Dr. Valeria Gómez knew something was awry as soon as sixteen-year-old Laura and her dad walked into the pediatric clinic. Laura didn’t look at anyone, and her shoulders were hunched over. Her father, Ernesto, answered every question for her with a creepy amount of power. He stood so close to Valeria during the test that she told him to wait outside.
As soon as the door closed, Laura’s facade fell apart. An ultrasound soon showed what the girl had been too scared to ask: she was pregnant. Laura broke down when Valeria gently asked her whether she felt safe. She was so scared to talk that she hinted at threats and control that were so bad she could not breathe. The doctor’s instincts rang like alarms: this was not dread of being pregnant. This was frightened of the man who was outside.
Valeria told Ernesto about the pregnancy and then withdrew him from her under the pretense of medical protocol. She watched his face closely. There was no shock or uncertainty; just a chilly, flat stillness that verified her darkest suspicions. After security took Ernesto away and the police were on their way, Valeria went back to Laura, who eventually told her the truth in bits and pieces: her father never left her alone, watched everything she did, and punished her for sobbing.
When the police showed there to arrest him, the man tried to run away and yelled for Laura to come with him. The girl held on to Valeria as if she had been waiting years for someone to protect her. Julia Rivera, a social worker, came soon after and told Laura that she would never go back to that house. The girl fell into her arms, crying with relief and fear of what was to come.
Laura had nightmares, guilt, and a strong urge to be quiet when she was at a temporary shelter, but Julia and Valeria wouldn’t allow her go back to being alone. Laura slowly told the story of the years of control, deceit, and abuse she had been through, and the truth came out in heartbreaking chunks.
At the same time, detectives found out some frightening things about Ernesto’s past: he had a record of being violent toward Laura’s late mother, whose “sudden” death now seemed much more ominous. The case got worse, but Laura ultimately started making her own choices about her medical care, her legal statements, and eventually her choice not to continue the pregnancy. Adults were now paying attention to what she said, not the man who had kept her quiet for so long.
Laura started to get parts of her life back in the weeks that followed. She went to special classes, picked out her own clothes, read literature her father had told her not to, and roamed about the shelter’s garden without anyone watching her every move. One afternoon, Valeria came over and said softly, “You decide your future, not your past.”
Laura believed it for the first time since she walked into that clinic. The path ahead would be hard, and healing would take time, but she was no longer afraid. Someone else was no longer in charge of her story. Laura was starting to write her own for the first time.
