Liz and I were genuinely sad that Grandpa had died, and scared about what might happen next.
The police came, four officers, two men and two women, along with paramedics. we were dressed, and met them at the door. The women officers took us into the living room and began questioning us, one man waited outside, and the other went with two paramedics into the bedroom.
We both told the policewomen about how we arrived there, and how we had been living with Grandpa for nearly seven years, almost in freedom.
After they wrote our stories down, they examined our collars, they were old and worn, only ever removed while we were heavily bound to replace batteries. The padlocks keeping them on our necks a sign of our helplessness.
A short while later, one of the women went to get bolt cutters, and broke the deadbolts and took off our collars. We both had pale skin in a tan line below where they had been, and hadn't been this free in 17 years for me, 19 for Liz.
I held Liz's hand the whole time including the ride in the back seat of the police car as we rode to the station. It wasn't long before we were sitting at Officer Hendrix's desk, and she handed Liz her cellphone, and Liz began crying at the sound of her mother's voice.
A few minutes later I got to talk to my father, and he agreed to come out to Colorado, where I had been taken. When our calls were both done, I looked at Liz.
"Do we take turns between living with your parents and mine? Or do we try the long distance thing?" I began crying as I asked her, not wanting to be away from her for even a minute.
"I'm not leaving you. I promise," she whispered and kissed me. We had a few people watching our emotional kiss, but didn't think anything of it.
We stayed in a local hotel for a few days, waiting for family members to come get us. We had a police detail outside our room, and when we went out we had a police escort.
My dad showed up after a few days, he had driven out. He asked if we could meet without Liz, just see each other, and I agreed. He took me to an Applebees, as it had been our place since I was little.
"You have grown into such a beautiful woman," he said when I came out to the parking lot where he was waiting to take me. He opened his arms for a hug, but didn't come in to hug me. He looked nervous to scare me. Immediately I remembered how great of a dad he was.
I hugged him and held him tight for a long time, and then we got in the car. He held my hand as we drove.
"I don't want to probe and bother you but I want you to know that you can tell me anything you want."
I sighed and nodded. "Thank you, Daddy. I suppose, I just want you to know that I was a sex slave, and otherwise I don't think we should talk about details."
He nodded, she hadn't said it on the phone to him, but he seems to have assumed as much.
