ISFNE Chapter 1
A/N: Hello! Welcome to the second part of my story. If you're seeing this and going "What? Second part?" I advise you read the first part (yeesh my early chapters are rough but plow through...they get much better I promise) which would be titled Even Though I Walk Through the Darkest Valley. For those of you who followed me over here, hi again! Thanks, you're the best. :) Hope you are up for more great story and terribly long dry spells...Hey at least I'm honest. Without further delay...Enjoy. :)
Allison (Faith) POV
The ride to Mark's house was surprising un-awkward as we were able to continue talking over our shared beliefs as I'd been deprived for so long of good company. I was amazed at this turn of events, so incredibly thankful that this had fallen into my lap, though something tug at me to know that this wasn't the final destination, merely a pit stop. If it was merely a time for recovery though I worried to think what my next step would be. God would provide, I was sure of it.
Kristi POV
I heard Mark park in the garage and Anna raced to the door to greet him, her adorable black curls bouncing, and shrieked happily as he came in, "Daddy! Daddy! Look! I made a new drawing at preschool today! It's us! See? You're right there," she pointed to a squiggly mess on the left side of the page. I smiled as he scooped her up and twirled her before shifting her to his side so he could hold her with one arm.
"I love it," he stated kissing her forehead as she giggled. "Hi, sweetheart," he addressed me, giving me a peck on the lips and then turning back toward the door. The girl, of course, I'd almost forgotten as I noticed her standing quietly looking a little lost. She was on the scrawny side and her hair was unkempt and greasy thrown up in a ponytail. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt and some jeans that were wearing a little on the knees. But seeing her I understood what Mark had been talking about, she was different, there was something about her that was special. Right now she looked quite wary of what she'd walked into, scared that she was intruding. I'd have to change that for certain.
"Everyone, this is Allison, Allison, this is my wife Kristi, and this little monster," he said tickling Anna as she burst out in giggles again, "Is Anna. Anna, show Allison how old you are," He encouraged. Anna buried her head in 'daddy's' shoulder with another muffled giggle. Allison stepped forward a little with a smile on her face as Anna peeked up over Mark's shoulder and Allison stooped and tilted her head to meet Anna's eyes.
"How old, Anna?" she asked with an animated smile. Anna perked up and proudly held up four fingers with her usual announcement of "FO!" which made Allison laugh and then feign shock, "Wow! You're so OLD!" she said making Anna giggle yet again.
"Alright, squirt, why don't you go wash your hands for dinner, okay?" I said prompting Mark to let her down as she scampered off, "Walk!" I scolded half-heartedly after her. "Hi, Allison, it's nice to meet you," I said finally addressing the girl.
"It's lovely to meet you...what am I to call you?" she said politely, the animation I'd seen in her face gone and replaced again with wariness of being an unwanted houseguest.
I tried to ease her fear, "Kristi will be just fine," I answered gently, "We're about to eat dinner but if you'd like to get cleaned up or anything feel free."
She shifted and flashed me a sheepish smile, "Well, if I don't smell too offensive I'd love to join you guys for dinner."
I gave an internal sigh of relief at her small attempt to make us laugh. To be honest I'd hoped she'd dine with us but hadn't wanted to push her if she was feeling a bit overwhelmed or uncomfortable. She seemed in great need of company.
Allison (Faith) POV
I walked in to find a family and was acutely aware of the fact that I was very possibly intruding on it. There was a women standing at the island in the kitchen right behind where we'd come in through the mud room. She was taller than I with dark hair that fell in lovely waves, coffee colored skin, and a smile that sat contently on her face as Mark walked through the door and was practically tackled by a little girl. The girl's hair curled in much tighter ringlets than her mother's and bounced with her as she ran up to greet her dad with pure joy. It twisted my gut slightly, to see such a moment played out, I zoned out of the scene for a moment or two as I wallowed momentarily before I heard myself being introduced. I quickly reengaged and smiled at little Anna's introduction as she was encouraged to tell me how old she was, something that was obviously a point of pride for her. She giggled and buried her head into Mark's shoulder and I stepped forward a little bending to meet her little brown eyes that peeked back up at me momentarily. I put on my best babysitter face and voice, "How old, Anna?" encouraging her some more and simultaneously trying to get her to laugh. She perked up and smiled at me and proudly announced she was "FO!" as she put it, which, in turn, made me laugh, forgetting where I really was.
I was quickly pulled out of it when Mark sent Anna to go wash her hands and I found I was going to be introducing myself to his wife. I stumbled after she addressed me, not wanting to come off as presumptuous with using her first name, thankfully she seemed to sense my worry and assured me that referring to her as "Kristi" would be just fine. She seemed pleasant and welcoming but I was wary, knowing that I was barging in on her household but she seemed persistent in letting me feel invited to participate in the family dinner, for which I was very grateful as I was still quite hungry.
After saying grace we started digging into the chicken dinner as we sat around the dinner table. It was, of course, delicious, probably because I was still starving but also because Kristi had prepared it so well. I peeked over at little Anna who was surprisingly quiet and happy to be at the dinner table and was peeking at me with a cute little smile.
"So, Allison, Mark mentioned that you had memorized some Scripture, how much have you worked on?" Kristi asked, trying ease us into a conversation.
"Um..well I've memorized a lot of different parts I guess. I really like Philippians, or really anything written by Paul." I tried to state without bragging.
"She's being too modest, Kristi, she's memorized the whole book of Philippians and is working on James as well," Mark interjected with enthusiasm.
She looked thoroughly impressed; I felt thoroughly embarrassed. " And you're how old? That's amazing, Allison!"
Old...that was a strange question...it wasn't but, I had no idea of the date. I realized I hadn't kept tabs on my imprisonment at all. It had been long surely but..how long. Had my birthday passed? This was insane. "This is, um, embarrassing at best but what's the date?" I asked in response.
"It's the 13th of May, why?" Kristi responded looking concerned.
No, it couldn't be. I counted back the days. Yep. What a sick, birthday present that had been. I'd almost been raped on my birthday. Well, made sense as to why I'd had no thoughts as to when my birthday was approaching. "Well, if it's really the 13th that makes me 17," I finally answered.
They thankfully didn't question my strange reply but continued to converse, talking instead about James as a message idea for the youth group Mark headed and how he was planning on finishing up the Beatitudes.
Anna started to get fussy so they went ahead and excused her and I soon followed asking where I could (finally) shower.
Maxwell POV
We traveled back to the manor in relative silence, the master had barely spoken a sentence since the fiasco at the hotel. She was gone. What had possessed her to run? And how in the hell had she pulled it off so flawlessly when she was so in the dark? I wanted to hate her. With every fiber of my being I wanted to hate her and curse her for what she was putting us all through, but then...I knew what she'd been through and I couldn't bring myself to blame her at all. She'd gone off of what she knew and based on only what she knew, she had every right to escape. Hell, if there hadn't been so much going on behind her back I'd've helped her! But she didn't have the full picture, and we did. She wasn't safe as far as we were concerned. Yet, we had nowhere to start. Eric certainly wasn't helping. He seemed to be in shock at best. We figured we'd get back to the manor and let things sit until we could come up with any form of a plan, and until Eric could recover and would reassert himself as the leader he was, or at least used to be. Hopefully.
