I go to school with this girl who I’m just going to call Ava. Ava’ s one of my closest friends and even though I’m a happily taken guy I care about her very much in a platonic sort of way. About a month ago, she got busted for having weed by the police, and her father has been furious with her ever since. So just yesterday after I went out for a run with my cross country team, and I ran into her and a group of friends after our run. We hung out for a while, and then she noticed her dad had called her, so she played his voicemail and he sounded furious. He yelled at her for not answering her phone and for leaving some check at home. I thought he was way over the top about it, but I figured the worst he would do is just yell at her when she got home, and I was wrong. This morning at school, she showed up with a bruise on her collar, and her hair draped over her left eye. During the beginning of the day, I noticed she had a black eye underneath of her hair. So later that day during our home room class, she was on the brink of tears, and I asked her why she was all bruised up, but she told me it was from cheerleading practice. Not much longer she started crying telling me that she left the check at home, and her dad was going to kill her. After that she spilled everything. She told me her dad’s been hitting her and her seven year old sister for as long as she could remember, and last night her dad just went into a blind rage. Underneath of her hair, the entire left side of her face was bruised. She was in a huge panic about the check and told me in tears that she’s afraid to go home. I told her she should probably go somewhere else tonight and that I would drive her anywhere after school, but she told me if she didn’t go home right after school, it would make things even worse. We talked for a while about what was best, and she told me it’s best that CPS doesn’t get involved. Her father works pretty much all day, and when he’s home he doesn’t do anything. Ava cooks dinner for her sister, keeps her entertained, and puts her to bed every single night. She’s afraid that because Ava and her sister are related because of their dad, they will be separated and her sister will continue being abused by her family. I just don’t know what to do, if I tell somebody I risk making the situation even worse, and if I don’t, her father’s just going to continue abusing her and her sister.
