Maggie

I was 8 years old walking down the street with my umbrella in hand. It was cold. The streets were wet and noisy with cars driving and honking. My father forgot to pick me up from school so I decided to walk home. A homeless woman sat with an old blanket around her shoulders and a Target cart. She looked up and I stopped. Her hair was gray and her eyes were dark. She had a hard expression on her face but she wasn't mad. We continued to stare at one another until she turned away and tucked her head down to keep warm. A part of me wanted to talk to her. I didn't want to pass and not say anything. Despite the fact that she was a homeless woman, something about her was intriguing. 

 I was about 10 feet away when I decided to be brave and speak. As I drew closer, a black sedan pulled up to the curb. My eyes wandered away from the woman and over to the car just as the window rolled down. A male voice called out my name and I saw a young girl about my age with a man sitting next to her in the drivers seat. It was my classmate Danielle. She and I weren't close friends since she liked to keep to herself, but I would talk to her here and there. The man next to her was her father and although he seemed cordial with my father, there was  something about him that I didn't like. They both were looking at me with different expressions, one anxious and the other devious. Danielle's face was red as if she had been crying and there was a dark spot on her left cheek. "Hey sweetie, what are you doing out here all alone?" her father asked me. "Just walking home," I answered. "I can take you home. The weather is gonna get bad and I wouldn't want you to get sick," At this moment I paused. Had I been anyone else I probably wouldn't have hesitated to say yes. After all, I knew this man. His daughter and I went to the same school and she was also in the car. Yet in the back of my mind something was screaming for me to not move. It kept telling me that getting in the car was not a good idea. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Umm..." I looked at Danielle as if hoping she would offer some aid. Her eyes seemed to scream at me to run away. The anxiety within me began to rise as we stared into one another's eyes. Her father noticed our silent exchange and when he looked over at Danielle his smile immediately changed. He moved his right arm and Danielle slightly jumped, my guess being that he grabbed her roughly. "Come on Demi get in the car," he said with a rough tone. The voice in my head was screaming to run and now Danielle was silently speaking out the word, GO. "Demi," her fathers voice said louder. "Leave the girl alone, she's fine," a new voice then said. It was the homeless woman. "Mind your own business you freak. Demi get in car," he yelled out. "Drive away sir or I'll call the police and let them know that you are not only trying to take a child that's not yours but also that your own daughter looks like she's been through a few beatings," she said. Danielle gasped and her father scowled at the woman. Immediately he drove off without one more glance my way. The two of us watched as he sped off down the street and took a sharp left turn on a red light. Silently I thanked God for my good fortune as my nerves calmed down. I looked up at my hero and she gazed down at me with a softer expression on her face. "Come on I'll walk you home," she told me. She gathered her blanket and folded it up neatly. Then she helped me inside the cart. I gave her directions to my house and down the street we went, her walking and me riding in the back of the cart with my umbrella overhead. We talked and she told me her name was Maggie. She was 36 and all alone after losing her job and apartment when she found out her boyfriend hadn't been paying the rent. She was all alone in the world, with no one and nothing but the clothes on her back, her blanket, her wallet with $30, an expired drivers license, and this cart. "It would be so easy to completely give up and kill myself. I have no family and no one even knows I exist. I don't even have a valid ID and my birth certificate was lost when people stole all my things after the eviction. I sold my purse and what ever else was left that had value. I never even saw my ex after that day. He left with my car. It's been six months and I've been living on these streets, cold, hungry, and alone. Ending my life would be so easy and no one would care if I was dead. I wouldn't have any more worries and I could sleep and be conscious of nothing... but I don't want to take that route. Despite everything I still have faith that God will make a way for me. I have faith that God will bring someone in my life and do something that will make a difference," she said. I didn't know how to reply to her so I just listened. Who would have thought that she would have such a story, when from the outside it appeared as if she was a dirty helpless woman. Yet she had such drive and courtesy. Her eyes were caring and she had saved me from a fate I am sure isn't pleasant. Maggie was a blessing, my blessing from God. 

Ten minutes later we arrived at my small house. No one was home. I didn't have a key so I sat on the porch. Maggie sat with me and together we waited. A hour turned into three until darkness. Still, Maggie never left my side. Finally headlights flashed as a car pulled into the driveway. My mother got out the car laughing and talking on her phone. She took one look at me but completely ignored Maggie as she continued her conversation. Maggie stood to say hi and my mother told her friend to hold on as she set her phone down to find the keys. Maggie explained everything that happened but mother wasn't listening. Instead she pulled out her keys and a $20 bill then returned to her phone call. She handed the money to Maggie then unlocked the door and went inside. I was upset by her actions but Maggie just smiled and said it was alright. Rather than keep the money, she gave it to me and told me to save it. She wouldn't accept it when I tried to hand it to her so instead I gave her my necklace. It fit perfectly. Then she gave me a warm hug and headed down the street. I stood there and watched her until she was out of sight, crying to myself. For the rest of the night I cried and dreamed of Maggie. Not many people in the world would have done what she did for me. Nor would anyone believe that a person of her circumstance would have done all that she did. My father certainly didn't believe my story about Maggie. He thought she was made up especially when my mother said she didn't know who I was talking about. After that day I looked for Maggie every time we drove past the street where we met. Everyday I looked for her. I couldn't find her. I also never saw Danielle or her father. 

A week went by and still I didn't see Maggie. I didn't see her cart or her old blanket. It made me cry because I felt like I lost someone special to me even though I hardly knew her. My friends and parents didn't understand my distress. Everything came crashing down three day later when I was watching the news. A homeless woman had been found beaten to death a few blocks away from my house. She was wrapped up in a blanket and a cart was left over the body. The culprit had stripped her naked and raped her. All that was left was the necklace she wore. 

When I realized it was Maggie I felt everything shut down within me. I didn't know how to react. Mother called for us to eat but I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. Maggie was dead. The woman who saved me was dead. She was already alone in the world with nothing but her minor possessions and her faith. Yet someone attacked and killed her. Someone violated her without a care and left her to rot. She didn't have someone to save her. Maggie....She was the first person to teach me about having compassion for strangers.

Reviews

[Stacey]

Wow, what a sad ending to such a wonderful chapter. It's amazing how people can have such compassion for others. Compassion is a wonderful thing. Wish she didn't have to die though.