Dark Angel

Chapter Three

"Ma'am." A voice said shaking me gently. I rolled onto my other shoulder waving off the voice.

I was in my world right now. A place where there was no danger and I didn't have to run or hide. It was peaceful inside of my head. Everything was fine here.

"Ma'am the bus has stopped." The voice said shaking me again.

This time my eyes snapped open and I looked around quickly taking in my unfamiliar environment. Then I looked up at the person who was shaking me it was the bus driver. He was short and a little chubby but he had a friendly face.

"Where am I?" I asked as I stretched and slowly stood up. My legs were stiff which indicated that I had been sitting for a while.

"Not in Houston anymore sweetheart. We're in a small town just outside of Austin." He answered looking at me worriedly. "Where are ya' folks? This is quite the journey for someone your age."

"Does this small town have a name?" I yawned ignoring his last question.

"Yes ma'am you are currently in Bonton Hills." He replied smiling as I walked towards the front of the bus.

"Thank you." I said with a sleepy smile right before I got off the bus. I took a look around the bus stop. He was right this screamed "small town" there were few buildings but most of them looked a little run down. But overall it looked like a nice town. There were benches along the sidewalk with circles of cement next to them filled with flowers. All of the people seemed to be indoors or hiding...

Keeping my environment in mind I hesitantly walked towards a building that looked like an apartment building. It had about four floor. But before I even walked in I looked at the side of the building and looked for the emergency exit. Bingo! I thought as I made a mental note of everything around it. Then I walked back around to enter the complex.

The inside looked nice and comfortable in a way. It had a few plants and bonsai trees in each corner. The walls were a light peach color which added to the room's homey feeling.

"Hi there!" A chirpy voice said from behind me. "Are you looking for an apartment?"

I turned to see a young girl with long brown here smiling at me.

"Um yeah I am I was just looking for the landlord?" The way I said that most definitely made that sound like a question I noted dully to myself.

"Oh!" She chirped, "Well hun you're looking at her." She said with a smile.

"Well I'm Anna Clemonte." I said holding out my hand.

"You can call me Shirley. But it's nice to meet you Miss Anna." She said shaking my hand with a warm smile as she led me over to her front desk. "So where ya' coming from?" She asked curiously.

"Houston actually." When I said this her eyes lit up.

"I've always wanted to live in the big city!" She gushed as she looked for something in her desk. "Okay so I need you to fill these out. Rent is due on the first of the month. This is just a standard lease." She explained sliding the paperwork towards me.

Once I filled them out I handed them back to her. As she looked them over I heard someone come in behind me. I turned around to see a guy who looked about my age if not a year or two older on the phone.

"What do you mean you lost her?!? We need her-" I had no idea who this guy was but I had the itching feeling he was looking for me. The second he saw me looking at him my suspicions were confirmed. "Anna." was all that he could say before I dashed out the door.

"Wait!" He called after me. I didn't know what he wanted but it sounded like trouble.

I looked around desperately for somewhere to hide but I had no such luck. Before I could run much further a hand reached out and grabbed my arm. As I tried to yank my arm he only held on tighter.