Free Ten Thousand Lies by Kelli Jean Page B

got back home all right.”
    “Will do,” I told him.
    “Good. I have to get going. I’ll talk to you later…Jaime.”
    “Okay. It was nice talking to you.”
    “You, too.”
    The phone was passed again, and Rex’s voice rattled irritatingly in my ear. “Right, cheeky-deeky, is Xanthe there for me to say good-bye?”
    “She is. I guess we won’t see you until we’re leaving Amsterdam?”
    “Something like that,” Rex replied. “I miss you.”
    “Miss you, too. Love you.”
    “Love you, too.”
    Handing Xanthe back her phone, I sat there, stunned. Something quite profound had just happened to me, and I had no idea what the hell it was. It was as though my entire life had just found its purpose, yet that made absolutely no sense.

    Aunt Ellen brought Ulla into Xanthe’s and my world later that night.
    Ulla was thirteen years old. Her Asian features would have been stunning if she weren’t so thin and jaundiced. Indeed, the waif looked ill in more than just her body. Her mind, her soul, seemed damaged in ways I hoped never to experience for myself.
    I was shocked, and by the look on Xanthe’s face, her emotional state wasn’t far from my own.
    “You girls can take my room,” Ellen said softly, gently steering Ulla toward the couch. “Go grab your things, and move them in there.”
    Stunned, Xanthe stood. “Okay.”
    Gathering our things from our separate rooms, Xanthe and I met in the hallway and stared at one another in silence for a moment before entering Ellen’s bedroom and depositing our things there.
    “She’s so young,” Xanthe whispered. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
    I nodded, slowly sinking down to sit on the bed.
    “Can you imagine?” she asked me.
    “Can you ?” I asked in return.
    “This is something I never took into consideration. We’re going to see a lot of… children …who have been horrifically abused…”
    Again, I nodded. I couldn’t work the words over my vocal cords.
    Xanthe sat next to me and took my hand in hers, squeezing tight. “We can do this, Jaime. Ellen…if she can handle this shit all on her own, then the two of us together certainly can. We have to.”
    “Yes,” I said.
    There was no other option for me. Not because Xanthe, Ellen, and Rex were the only true family I had, but because seeing Ulla and to do nothing was morally inconceivable.
    “It’s never too early to start,” she whispered.
    “Then, let’s do this,” I said firmly, finding my strength and my voice. “We got this.”
    “We do.”

    Over the next two and a half weeks, Xanthe and I spent all of our time with Ulla even though she rarely spoke. I knew Ellen was proud of us for stepping up. After the first few days, Ellen left Ulla in our care, getting on with whatever other jobs she did for the Locals.
    Ulla didn’t just look sickly. Ellen had told us the whole of it the day after the girl had come to live with us. Examined by the Locals’ medical staff, it was revealed that Ulla had full-blown AIDS and a host of other STIs. Once the treatable infections were taken care of, Ulla’s health improved a little, and we took her out of the apartment to experience what freedom was.
    Sitting at an outdoor café, Xanthe and I sipped our coffees while Ulla enjoyed a cola, something she’d only tasted a few times before and loved.
    “This is really nice,” she told us, her voice barely above a whisper.
    She never spoke any louder than that, and I could only guess she’d been conditioned not to.
    “Thank you for taking me.”
    “It’s our pleasure,” replied Xanthe. “I guess you were never allowed to go out into public before?”
    Ulla shook her head.
    “Can we ask what happened to you?” asked Xanthe.
    Ulla cast her eyes down, but she nodded. “I was kidnapped when I was very young. I was sold to a household to clean and cook.”
    “How young?” I asked.
    Ulla shrugged. “Four or five?”
    “Do remember your family at all?” asked Xanthe, who had taken out a notebook and