I couldn't sleep at all last night; all I could think about was how in the morning I would be shipped off to boarding school without any ifs, ands, or buts. The only thing that brought me a sense of comfort was the fact that I knew it was for my own good, and my Aunts.
Taking in a deep breath I went over to my dresser and pulled out the brand new diary that she had gotten me as a going-away present. Lily has always known how important it was for me to write everything down. When you have lived for as long as I have you never want to lose track of memories because of time.
Dear Diary, March 2022
She might not agree but Aunt Lilian isn't as young as she used to be, she can't keep running around from one place to the next and living her life out of a suitcase, so she's sending me to a place where she knows that I will be safe, a place where he will never find me. Things keep getting more and more complicated and I won't allow her to spend the rest of her life on the run with me. It isn't fair.
Lily has put her life on pause for far too long and as much as I wish things could be different they simply aren't, just her being with me puts her life in danger and if something were to happen to her because of me I would never forgive myself. I don't even want to think about what he would do to her if he found out she was helping me hide from him.
Anthony is still out there looking for me, and after thinking about it, hiding out at the Montre Boarding school for the time being sounds like my best bet. I would miss Seattle, I would miss hearing the hustle and bustle of the city but this will be a good thing, I hope.
xo
I looked around my almost empty room drawing in a deep breath before shoving the Diary away in one of the nearest suitcases. The air was thick with the smell of chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins -my favorite - Aunt Lily must be cooking up a storm.
Without a second thought I allowed my cravings to take over and went down the hall to the kitchen were I made direct eye contact with my Aunt who gave me a loving smile the minute she caught sight of me, "Look who's up already."
"Yeah," I mumbled under my breath as I began analyzing the kitchen to see where the baked goods were.
She furrowed her brows, "You okay?"
Her question caught me off guard, I wasn't going to lie to her so I shrugged and said, "Honestly, I'm a little nervous."
A tight-lipped smile graced her face, "You know it's not too late to change your mind, you can stay." She reminded me of an easy way out.
There was a part of me that wanted to take it, but I couldn't do that so I forced a smile onto my face, "I'll be fine, plus I can't have you constantly worrying about me anymore."
Lily had spent half her life taking care of me and the last thing I wanted was for her to look back one day and think she spent her best days lugging me around.
"I want you to go out, explore, have fun," I said walking over to the kitchen counter.
She sighed, "Being your guardian has been nothing but fun, you know that Belle."
I grinned, "I know."
"Remember Vegas 2009?" She said with a light chuckle before putting a muffin and two cookies on a side plate and handing it to me, "Not only did you cover the security guard who was chasing us down in chocolate frosting but you did it all in heels."
After replaying it in my mind I couldn't help but burst out in a fit of laughter, "I told you those disguises wouldn't work." I said in between laughs.
"Hey, at least we got to meet Katy Perry that night." My Aunt said as she took a bite out of her muffin, "I bet we left an impression too."
