Editor’s Note: This story contains accounts of sexual abuse and attempted suicide. The number for the National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-HOPE. The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK.
Two sisters pace along the grassy bank of a small creek. They’re middle-school age—if they went to school—dressed in long skirts and scarves that cover their heads. The younger sister looks up at the highway running above her head and watches the cars pass. She tries to work up the courage to run up onto the road, stop a car and beg someone to take them anywhere else.