Safe House

Brandy

Two more hours and I could head home. Home... to the small apartment where I tried to find sleep the last few weeks. I looked around the crowded diner and couldn't help but sigh because it had been a longer shift than expected and my feet were killing me. Even though I was in my mid twenties I felt as though I was knocking on fifty's door. I felt and looked like a zombie.

My apron was covered in the days spills and messes and my hair was a hot mess at this point on top of my head in a ratty bun. I was certain there wasn't a trace of makeup left on my face except some bleeding mascara that had been long been due for a touch up. I looked as rough as I felt. How had I ended up here?
The last six months of my life had been a hurricane, no, more like a tornado because nothing could have prepared me for it. There was no warning, alarms or signs that my overall cookie cutter perfect life was about to be turned upside down. Everything I once knew to be true was stripped from me and nothing was as it seemed. None of the walls of my life were still standing after the monstrous storm leveled my old existence.

I remember the day that everything changed, even down to the scent of the candle that was burning in my parent's living room when the front door was kicked in by Satan's demons. I'd been living in hell on earth every since that day. No matter how far I ran or tried to escape it, I couldn't seem to move forward.

My mind had become my worst enemy, always bringing up images of the vicious men that had attacked me and my family that awful day. It didn't matter how many hundreds of miles away I was now it was always right there in the back of my mind to remind me that I cant run from these demons.

Bringing me back to the present and pulling me out of my painful memories I heard the chime that an order was ready. Scooping the plate of food up I dropped it off to it's owners, an older couple smiling and whispering back and forth. Would I ever be like them? Would I ever smile again or find someone to love me past the darkness that ruled my existence now? No, I was better off alone.

The bell chimed again and off I went to do the mundane task that kept me busy all day. I didn't mind being busy, in fact I preferred it. The busier I was the less time my mind had to reflect on the horrible excuse of a life I was now living. Not living, surviving. I was just going through the motions of life, not actually living it.

The next two hours went by quickly as families, couples, and loners all came and went. Around ten there was only one person left at the register paying their bill. Nancy was rambling behind the register about some town gossip while I was cleaning the tables. No matter my mood Nancy always could pull a smile out of me.

Nancy was the owner of the little diner I had ended up at and even though she was in her sixties she had as much spit fire in her as a hormonal teenager. I had never met a woman so fierce and with such a dirty mouth. I couldn't help but smile at the crazy lady I had grown so fond of. I had no doubt she could handle her own and just in the short two weeks that I had worked at her diner I had grown to really admire her.

She was shorter and much more plump than me but we shared the same brunette hair and hazel eyes. I could easily pass as her daughter or family. Nancy had dragged me with her to her hair dresser just a few days back. She talked me into adding some caramel streaks to give my hair some definition. They say when a woman changes her hair she is about to change her life and that was exactly what I was planning. She helped me to feel somewhat whole again even if it was only on the outside.
Nancy had been like an angel sent to me from God himself and in just the right time. After the attack I had just wanted to die. Dying would have been easier than battling every day just to function and not remember the awful pain that had become my reality.

Even sleep wouldn't save me as my nightmares had become darker than any horror movie I had ever seen. After attempting to overdose on sleeping pills and ending up in the hospital a couple months ago I finally started seeking the help I needed to not necessarily move on but to survive.