Chapter 2

It's been thirteen years since I have seen Grace. I wonder how she is doing? I still really miss her. I am just glad that I am turning eighteen. I don't care what my parents will say. I am packing my pack back and starting my own life even if it's hard. I will do the best I can. I got my bag packed and walked downstairs and of course my parents are busy on my birthday. Why does that not surprise me? I grabbed a muffin, water, and walked to the front door.

"You are not allowed to leave."

"Right well you can't tell me that and never can my parents." "I am eighteen years old, I am an adult and I can live my own life, now if you will excuse me I have a house to find to rent."

His mouth dropped open in shock. I walked past him and out the door.

"Sigh."

My new life is going to start. I can't wait. It took me all day to find a place for myself tomorrow I have to find a job but for now I am going to get comfortable in this town. I was walking on the streets to see my parents looking for me.

"What are you doing here in this town?"

"Hi mother and father I now live in this town."

"Haha." "Don't make us laugh, live with us, not by yourself."

"That's where you are wrong." "I am eighteen years old if you have forgotten my birthday was today anyway I moved out and you can't do anything about it."

"How did you have enough money to get your own place?"

"You gave me an allowance and I never spent it so I saved enough up for the day that I moved out." "Now if you will excuse me I have some things I need to get done."

"You know that this life is going to be one hundred percent worse than the life you had with us."

"No it's going to be one hundred percent better than the life I used to live you never did anything with me or for me the only thing I got from you both is locked up in my room all day for eighteen years by the way I don't see you as parents I see you both as people that I wish I have never met goodbye."

I walked away without another word. It felt good to get that off of my chest. I might as well try and find a job today. There is a lot of daylight left. I walked into five different places and they said no, let's try the Spring Cafe. I walked in and they hired me right on the spot I start tomorrow. I can't wait to see people for the first time. I bought myself food and an alarm clock so I could wake up on time. I was walking back home when I ran into someone.

"I am so sorry I didn't see you there." "Are you alright?"

"Yes I am fine I wasn't watching where I was going either."

I looked at the women and my jaw dropped.

"Is that you Bella?" "I haven't seen you in years." "What happened to you?"

"Grace?" "I am sorry I was locked in my room for thirteen years after I snuck out." "They put bars on my window and they made sure I wouldn't escape." "I turned eighteen today and told them off, ``Do I live in this town now." "How have you been?"

"I have been doing good since you left that night." "I got to see my puppy again." "Sadly, she passed away last year." "My parents are now rich, they have even more money than anyone in this world."

"How did they get a hold of that much money?"

"Well they started a business of their own and it started to make so much money fast that they quit their jobs and started to focus on their business."

"What do your parents sell?"

"They sell party stuff." "Here let me help you take your things to your place."

I grabbed some bags out of her hands. We talked all the way to her apartment.

"You live here?"

"Yep, it's a fresh start." "I had to get away from my family." "I have saved my allowance since I was little." "I was determined to get out of the house when I turned eighteen so this is what I saved up for." "I also have a job at the Spring Cafe."

I saw the look on her face.

"I will be fine, I promise you but I would like to start hanging out with you again." "It's been so long and I want to get to know you again."

"I understand that you are on your own but this is a dangerous town." "You can't live here by yourself." "Why don't you come live with me?" "My parents would love to see you again." "They still don't stop talking about Bella, the girl who saved our daughter."

"Haha." "Sure, why not?" "I don't have much to pack."

I grabbed all of my things and loaded them up in her vehicle. We talked the whole way there when the house came into view. It was gigantic, even bigger than my parents' place. My jaw fell open.

"This is your place?"

"Yep well it's my parents place but they love that I call it my place as well." "Let's go in." "I bet my parents will be so happy to see you."

We walked inside the house and Bella's jaw dropped open again.

"Haha." "Mother, father, I am home and I have a surprise for you."

"Oh Grace we were worried we thought something happened to you."

"Yes your mother and I were worried about you, you have never been out this late before."

"Mother, father, you remember the girl that you said saved my life?"

"Yes we talk about her all the time."

"Why do you ask?"

I moved out of the way to show them who was behind me.

"I bumped into her on the streets today."

"Hi." "It's nice to meet you all again."

They started to tear up. What did I do?

"I can't believe you found her." "How have you been Bella?" "Why haven't we seen you since that day?"

"Well I moved out of my parents house today so I would say I am doing great." "The reason why you haven't seen me is because I was locked away like a prisoner by my parents when I bumped into Grace I was heading to my apartment and she said that it would be okay if I stayed with all of you if it's okay with you?"

"Of course it's okay with us, you are like family to us even though we only met you once." "Grace, why don't you get her comfortable in a room in the house and your father and I will get supper going"

"Oh thank you so much mother and father." "Come one Bella, you can have the room by my room."

We walked up to her room.

"Wow this is my room, it's so huge my parents never let me have a room this big." "They gave me the smallest room in the house."

"Well you can forget about them because this is your home and family now."

I gave her a big hug.

"I have missed you so much."

"Same here I know we have only met once." "I still can't believe I could see you in your spirit form." "It was so cool but I was very happy when you came back to your body and that made my day." "Haha." "I even remember the look on my mothers face that was so funny even though I was locked away for thirteen years."

"Yes that was one of my favorites to your mothers face was so priceless."

"Girls supper time."

(Both girls)

"Coming."

We both ran down the stairs to see so much food on the table.

"Who made all of this?" "It's a lot of food."

"My parents do this every night." "They go into the kitchen for three hours and this is what is on the table." "They invite the homeless here every night so that it's a full table."

"Wow, you're all so nice."

I wish my parents were like that. I watched some homeless people come into the dinning room. It's nice to have people at the table just like they said. I took a bite of the food and OMG it tasted so amazing there was so much flavor I ate and ate until I was so full I could barely move.

"Thank you so much that the food was amazing." "I think I over ate though."

"Haha." "Is this your first time having home cooked meals?"

I looked at Grace's parents.

"Yes I usually got food out of boxes because everyone there was too lazy to take care of a child." "The only thing they did was clean the house and make sure I didn't leave." "I think I am going to get ready for bed."

I walked to my room, grabbed some clothing and walked into my bathroom. It's so cool that all the rooms in the house have a bathroom. I soaked myself in a night warm tube. It feels nice to relax in a big tube and not in a small cramped one. When I got done I walked into the living room and everyone was watching TV.

"Grace, do you want to hang out somewhere?"

"Sure but what are we planning on doing?"

"We will figure it out as we go." "It's going to be like an adventure just like the day I met you except for this time we won't lose each other."

I grabbed her hand but she didn't budge.

"What's wrong?"

She was in shock. I looked the way she was looking to see someone in the house.

"Who is that?"

"Umm." "Bella, you need to hide now." "Dammit how did they find you?"

"What are you talking about Grace?"

"Honey you and Grace need to get into hiding now you are both in danger."

Grace grabbed my hand and pulled me to a hole in the floor we climbed down. It looked to be an escape tunnel.

"What's going on?"

"There is no time to explain right now, we just have to get to safety, my parents and I will explain everything later."

I followed her out the door and looked behind me to see the house fading.

"Are your parents going to be okay?"

"Yes they have been preparing for this for a very long time." "Sigh." "Bella, look we don't have a lot of time for you to be asking questions right now because safety is more important." "Now come on, let's keep going, my parents will catch up with us soon."

We got to the place where we are going to be meeting up. It's the Spring Cafe. We walked into the bathroom.

"Why is the girls bathroom the meeting room?"

"Haha." "This isn't the meeting spot."

I reached over to the mirror and opened it up.

"Wow."

We crawled into the mirror and it went to a big open room.

"Welcome to our hideout no one can know about this okay?"

"I understand."

"Good you can make yourself at home mother and father should be here soon."

I walked over to the fridge and made a couple of drinks.

"Here this will help with your nervous."

"Thank you."

I drank the tea.

"Wow, this is so delicious."

I can feel my eyes getting heavy. What did she put in the tea? I laid down and fell asleep.

That should keep her from freaking out for a while, hopefully until mother and father arrive.

(Bella's dream)

Wow where am I? This doesn't look familiar. I can see something coming into view.

"Hello?"

I see a little girl waiting. Is this a memory? I watched my memory closely. The little girl has a happy family.

"Wait, does that mean I had a different family?" "It can't be because I don't remember the thoughts of two people." "I mean I know I can't see their faces but still this doesn't make any sense."

The memory faded away.

(Reality)

I jolted awake to see everyone by my side with worried looks on their faces.

"Oh dear did you have a nightmare?" "You were sweating and screaming."

"It was nothing, I am fine now." "By the way Grace, what did you put in my tea?" "You did something to it so I would fall asleep."

"I am sorry I had to be so nervous I thought you would die if you didn't get some sleep or something to calm you down." "Now that my parents are here you can ask them all the questions you have been wanting to know."

"I have a lot." "Who were the people that came into your house?" "Why were Grace and myself in danger?" "How did you escape from them safely?" "Why are they after us?"

"Okay, okay please slow down." "We don't know why you and Grace are in danger because they have never said but we do know they are after you." "We fought them off." "There were a lot of them but we have weapons to use against them." "Any other questions?"

"Yes I have one more so I just woke up from a nightmare." "It was about me having a different family." "Do you know anything about this?"

"Yes, our mother, father, and I have been hiding this from you for a long time."

"Our?"

No f**king way this can't be happening right now.

"What the hell?" "You all let me be in that horrible family for years and you never came to help me and take me out of the horrible home."

I can feel tears wanting to shed. I am so angry with them all.

"Does that mean that day I found Grace's spirit?" "It wasn't from a vehicle, it was from thoughts of evil humans?" "this is so unbelievable."

"Bella we are sorry we just wanted to keep you both safe." "If we knew that you both would be safe living together we would have had you in our family but when you two are together they seem to find us faster."

I looked at Grace.

"When did they tell you about this?"

"Today as well as our eighteenth birthday." "I am not going to lie." "I was mad at them for a while but when they explained everything then I understood that they just wanted to keep both of us safe until we become adults."

"I am going to go to bed."

I walked into an empty room, shutting and locking the door. I leaned against the door and slid down to the floor hugging me and laying my head on my knees crying until I fell asleep.