My Story (30 page)

After a few minutes, the man moved toward Mitchell and started talking to him. “Who are you?” he asked.

Mitchell didn’t say anything.

“Where you headed?” The man was trying to be nice.

“We are ministers of the Lord,” Mitchell answered.

“Ministers? Really! What do you believe?”

Mitchell obviously didn’t feel like preaching. He answered the man’s questions only briefly, not really saying anything. I glanced at the young man out of the corner of my eye. He nodded at me. “Why is she wearing a gray wig? Is that part of your religion?”

I glanced toward Mitchell, seeing the panic in his eye. “We believe many things,” he answered curtly. He was very defensive. His voice was sharp and on-edge.

The young man didn’t seem to care. He pressed a little harder. “The way she is dressed, the wig and stuff, is that part of some religious ceremony? She is so young. Is it designed to teach humility or something?”

Mitchell refused to answer. Taking me by the elbow, he edged me toward the front of the bus. The young man watched us curiously. We got off at the next stop, leaving him to stare at us through the dark windows as the bus pulled away.

Standing on the side of the road, Mitchell held my elbow in a painful grip. “Once I get you back to camp, you will
never
leave, Shearjashub! It is too dangerous! I will not lose you. I will not put myself in danger. I am too important to the world. You will go to the camp and stay there. That is the Lord’s desire.”

I thought back on the way the young man on the bus had looked at me, the way he had challenged Mitchell, the way he had kept his eyes on us while the bus had driven away. Mitchell had been shaken by his advances, but I would pay the price.

We waited for the next bus, then jumped on. I don’t know if Mitchell even knew where the bus was going, he just wanted to get off the street. This bus was not very crowded and no one asked us any questions. We sat alone, surrounded by looks of disgust. But that was no surprise. We were filthy and we smelled bad. I wondered if I’d ever feel clean again.

We only went a couple of miles before Mitchell forced us to get off the bus again.

We had made it beyond the point of the mountain that separates the Salt Lake Valley from Utah County. I looked at the mountains on the east, recognizing their features. We were very close to my grandparents’ house. Less than twenty miles from my home! I flashed back to summer afternoons, playing in their backyard that had been flooded by the irrigation ditch. Bobbing for apples. Playing with my cousins. It felt so good to be so close to home.

Then I thought of what Mitchell had told me:
You’re going to spend the rest of your life up at the camp!
My heart sank again, my stomach tying into knots.

We were standing on State Street, one of the main roads that leads downtown. Mitchell started walking without saying where he was going. Barzee and I followed as we always did. He walked into a Walmart, where he stole some new hiking boots and some other things. Our green bags were bulging with the stolen items by the time we made it to the front of the store. Mitchell paid for a few things to relieve any suspicion, then we walked toward the door. People were always looking at us. We just didn’t fit in.

Passing by the main entrance, I glanced at the wall with all of the pictures of the missing children. Am I up there? I wondered. I started walking toward the wall, scanning the photographs. Mitchell grabbed me firmly by the shoulder. A sharp pain moved up and down my arm. He squeezed tighter and leaned toward me. “You are not up there. No one remembers or cares about you anymore. You are mine. You’ll always be mine. Your previous life is over. Now, come on! Let’s go!”

He started to pull on my arm, but I pulled back, staring at the pictures of the children. I don’t know why, I just couldn’t seem to pull away. So many children. So many shattered lives. But I didn’t see my picture, which meant that Mitchell was right. Everyone had forgotten me. I was not on the missing posters anymore.

He jerked on my arm again. “Quit calling attention to yourself!”

I turned around and followed him out of the store.

We walked down State Street toward the middle of the city. We were on 106th South Street. We had a long way to go. But I knew what was going to happen. We’d take another bus downtown, then walk east, toward the university, then up the canyon toward our old camp. Then I’d be in my prison and Mitchell would be home.

I walked wearily, dragging my feet. I felt like I was walking toward a penitentiary with my personal prison guards. I had felt this way before.

We had only walked two blocks when I saw the first police car. It came up and stopped immediately beside us. Mitchell cursed. Barzee sucked in a breath of air, her throat seeming to gurgle. We kept on walking. I kept my head down.

Another police car came up and stopped beside us, then another one in front. I heard Mitchell cursing once again. “We shouldn’t have done it!” he hissed in fear. “We shouldn’t have done this.” His voice was tight with rage.

I felt sick. I felt elated. I didn’t know what to do!

I thought about every threat that Mitchell had ever made about my family. I thought about the painful life that lay before me in the camp. Years of being raped. Years of hunger and abuse. Years of being trapped up on the mountain.

I thought of everything that I had gone through.

All I wanted to do was go home.

Then I thought about my little brother and sister. I loved them so much! I wanted to keep them safe!

The policemen jumped out of their cars and walked toward us.

Please help me protect my family!
I prayed.

“Sir, I need to talk to you,” the first policeman said.

Mitchell kept on walking.

“Sir, I need you to stop. I need to talk to you!”

Mitchell didn’t answer.

An overwhelming feeling of panic swarmed over me.
Please, God, help to set me free!

“
Sir!
I need you to talk to me. I need to see some ID!”

The officers became aggressive, all of them shouting now. Mitchell’s eyes were wide with fear, his face draining of all color. He stammered once or twice, trying to get something out, but his voice seemed to crack. Barzee didn’t say anything, holding close to her husband, her lips tight across her teeth. She glared at me, her eyes hateful and defiant. I flashed back to the scene at the library when she had pinched my leg underneath the table, her iron fingers digging into my skin, communicating all of the fear that I had been subjected to for months. I looked at her, then turned away, my mind a jumble of hope and fear.

Another policeman came toward us. His voice was firm. He seemed to be in charge. The other officers gathered around. Though they were talking to Mitchell, their attention was primarily on me.

“What is your name?” one of the officers asked me.

I felt almost dizzy. I was sick with uncertainty and fear.

“What is your name?” he asked again.

Was it Esther? Was it Shearjashub? I hadn’t been called Elizabeth for so long.

The officer frowned at me. He didn’t treat me like I was his friend.

I felt like I was falling over a waterfall.
Don’t say anything. Don’t give Mitchell a reason, or he’ll hurt you! Don’t give him a reason to hurt your family!

“Hey, I need to know your name,” the officer pushed again.

What will Mitchell do to me? What will he do to my family?

“Your name!” the officer demanded.

“Her name is Shearjashub,” Mitchell finally answered.

The officer only glanced at Mitchell. “Is that right? Is that your name?”

I thought of the long black knife. I thought of the fact that Mitchell had never spent more than a few nights in jail. He seemed impervious to being captured. He would kill my family if I talked!

“Where are you from?” the officer demanded.

“We just got here from California,” Mitchell answered for me. “We are preachers. We aren’t doing anything but serving the Lord.”

The officer ignored him. “Is that right?” he asked, looking into my eyes.

“She is my daughter.”

“Where are you going?” the officer asked me, moving a little closer.

“We’re heading to Salt Lake City,” Mitchell answered for me again. “We’re ministers. We’ve done nothing wrong.” His voice was calm and cool now. There was no sign of panic or deception. He spoke softly and acted very confident and sure.

“I’m not speaking to you, sir, I’m speaking to the young lady.” The officer stared at me, waiting for me to say something.

“She’s scared,” one of the other officers whispered from the back. “She doesn’t dare say anything.”

The officers huddled together, a couple of them keeping their eyes on Mitchell and me. Barzee seemed to have melted into the background. It was as if no one cared that she was even there.

“She’s scared of him,” the officer said to the others. “She’s too scared to even answer. You’ve got to get her by herself.”

One of officers walked toward me and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. I immediately flashed back to when Mitchell had grabbed me in the Walmart just a few minutes before. Mitchell’s hand had been a death grip, like the Grim Reaper on my arm. But this was different. It didn’t feel like the officer was going to hurt me. Maybe he could actually keep me safe.

He nudged me away from Mitchell, then leaned over and looked me in the eye. “What is your name?” he asked me gently.

I felt my heart racing in my chest.

More than anything, I wanted to tell him! I didn’t want to stay with Mitchell. I didn’t want to walk with him up into the mountains. I didn’t want to be raped every day. I didn’t want to suffer hunger anymore.

All I wanted was to be with my mom and dad. All I wanted was to go home!

But Mitchell’s face filled my mind like a monster in a dream. I heard his voice. It was the devil. I had heard it so many times before:
I will kill your brothers and your little sister. I will kill your mom and dad. I will plunge my knife in and I will turn it! I will kill them all!

The officer waited, then leaned toward me, looking me right in the eyes again. When he spoke, his voice was soft and assuring. “Are you Elizabeth Smart? Because if you are, your family has missed you so much since you were gone! They want you back. They love you. They want you to come home.”

For a moment, my world seemed to absolutely stop. I looked at him. He looked at me. I felt calm. I felt assured. Months of fear and pain seemed to melt before the sun. I felt a sweet assurance.

“I am Elizabeth,” I finally said.

The officer turned me around and handcuffed me, then put me in the back of his car. This wasn’t what I had expected, and I wondered what was going on. Staring through the window, I saw the other officers surrounding Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. I watched as they were cuffed, but then the officer started talking to me and I had to look away.

By the time I turned back, Mitchell and Barzee were gone.

It would be many years before I would see them again.

The policeman told me they were taking me down to the station. The police car started moving. I had never been inside a police car and I had to crane my neck to see out of the divider that separated me from the front seat. The cuffs were uncomfortable and it scared me, not being able to move my arms. I was feeling just as fearful as I had felt before. Why had they handcuffed me? What had I done wrong? Did they think it was my fault? Did they think I was a criminal like Mitchell?

We rode along in silence. “What’s going to happen to them?” I finally asked.

I could tell by the look on the policeman’s face that he thought that I was worried about them, like maybe I wanted to be with them, or that I wanted to make sure they’d be okay. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I was scared to death that they might put me in the same cell as Mitchell. I was certain he would kill me if they did. That was the only reason that I asked. I just wanted to know if they were going to keep me safe.

The officer didn’t answer. So I stared out the window and wondered what was going to happen to me as we rode along in silence.

I was nearly overcome by everything that had just happened. I had gone from being a hopeless prisoner to being someone who would soon be free. But it hadn’t hit me yet and I wasn’t sure that it was real. I wasn’t sure that something wasn’t going to happen that would take it all away.

We drove to the police station, where I was uncuffed and led into a small room. There were no windows, only a shabby sofa, and all of the walls were bare. My heart was still racing. I had no idea what to expect.

“You can take off your disguise,” a policeman told me before he left the room. I immediately pulled off the dark glasses and the nasty wig and dropped them on the floor.

I sat alone. No one came to me. Were they going to let me call my mom and dad? Were they going to send me to prison? Surely they’d let me talk to someone before they sent me away! Maybe they were going to let me go? But if they were going to set me free, wouldn’t they have done it already? I wanted to stand and test the door to see if it was locked, but I didn’t dare. I was terrified that I would open it and see Mitchell standing there.

I don’t know how long I was in the room, but it seemed to be a lifetime. My heart was constantly racing. As I sat there, I kept thinking about being sent to prison. I decided that it didn’t sound that bad. Compared to what I had been living through, it would have been a huge improvement. As long as they didn’t put me back with Mitchell, it was going to be okay.

I leaned back on the sofa and tried to relax. Suddenly, the door flew open. Looking up, I felt my heart leap. My dad was standing there!

He looked at me as if he were seeing a ghost. His face showed absolute shock, as if I couldn’t be real. The dead was living! His daughter had come home! I looked at him and waited. Time froze. My heart stopped. I don’t know if I breathed. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity but must have been less than a second, then my daddy ran to me and grabbed me and started hugging me as only a father can. It was a grasp of desperation and giddy happiness and absolute disbelief. It was a hug of relief and happiness that is impossible to describe. But I felt it. And I knew he felt it. We held on to each other very tight. Then he pulled away and looked at me, staring into my face. “Elizabeth, is it really you?!”