Chapter 3 The City

Luna POV

The city was also not like Pine Ridge. It was noisy, full of people, and frightening, as opposed to the house of my stepfather. Nobody knew me here. No one was looking for me. It ought to have been free but lonely.

I alighted the bus, having no idea where to head to. I was surrounded by tall buildings. They were so high that I could not see their tops. Cars honked. Human beings rushed past me without glancing.

I was little, unseen, I was a ghost.

I spent hours walking with my rags of a wedding dress hanging on my shoulders like a blanket. People stared at me. Some whispered. A few even laughed. I did not mind what they thought. Let them stare. Let them judge. At least they were not touching me and trying to manipulate me. It was an improvement of my previous life.

At sunset my feet were bleeding better than ever. I felt hungry, fatigued and panicking. I had parted with all my money on the bus ticket. I had nothing to sleep and one to call. What was I thinking? I fled instinctively, without any intent. And here I was lost in a city I had never been to before, in a tattered wedding-dress, and nobody to assist me.

I was in an entrance to a small cafe in the middle of two large buildings. The windows were basking and bright. Indoorwise, people were sitting at tables, drinking coffee and taking food. It looked safe. It looked like home. It resembled all that I no longer had.

I had no money to buy anything. I was simply staring at the window like a starving child. A woman noticed me. She was middle aged, perhaps in her fifties, with smattering black hair and eyes of a kind brown. She was wiping a table in the cafe, and, seeing me, her face altered. She laid aside her cloth and headed toward the door.

"Are you okay?" she said, stepping outside. Her voice was gentle. It reminded me of my mother. I began to weep, and I was unable to control it. I was sobbing at the center of the road in front of someone I had never seen, and I could not stop crying.

The woman did not ask any further questions. She simply picked me by the arm and ushered me into the cafe. It was pleasant and smelled of coffee and freshly baked bread. The number of customers was reduced to a small number and they did not give us much attention. She walked me out to the back room and sat me down on a little table.

"My name is Sarah," she said. "What’s yours?"

I would not be able to tell her my real name. In the event somebody tried to seek me out, he/she would inquire about Luna Matthews. So I gave her a different name. "Rose," I said. The name that struck me was the original name. "My name is Rose."

Sarah did not enquire whether that was the truth. Nodding was her usual response to it. She had her water and a sandwich with her. I devoured it in such a manner that I nearly made myself sick. She was looking down as I ate and looked to her as though she knew I was in pain without my saying anything.

Sarah said, You are fleeing, somebody. It wasn’t a question. I answered yes since it was no use lying. She heaved a sigh and sat facing me. I know a great number of people like yourself. People who have nowhere to go. People who need a fresh start." She stopped and gazed upon me. You can have an employment here at the cafe. Room and board too. It is not ornamental, but it is sincere labor.

What I was hearing I could not believe. "Why would you do that?" I asked. "You don’t even know me."

Sarah smiled a little. Sometimes you do not have to know a person in order to help him or her. At times you simply need to know they are worth a chance. She rose to her feet and stretched her hand. "What do you say? Do you want to stay?"

I took her hand. It felt warm and solid. I was the first to feel that I was not going to die lonely on the street since I ran away at that wedding. "Yes," I said. "Yes, I want to stay."

During the following days, I adjusted myself to my new life. To be sure no one would identify me as a Pine Ridge resident, I washed my hair in dark brown. I disposed of the wedding dress and purchased cheap outfits in a thrift store. I spent the day and the night in the café where I was learning how to make coffee, receive orders and clean tables. The other workers did not bother to ask me questions. No one appeared to be concerned with my background.

Something was wrong with Sarah though. I could even see her sometimes staring at me with a face I did not comprehend. Something appeared to be known to her that I did not know. She could have been having a secret. One day I overheard her in the phone late at night. "She’s here," Sarah said quietly. "She’s safe for now. But you must understand there are other people after her. Powerful people."

I stood motionless as I heard them. Who was she talking to? Who was looking for me? I thought I was safe. I believed I was out of that world.

I hung up, and returned to bed, and attempted not to think about it. But I couldn't sleep. I continued to enquire about what Sarah was as well as what she knew of me. I continued to think about the green eyed man at the wedding. For a long time, I continued to ask him whether he was seeking me as well.

Three months passed. I also began to believe that I did not belong to my previous life anymore. I am glad I worked at the cafe. I was enrolled in night classes in order to get my high school graduation. I had a dream of having my own bakery one day.

One afternoon, as I was wiping tables, the cafe door came open. In came a tall dark-haired man with green eyes. He turned his head about until he saw me. And when that happened I stopped my heart.

It was him. The man from the wedding. Those were the three months I had been thinking about the man. The man that said no words and broke my heart.

He gazed at me as though he had been seeking me all prolonged life.