Hey guys! Belle's back! Hope you guys enjoy!
Belle was being escorted by two silent and burly guards to… well she didn't know exactly. She'd been living, if you could call it that, in some big building, maybe an abandoned jail place or ward? on some harbor that she didn't know. Ever since she'd been taken she'd been put to work in just about any situation that needed to be taken care of. Whether it was cleaning or serving or any other demeaning task. She wondered where she was going this time.
They were rounding a corner when one of the alarms went off. 'Someone's trying to escape,' she thought. 'Please, let them make it.' She was pulled from her thoughts when one of the guards jerked her closer to him.
"Go. I'll make sure she gets to where she's going," he told the other one. "It's not like she can do anything," he laughed. Belle frowned as the other one laughed as well and took off. The first guard looked around for something oddly. "Come on," he told her. He started running, dragging poor Belle behind.
"Whoa! Where are you taking me?!" she asked him.
"Shh. Or they'll hear you," he told her quietly.
"What are you talking about?!" she whispered.
"I'm getting you out of here," he whispered back.
"What? Why?" she asked.
"Because," he began as he stopped them, checking the corridors, keeping them on the move. "I've watched you. You are so considerate of the other people in here, even the guards. You don't deserve this. He wasn't right to do this to you. So I'm doin' the right thing for him." He unlocked the door and opened it. Belle stared out at what was only a dream to her. It was nighttime. There weren't any lights except for the street lamps that lit a path to her freedom. It was possibly the most beautiful thing she'd seen.
She turned to the guard. She had tears of joy in her eyes. Quickly, she wrapped her arms around him and said while crying, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
The guard returned her hug. After a few moments he took out a brown sweater like jacket that was probably the warmest thing she'd seen in two years from his chest pad. "Can't have you freezing to death after this mess," he laughed as he put it on her. "Now you be safe, don't talk to strangers and stay out of the lights at night. Ya got that?"
"I will," she promised. "Thank you. For everything."
"Go before they see you," he said before he almost pushed her out the door.
She waved good-bye and ran.
"Man I hope that girl makes it," he hoped aloud.
Belle was running and running as fast as she could go. Her legs burned but she kept pushing. She ran all the way to some city. It looked like any major city looked. Brightly lit buildings, busy streets, cars honking annoyed at traffic and people that were too busy being on there phones to notice a scared and lost girl.
At this point she stopped running and began walking and looking around. She saw someone sitting on a park bench and went over to talk to him. "Excuse me?" she asked trying to get his attention. He turned to face her. He was an older guy, maybe 60 or so. He was a dark African American man with white curly hair, tiered blue eyes and had an expression of consideration upon looking at her. Wondering whether or not he should help her. "Hi, my name's…" she started, trying to think of an alias to use. "Lacey," she picked. "I'm lost. Can you tell me where I am please?"
His expression softened. He could see the fear in her eyes. "Relax kid," he told her. "You're in Jackson California."
"California?" she gasped. That was on the other side of the States. Then it hit her. She knew who took her.
"You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost," he said.
"Oh, uh, kinda. I'm, uh, I'm, I'm just really far from home is all," she said.
"Where's that?" he asked.
"Maine," she answered.
"Sheeshk, that's far," he said. "How'd ya end up here?"
"That's something I still don't quite know," she partially lied.
"Well, there's an airport about twenty miles away," he offered.
"Too expensive," she said. "Actually anything would be too…" she stopped because when she put her hands in her pockets she felt something in both of them. She pulled them out. Shocked to find two giant rolls of cash with rubber bands holding them both together. She quickly stuffed them back in her sweater. "Well maybe not as impossible as I thought a couple of seconds ago."
"You really didn't know those were there did you?" he confronted.
"I swear if I did I never would've pulled them out," she answered him honestly.
"Alright. There is a train depot about five miles that way. But you might first want to get some supplies," he pointed out. He knew. Somehow he knew that she was being honest.
"That is probably a good idea," she said.
"Come on, There's probably a convenience store around the corner," he said getting off the bench.
"Thank you so much Mr…." she stopped, realizing that she didn't know his name.
"Tompson, Isaac Tompson," he told her.
Belle's got a long trip home. I hope she makes it. Tune in next time for another exciting edition of Letters to Belle.
Please R&R