❝ᴄᴏɴғɪᴅᴇɴᴄᴇ ɪs sɪʟᴇɴᴛ. ɪɴsᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ ɪs ʟᴏᴜᴅ❞
♛♛♛
Sunlight lit up the small room almost blinding Enola as she opened her eyes. the fresh fallen snow outside made the world brighter than usual, but even though her eyes struggled to adjust to it all, Enola appreciated the beauty of the white covered woods outside her window, it was so different from the city of Chicago where fresh fallen snow turned gray or yellow almost as soon as it hit the ground thanks to the pollution from cheap, trashy cars and drunks who used the streets as a toilet.
judging by the position of the sun, Enola could tell that it was noon. Even though it was her first night in the Clearwater house Enola had slept a lot better than she had in a long time, it was as if her body was recognizing the calm of her new surroundings. She didn't want to leave her new bed, but still she forced herself to sit up. Slowly she let her feet hit the floor, despite the weather outside the floor was surprisingly warm. It was the exact opposite of her home in Chicago where she had decided not to turn on the heat in an attempt of keeping the electric bill as low as possible so she could save up more money for her escape.
The warmth that spread from her feet to the rest of her body reminded her of how much her life had changed in the last 48 hours, she had gone from scared to safe, from cold to warm.
She threw on a sweatshirt before quietly making her way out of her new room and down the stairs to the house's living room. The TV was on and Sue sat on the couch with a mug full of something warm, Enola could tell by the steam coming from it. as she entered the room Sue looked up at her with that kind smile of hers. "Hi Enola," she greeted. Enola smiled back at her and muttered a small "Good morning," Enola took her time to look around the room, Sue was the only one there, and she couldn't hear anything other than the TV so she figured the rest of the family wasn't home at the moment. As if she had read Enolas thoughts Sue spoke up "Seth and Leah are in school, and Harry is visiting his friend Billy. I didn't want to disturb your sleep by waking you to see them before they left, you can get to know them a bit better when they get home later," Enola smiled sincerely at Sue, the woman was so kind and considerate it made Enola feel all safe inside.
Enola wanted to thank Sue, she really did but she just couldn't seem to find the right words, she had no idea how to handle kindness like Sue had showed her, so she just stuck to thanking her for letting her sleep.
A small moment of silence fell over them before Sue rose from the couch and exclaimed "breakfast! you must be starving! I haven't had time to do the weekly grocery shopping, so we don't have much, we do have some toast though, would you be okay with that?" and just as Enola thought about it she realized that she was in fact starving, she hadn't eaten anything in at least two days, so the thought of some toast sounded heavenly to her. "Toast is great, thank you so much Sue!" "of course, follow me" Sue told her.
Enola followed Sue down the hallway and into the kitchen, it was quite small but very cozy, in the left side of the kitchen was the dinner table, and Enola could just imagine Seth and Leah sitting by the table doing their homework while Sue cooked and Harry read the news paper, the kitchen felt so full of happy memories it almost brought tears to her eyes, not just because she had never had that but also because of the promise that she might be part of the family life in the future.
Sue placed the toast on a plate on the dining table and sat down, Enola took the chair in front of her and started eating, she tried eating slowly even though she just wanted to devour the toast, but she didn't want to look greedy. "So like I said we need some groceries, so I'm driving into town to shop, do you maybe want to join me? we can find a lamp for your room, and maybe a new coat, I don't think you'll get through the winter without becoming sick with the one you have" Sue asked. Enola looked up at her,
"Yeah I'd like to come, but you really don't have to get me anything, you letting me stay here is more than enough, I don't want to burden you in any way,"
"ahh nonsense, I know we just met and that this is all very overwhelming, but we're family Enola, I want to help, and you're in no way a burden"
Sue assured. Enola didn't quite know how to react. The way that Sue put value onto the word family was something Enola had never experienced, it felt completely foreign.
"okay.." Enola finally answered. "But I'm going to pay you back. I just need at job, and I'll also pay rent-" "Enola-" Sue tried to interrupt, but Enola didn't let her. "please Sue. let me do this, I need to do this" Sue sighed, if that was what I took to help Enola feel comfortable in her new home then that was no problem. "fine" she agreed, "there's a diner in town, I think Cora could use another waitress, we can drop by and talk to her on our way into town to shop." Sue paused for a second, "what about school?" she then asked Enola. The young girl looked up at her aunt, she knew school was important, but could she make a school transfer without alerting her dad? the very thought of him finding her made her entire body shake. "I don't... what if he?" the anxiety made it hard for her to find the right words. "I looked into it after you called me." Sue intervened, "if you're over 18 you can make a transfer without parental interference, and if you aren't well just wait until you are, and then we'll enroll you," she told. Enola took a deep breath as the anxiety slowly left her body again, "I turned 18 a little over a month ago" she told her aunt. Sue smiled at her "that's great." she paused, "I think school is very important, but I want you to know that there's more to life than that. I really want you to enroll but I won't force you." She concluded, had Enola been her own daughter she probably would have insisted that she finished school, but she knew so little about Enolas life so far, so she didn't want her to be under any kind of pressure. "I agree," Enola said "I would like to go to school again... will I be going to the same school as Seth and Leah?" she went on to ask. Sue smiled, she took the question as an indication that Enola felt at least a little secure with the members of the Clearwater family "yes, Seth is a freshman and Leah is a senior, so you'll be in the same grade as her.""great!" Enola answered.
After Enola finished her toast, which had taken a bit longer than expected due to their conversation, her and Sue dressed in their outerwear and went to the truck, Enola could feel that it wasn't quite as cold as it had been during the night, but she still had to give Sue right, she would get sick if she didn't get a warmer jacket.
♛♛♛
The drive into town was short but beautiful, Enola did her best to savor the quiet moments in the car. She let her head rest on the window as she took in the surroundings, at first she didn't know what to feel, but slowly she let the beauty pull her in to a feeling of serenity.
Their first stop was at the diner where Sue had suggested that Enola could get a job. As they entered Enola got her first taste of the small town life as Sue kindly greeted everyone they passed, clearly she knew them all, it made Enola feel that a job at this diner would be another blessing. For her jobs had always been purely about the income, but she might just be able to find herself enjoying a job here if Cora would have her.
The two women walked up to the counter where a middle aged woman had just finished taking another order, "Sue!" the woman behind the counter smiled at the Clearwater woman, "hi Cora! This is Enola," Sue introduced. The woman turned to look at Enola and smiled at her, Enola timidly returned her smile doing her best to make a good impression, it was very important to her to make the best of this opportunity to reinvent herself, she wanted to leave her guarded self and her bad attitude in Chicago, this was her new chance, she could be anyone she wanted to be, and of all the choices running through her head it was clear to her that more than anything she wanted to be kind.
"I'm Cora," the woman introduced, stretching her hand to greet Enola. Enola shook Cora's hand, she had to bite down on her tongue to prevent herself from flinching away from the physical touch, "Enola here is new to town and she's looking for a job" Sue explained on Enolas behalf. "oh, well there's something I can help you with" Cora smiled, "do you have any experience?" she asked, turning her sight from Sue to Enola, "Not with waiting, no" Enola confessed, "But I'm a fast learner, and a I work hard, and I'm very reliable" Enola defended. "That sounds great!" Cora said. The woman exchanged a look with Sue, as if asking for her confirmation, to which Sue gave a small nod, she may not know Enola well yet, but she could guess that Enola was being truthful based on the fact that she'd been able to find the resources to escape her life in Chicago, and because of the girls eagerness to give back to her new family here in La Push.
"well it just so happens that you came at exactly the right time, I just had one of my waitresses quit to go off to college, so I have available shifts monday, Wednesday and friday, does that fit?" Cora asked. Enola nodded eagerly "That's perfect, how soon do you need me to start?" Cora seemed very pleased with the girl, it wasn't always that teenagers were this committed to part time jobs "How about you start on monday? I assume you'll want to work after School hours?" Cora asked, Sue was about to speak up but Enola beat her to it, "outside of school hours would be perfect!" she smiled, she didn't even notice the proud look Sue sent her. "Great then that's settled then, see you monday," Cora concluded, she and Sue exchanged goodbyes, and Cora asked Sue to send her best to Harry before the two Clearwaters left the diner, Enola with a bubbling feeling of excitement in her stomach.
The shopping for groceries went without a hitch, and they were able to find a very nice winter coat and a small vintage lamp for Enola in the local thrift store. The two women small talked the whole time, and they were both well on their way to establish a great relation to one another.
By the time they made it home the house was full. Sue announced their arrival by yelling out a hello to her family when they came through the front door, Seth was there in an instant to help his mother with bringing in the groceries, "cool jacket" he told Enola before running to the kitchen with the groceries, he was gone before Enola could answer, but she still whispered a little 'thank you' that only Sue heard.
Seth was very quick to unpack, and soon they all sat together in the small living room, once more there were candles lit to help warm the room, but Enola wasn't sure that it was necessary now that they were five people in the room.
The feeling in the air was a bit tense, no one really knew how to start up a conversation in a pleasent way. It ended up being Seth that started the conversation seeing as the young boy wasn't really restricted by caution, "how old are you?" he asked, a harmless question that could help get the conversation flowing, "I'm eighteen," Enola answered, "cool! so is Leah," Seth exclaimed, "and how old are you?" Enola asked, "I'm fourteen" he told her proudly while puffing his chest a bit, it made Enola chuckle.
From there the conversation started to flow, they talked about their favorite school subjects, Harry told about his fishing, Sue told about her work as a nurse, which caught Enolas attention and admiration seeing as she also dreamed about becoming a nurse, or maybe even a doctor. Seth talked about football and his friends, Leah didn't say much, but she did laugh when Harry told a story about his friend Charlie Swan falling out of a boat on one of their fishing trips.
They talked all afternoon and all through dinner. After dinner Enola helped with the dishes before excusing herself to her room, as much fun as she had had she needed to sit with her thoughts for a bit to let the day sink in. She set op her new lamp and unpacked what little clothes she Brought with her. She put her phone in the charger, she hadn't thought about doing so last night when she arrived, and she had been occupied with everything else through the day, so she didn't even think about her phone until she found it in her bag while unpacking. With her phone in the charger she crawled under the covers and closed her eyes. It didn't take long after that before she fell asleep.