Vigilant

Ari wasn’t tiny by any means, but slim and tall. Her short, black, cropped hair, streaked with red made her appear less girly, and she wore her makeup heavy on her eyes, but light everywhere else. Scattered over her body were a dozen tattoos.

The minutes ticked by while the judge spoke quietly with the lawyers, and they all waited for Hope to exit the back hallway and enter the courtroom. The door near the front of the room opened and a corrections officer brought Hope in. Dressed in standard blue coveralls and generic tennis shoes, she shuffled over to the seat behind the defendant’s desk. She looked exhausted and her normally well-kept hair was a tangle of knots at the back of her head.

Ari offered Hope a wary grin but was met with a heavy eye roll and a snarl. Ari stared back, refusing to feel guilty about the girl’s choices. Hope’s reaction wasn’t exactly shocking. Ari cared for her, as much as she could allow herself, but the lifestyle Hope led tipped the scales out of her favor. Not just illegal, prostitution was risky—often deadly. As her probation officer, Ari’s job was to make sure Hope stayed on track and she worked diligently to help her stay in school, get a job, and stay off the streets. Ari couldn’t do that if she was in jail.

With a bang of her gavel, Judge Hatcher announced to the court the start of the hearing, reading Hope’s full name aloud and reciting the numbers of her case. Ari waited in the galley, behind her client. It was now in the hands of the judge to determine Hope’s fate.

* * *

Ari’s job in court, as she informed each of the children when they came on her caseload, was to tell the truth. What she revealed to the judge was really up to them. In this situation, Ari had no choice but to explain to Judge Hatcher that Hope had been in violation of her probation for the last six weeks. She’d missed appointments, broken curfew, and failed to take more than one drug test. Her grandmother called Ari repeatedly expressing concern about Hope staying out all night. The last time they’d spoken, Ari had threatened to put her back on the electronic monitoring bracelet if she didn’t cooperate. Obviously, the threat didn’t work since she disappeared for two weeks before being picked up by police.

As Ari read the handwritten list of violations in her folder to the Judge, she expected Hope to get angry and argue with her—perhaps make a scene. But that was not her reaction at all. Instead she broke down into silent tears and refused to meet Ari’s eye. Atypical for sure. Something was off. The tears were strange, but Hope only made matters worse when she refused to answer Judge Hatcher’s questions.

“I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me, Hope,” Judge Hatcher remarked. Hope kept her steely gaze forward, eventually being led from the courtroom for disrespectful conduct.

“Thanks,” Ari said to the guard. She and Hope walked through the heavy steel door to the holding area behind the courtroom.

His huge set of keys jangled against his leg and he said, “I’ll be outside the door. Knock when you’re ready.”

The minute the door shut, Ari turned a sharp eye on her client. Hope had her arms crossed and her chin stuck out in defiance. They stared at one another until Ari finally said, “What was that all about?”

“What was what all about?” the girl shot back.

“You wouldn’t even talk to Judge Hatcher.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

The look she had on her face was hard as stone. Despite this, Ari wanted more details. “Like she said, we can’t help you unless you tell us the truth.”

“I told you what happened.”

When Hope had been picked up, she’d told detectives and then Ari an elaborate story of being kidnapped off the streets and forced into prostitution. “So you don’t show up for work, you skipped GED class, and you bailed on your aftercare program because you were being held against your will?” Ari asked.

“That’s right.”

“The police picked you up in a cut-out dress and plastic high heels. That sounds a little too familiar.” Ari couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice. The job, the classes, the days out of program set them back on all of their goals. Not only that, Hope turned seventeen soon. One more arrest and she was going to jail, not juvie. “You can’t keep playing these games. Since you didn’t defend yourself, Judge Hatcher had no choice but to believe the police.”

“She wasn’t going to believe me anyway. Just like you don’t,” the girl said. Hope and Ari stared at one another until Hope admitted, “I couldn’t leave, Ms. Grant. They locked us in the house. They only let us out to work.”

“Who did this then? Who are you talking about?”

Hope said nothing.

Ari decided to give it another try. “Okay, well where is this house?”

“I don’t know. We only came and went after dark. We all slept in the same room.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“There were other girls there. I didn’t know them.”

“And they were kidnapped, too?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Some seemed to know the men, but maybe they had just been there longer.”

“The arresting officer said you were alone on the street. Why didn’t you run away then?”

Another look of defiance crossed her face and Hope didn’t reply. Ari threw her hands in the air. “I can’t help you if you hold stuff back.”