something up. "Six."
 
It wouldn't be until years later that She would remember how it started, with being made to touch and see him. She wouldn't recall the day on the couch at home, or the day in her room. These things were left out that day and for years later, before they came back to the surface to haunt Her.
 
She cannot recall the other questions. It's obvious now that this interview was being recorded - at the time, She didn't know.
 
Her next memory is one of those two detectives interviewing her mother. She can remember the introduction on the tape - the detective shared the same last name as The Girl and her family. No relation though. She doesn't know what other questions her mother was asked. At some point the statement was made that her father would not be allowed to see The Girl or be in her vicinity. She remembers being alarmed and asking, "Won't he be home by now?"
 
Her mother said yes, he'd be home from work. The detective made a comment that she doesn't remember either.
 
Blurry again. The next place She recalls is her aunt and uncles. This was her fathers brother, but that didn't matter. They had always been and would stay on Her side. The night is fuzzy, but She and her brother stayed there.
 
Her mother came back, very late in the night. Her mother told her that she'd done the right thing by telling and that her father had even said so.
 
There were other words, assurances that no one was mad. Soft words meant to comfort. She doesn't remember them. She slept, finally.
 
So much was happening that She didn't know then. People were doing so many things. It would all come to light later.