Sorry it took me so long guys. I haven't been able to get on the internet for several days. I think a tower's down. I hope you all like this! Btw, I NEVER write in the first person, so this all new lol!
Here goes nothing
...
My name is Charlotte. Always has been, always will be, and this is the story of how the worst day of my life turned into something so grand you'll think it's straight out of a story. It's a testimant to how there's always a plan for you even when you can't see it, and let me tell you what.....you'll never make fun of that clich'e "Nothing is ever as it seems" again as long as you live. Keep on weary traveler and never lose your cool. Know there's a plan and embrace it. Keep on reading now, I'm sure your eager to and let this story envelope you in it's surprising depths.
A man looked into my eyes. Into my soul more like. He was tall and wide with fierce eyes and tight lips. He stood close to me, he was so large and strong his body nearly blocked the pale sunlight from even coming close to warming my face. "I told you I don't know!" I yelped. He grabbed my throat in his clammy hand. His grip was looser and I realized he didn't want to hurt me too bad, just scare me. I scowled at him hardheadedly. His eye twitched mechanically and I thought they looked empty for a moment. I leaned in closer to his face. His grip didn't tighten as expected.
"Ahh," I took a breath, for whatever reason my next realization gave me minimal comfort knowing that I wasn't actually dealing with a person, though, it shouldn't of. "You're not even human!"
His eyes clouded over "I may not be human, but I'm not stupid either. Don't lie to me!" His grip went from 0-100 in a half second and before I knew it I was choking then everything went black. I woke up in a warm bed with posh blankets and fuzzy pillows. My heart sprang into my throat which was now severely bruised. I swung my legs onto the pink carpet that matched the rest of the room. I wore a knee high sun dress now instead of my normal jeans and t-shirt. A new person came into my room. He was likely just a year older than me, 16 or therebouts with kind brown eyes and dark hair. He was fully human no doubt. His eyes sparkled with understanding. I analyzed him carefully. No one was to be trusted. I looked at the ridiculous high heals near the bed and kicked them out of sight. First this dress and now high heals? I looked into the mirror and didn't recognize my face caked with make- up. While I used the cup of water carefully set on the dresser to scrub the ridiculous make up off I looked at the boy questioningly. His face held a whisper of a commical smile. I sat on the edge of the bed with a huff.
"Well," he said trying to rid a smile off his face."First off you're probably wondering where you are," he took a step closer. "This is our sanctuary! Lady Lane started this for children who need an intervention. You were chosen!" He seemed genuinely happy and rushed on as I sat there idiotically staring at him. "When you're recruited you're given a new name, new back story and a new.......persona, stigma, whatever you wanna call it. Oh, and you are assigned a job! My job is a greeter for the new comers," He set a light hand on my shoulder. "You'll love it here Gretchen," his face was gentle and caring, but I shook my head. "My name is Charlotte! Get me out of here," the tears started involuntarily flowing. "What was with the robot guy who was asking me where my parents were?" I stared at him terror stricken. "Oh Bob, yeah he's harmless! He was an experiment gone wrong but still serves a purpose, sorry he choked you out. When we recruit we usually give the parents a warning first but they weren't home so he grilled you instead and lost his temper," I stared at him experiment?........? "They were at some lawyers office filing for divorce," I said bitterly. "I wasn't sure exactly where they were. Harmless huh?" I rubbed my neck and looked past him. "What's your name?"
"Roger," he was so quick to answer.
"No, like your real God given name," I stood up now moving closer to him and stared into his eyes.
"I don't go by that anymore," his eyes narrowed into a menacing stare. My expression softened.
"Please," I whispered
"Daniel," he said begrudgingly "I used to go by Daniel," his faced twisted into something I couldn't quite place. Pain? Sadness? Anger? No......shame. I caught him by the forearm and leaned closer looking into his eyes trying to sort out what he felt. "Why are you so ashamed?" I whispered. He looked at me bitterly "Because, that name means God is my judge. The foolish belief that God is a real person is NOT condoned here. That name is as foolish as I used to be," he looked away from me then before I could answer, he rushed out of the door through the wide hallway and I heard his light foot steps hurry down a set of stairs. That day I snuck out of my room and padded my way around the building. Apparently you are given a week to become accustomed to your new surroundings before your "job" starts. I smiled and nodded at everyone but rushed on past them if they stopped to talk. The building was huge with plenty of windows that over looked a large yard that was surrounded by massively tall iron fences. It took me over 3 hours to finally find a room named "office" in the still very nice basement. After dodging the one lazy security guard, I gently opened the door and slipped inside. Filing cabinets were littered everywhere. I searched through them all until I found Daniel (Roger's) file. His picture was pasted to the front cover of the folder. He looked young, maybe 10, and scared. I sat perched on a small desk and read his file. I found out that he used to go to church every Sunday with his two loving parents until they were taken by a car accident when Daniel was at a friend's house. His life fell apart and so did his faith. He was recruited by this place and had been happily living there for the past 6 years. I looked at the pictures taken at the time of the crash caught by the security camera. A driver in a large truck t-boned the parents in their small suv. They were both pronounced dead on the scene while the other responsible driver was never found. I looked closer at each photo analyzing them carefully when I saw it. Something you don't know about me is that I've always been gifted at seeing things others don't. An old woman in that large truck barely able to be seen but there, most definitely there. I looked up at the mostly barren walls and saw a memorial crookedly pasted to the wall. In a few steps I reached it. "In loving memory of Lady Veronica Lane" pronounced dead just 3 years ago. My gears turned. A laptop sat there opened to the internet just waiting to be used. Gosh this is too easy! I shook my head. The internet, a powerful tool, revealed to me that Lady Lane was married for 3 years at ages 25-28 then divorced, never had any children due to the fact that she was unable to conceive and unfortunately unable to adopt because of a lingering medical condition that in fact "impaired her logic". Apparently her estranged relatives were quoted saying that they have been trying to get Veronica into an asylum for most of her life but failed to do so because she was always on the run. One uncle said that after she came to the conclusion she could not conceive she "went crazier", divorced her husband, threatened multiple peoples lives and wouldn't stop saying "I will have children". She had evaded the law and family members her whole life and everyone pretty much forgot about her until her memorial came up in which they all said they were quite relieved. She, at the age of 93, died due to natural causes. I tapped my fingers on the wooden desk thinking. This "sanctuary" had roughly 1,000 members ranging from all different ages. I started going through random files. They each contained pictures of the children additional information like age, gender etc. But the most important things were official police reports. "Leslie Anderson, parents died from mysterious house fire. Child gone." "John Bond, kidnapped from school, yet to be found." "Gordon Haul, legal guardian murdered while on a hike. Child gone" "Merissa loughten, taken from own home." I gasped. Each file had a common denominator "responsible party yet to be found" and "Child gone". These children didn't just have unfortunate upbringings, this was all planned, and I know who facilitated it all. That unmistakable dangley grey hair in Lady Lane's memorial photo was the same hair the woman driving the truck had. Lady Lane.........murdered and kidnapped all these children herself. She had children alright, just not the conventional way. But then Daniel's folder caught my eye again as it re-surfaced from my stacks of already read folders. I re opened it and looked at the picture of his Mom and Dad, they had such kind eyes- like him. His Mom looked so beautiful and especially kind. I guessed she was probably late 20's in the photo. I scowered it once more and another picture of just his Mother this time seemed to come out of no where. Under it in neat hand writing was written Ella Lane. My breath caught in my throat, her maiden name's Lane? Further it said she was one of 10 siblings and it offered a black and white family picture. I recognized that same stringy haired girl sitting with her arm around Daniel's Mother only much younger. This woman even killed her own baby sister and kidnapped her nephew just for what?! To have one more child before she passed? I shook my head, oh Daniel...... It all started coming clear then. Lady Lane was determined to have children so she stole them. The robot guy was the new recruitor created by Lady Lane carrying on her legacy. So that means Daniel lied to me.....the thought stung a bit. Or, maybe he was pursuaded that his God believing home life was bad and he truly needed recruited. I hoped that was the case. I also learned that this was Lady Lane's room herself. No one had entered since her death. The memorial said she had died a "happy death" in her chair while on her computor- that's why it was left open I guess. A few hours later I left the office and made my way back to my room, not without temporarily borrowing some files of course. I saw Daniel in the hallway, he looked grim and purposely avoided my eyes. I stepped in front of him blocking him from passing. He took a sharp breath and looked at the floor. "I get you don't want to talk to me right now Daniel, but I have some information you need to know," I said in a low voice. "Please meet me in my room after dinner at 7 tonight. I swear I'm not jerking you around man," With that I walked back to my room in that still ridiculous dress and prayed he would show. My room was comfy, I must admit, and I found a pair of black sweat pants along with a faded t-shirt which I was stoked about. Dinner was surprisingly delightful for just a few teenage girls cooking. They were truly gifted. I watched Daniel from across the huge dining room. The building was set up a lot like a 5 star hotel. It was insanely huge compared to my family's crappy duplex. I couldn't get my parents off my mind all day, I hoped they were alright. I finished dinner at 6:30 and tossed Daniel a pleading look across the room in which he returned with scowl. 7pm came and went, then 8, 8:30 and 9. I layed on my back on my bed staring at the smooth ceiling. A light tap came to my door and I practically leaped out of bed and cracked the door. He stood there leaned up against the jam. His face held an indistinguishable expression. I couldn't help but smile, he came. I opened the door and ushered him in. He looked apprehensive at first but slowly became more willing to listen. I told him everything and watched his eyes widen. He was speechless for several minutes just staring at me. "Good gosh, I never knew," he just shook his head. "Go to bed, we'll talk in the morning," I smiled and he walked out the door stunned. The next day came and Daniel and I broke out. He suffered a bullet to the shoulder as the guard shot at him. They knew if we got out so would their secret. We found our way to the hospital in record time however, and I sat with him through the whole thing. My parents ended up not divorcing and nearly had a heart attack when I showed up on the door step with a stitched up Daniel dutifully at my side. He was actually adopted by my Mother's best friend and worked with her husband for many years as a carpenter. When he turned 18 we were officially legal to take our experience to the police and we both gave our full testimonies to the police who made several arrests, found loving homes for all the children and teenagers, decided to de-activate Bob and also found several graves of children who tried to escape but were murdered, which made me cry. Daniel and I started officailly dating and spent every spare minute together. He proposed when I was 20. We've been married for 50 years now and have 6 children, 3 quarky dogs and a lot of loving grandchildren. He is as close to God as ever with a rock solid faith. We still talk about that day I came to the sanctuary and laugh about it now. He's a good man and I thank God for him daily. My parents are gone now but we spent many happier days together after I came home. Daniel and I still keep in touch with the other sanctuary recruits to this day.
So that's it!! That's my story. Thanks for reading and remember, there's always a plan for you even if it doesn't seem like it. God bless.
Here goes nothing
...My name is Charlotte. Always has been, always will be, and this is the story of how the worst day of my life turned into something so grand you'll think it's straight out of a story. It's a testimant to how there's always a plan for you even when you can't see it, and let me tell you what.....you'll never make fun of that clich'e "Nothing is ever as it seems" again as long as you live. Keep on weary traveler and never lose your cool. Know there's a plan and embrace it. Keep on reading now, I'm sure your eager to and let this story envelope you in it's surprising depths.
A man looked into my eyes. Into my soul more like. He was tall and wide with fierce eyes and tight lips. He stood close to me, he was so large and strong his body nearly blocked the pale sunlight from even coming close to warming my face. "I told you I don't know!" I yelped. He grabbed my throat in his clammy hand. His grip was looser and I realized he didn't want to hurt me too bad, just scare me. I scowled at him hardheadedly. His eye twitched mechanically and I thought they looked empty for a moment. I leaned in closer to his face. His grip didn't tighten as expected.
"Ahh," I took a breath, for whatever reason my next realization gave me minimal comfort knowing that I wasn't actually dealing with a person, though, it shouldn't of. "You're not even human!"
His eyes clouded over "I may not be human, but I'm not stupid either. Don't lie to me!" His grip went from 0-100 in a half second and before I knew it I was choking then everything went black. I woke up in a warm bed with posh blankets and fuzzy pillows. My heart sprang into my throat which was now severely bruised. I swung my legs onto the pink carpet that matched the rest of the room. I wore a knee high sun dress now instead of my normal jeans and t-shirt. A new person came into my room. He was likely just a year older than me, 16 or therebouts with kind brown eyes and dark hair. He was fully human no doubt. His eyes sparkled with understanding. I analyzed him carefully. No one was to be trusted. I looked at the ridiculous high heals near the bed and kicked them out of sight. First this dress and now high heals? I looked into the mirror and didn't recognize my face caked with make- up. While I used the cup of water carefully set on the dresser to scrub the ridiculous make up off I looked at the boy questioningly. His face held a whisper of a commical smile. I sat on the edge of the bed with a huff.
"Well," he said trying to rid a smile off his face."First off you're probably wondering where you are," he took a step closer. "This is our sanctuary! Lady Lane started this for children who need an intervention. You were chosen!" He seemed genuinely happy and rushed on as I sat there idiotically staring at him. "When you're recruited you're given a new name, new back story and a new.......persona, stigma, whatever you wanna call it. Oh, and you are assigned a job! My job is a greeter for the new comers," He set a light hand on my shoulder. "You'll love it here Gretchen," his face was gentle and caring, but I shook my head. "My name is Charlotte! Get me out of here," the tears started involuntarily flowing. "What was with the robot guy who was asking me where my parents were?" I stared at him terror stricken. "Oh Bob, yeah he's harmless! He was an experiment gone wrong but still serves a purpose, sorry he choked you out. When we recruit we usually give the parents a warning first but they weren't home so he grilled you instead and lost his temper," I stared at him experiment?........? "They were at some lawyers office filing for divorce," I said bitterly. "I wasn't sure exactly where they were. Harmless huh?" I rubbed my neck and looked past him. "What's your name?"
"Roger," he was so quick to answer.
"No, like your real God given name," I stood up now moving closer to him and stared into his eyes.
"I don't go by that anymore," his eyes narrowed into a menacing stare. My expression softened.
"Please," I whispered
"Daniel," he said begrudgingly "I used to go by Daniel," his faced twisted into something I couldn't quite place. Pain? Sadness? Anger? No......shame. I caught him by the forearm and leaned closer looking into his eyes trying to sort out what he felt. "Why are you so ashamed?" I whispered. He looked at me bitterly "Because, that name means God is my judge. The foolish belief that God is a real person is NOT condoned here. That name is as foolish as I used to be," he looked away from me then before I could answer, he rushed out of the door through the wide hallway and I heard his light foot steps hurry down a set of stairs. That day I snuck out of my room and padded my way around the building. Apparently you are given a week to become accustomed to your new surroundings before your "job" starts. I smiled and nodded at everyone but rushed on past them if they stopped to talk. The building was huge with plenty of windows that over looked a large yard that was surrounded by massively tall iron fences. It took me over 3 hours to finally find a room named "office" in the still very nice basement. After dodging the one lazy security guard, I gently opened the door and slipped inside. Filing cabinets were littered everywhere. I searched through them all until I found Daniel (Roger's) file. His picture was pasted to the front cover of the folder. He looked young, maybe 10, and scared. I sat perched on a small desk and read his file. I found out that he used to go to church every Sunday with his two loving parents until they were taken by a car accident when Daniel was at a friend's house. His life fell apart and so did his faith. He was recruited by this place and had been happily living there for the past 6 years. I looked at the pictures taken at the time of the crash caught by the security camera. A driver in a large truck t-boned the parents in their small suv. They were both pronounced dead on the scene while the other responsible driver was never found. I looked closer at each photo analyzing them carefully when I saw it. Something you don't know about me is that I've always been gifted at seeing things others don't. An old woman in that large truck barely able to be seen but there, most definitely there. I looked up at the mostly barren walls and saw a memorial crookedly pasted to the wall. In a few steps I reached it. "In loving memory of Lady Veronica Lane" pronounced dead just 3 years ago. My gears turned. A laptop sat there opened to the internet just waiting to be used. Gosh this is too easy! I shook my head. The internet, a powerful tool, revealed to me that Lady Lane was married for 3 years at ages 25-28 then divorced, never had any children due to the fact that she was unable to conceive and unfortunately unable to adopt because of a lingering medical condition that in fact "impaired her logic". Apparently her estranged relatives were quoted saying that they have been trying to get Veronica into an asylum for most of her life but failed to do so because she was always on the run. One uncle said that after she came to the conclusion she could not conceive she "went crazier", divorced her husband, threatened multiple peoples lives and wouldn't stop saying "I will have children". She had evaded the law and family members her whole life and everyone pretty much forgot about her until her memorial came up in which they all said they were quite relieved. She, at the age of 93, died due to natural causes. I tapped my fingers on the wooden desk thinking. This "sanctuary" had roughly 1,000 members ranging from all different ages. I started going through random files. They each contained pictures of the children additional information like age, gender etc. But the most important things were official police reports. "Leslie Anderson, parents died from mysterious house fire. Child gone." "John Bond, kidnapped from school, yet to be found." "Gordon Haul, legal guardian murdered while on a hike. Child gone" "Merissa loughten, taken from own home." I gasped. Each file had a common denominator "responsible party yet to be found" and "Child gone". These children didn't just have unfortunate upbringings, this was all planned, and I know who facilitated it all. That unmistakable dangley grey hair in Lady Lane's memorial photo was the same hair the woman driving the truck had. Lady Lane.........murdered and kidnapped all these children herself. She had children alright, just not the conventional way. But then Daniel's folder caught my eye again as it re-surfaced from my stacks of already read folders. I re opened it and looked at the picture of his Mom and Dad, they had such kind eyes- like him. His Mom looked so beautiful and especially kind. I guessed she was probably late 20's in the photo. I scowered it once more and another picture of just his Mother this time seemed to come out of no where. Under it in neat hand writing was written Ella Lane. My breath caught in my throat, her maiden name's Lane? Further it said she was one of 10 siblings and it offered a black and white family picture. I recognized that same stringy haired girl sitting with her arm around Daniel's Mother only much younger. This woman even killed her own baby sister and kidnapped her nephew just for what?! To have one more child before she passed? I shook my head, oh Daniel...... It all started coming clear then. Lady Lane was determined to have children so she stole them. The robot guy was the new recruitor created by Lady Lane carrying on her legacy. So that means Daniel lied to me.....the thought stung a bit. Or, maybe he was pursuaded that his God believing home life was bad and he truly needed recruited. I hoped that was the case. I also learned that this was Lady Lane's room herself. No one had entered since her death. The memorial said she had died a "happy death" in her chair while on her computor- that's why it was left open I guess. A few hours later I left the office and made my way back to my room, not without temporarily borrowing some files of course. I saw Daniel in the hallway, he looked grim and purposely avoided my eyes. I stepped in front of him blocking him from passing. He took a sharp breath and looked at the floor. "I get you don't want to talk to me right now Daniel, but I have some information you need to know," I said in a low voice. "Please meet me in my room after dinner at 7 tonight. I swear I'm not jerking you around man," With that I walked back to my room in that still ridiculous dress and prayed he would show. My room was comfy, I must admit, and I found a pair of black sweat pants along with a faded t-shirt which I was stoked about. Dinner was surprisingly delightful for just a few teenage girls cooking. They were truly gifted. I watched Daniel from across the huge dining room. The building was set up a lot like a 5 star hotel. It was insanely huge compared to my family's crappy duplex. I couldn't get my parents off my mind all day, I hoped they were alright. I finished dinner at 6:30 and tossed Daniel a pleading look across the room in which he returned with scowl. 7pm came and went, then 8, 8:30 and 9. I layed on my back on my bed staring at the smooth ceiling. A light tap came to my door and I practically leaped out of bed and cracked the door. He stood there leaned up against the jam. His face held an indistinguishable expression. I couldn't help but smile, he came. I opened the door and ushered him in. He looked apprehensive at first but slowly became more willing to listen. I told him everything and watched his eyes widen. He was speechless for several minutes just staring at me. "Good gosh, I never knew," he just shook his head. "Go to bed, we'll talk in the morning," I smiled and he walked out the door stunned. The next day came and Daniel and I broke out. He suffered a bullet to the shoulder as the guard shot at him. They knew if we got out so would their secret. We found our way to the hospital in record time however, and I sat with him through the whole thing. My parents ended up not divorcing and nearly had a heart attack when I showed up on the door step with a stitched up Daniel dutifully at my side. He was actually adopted by my Mother's best friend and worked with her husband for many years as a carpenter. When he turned 18 we were officially legal to take our experience to the police and we both gave our full testimonies to the police who made several arrests, found loving homes for all the children and teenagers, decided to de-activate Bob and also found several graves of children who tried to escape but were murdered, which made me cry. Daniel and I started officailly dating and spent every spare minute together. He proposed when I was 20. We've been married for 50 years now and have 6 children, 3 quarky dogs and a lot of loving grandchildren. He is as close to God as ever with a rock solid faith. We still talk about that day I came to the sanctuary and laugh about it now. He's a good man and I thank God for him daily. My parents are gone now but we spent many happier days together after I came home. Daniel and I still keep in touch with the other sanctuary recruits to this day.
So that's it!! That's my story. Thanks for reading and remember, there's always a plan for you even if it doesn't seem like it. God bless.
I love the happy ending!
