Safe Haven | B. Barnes

the princess and her king

Angie tapped the pencil on her desk, her eyes closed behind a curtain of hair. She was unbothered by the teacher's lecture, and the sun was on her face, warming her in a way only the sun knew how to. Big brown eyes opened and squinted into the sun.

Her eyes wandered over to a poster, pink with cheap, gray ink, held up by a thumbtack on top an array of other papers. She could barely see the words, but she could read them.

Father Daughter Dance! Bring your dad or someone else and have some fun!

It was supposed to happen tonight, Mama Marge told her that she could go. Nathan offered to take her when Elliot was asked to take Morgan to the dance. Well, Louie wanted to take Angie but Marge gently let him down when she told him that an older person had to go with her.

If Angie could be honest, like really honest, she wouldn't want Elliot, or Nathan, nor Louie to take her. Its not that she didn't like them, but... Mr. Bucky seemed more like a dad than Elliot did.

Mr. Bucky had the scratchy chin, the big body and the wrinkles around his eyes when he smiled that made him look like a dad. Elliot only had a fuzzy chin so no, he wouldn't do.

An gentle hand touched her arm and Angie flinched. She looked up slowly at the kind old face of her teacher, smiling gently at her.

"Angie, sweetie, please wake up, okay? Its almost time to go."

So she did.

It didn't take her long, though, she found herself day dreaming about Mr. Bucky and the dance.

He would wear a nice suit, she would wear a beautiful dress. She would step on his toes, like the other girls did with their dad's, and he would dance with her, swaying side to side, his feet under hers, guiding them around the floor. She would be his princess, and he would be her king, a good king that would love her and protect her no matter what she did.

A shrill bell caused her to jump and in a rush, all her classmates packed their things. The blonde Angee with both arms walked up to the brunette one.

"Are you going to the Father Daughter Dance tonight? Me and Daddy are going!" Boundless energy got in Angie's face as they began to line up by the door.

"Um. I think so. Mama Marge is coming with me," Angie crossed her arm under her stub, Angee followed suit.

"But it's a Father Daughter dance, silly! Your mom can come later!" Angee turned and faced forward, a giddy grin on her face as the teacher opened the door.

"Um. I don't have a dad," Angie confessed quietly.

"Of course you have a daddy, silly, everybody has a dad!"

An angry face popped into Angie's mind. Mean words and insults were hurled at her as fast as the beer bottles and cigarettes hitting her. Pain and anger rolled in her belly, her face was down and covered by her hair.

"Well I don't have a dad," she seethed.

Angee paid no attention, "Whaddya mean?"

Then another face, worn by worry and caution like herself, took place of the angry one. Even though he always looked sad and tired, that face would smile just for her. A face that never called her mean names, only nice ones. June bug was her favorite. At first his hair would cover his face but when it was cut, he looked a lot kinder and nicer. A flesh hand was on her back to keep from falling, a metal arm supported her bottom and his neck was always a nice spot to sleep on. A flesh armed kept her in his embrace and would tickle her gently, he kept her away from the metal one.

"Bye, brown Angie, see ya later!" A bubbly voice caught her attention and she looked in time to see blonde Angee fly into her father's arms.

Mr. Bucky would catch her like that, she was sure of it.

"Angie? Hey, honey how was school today?" A brown hand reached over and took her hand.

"It was okay."

And that was that.

Marge gripped her hand, "Are you ready for tonight?" Angie shook her head but said nothing.

Maybe Marge shouldn't take her if she didn't want to go. She figured taking her would've cheered her up but if she thought about it, it was a place for dads and daughters. Maybe it would make Angie's sadness worse.

Wordlessly, the two got in the car. The ride home was mostly quiet, it always was with Angie. Morgan was sick and she had to skip school today, which also meant she couldn't go to the dance either. It was fine, since it seemed like Angie didn't want to go.

"Mama Marge?"

"Hm?"

"When's Mr. Bucky coming back?"

Marge rolled in her lips and gripped the steering wheel. "I don't know, baby. I'll let you know when I find out, okay?"

A quiet hum replied.

Marge stole a glance from the rearview mirror. It had been a month since Sgt. Barnes' case was opened and it was taking a long time to go through. Numerous hearings due to a sudden change of judges began again just yesterday, pushing everything back farther.

Marge switched lanes before looked at Angie again.

If Sam and his friends could get through this, then she would be more than happy to have Sgt. Barnes come back. Anything to make Angie happy again.

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Wrote this in half an hour to celebrate the end of my first year in college!

Anyway...

I'm going to try to finish this book this summer so bear with me! I have more time but we'll see how things go.

Thanks!