"Relax honey, everything is going to be fine." Susan said while stifling a yawn. She hated driving this late at night and the current storm made things even worse but they were behind schedule and needed to be in Heatherfield by morning. She was supposed to start her new job with Simultech in the morning and she didn't need to be late to it because if she lost it then they were screwed. They had left Fadden Hills with just a few changes of clothes a piece and nothing else except the money to pay their rent at the apartment they were going to be staying at with a little bit left over for gas and hopefully some groceries. It wasn't much but it was a roof over the pair's head as well as being furnished.
Pulling into a service station, driving up under the roof over the gas pumps she stopped and looked over at a tense teenage girl with short red hair. She sported a nasty looking black eye as well as a split lip thanks to the son of a bitch known as Tony Vandom. Susan had a restraining order against the bastard but it didn't stop him from coming over drunk when Susan went to work at the McDonald's where she was a shift manager while attending training school for computer programming set up for prospective Simultech employees. She got a call in the middle of her shift with her sobbing daughter crying hysterically into the phone while someone was screaming in the background. The general manager was there and told her she couldn't leave so Susan ended up throwing her smock in the snot nosed brats face and stormed out.
She arrived to find the police escorting Tony away from the building where Will locked herself in her room after escaping from the drunken man. Tony had apparently been trying to beat the door down while screaming at the top of his lungs calling Will slut and whore just like her mother. The nerve of the bastard, Will was no more of a slut than Susan was. In fact Tony's current girlfriend was the only slut in the neighborhood who was one in Susan's opinion as the woman was a stripper at the place on the outside of town. How the woman could deal with Tony was beyond Susan though.
"Mom, how much longer until we get there?" Will asked softly, her attention still looking out the window. Looking over at the girl Susan saw what she was looking at, Will wasn't watching something outside she was looking at her battered reflection in the window as she rubbed her arms trying o warm herself. It was getting pretty cold and the heater in the car wasn't working very well forcing them to leave the windows down enough so the windows wouldn't fog over.
"Just three more miles, Will." Susan said reaching over to hug Will who struggled a little before finally succumbing to the embrace. "I promise everything is going to be fine. There isn't no way he can track us and as soon as I get started in my job we are going to have plenty of money and I'll buy you all the frogs you want."
It pissed Susan off thinking about it though, they released Tony without pressing any charges because of some legal technicality which scared the hell out of Will. They teenager refused to sleep ever since they released him though she couldn't stay awake forever. Will had started nodding off at the worst of moments making everything even worse on the redhead and the bad dreams didn't help at all. Tony had tormented the both of them for too long making this move far overdue.
"I don't want any damn frogs." Will growled, squeezing her arms so tight her knuckles started going white. "I just want him to leave us alone and he's never going to do it."
"He won't find us, Will. This is a new start for both of us, that bastard will never hurt us again." Susan promised rubbing Will's shoulder. "I'll be right back as soon as I get the gas then we will be to our new home within twenty minutes."
"Mom, I'm sorry." Will sighed looking over to the elder Vandom woman, the look in Will's eyes stinging Susan.
"Will, there is nothing for you to be sorry for so don't even go there." Susan declared, looking into her daughter's eyes putting as much love and honesty in her eyes as she could hoping that it would get through to Will. She knew that everything has been hard on Will, maybe even harder than it was on Susan herself. The young girl always seemed to be blaming herself for what happened. "This is his fault."
"I guess." Will sighed though Susan could tell that the girl wasn't quite convinced. "Do you mind if I wait here? I don't want them to see me like this."
"Of course honey, I'll be right back." Susan said, smiling to herself as she climbed from the car and opened the gas tank while taking the pump from the holder and putting it in the car's tank. Will wasn't exactly very self confident though she was a very beautiful girl and Susan wasn't being biased. Hell, Susan would have killed to have Will's looks when she was her daughter's age of sixteen, well sixteen in just a couple short weeks. Even in the baggy red tee shirt and jeans one could still notice the curves she sported and though she was a little pale and had a few freckles spotting her cheeks the girl had a serene beauty about her. The girl's soft brown eyes were usually full of kindness and laughter, even after all the two women have endured but after the last incident there was pain and hopelessness now shinning in them.
Susan sighed as she finished pumping the gas and replaced the nozzle and gas cap before going inside to pay for the gas. When she came back out she found Will asleep with her head leaning against the car door. Susan slid her own coat off and draped it over the younger girl in an attempt to warm her daughter up a little more. Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to get the power turned on for a few days yet but at least they would have a place to lie down until she could get it on.
She slowly pulled the car onto the street heading toward Heatherfield and in a matter of minutes they passed the sign announcing their arrival to their new hometown. It was going to be a new start for both of them and Susan knew everything was going to get much better for both of them.
Finally arriving at the rundown building that was to be their new home Susan pulled into the parking lot and found the space in front of their new apartment which was all outside access and sat next to the manager's apartment. Turning off the car Susan frowned as the rain still hadn't seemed to let up but she didn't have a choice. Getting out of the car she ran up to the manager's apartment and stood under the small roof away from the rain. Hugging herself and rubbing her shoulders after ringing the doorbell, trying to warm up a little as she waited for the manager to answer.
Finally after what seemed an eternity an older gray-haired man in a dark bathrobe opened the door grumpily. When he saw Susan his eyes quickly went to her chest, staring down her soaked tank top which was clinging to her curves. She almost slugged him but cleared her throat angrily instead.
"Ah yes, Missus Vandom." The man said, "You're late."
"It's Miss Vandom and I'm sorry I'm late." Susan said as he closed the door which worried Susan for a minute until he came back and handed her a key.
"It's late, come buy tomorrow with the rent." The man said, "This is the last apartment I have open. The electric, water and trash is paid for. Have a good night."
Susan stood there a few moments half in anger and half in shock at how quick that was. She wasn't sure she wanted her daughter staying here in the same place as a guy like that but then again she guessed about any man that was straight would probably be staring at her chest if she showed up in a wet tee shirt like this.
"Men are such pigs." Susan grumbled as she noticed Will running up to her with two trash bags which held their few changes of clothes a piece.
"So you got the key." Will asked tiredly as the two ran across the small yard to their door.
"Yeah, and guess what the utilities are paid." Susan said smiling as she unlocked the door and went inside, flicking the switch next to the door turning the light on.
"Even cable?" Will asked a little hopefully.
"Sorry." Susan sighed as she surveyed the room, even if cable was paid for it didn't look like it would do any good as the only thing in the living room was an old brown couch with several rips in it.
"It's okay." Will said with a false smile as she looked around. Susan walked by the kitchen and saw that their was a small square table with a couple of chairs sitting at it. It looked like their was a sink and cabinets with one of the doors missing. Besides that there was a dirty looking stove and refrigerator as well.
"God, didn't anyone ever clean here?" Will asked with disgust before walking past Susan and down the hall. A few seconds later light came flooding down the hall where Will must have found its light switch. Susan could see that there was only two doors down there which meant that the bathroom had to be connected to one of the bedrooms which was strange as there was supposed to be two bedrooms aw well as a separate bathroom.
"Mom, I thought there was supposed to be two bedrooms." Will said as she met Susan back in the hallway coming from one of the rooms.
"There is, Will." Susan said as dread began to fill her. There had to be some mistake, the manager swore to her over the phone that there were two bedrooms and if there wasn't they were screwed because the man said that this was the last. She had called all over Heatherfield and this was the only place they could afford until Susan got started at her job and received a couple checks to get stabilized.
"You better count again, mom." Will grumped while crossing her arms in annoyance. Susan walked past her and opened the first door to find a small bathroom with a curtainless shower, a small sink with broken mirror on a medicine cabinet and a toilet. All in all it was actually pretty clean though not as clean as Susan liked.
Continuing down the hall to the last door Susan went in to find a simple bedroom with a large box spring with a mattress on top with clean looking pillows and sheets on it. There was a closet that didn't have a door and the single window had a huge crack running through it. Susan felt her knees going weak as she wanted to cry, she was expecting a nice apartment with two bedrooms with decent furnishings but instead got an apartment that was badly run down.
"I'm so sorry." Susan said as tears started forming.
"Hey, it'll be okay." Will said hugging her. "This will be okay, you said as soon as we get stabilized we can find a better place. This will be a pretty nice place until then, heck with a little cleaning and a few touches this could be a really nice place."
"Thanks Will." Susan said smiling a little as Will let her go, Susan realizing how soaked the two of them were. "You can have the bedroom, I'll sleep on the couch."
"No how, no way." Will said grabbing Susan's hand keeping the older woman from leaving the room. "The bed is more than big enough for the both of us."
"Will, you need your privacy." Susan protested.
"Mom, there is no way in hell I'm letting you sleep on that-that thing out there." Will said waving toward the door, obviously indicating the couch. "This is only temporary so don't worry. Did you pack any towels or soap or anything?"
"No, I was in a hurry to get out of there." Susan sighed, too worried about getting out before Tony had a chance to get drunk and come back like he threatened, something she never told Will about.
"Well luckily I did, I grabbed all the stuff from the bathroom." Will said which explained why Will's bag was so much bigger than Susan's own. "Now let's wash off real quick then get some sleep."
"I need to make sure I'm up in time to head to Simultech." Susan sighed as Will was busy digging around in her bag and came back out with an alarm clock.
"Bless you." Susan said hugging Will tightly, "What would I ever do without you?"
"Probably fall apart." Will said with a hint of her old mischievous smirk.
"Probably would, lets go get a shower and get o bed." Susan said. Not too long later found the two women in bed, the alarm clock next to them on the floor set early enough to wake them up for Susan to get ready for work though Will wouldn't be starting school for a few days until her eye and lip healed completely. Susan held Will to her, spooning her from behind as they cuddled under the blankets trying to warm up as their luck the heater seemed to be broke in the apartment to.
"Night mom, love you." Will whispered as she drifted off to sleep.
"Night Sprite." Susan whispered, kissing the back of the red head's head. True Will had outgrown that nickname, the girl was no longer the sprite looking lithe girl she once was but was now a very beautiful young woman but to Susan Will would always be her little sprite.