Journal 91

Tony and Casey stood outside my door and knocked for a couple of hours. The knocking was making me insane. Casey’s crying was making me insane. I couldn’t take one more knock or one more “please let us in”. I considered jumping out the window and running away. However, I was too high up. I unlocked the door.

Casey stepped into my room. I tried to ignore her by making myself busy. Casey stood there crying. She asked if Aleece was getting big, and did she have any hair? She said she missed her deeply. She thanked me for taking care of Aleece while she was away. I turned around to face Casey and snapped. “How dare you abandon that sweet little baby and then come back here and expect me to give her back.” Casey tried to tell me she didn’t abandon Aleece. I yelled for her to get out of my room. I told her she wasn’t getting Aleece back.  Casey ran out of my room sobbing. I didn’t care. I was in the right and she was in the wrong.

Tony stepped into my room next. He was calm and spoke quietly. He said he understood my concern. I stood there staring out the window. I didn’t want to hear what he was saying.  I asked him to go away. I wasn’t giving Aleece back. Tony said I had to give her back. She wasn’t mine.  He said I didn’t know the whole story. Tony stepped up behind me and put his arms around me. I was trying not to cry. Tony quietly spoke into my ear and said that Mathias sold Casey into slavery. She spent more than a week in his jail. He sold her to a gang that needed people to dig tunnels and excavate ore. I turned around and cried into his shoulder. I didn’t want to give Aleece back to Casey.