A Woman Like Me...

A Bold New Life

     "Mercy, wake up, sweetheart.  Mercy, come on, you need to wake up."

     I opened my eyes and looked up to find a vaguely familiar face standing over me.

     "M-Mr. Waterford?"

     I knew this man fairly well.  He was my parents' boss and friend.  I had met his family on several occasions.  Though, I must admit, I was not accustomed to seeing him in my bedroom in the middle of the night.

     "I'm sorry if I startled you, Mercy.  Something has happened.  I am going to need you to come with me."  Mr. Waterford explained.

     "What's going on?"  I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

     "I promise that I will tell you everything, but for your own safety, I need you to get out of bed and come with me now.  Pack a few essentials and meet me in the living room as soon as possible."

     I nodded my head in response as his words began to sink in.  Mr. Waterford, quickly, exited my room and I jumped out of bed to follow his instructions.   I was prepared for something like this to happen; in the back of my mind, I had always known it to be a possibility.  I feared the worst but tried to remain hopeful as I gathered anything that I may need for the next few days.   I did not know where I was going or how long that I would be there for, so I just filled my suitcase with as much as I possibly could.  Before zipping it closed, I grabbed a photo of my parents from the nightstand and tossed it on top.  I shut my suitcase and changed out of my pajamas before going downstairs to meet Mr. Waterford again.

     Mr. Waterford led me from my home and escorted me into the back of a large, black sedan.   He climbed into the other side and tapped twice on the back of the leather driver's seat, signaling to the driver that we were ready to proceed.   The car slowly pulled away from the house and I watched as my childhood home faded from view for the very last time.

     We drove in silence for a time as the car carried us steadily towards the Waterford family manor in the countryside.  Then I noticed Mr. Waterford taking in deep breaths; he let them out slowly before he finally spoke again.

     "I am so sorry, Mercy.  But there has been a terrible accident.  Your parents are...are gone."

     The world began to slip away and darkness started to consume me as his words echoed in my ears, over and over again.

     "terrible accident...parents...gone...terrible accident...parents...gone...terrible accident...parents...gone...parents...gone..."

     After several minutes of stunned silence, I finally managed to speak.

     "The-there must b-be some mistake."  I managed to stutter.  "They can't be go-gone."

     "I am afraid that there is no mistake, dear.  Believe me, I wish that there was.  Your parents were my best employees and my good friends.   This is why I came to get you, personally.  We do not know if you are in danger or not.  We are not certain how much they knew about your parents.  So, you will come to live with me and my family.  We will protect you, Mercy, I promise."

     I did not respond, even if I wanted to, I could not.  It was not that I was  ungrateful to Mr. Waterford for his efforts to rescue me.   However, my whole world was falling down around me and I could not process everything that was happening at the time.

     I was aware from a very young age that my parents' work was dangerous.  They made no attempt to hide that from me because they wanted me to be prepared for the worst.   I also came to learn, over time, that their work was considered illegal.   However, other than those facts, the only other thing that I knew about their work-life was that they worked, exclusively, for Mr. Waterford.   Everything else was very secretive; they told me that I would be old enough to find out exactly what they did one day.   But that day, had not yet come.