Stray

She sits still, hoping not to be seen just as she is desperate to be. Where her person has gone, she can't know. All she knows is she is gone. Now she sits amongst the trash, as thrown away as the rubbish that surrounds her.

All she has known is deprivation. The adult that was with her has moved her from place to place, providing enough substance to survive but not thrive. Still, her presence was safe, her version of a lovey.

Without her, she feels completely lost. Her knees shield her chest, protecting her like a prey animal protects its throat.

They come out to take out the trash. She pushed farther in, trying to make herself disappear. At their footsteps, she buried her head in her knees. She hears them stop over her.

“Oh lord!” The female voice almost draws her head up but no, it isn't her. 

“Is it alive?” The deeper voice has her wanting to pull farther in. No male voice has ever been safe in her experience.

“It, come Rob. A little girl. I don't know.” She kneels. She feels her do it but doesn't move.

He kneels beside her. “ How can you tell?” 

“Take her pulse, I guess.” 

A hand comes out, touching her neck. She jerks and lets out a whine.

“That answers that. Hey sweetie. Where's your mommy?”

She knows she is being addressed. What is meant by sweetie or mommy? She knows neither term.

“Should I call an ambulance?” The male voice has her trying to curl up tighter.

“Yes.” The one who was like her, in voice anyway answers the other one. She hears his footsteps move away. Will the lady leave? She hopes so. She prays not.

“Don't worry little one. We will take care of you.” 

She feels her as she sits down beside her. She doesn't touch her again. 

She doesn't know how long they sit there like that. It is nice to have someone else there, besides the kitties that have moved around her since she left. 

Suddenly, the silence is interrupted by a loud noise. She jumps, knocking her head against the brick wall behind her 

“Oh! Don't do that darling. It is okay. It is just the ambulance. Help.”

More steps, more people kneeling down beside her. 

“She was just sitting here, all huddled up.” 

“Up…” she holds that word in her mind as more hands touch her, drawing her out of her crouched position. She is laid out on a board. Voices saying things she couldn't understand.

“Appropriately four years old female. Blood pressure 60/80 Heart rate 50. Temperature 99°.” 

“Can I ride with her? I don't want her to be all alone.” It is the first voice. Yes. She is safe.

“Yes, I think that is a good idea.”

She is being lifted and wheeled, moving towards the blinking box. A jerk and she is inside. Bright. So much brighter than anywhere she has known as home. It hurts her eyes and she quickly closes them. 

“Hey sweetie. It is okay. We are taking you somewhere where we can make sure you are alright.” 

“What is your name?” The first person asks. 

“Name?” She thinks. It is another word she doesn't understand.

“Your mommy, daddy?” 

She shakes her head. Why don't they say something that makes sense? 

“I need to start an IV.”

“Do you need me to hold her down?” 

“No, just hold her hand. She seems to be in shock. I don't believe she will fight.”

“That’s bad isn't it?”

“Yes.”

Her arm is taken, spread out. Something cold. “Okay sweetie. A little pinch.” 

A sharp pain and something is taped down on her arm.

“This is going to make you feel better.” 

The lady who was first starts to stroke her hair. She keeps her eyes tightly closed as they start to move. The box is moving! 

“Her heart rate is coming up.” 

“Good. I will recheck her pressure. The saline is doing its job.”

“She was abandoned, wasn't she?”

“We don't know that yet. Could be lost. Kidnapped and escaped.”

“No, look at her eyes. She was abandoned.”

Her eyes. What are they? She frowns, looking around again. Still in the box. But somehow not where she was last at. She is warmer than she recalls ever being. Why? She can't tell. Why is the lady so sad? 

“Well, she hasn't been taken care of. Malnourished, filthy, seems mute.”

“Who could do such a thing?” 

The box stops. They all moved, and she moved back out into the cold. Okay then. But no, she doesn't stay there, moving into a bigger box with a lot more people. The noise and lights are overwhelming and she tries to pull her legs up so she can bury her face back in them.

“No sweetie. It is okay. This is where they are going to help you.”

“I am still here. You are okay.”

“Appropriately four year old girl. Found in the alley. Blood pressure is brought up a bit by saline. From 60/80 to 70/90. Heart rate started out at 50 and is up to 65. She hasn't said anything.”

“Can I stay with her? My husband and I found her.”

“You may come back after we get her settled.”

She is moved away from her.

“No!” She cries out startling them all.

“Well hello sweetie.” 

“No! No! No!” She reaches behind her for the lady. 

She looks at the doctors and nurses. A shrug from one.  “Come on back.”

The lady has her hand again. It is okay now.

“Okay, let's get her cleaned up and into a gown. Blood tests, CBC…” The man in his white coat says a bunch of stuff. The lady holds her hand through it all.

She closes her eyes again as her clothes are taken off and her body and hair is washed. She remembers her doing it once or twice. A soft gown is placed on her. It feels good. She sat up and a brush drew through her hair.

“Sorry darling,” she jerks and winces as the nurse doing it finds snares and knots, “bring me the detangler spray.”

After her brown hair is soothed the lady, ‘my name is Sarah. What's yours?’ She parts it and braids it back.

She shrugs. 

“What are you called?” The nurse asks, thinking maybe that that will bring an answer.

Called. She knows that one. 

“Stray. I Stray.” The two women share a look. 

“Are you sure sweetie?” Sarah asks.

“I Stray. She says.”

“Your mommy?”

She shrugs. “She bye bye.” 

“She may be but I am here. I will be here.” Sarah vows.

Two years later, after going through an investigation and failing to find the child’s mom or dad, and fostering her for eighteen months, after completing training, Stray becomes Michelle, adopted daughter of Sarah and Rob. A stray no longer.