I hadn’t seen Tonya since before the raid, since the day that I sat in her house and listened to her talk about what she had been going through. I went up to her house again and again. One time, her mama opened the door, and before I could ask, she said, “I ain’t seen her!”

That’s when I told her, “I know what’s been happening to her.”

That seemed to shock her, and for a second, her face went blank and she looked a little scared, but then she just slammed the door on me again.

It was hard to talk about, especially because Tonya made me promise to keep quiet, but I decided to tell Mama everything: about my trips up to Tonya’s house, the boys that came for her, and her mama being on drugs. It was like watching a clown change faces for a group of kids, but I didn’t laugh at all the expressions that Mama made.

She wanted to be mad at me for going upstairs to Tonya’s house, but she didn’t have time. She got on the phone, and I didn’t know who she was calling, but then she put on her business voice, and said, “Yes, I’d like to file a complaint for child neglect and sexual abuse.”

I wasn’t sure what all that meant, but when Mama started giving Tonya’s address and everything, I knew that she was reporting Rochelle, something that Tonya had told me not to do, but I knew I did the right thing.

We didn’t have any proof, but Mama convinced me that they’d soon take Tonya away from Rochelle, and that I probably wouldn’t get to see her for a while.

Mama kept telling me that Tonya was better off, even if I couldn’t play with her. She said that Tonya needed to get some help and that I had saved her. I wanted to feel happy that she was saved, but I kept feeling sad because everyone had left me.

“Where will they take her?” I asked her one day out of the blue.

“To live in a safe place.”

“But where? She’ll still be in Chicago? Can we visit her?”

“I don’t know, baby.”

“Then how you know she’ll be in a better place?” I snapped.

She was quiet, and then she said, “Because I’ve been praying about her since the first day I met her.”

I raised my head up and looked at Mama. I believed her. Even though she had never said anything about praying for anyone.

I had lost all my friends: Stacia was in the system, where Tonya would join her, and that would be awful. Precious had moved, her apartment boarded up with a black, wooden slab.