Elise opened her eyes and looked around. She blinked a few times and wrinkled her brow as she tried to figure out where she was. A quick look down revealed she was covered by a sheet… but her clothes, apart from her underwear, were nowhere to be found. She pulled the sheet up until it was up to her neck and she looked on the floor for her clothes… and they weren’t there.
The whole thing had been a blur of fire, death and screaming. Fragments of images flashed through her mind and she quickly forced them out. She took a deep breath and sat up in bed.
Her body was sore for a reason unknown to her. Most of the pain seemed to be emanating from her feet and legs as she tried to get up. Elise put her feet on the floor, secured the sheet around her body and tried to stand up. Her legs gave out and she fell back onto the bed.
She couldn’t believe what was happening. She was in a strange room, with no clothes and she couldn’t leave. Elise closed her eyes and rolled onto her side. When she opened her eyes she was looking right at a tray on the bedside table. She sat up to get a better look at it. On the tray was a plate of sliced apples and a glass of water.
Elise hadn’t realized she was thirsty, but seeing the water made her aware of being parched. She lifted the glass to her mouth and hesitated as the cool water lapped against her closed lips. Elise still didn’t know where she was… and she didn’t know if it was safe to drink the water. For all she knew she could be a captive and the people were drugging her. What would have normally been a crazy thought a few weeks earlier was suddenly sane.
The temptation was strong. Elise opened her lips and let the water flow between them. It was the most delicious thing she had ever put in her mouth. She finished half the glass in a single drink and put it back on the tray. She was tempted to finish the rest of it and instead forced herself to save some in the event she didn’t have access to more any time soon.
Elise ate a few slices of apple. It was the first fresh food she had in almost a week and it tasted almost as divine as the water.
The pillow beckoned and Elise put her head back down. She wanted to sleep—she was certainly still tired, but fear of what she might see when she closed her eyes kept her awake.
Elise tried to stand and she was able to keep herself steady. She made sure the sheet was wrapped around herself as she slowly made her way to the window. There were rolling hills all around and a barn not far from the house. She had no idea where she was.
There was a quick knock on the door and Elise spun around just in time for it to open. Sandra walked in and froze when she saw Elise was out of bed.
“You’re awake.”
Elise didn’t respond. She thought the woman looked harmless enough, but she still had no idea who she was or how she ended up in her house.
“Sorry… I’m Sandra. This is my house. Do you remember how you ended up here?”
Elise shook her head as Sandra walked into the room and closed the door.
“We saw you walking toward the house and you collapsed. Nathan, my… friend, carried you back here.”
“Where are my clothes?”
“They were ruined… so I tossed them out. Sorry.”
Elise took a deep breath and looked at Sandra. She didn’t feel frightened, which was a surprise considering the circumstances.
“I… I’ll leave you alone,” Sandra said, as she turned toward the door.
“No… it’s OK.”
Sandra turned back around and nodded. She sat on a bench next to the door and motioned for Elise to take a seat on the bed. Elise complied and looked at Sandra.
“I’m sure you’re a little startled by waking up in a stranger’s bed… with no clothes on. I’m sorry about that. I was actually just about to look for something of mine that might fit you, that’s why I was coming in the room.”
Sandra stood up, walked over to her closet and pulled open the door. She found an old T-shirt with paint stains and a pair of shorts that looked like they should fit and she handed them to Elise.
“I’m going to go downstairs. Take your time… and come down whenever you want and we can talk or whatever. No rush.”
Sandra smiled, opened her mouth as if about to add something else… but she turned and walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Elise stood up and threw the sheet onto the bed. She pulled the T-shirt over her head and put her legs through the shorts and pulled them up. They were big on her, but she felt a little better now that she had something to wear. She quickly pushed her feet into her sneakers, which were thankfully still in the room.
Elise wasn’t sure what to do. She thought Sandra seemed friendly enough and that she was probably telling the truth… and Elise still felt uneasy. She looked around the sparsely decorated room that looked like nothing had changed in twenty years. A chill ran down her spine and she shook herself to get rid of the feeling.
She walked back over to the window and pulled it open. The air outside was cooling off as the sun dropped lower in the sky. Elise didn’t let it stop her as she climbed out of the window and onto the sloped roof of the lower level. She walked slowly, trying to not alert anyone inside to what she was doing, as she headed for the back of the house.
Elise paused to listen as she reached the back of the house. Everything seemed quiet inside. She sat down on the edge of the roof, flipped herself over and slid off. The gritty shingles scraped her hands as she slowed herself. Elise dropped to the ground and collapsed into a heap. The shock of the impact ran through her body, but she thought she was OK. She pushed her hands against the ground and forced herself to stand up.
She looked down at her hands as she leaned against the side of the house. There were drops of blood forming on her palms. She wiped them on her T-shirt and glanced over her shoulder as she started to walk away from the house. She didn’t recall which direction she had come from, but she settled on going toward the mountains.
Elise looked over her shoulder a couple of times, but she didn’t see anyone. She felt like she could finally breathe again as the house disappeared over a hill. There was a line of trees about a quarter of a mile away to the south and Elise changed her direction to head over to it. She knew the sun was going down within an hour or two and she didn’t want to be caught out in the open.
It took her longer than she thought it would to reach the clump of trees and the sun was dipping behind the Rocky Mountains. The trees turned out to be cottonwoods which were lining a small creek that ran through the middle of the field. She kneeled down next to the stream and submerged her hands into the water. It stung her hands as the water washed the dirt out of the dozens of scrapes on each of her palms.
Elise stood back up and wiped her hands off on her shorts and looked around. She looked around for a few minutes until she found a tree where the roots formed a place for her to sit and get out of the light breeze. She wasn’t cold yet, but it was getting dark and she knew it was going to be a long night.
Elise blinked and looked around. The sun was up, barely, and she was still sitting against the roots of the cottonwood tree. A twig snapped someone not far away and Elise held her breath. She strained as she listened.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
Elise felt her heart racing as she heard the man speak. She could tell he was close… somewhere behind her on the other side of the tree. Elise wasn’t sure what to do because he was close enough that she didn’t think she would be able to get away.
She slowly pushed her feet against the ground and used her hands against the roots of the tree to get herself to a standing position.
“I swear… my name is Nathan… I’m Sandra’s friend. I just want to talk.”
Elise knew Sandra had mentioned Nathan, but that didn’t mean she was in any less danger than before. She didn’t trust anyone based on what had happened to her.
“I’m going to step out from around the tree with my hands out so you can see I’m unarmed.”
She wasn’t going to wait any longer. Elise summoned what little strength she had and ran.
“Wait!”
She didn’t bother looking back to see if he was chasing her. Elise just hoped Nathan wasn’t in good shape. She ran into the stream at full speed and was halfway across when she felt her foot slip. Elise fell face first into the water and her chin smacked into a rock just under the surface. Her hands flew up to her chin as she rolled onto her back and sat up enough to keep her head out of the water.
Nathan jogged to the edge of the stream, waded into the ankle deep water and scooped up Elise. He turned around and walked back to the bank before setting her down.
“Let me see it,” he said.
Elise looked down. She didn’t want to look at him. She felt so trapped and afraid.
“Look… you can leave… go wherever you want. That’s fine with me. Just know that I’m not going to hurt you and this is a safe place. You can stay here and you never have to leave if that’s what you want.”
Elise slowly looked up until their eyes met. She could see the kindness in his eyes and she suddenly felt her heart rate dropping. It had been a long time she had truly trusted another human being and the moment he smiled at her it changed everything. Nathan was telling her the truth… and she felt safe.
She slowly pulled her hands away from her chin. Her eyes flicked down and she saw the blood on her hands.
“You’re a mess,” he said, shaking his head.
Nathan stood up, grabbed the left sleeve of his T-shirt with his right hand and ripped it off in a single motion. He folded the fabric over twice and held it out to Elise.
“Here… put some pressure on that. Let’s get you back to the house. I’m sure Sandra can fix you up.”
He smiled at her again as she put the fabric against her chin. He held out his hand to Elise and helped pull her up.
They walked in silence for the next few minutes. Elise pulled the shirt sleeve away from her chin twice, but each time her chin was still bleeding. She felt like such an idiot for running away from him and getting hurt. Elise felt bad for not having more faith in the people who had basically taken her into their home.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“For what?”
“I… I feel bad for ruining your shirt.”
He laughed and shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. I totally get it. You were scared and you did what was best to save yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s your name?”
“Elise.”
“Nice to meet you, Elise.”
“You too, Nathan.”
Nathan smiled at her as they reached the porch, but she was looking out across the fields. He wondered what she had seen… but he wasn’t going to ask her. He already felt bad about pushing Sandra to tell him what had spooked her… and he could tell by looking at Elise that whatever had happened to her was exponentially worse.
They climbed the steps to the porch and Sandra opened the door as they walked toward it. She smiled at Elise, but it quickly faded as she saw the blood soaked T-shirt sleeve pressed against Elise’s chin.
“What happened?”
Nathan chuckled at the panicked nature of Sandra’s voice. She seemed awfully maternal for someone who had never had kids.
“She slipped and fell,” Nathan said.
“Come inside… we’ll get you fixed up.”
Sandra guided Elise inside to the kitchen table and pulled the chair out for her. Elise sat down and Sandra went to her pantry to find her first aid kit. She came back with the white plastic box and popped it open as she sat down next to Elise. Elise slowly pulled her hand away from her chin. Sandra cringed a little at the sight of the cut, but she tried to keep a calm look on her face so Elise wouldn’t be worried.
“So,” Sandra said, trying to distract Elise, “what’s your name?”
“Elise.”
“All right, Elise, this might sting a bit.”
Sandra opened a bottle of peroxide, held a cotton ball over the top and tipped it over. Once the cotton was soaked she set the bottle on the table and quickly wiped the cut on Elise’s chin clean. Elise tensed up, but she tried to stay still.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No….”
Sandra found a large Band-Aid in the first aid kit and tore the package open. She quickly spread the Band-Aid over the cut and pushed on it to make sure it was secure.
“There… all done.”
“Thank you.”
Sandra nodded at Nathan and he walked out of the room. Elise watched him leave and then turned her gaze back to Sandra.
“So… are you OK?” Sandra said.
“Yeah.”
Elise was all right in that moment, even if there were things which she knew would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life… things she would never tell another person.
“You sure?”
“Ya… I’m fine.”
Sandra stood up, put her hand on Elise’s shoulder and looked down at the young woman.
“If there’s anything you ever need or want to talk about… you can always come to me.”
Elise nodded and looked down at the floor. Sandra pulled her hand from Elise’s shoulder and methodically put away the first aid kit. Elise felt a bit awkward. She knew their names, but she knew nothing about them or what they were doing on the farm and she wasn’t sure if it would even be appropriate for her to ask.
Sandra put the first aid kit away and went into the living room to check on Nathan. She didn’t see him, but noticed the front door was open a crack. Nathan was sitting on the bench on the front porch.
“How is she?” he said.
Sandra shrugged as she sat down on the bench.
“I’m not sure. She’s… she seems scared.”
“Yeah… I got that impression.”
“I’m not sure what to do. How do I make her feel safe?”
Nathan looked over at Sandra. He took a deep breath and just shook his head.
“You don’t make her feel safe… you have to just be. She may not stay and you need to be alright with that.”
Sandra stood up and walked over to the railing. Nathan knew it wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but he was trying to be honest.
“She will never survive out there, you know that.”
“I know.”
Sandra turned around and crossed her arms as she looked at Nathan. She couldn’t believe how calm he looked considering the life of a young girl hung in the balance.
“Well… we need to make sure she doesn’t leave.”
Nathan took a deep breath and shook his head.
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about what you’re saying, Sandra. You can’t make her stay. If she wants to leave that’s her business.”
Sandra turned away. She knew he was right, but that didn’t mean she was ready or willing to hear it. Sandra turned and walked over to the steps. She didn’t bother looking over her shoulder as she walked to the side of the house. She needed a few minutes alone to think.
She wasn’t sure why, but she felt responsible for Elise even though she didn’t know the girl.
Nathan stood up from the bench and went back inside. Elise was standing at the sink and looking out the window when he walked into the kitchen. She turned around and looked at the floor when she saw it was him.
“I want you to know… Sandra is good a woman. She wants you to stay with us and live here….”
Elise looked up at Nathan and raised an eyebrow. She didn’t even know these people… it didn’t make sense to her why they would be so nice to her.
“And you are more than welcome to stay… but don’t feel like you can’t leave. The decision is up to you. We are going to start growing extra crops and converting the cellar to a living space. There is a good chance there will be people seeking asylum as time goes on and we want to be able to offer them a safe place to stay.”
Elise nodded. It was kind of them. Nathan opened his mouth, but closed it before saying anything and he walked out of the room.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted. Part of Elise wanted to just keep running for the rest of her life… she somehow felt like she would never be safe if she stayed in one place. She sat back down at the table and touched the Band-Aid on her chin.
I guess I could stay for a few days at least. Elise’s body was still sore, almost like she had been tossed from a horse, and she wouldn’t mind a few days rest.