“That’s not normal,” Elo said. “That’s emotional abuse.”
“Really?” the girl asked.
“Really,” Elo said. “You deserve better. Everyone does. You should talk to the counselor.”
“Will you come with me?”
“Of course,” Elo said.
By the end of the week, the girl had broken up with him and started seeing a therapist.
“You helped me see I deserve better,” she told Elo.
“That’s all you,” Elo said. “You chose yourself.”
At sixteen, Elo got her driver’s license and took her first solo road trip—three hours to the ocean with Sky singing off-key beside her. They ran into the waves fully clothed, shivering and laughing.
“I’ve never seen the ocean before,” Elo said, floating on her back and staring up at the huge open sky.
“You’re free now,” Sky said.
“I feel free,” Elo whispered.
College came next. Elo chose a state university close to home so she could keep working with the foundation. She majored in psychology, with a pre-law track. She joined a research team studying childhood trauma and recovery.
Her professor, impressed by her insight and lived experience, invited her to co-author a study on what helped survivors heal.