Hephzibah House Journal

Hephzibah House Journal
Susan Grotte's journal from her experience as a student at Hephzibah House, told in short-story form.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Beth Williams: Survivor!


I was a student at HH in August of 1981.

I was the girl that ran away during the transportation process from the new house he was building to the School Street house.

I do feel lucky after I read some of these stories and see the duration that some people were at HH.

It was about 10PM on a Saturday night, we were holding hands getting out of a van in the driveway of the School Street house, I broke away and ran. I remember staff member keys clanking and dangling as they ran after me yelling, get her, get her, etc. I ran through back yards, jumped fences, etc. The next day I could not walk.

I ran into a couple who had been in bed, but decided to get up and go out to get a soda from the pop machine that was near a park at the bottom of a hill. I ran to them, screaming help me, help me, and they took me into their home, cared for me, and let me use their phone, etc. so I could make contact with family and friends who did not know where I had disappeared to.

I think it was a miracle that they happened to come along, after going to bed but for some reason, they decided to go outside. They were my angels and helped me. I am forever thankful because I was only 17, desperate and full of panic, in a dark city two or three states away from my home, and who knows where I would have ended up if it would not have been for them.

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