Victoria and Anna Reed had dealt with many cases such as this.
The couple had worked in the field of child psychology for years, so it wasn't the first time they had to talk to an unresponsive, shell-shocked child after a traumatic event. There was never a formula to this, All children were different and required different approaches. Some needed to be harshly spoken to, some babied, and some they simply had to wait until they were willing to talk. They had been given the necessary details of the case: the child in question – named Helga Geraldine Pataki – had allegedly shot her father – Robert Pataki – six times in the chest, killing him almost instantly. Helga was taken to the hospital, and after the girl showed obvious discomfort around her genital areas, she had a rape kit performed on her. The test came back positive, and the doctors placed her on anaesthesia in order to check her over fully. That was when the full extent of her injuries was brought to light.
Helga had severe bruising around her thighs, neck, buttocks, and vaginal area. Her body showed signs of previous internal bleeding, specifically inside her vagina and rectum, which had 'healed' naturally. They had found an untreated gash at the tip of her hairline, and though covered by her bangs, it was shown to be throbbing, possibly infected. Her ankle had sprained, only to then begin heal on its own awkwardly, explaining her limp, so they were quick to bandage her. As they found more and more bruising around her body, it became clear to everyone that whatever the girl was going through at home was unforgivable and horrific.
Vicki and Anna weren't stupid, a rape kit came back positive, her genitals were injured, and her entire body had consistent bruising, specifically her lower half. Anyone with sense could put two and two together and figure out what Bob Pataki was doing to his daughter. They then assumed that this abuse was most likely the reason she had shot him. However, assuming wasn't enough, they needed Helga to actually confirm everyone's suspicions with her own words.
Once Helga was checked over, she was left to rest in the hospital bed, placed on different medications due to her many ailments, and was then brought to the Hillwood County Police Station to be questioned. They had done everything they could to try and keep Helga as comfortable as possible; instead of a dreary interrogation room, they had brought her specifically to the decorated kids room, she had been given a large blanket with stars sewn onto it and placed on a giant and soft beanbag. They provided her with a sketchpad, notebook, pens, pencils and coloring pencils, as well as a tablet. Anna had even went to bring in hot chocolate, which she placed near by the girl in case she was ready to drink it.
Tired, scared, and dazed from medications and painkillers, Helga simply sat in silence, gently rocking herself back and forth. Vicki and Anna didn't want to press her too much out of fear that she would completely shut down, but they had to get her to talk eventually. They had been trying to subtly encourage her to talk about, write down, or even draw her side of what had happened. However, Helga simply wouldn't budge; this went on for hours, with Vicki and Anna attempting to encourage Helga to come clean about the events of that day, and Helga simply sitting there in silence, rocking back and forth, shaking her head and grabbing at the blanket wrapped around her. The couple weren't upset with her though, this was probably the most traumatic day of her entire life, they didn't expect her to just spill her entire heart to two strangers about it.
It was Vicki who then attempted to coax the girl into explaining her side again, Anna had left the room to handle an apparent report, leaving her wife with the child. The woman sat in front of her, a soft smile gracing her face, as she leaned forward and spoke gently, "Helga, are you ready to tell us what happened?"
The girl shook her head.
Vicki sighed, "alright, take your time dear, I'll be here."
It was a few minutes later when Anna popped her head through the door, her blue eyes heavy with sadness, "Vicki, can I quickly talk to you? Angie just gave me a report."
Vicki nodded, as she stood up, she made sure to reassure Helga that they would just be outside, and that they'd be back in with her eventually. Once the door was closed, Vicki shook her head, "poor dear... what did Angie tell you?"
"The mom broke," Anna began, "told her what had been going on, it was exactly what we'd expected, dad was raping the kid."
"Oh no..." Vicki quietly mumbled, though it was already all but confirmed, it still felt horrible to know.
"That's not the end of it. Apparently dad had a whole schedule or set time or something just to abuse the kid, shots were fired around the time he would have been attempting to – or in the process of – raping her."
As Anna's head fell, her face being covered by her dark tresses, her blonde wife could only place a hand to her chest, "so the poor thing was just trying to protect herself..."
The duo stood there, knowing that getting a statement from Helga was now vital. They couldn't have the girl be charged and penalized for her actions that morning, not when she was simply keeping herself safe; it was imperative that they got the potential charges against her dropped, and with Miriam's statements alleging abuse, all they needed was for Helga to make her own statement, but how? The girl just wouldn't talk, she was so tense around the two women no matter how much they tried to show her they were safe to be around. They understood her anxiety, but they couldn't keep her here forever, and if they couldn't get anything out of her, well all it would take was for Miriam to retract her statement and she'd most likely be charged.
As the two women racked their brains and thought of ways to coax Helga into a statement, a third woman walked up to where they were standing. She was a tall, pretty lady with short dark pixie-cut hair, her face had subtly applied makeup, with the only obvious part being her red lips, she wore a cute blue pantsuit that matched her cobalt earrings. In her hand she held a suitcase, and once she reached the other two, she smiled. Her smile however wasn't all too joyous, her scrunched eyebrows and bags that were just barely noticeable under her foundation indicated a melancholic politeness to it.
"Hello," she greeted softly, her voice heavy with sadness, "I've come to help, I believe you are questioning a Helga Pataki?"
"We could sure use it," Anna grumbled, "you are?"
"Dr. Amelia Bliss, I work closely with Helga," she replied, "I work as a child psychologist at her school and she's my most frequent visitor, when I heard it was her involved in this I came as quickly as I could, getting through those officers was a bitch."
Amelia then brought up her suitcase, "I packed all of the previous work I've done with her, including drawings, statements and journal entries, I... I had been worried, she hadn't come to see me these past few weeks, I had no idea it would escalate to this..."
Noticing the woman's worry, it was Anna that broke the news to her, explaining the whole situation, as well as the recently made allegations by Miriam. As she spoke, Amelia's eyes got wider, before she gasped, a hand lifting to cover her mouth.
"Oh my goodness, I... had no idea..." All Amelia was told was that a shooting had taken place at the Pataki home, she had never known of any sexual abuse, nor had she known it was Helga who fired the gun, "is that why she had stopped coming to see me? Was she afraid to tell me? Oh my God..."
A wave of guilt flooded the woman, whilst she couldn't force kids to come and see her, she wondered if she could have put an end to this if only she had followed up on Helga's failures to turn up, maybe if she had pressed the girl to come and visit her more she would have mentioned her home situation and this could have all been avoided. She had dealt with this before, and it was horrific each time, yet this was hitting her a lot harder. She thought that maybe it was because she admittedly had a closer relationship with Helga than other kids she was dealing with, maybe it was because Helga was showing real progress before it all came crumbling around her.
Realizing that self pity wasn't going to get her anywhere, Amelia cleared her throat, pat down her shirt and straightened her posture, "her lack of cooperation may have something to do with you two being strangers," she began, "I struggled getting her to open up myself, and it takes a while to gain her trust, no doubt this fiasco has made it worse... I'll talk to her, just me and her. I suggest you two stay here, I'll write down all that I am given."
The two looked at each other, realizing they had no other options, they nodded, "alright, I hope you're right..." Vicki quietly prayed.
Amelia nodded, before she slowly opened the door, closing it just as carefully. She walked over to Helga, who was still staring at the ground and rocking herself, "hello Helga, it's lovely to see you again, are you doing alright? Do you need anything?"
Helga turned her head, and Amelia almost broke down. She had never seen such a pitiful sight, the girl looked beyond sickly, with dark circles under her eyes and bruising on her jaw and right eye. She was frail, and she shivered as if she were in perpetual cold, her skin was a crude yellow, and her bloodshot eyes were lidded from exhaustion and medicated daze. She had — for whatever reason — been redressed into her pyjamas from that incident, which were torn and stained with blood, whilst also stinking of what could have been urine.
There was one positive however, when Helga saw the woman, her tense shoulders began to relax, her grip on the blanket had ever-so slightly softened, and her curled up legs loosened up again. It was barely noticeable, but it was clear being in the presence of Dr. Bliss had calmed her down a bit, most likely due to familiarity.
"Dr... Bliss?"
Amelia nodded, "yes, it's just me Helga," she replied, "when I heard that it was you that was in here I came as quickly as I could, I was worried, are you in need of anything? I can go and get it if you'd like."
Helga shook her head, "n-no, I'm... fine..."
"No you're not, and that's okay Helga," she said gently, she wanted to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but she doubted the victimized girl wanted any physical contact right then, "it must be awful in this room."
"It is," Helga mumbled, "it feels so... patronizing..."
"How so, if I may ask?"
A shaky exhale left the young blonde, "I dunno... the paintings... the decorations... it makes me feel like a dumb kid," she then groaned, "but I'm... not a dumb kid..."
Amelia nodded, knowing their conversation was probably being recorded, she didn't feel the need to write down every detail, instead, she decided to just talk to Helga for now. She relaxed her own posture, hoping it made Helga in turn feel more relaxed, "I get what you mean, it all feels more appropriate for a toddler, huh?"
"Yeah," Helga began, before she lowered her head. For a few minutes there was no communication, though Amelia's heart dropped when she heard what sounded like sniffles coming from Helga, "I shouldn't be here... why did I do that... I lied, I am a dumb kid..."
"No you aren't," She reassured, "it's alright, you'll be out of here soon enough. I assume they told you how much they need your statement?"
Helga nodded, "I... don't want to talk to them... I don't know them... if I tell them what he did, it's weird..."
Amelia yet again nodded, coming forward about sexual assault was already hard enough as it is, she couldn't imagine being a child and being asked to tell two strangers intimate details of said assault, "I get that, hopefully you feel comfortable saying so soon, the sooner you're out of here, the better—"
"I want to tell you."
Amelia was stunned, this being shown by the obvious surprise in her face, "huh?"
Helga exhaled, her shivering fingers holding awkwardly onto the blanket that covered, "I know y-you're just a therapist or whatever... you just do your job, you probably don't care that much... b-but like the idiotic person I am, I actually trust you for some reason, even if I'm just a pay day at the end of it all... so I want to tell you about it."
In that moment, the woman was sure she would have shed a tear or two, but she was able to keep herself stoic and professional, not wanting to overload Helga with anymore emotions. She took in a breath, before smiling at the reluctant tween, "if you truly want to, I'll be happy to listen; but I want you to know that I do care, even if you think I don't, and... I promise to be here with you through it all."
She knew the risks about making such a promise, especially to a child in Helga's position, but she meant it. Who exactly did Helga have? Her useless mother and neurotic sister? No, Amelia would be there, it was least she could for failing Helga these last few weeks.
Helga blinked, before just barely choking out a, "thank you..."
They were in silence again, with Helga preparing herself to speak. These last three weeks had been nothing short of nightmarish, she was in so much pain constantly, she felt fear pit in her stomach and no matter what she did she couldn't bring herself to mention it to anyone. She couldn't even use the bathroom normally anymore, it hurt to much that she would hold it in for as long as she could, only to use it when she couldn't any longer, ironically enough that would make it hurt the most. She hadn't slept properly in so long, she was always kept up by the looming terror of him standing at the edge of her bed, picking her up and carrying her to his bedroom.
The worst part of it all was that she felt so dirty. She felt so nasty, gross, disgusting, she couldn't even look at herself in the mirror without feeling the urge to throw up. No matter how many showers she took, no matter how much deodorant she put on, no matter how often she changed her clothing and underwear or washed her hair, she felt so perpetually filthy. She wondered if it was because...
"He said he could smell it on me," Helga blurted out, startling Amelia. Her voice was hollow, absolute, "he said he could smell that I wanted it, he said that's why I always argued with him, because I was teasing him, do I smell?" Helga asked, her voice soft, fearful.
The only thing you smell of is urine, how cruel of them to put you back in these clothes! Is what Amelia wanted to say, but she shook her head. Helga then looked down, "he said I was growing up, that I had hips now... it was all so gross..." she quietly let out, "I don't think he was sober, his breath smelt like Miriam's stuff, but more bitter, maybe it was stronger... I don't know..."
Amelia watched as Helga shuffled in her spot, "I thought that was it, maybe he was so drunk he somehow thought I was Miriam, even though he clearly acknowledged it was me, whatever Helga, get over it, it's not like it'll happen again... but then it kept happening!"
The girl stomped her foot, her eyes welling up and her cheeks flushing, "h-he kept doing it again and again a-and again and—"
As the girl began to hyperventilate, Amelia was quick to take her by the hands, "breathe Helga, remember; in through the mouth, hold for five seconds, out through the nose, exhale for five seconds. Breathe, it'll be okay, just breathe..."
The girl struggled, her eyes had dilated, and her face had contorted into a look of terror, and yet, despite her triggered state, she could just barely hear what Dr. Bliss was saying. Oh yes, the breathing exercises, she had taught them to her after a particularly nasty fit of rage — breathe through the mouth, hold for five seconds, then inhale for five seconds. Inhale, hold, exhale. Inhale, hold, exhale. Inhale, hold, exhale. Inhale...
It took a while, the panic attack was strong, but Amelia made sure to keep a firm hold of Helga's hand, to keep reassuring her that she was safe here, to try and keep her grounded. Her breathing was less erratic, but she had been reduced to quiet sobs. Helga had never been a loud crier, her crying had always been quiet, near mute. Instead of wails, it was as if she were coughing up pieces of her lungs when she cried, the sound occasionally interrupted by a sudden inhale of air.
"I-I... I..." she struggled, trying to push the words out, "I couldn't le- let it h-happen again, when he... w-when he brought me to- to the room I wrest- wrestled out of his hold... I w-wouldn't let him h-have- have sex with me- m-me again..."
Amelia shook her head, "don't word it like that dear. Sex is supposed to be a pleasurable activity between two consenting people, particularly adults. Your father — and adult — forcing you — a child — to do it is not sex, that is rape, he assaulted you, and I'm sorry that no one stopped it."
Helga was quiet, though she nodded in response to what the woman had said, she didn't want Helga thinking this is how actual sex worked, she didn't want her growing up to think what her father did to her was normal, or acceptable in any way. Helga's eyes wondered, breaking contact with Amelia, "I thr- threw things — any- anyth- thing at him, then I remembered the g-gun, he put it in th top- t-top drawer... I g-grabbed it and- and sh-shot him- him, he w-was running at m-me," the last word came out as a sob, "I did- didn't w-want to ki- kill him! He was g-gonna hurt me! He was gonna hurt me!"
As the girl began crying even harder, Amelia could only mutter soft apologies and reassurances that it was all going to be okay, he used a thumb to caress the palm of her hand, simply letting the girl cry as much as she needed to. After a few minutes, she looked down at her.
"Would you like a hug?"
In a near instant, Helga nodded, and the older woman pulled her in for an embrace, firmly holding the weeping child as she flooded her pantsuit.
They stayed like that for what Amelia felt was an hour, maybe more. At no point did Helga calm down, how could she be calm in this situation? Though her crying had began to settle, soon becoming gentle hiccups, with her body unable to produce more tears. She pulled back from Amelia, with the older woman using her sleeves to wipe the girl's face. Helga sat back in her spot, her head once again, "I wanna go home..." she mumbled, "but not back there... not to that house... not to them..."
Amelia simply watched as Helga quietly hiccupped to herself, cuddling into the blanket and trying to soothe herself. The psychologist stood up, telling Helga that she would be right back, and that she just needed to talk to someone quickly. When she left the room, Amelia sighed in relief to see that Vicky and Anna were still standing there. The walls were thin and the door was plastic, and if their faces were anything to go by, they had heard everything, "so... I got the statement, it was all recorded?"
"Yes, it's been recording since we brought her in here," Vicky replied, "I'll be sending every piece of evidence to the prosecutor tonight, hopefully they make the right decision and drop any potential charges against her..."
Anna sighed, "she can't go back to the Patakis, but she can't stay here either, and I doubt she'd do well in a foster home... shit, know anyone else that could take her in?"
Her wife tilted her head, "huh? I mean, I don't want her to, but why can't she go back to her mom? She wasn't doing anything to her, was she?"
"No, but due to both Helga's current state and the fact that they're thinking of bringing Miriam Pataki up on neglect and abuse charges, we've been advised to keep the girl away from her family for now."
Amelia could only glare at the ground, "good, they need to stay far from her... wait..."
She looked up at the two, her brown eyes glistening with an idea, the corners of her lips curling into a hopeful smile.
"Do you think I could take her in?"
It came as a surprise to absolutely no one when the charges of manslaughter against twelve-year-old Helga Geraldine Pataki were dropped.
The case had become a major case in the press, though that was expected; of course once the media learned of a case of a little girl killing her father they latched on to it like flies to dung. For at least a few days, the details of the case were relatively obscure, all the people knew was that she shot her dad, and the charges got dropped because the prosecutor deemed her actions as self defence. It should have stayed that way, allowing this case to fade into obscurity, granting Helga and the rest of Hillwood anonymity as they grappled with this harrowing case, but of course it couldn't, because leeches needed to be fed regularly.
Someone in law enforcement had leaked the recorded questionings to the press, and whilst Olga's proved to be fairly uninteresting (she spent most of it crying and going on about how much she'd miss her dad), it was Helga and Miriam's that truly shook the world, blowing up the shooting of Bob Pataki from a state-wide news story to a nationwide story. The videos of Helga Pataki hyperventilating as she recalled the horrors of October 8th and Miriam Pataki breaking down and confessing that she knew of the abuse inflicted on her child were played on every news station, true crime blogs, podcasts and content creators were spreading it, discussing it and bringing more attention to it. In less than a week practically every newspaper had a picture of a hysterical Miriam or a panicking Helga, all of which had headlines such as "HE F***** HER." or "HE WAS GONNA HURT ME."
It began trending nonstop, with people all across America — and some abroad — outraged that Helga had even been charged in the first place. Once the recordings were leaked, it became free game, and more and more information about October 8th was spread through the media. People discovered that Helga had been dressed back into her filthy pyjamas the second she had discharged from the hospital, and the anger was even stronger when people found out that she had gone to the police station the same day, having spent little time in the hospital despite her injuries. The hospital was heavily criticized for not putting her in a clean set of clothes, and not giving her at least a few days to rest and heal. The loud judgement got so bad that they were forced to release a public apology, claiming they would free the Pataki family of any hospital bills they may have had.
It was then Child Protective Services that was next on the public lynching agenda. It had become apparent that the Pataki family were flagged multiple times for alleged mistreatment, so much so that Helga was even classified as an 'at risk' child. Yet, nothing was done. Despite the many reports, despite them flagging her specifically, Helga was still allowed to stay within the home. The neglect was apparent, her last dentist appointment was reported to have been when she was three, and the only vaccine she ever got was a flu shot when she was five. Even with that knowledge, Helga was kept in the care of her parents.
Then it was Helga's school and Olga that were targeted. People wondered how on earth none of them were able to notice that something was going on, how did no one notice that Helga rarely brought more to eat at school than a few apple slices? How had no one noticed her bruises and injuries, how had no one picked up in her worrying change of behavior? How had her own sister, who claimed to love and take care of her, not noticed the years worth abuse that kept escalating and escalating until it became sexual? Either they were blissfully negligent or criminally apathetic, and when people started showing up to the school in outrage, they had to close for a week or two for the safety of the students.
No one however, not the hospital, not CPS, not the school, and not Olga, had faced as much vitriol and hatred as Miriam Pataki.
Robert was dead, killed by the hands of the child he had victimized, and though the people hated him deeply, they couldn't exact vengeance for what he had done. Miriam however was still alive, and from her poor phrasing in the interview, to her admitting she turned a blind eye, the day her interrogation was leaked was the day America crowned her as the worst mother of all time. No one could wrap their head around it, how a mother could see her own baby being abused, and simply turn around, walk away, and pour herself a glass of liquor. She became the target of all their outrage, almost as if she were a stand in for Bob. People stood outside the Pataki home, screaming curses and expletives, praying that both her and her late husband would rot in hell. When people found out she no longer lived their, they tried to find wherever she was — they had been unsuccessful, but once she was discovered there would be hell to pay.
She was all the people would talk about, they wanted her to pay, if Bob couldn't be punished then they wanted Miriam to be punished in his place. They talked about her rampant alcoholism, how she stood by her abusive husband no matter, they raged upon finding out that she had known about was going on since day one and did nothing to stop it. Miriam had reportedly never harmed Helga, she had never hit, partook in Bob's abuse, or even yelled at her, but that didn't matter. Her flagrant neglect and facilitating of the abuse — even if she herself didn't do it — was enough to brandish her as just as guilty in the court of public opinion, so it was majorly celebrated when her parental rights to Helga were brought into question, and when rumors of a case of neglect was brought up against her, the social sphere celebrated, hoping she would one day face the music.
Through all of this, Helga had been trying to recover.
She had made little to no progress, but the attempt was there. It was a blessing when the state had placed her in the care of Amelia Bliss, she couldn't go back to Miriam and the courts didn't trust that Olga would keep her away from her mother, so all it took was a few signed documents for Dr. Bliss to become her foster mother. Helga was kept home from school, with Amelia encouraging her to do just a little bit of studying a day so she wouldn't fall too far behind. The girl distracted herself by using her school work, she rarely spoke, only if it were to ask for something to eat, and she couldn't be left home alone without having a panic attack. She frequently suffered from nightmares, and it had gotten so bad that Amelia began sleeping beside the girl in the guest room instead. When she wasn't doing school work, she was laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Any sense of the Helga Pataki Amelia knew was gone, replaced by a scared, hurt little girl that had a long road ahead of her.
It pained Amelia to see, but she believed in Helga. She'd make it through, and Amelia would be there every step of the way.
This chapter came out a little longer than I expected it to.
Next chapter will focus on how the residents of Hillwood cope with the entire situation, specifically Helga's classmates. There will also be some build up to the child neglect charges brought against Miriam and some Bliss Helga bonding.
R please! Love 'em :)