Hope you like this one! It's shorter than usual but Gabrielle doesn't have much to do...
Chapter Twelve: Safety in Another's Home
Friday April 27th, '07 12:30 pm
Gabrielle sat on a blanket, leaning up against a tree reading. She'd been there for about an hour. She'd been coming her all week, in the afternoon. In the mornings she would to one of the small towns that Dr. Williamson had brought her to, have lunch there, then go to the place where they would have their picnics. Then when it was near the hotel's dinner time, she would head back, eat dinner, then go right up to her room. Today however, was different, because today she wouldn't be going back to the hotel...
Over the week Carla and a few of her friends had gotten worse. When they passed her in the hotel they would "bump" into her, and a couple of times she nearly fell into a room service cart. At dinner time, they would follow her into the dinning room and when she would go to sit down they would take up the whole table, forcing her to find a different table.
They tried to corner her once, and Carla tried to swing at her again, but this time Gabrielle was ready for it and blocked easily and pushed her into her "possie". Carla was about to retaliate when Mrs. Mathews came down the hallway. Carla left before Mrs. Mathews noticed what was going on and Gabrielle stayed by her teacher's side and talked to her the rest of the day.
One of the mornings Carla's limo had pulled up as Gabrielle was waiting for her car. Carla came out, with her friends, and attempted to make her feel jealous about it.
"Are you sure you don't want a ride in our limo Gabrielle?" Carla said with a wicked grin.
Gabrielle noticed the valet pull up with her car and stood. She didn't say a word to the girls as she walked up to the valet and took the keys from him with a smile. She pulled away from the hotel without looking back. She smiled when she heard Carla scream "Bitch!" as she drove away. She didn't have to guess who had picked out her car. The fact that it was a Jag had "Dr. Williamson" written all over it.
Gabrielle shut her book in frustration. She was too restless to read today, she had to move, she had to do something. She took off her pumps and knee-high nylons and walked around the field. Walking in circles did nothing but make her more restless so she headed for the forest. She found the tree she had hid in before and climbed up into it.
This time she went all the way up and looked around the forest. She found a few other trees the looked climbable. She would climb them but not today. Today she just climbed out of the tree she was in and walked through the forest finding each tree and memorising where each one was, she would climb them at a later time. After she found the last one she looked at her watch.
"Three-thirty already?!" Gabrielle sad to herself, "Sheesh! Where did the last three hours go?!"
As Gabrielle made her way back to the field, she found that she had wandered deeper into the forest than she though she had. It took her another half hour to get back to the field. When she got back, Gabrielle put her nylons and shoes back on, then folded the blanket, grabbed her book and purse then headed back to the car. She put the blanket in the trunk with her suitcases then got in the car and put her book and purse on the passenger seat.
Half an hour later, Gabrielle pulled into Dr. Williamson's driveway. Gabrielle took a deep breath then took the key the Doctor gave her out of her wallet. Gabrielle popped the trunk and took out one of her suitcases. She had brought all of her stuff because she didn't know if she would be stay with Dr. Williamson after he got back. If she was she didn't want to have to go back to the hotel. She wasn't worried about loosing her hotel room because Mrs. Mathews had said she would keep the room for the rest of the trip just in case she did come back.
Gabrielle shut the trunk and walked up to the front door. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. She shut and locked the door and put her suitcase to the side of it. She had only been in three rooms of the house; the living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom that was off the kitchen. She decided to explore and find her room before she dragged her suitcase around.
There was a hallway off of the living room. There were two doors in the whole hallway. On the right hand side she found that it lead to the dinning room. There was a door in the dinning room that lead to the kitchen. The door on the left hand side was locked, Gabrielle figured it was the Doctor's study.
Gabrielle went down the rest of the hallway and found a set of stairs leading to the second floor. On the second floor there was another living room with a fireplace on two of the outside walls. There was a set of double doors behind her that she found lead to a ballroom. Gabrielle left the ballroom, closing the doors behind her, and followed the hallway leading from this second living room and found that there were three doors on each side and one at the end.
The three doors on the left were beautiful guest rooms each the size of a master bedroom. They all had king size beds with a vanity, dresser, large closet, and huge bathroom. The bathrooms had a good size shower, sink with a good size mirror, and a tub that was easily big enough for her to stretch out in any direction. The first door on the left gave way to a library. The only section of wall that wasn't ocupied with books was the door and the large window that was opposite her. The next door had a note taped to it with her name on it.
It read:
Gabrielle,
The room behind this door is for you to use in which
ever way you chose. If you are in here I will always
knock and not enter unless invited.
Richard Williamson M.D.
Gabrielle opened the door to find a room that was just about the size of the guest rooms. There was a seven foot by ten foot rug in the center, a couch to her left and a love seat to her right and a large window directly opposite her. On the wall above both the couch and the love seat there were large, woven wall hangings of the French country side. There was one on either side of the window as well.
The window was an alcove with a hope chest filling the space below it. The top was cushioned and when Gabrielle sat on it, she found it to be very comfortable. As she looked out the window she saw she had the most wonderful view of the countryside. Gabrielle got up off the hope chest and opened it to find it empty except for a large and beautiful blanket.
Gabrielle closed the chest and left the room taking the note off the door as she closed it. She found the third door to be locked and figured it was another study. She knew the room at the end was most likely the doctor's room, but she decided to open it anyway. When she turned the handle she found the door unlocked.
She opened it and only took three steps into the room. The room was huge, and was almost the width of the whole house. To on the walls to her left and right there was each a set of double doors. Gabrielle figured these lead to his closet and bathroom. There was a dresser on the left wall and a desk on the right wall.
In front of her was a bed that looked like a king sized bed and a full bed put together. There was a large double door window on each side of the bed and Gabrielle could see that they lead to a balcony that probably went across the width of the house. Gabrielle smiled and shook her head as she left his room and shut the door behind her.
"You really like these double doors don't you Doctor?" She said to herself and she entered the middle guest room.
She looked around it again and decided it would be her room for the duration of her stay. She also decided on this room because it was right across from the room the doctor said, well…wrote, that she could use. Gabrielle left the door open and went down stairs to get her suitcase. When she had put her clothes and shoes in all the right places she zipped up her suitcase and put it under the bed. Gabrielle checked her watch and when she saw that it was six o'clock she left her room to made something for dinner.
By the time she cooked, ate, and cleaned up it was seven o'clock. She went up to her room and got ready for bed, deciding that tomorrow she would go and find a candle store. When she was all ready, she sat in the middle of her bed and meditated until eight thirty. Feeling lighter she got under the covers and turned out the light. She fell asleep feeling safer than she had all week, despite the fact that she was in someone else's home...
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