Bella looks in the mirror and sighs, her reflection mimicking the action. The girl staring back at her looks like a stranger. Bella curled her hair, pulling back the top of her hair into a loose knot at the back of her head, creating a casual half-updo. With a light layer of makeup, her reflection looks pretty but unhappy. Bella can not muster up a smile for even herself, she is so dreading this evening. But her father is happy. He has been worried about her since they moved her because he was afraid that she wouldn't know anyone and would retreat further into herself. His wish was that she make friends and he sees this as that coming true. She does not want to disappoint him by te

    Bella opens her eyes, but she can barely see through the darkness. Since the moment that she traded her life for her father's freedom, she has feared the worst. She has expected it at any moment. Death. When the large figure came towards her, she thought that was the moment when she would meet her demise. But he simply ran towards her and she fainted. When she came to moments later, she was being carried like a sack of flour over what she assumed was a shoulder. The man marched through the trees and bushes, without regard for himself or her. Her skin was covered in bloody scrapes and stinging scratc

  Bella watches Adam warily as he stands there across the room, looking at her evenly. He seems to be sizing her up and Bella gets the distinct impression that he finds her to be lacking in some way. He seems like he is considering saying something, but thinks better of it, which is why Bella is shocked when he speaks. But she is most shocked by his words. “You and Lumi seem really comfortable together. I almost thought that I had interrupted a moment between the two of you.” “Um, you did,” Bella tells him, lifting

  Bella refused to eat the lunch that was sent up to her for two reasons. First, she was not sure about it after the threats that Adam had made earlier. For the second reason, her stomach was still cramping from the breakfast she had eaten. Where she had not eaten for what could possibly have been days, her stomach had not handled the heavy breakfast that she had gobbled down. Adam had left just in time because mere seconds after the door had slammed in his wake, her stomach had knotted up and she had rushed to the bathroom, where she had spent most of the morning with the agonizing pains. She had a coughing spell that had left h

  Throughout the rest of the day, Adam and Lumi bring things into the room, such as a mini-fridge full of juices and sodas, a small love seat that is a pretty shade of pink that matches her bedspread, and some other things that she has not gotten to look at yet. Bella unpacks her bags of clothes as Lumi hangs mint green curtains from the windows. Adam sits on the floor, hooking up her Xbox one to her tv. Chad had been in the room talking a mile a minute for a while but his mother kept calling for him and finally, Adam made him go. Not without grumbles though. “Okay, the curtains are up,” Lumi announces.