Rebecca took a deep breath as she pulled her car to a stop outside of an apartment building in downtown Moon Lake. She checked her phone, there was no messages, that was a relief. She still had her friends keeping an eye out for her, if they hadn't tried to contact her it meant that HE hadn't gotten wind of where she was again. She looked into the back seat and gave the little girl seated in a car seat a smile.
"Hey Quin, are you okay back there?" She asked.
"Yep mommy!" Quin answered with a smile. "Where are we?"
"We're in a place called Moon Lake, mommy's friends told her that it would be a good place to live," Rebecca said as she got out of the car and went around and unbuckled her daughter from her carseat, picking her up and setting her down.
Rebecca Monroe was a woman in her early 20s with darker skin and black hair that she kept short. She had come to Moon Lake after having been on the run for a while from her ex-husband. She rubbed her arm a bit, remembering the bruises that had been there so often when he had struck her. She had been running from town to town and he had found her every time somehow. Now she was in some town in the middle of nowhere, what was going to happen to her now?
"Rebecca!" A female voice said from the door of the apartment complex. Rebecca turned and smiled as she saw a woman about a year older than her with long brown hair, she was dressed in a T-shirt and jeans and ran up and hugged Rebecca. "Oh thank god, I'm glad you made it safely."
"Hey Natalie," Rebecca said with a soft smile.
"Auntie Nat!" Quin said excitedly.
"Hey there Quinny," Natalie said as she reached down and picked up the little girl, pretending to have a harder time than she actually did. "Oof, you're getting so big! I can't pick you up like this much longer!"
Quin giggled and Rebeca smiled a bit as she leaned against the car. Natalie had always been one of her best friends growing up, and had moved to Moon Lake for college. When she had to leave again because of her ex, Natalie had offered her a place to live, with the promise of some protection.
"Are you okay?" Natalie asked softly. "He didn't hurt you again, did he?"
"No, we got out before he reached town, we were lucky," Rebecca answered, placing her hand gently on Quin's head. "Thanks for offering us a place to live."
"Don't worry about it, that's what friends are for," Natalie answered with a smile. She then turned and whistled as a group of men came out. "Come on, they'll help you with your stuff. Let's go talk, I might be able to help you both."
The three of them headed inside as the men started to unpack Rebecca's car. Natalie led them into her apartment and opened the door. It was a nice apartment, fairly spacey, with three bedrooms.
"One of the bedrooms is my office, so we're going to have to move things around a bit, you can sleep in my bed until then and I'll sleep on the couch," Natalie said.
"I couldn't put you out of your own bed," Rebecca said with a shake of her head.
"It's okay, we'll get it all worked out," Natalie said as Quin looked around. "Hey Quin, how about you go check out your room? It's that one over there, I need to talk to your mommy about something."
"Okay!" Quin said and ran off to the room that Natalie had directed her to.
Natalie smiled a bit as she took a seat on the couch and Rebecca took a seat next to her. She took a deep breath and looked at her old friend, taking her hand gently. "I'm glad you came here."
"Me too... but do you really think that you can protect us?" Rebecca asked.
Natalie smiled and nodded. "The people I'm with, they're going to make sure you're safe. We're kind of a family, and I convinced them to bring you in on that protection."
"What, did you get in with the Mafia or something?" Rebecca asked with a nervous laugh.
"Nothing like that," Natalie replied, laughing too. She pulled her hand back and nodded. "You need to know this anyway if you're going to be here. It would be better if I showed you rather than telling you or you wouldn't believe me."