Shelter.

Chapter One.

Early mornings were never the best for Lizzie, she dreaded the morning and was very glad to make it to the next day but not as early in the morning she wanted to. Her youngest daughter who is just three years old is crying erratically after waking up to what appeared to be a nightmare, which is what the poor toddler has been having ever since they moved out here to Maine about a week ago. Lizzie rocked the child back and forth as she walked around her children’s shared room. Her four-year-old son Flynn laid in his bed peacefully sleep as if his little sister wasn't wailing so loud that Lizzie's ears ringed. 

Lizzie sighs as she looks up, she prayed to God that she would stop crying and she could get two more hours of shut-eye but it seemed impossible at this point. Lizzie suddenly hummed, Poppy cries lessened and lessen, and now the child was staring at her Mom.

Lizzie started singing the nursery rhyme that Poppy has been hearing from her mother ever since she came into this world. “Hush little baby, don't say a word, Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird won't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring. And if that diamond ring turns to brass, Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass. And if that looking glass gets broke, Momma's gonna buy you a billy goat.” Lizzie makes a goat nose and Poppy starts giggling, Lizzie smiles and she leans down and kisses Poppy’s forehead. “You are alright baby, it’s gonna be alright. Momma will make sure of it, okay?” Lizzie says, and Poppy stares at her with a small smile as she nodded her head slightly.

The single mother leaves out of the room, and she carries her child to her room. They became situated in her king-sized bed. Lizzie rested Poppy onto her chest and she drapes the sheets and the comforter onto them. She sighs as she rubs Poppy’s head and she falls back to sleep. The first time in years Lizzie could get a decent sleep without her husband waking her up because she was too comfortable, she needed to clean the house or worse when he wanted her.

Hours went by and Lizzie was up and both of her children were up, she held up a box of marshmallow cereals. “Cereal?” She questioned them and Flynn shook his head while Poppy looked over at him, she copied. “Pancakes!” Flynn exclaimed, and Poppy took her thumb out of her mouth. “Pancakes!” She exclaimed and Lizzie groaned but she felt them because they have been eating cereal for breakfast and lunch for a week, dinner was whatever fast-food restaurant that was around the house. “Okay.. I’ll make pancakes.. I’ll make godforsaken pancakes.” Lizzie huffed, and she started looking around the kitchen. Lizzie has never lifted a finger in the kitchen, she was never taught how to cook. 

Lizzie grew up with a mother who did everything and a father that was in the military and loved to order her mom around. Lizzie would try to step into the kitchen or help her mom, but her father would come in behind her and tell her to go do her homework, yell at her or to do the laundry. She looked around the kitchen and she sighs as she pulls out a pan; she examines it and she sits it on the stovetop then turns on the stove. “Okay.. I think that’s what I.. use… right?” Lizzie questioned herself and Lizzie shrugged as she reached into the cabinet and grabbed some cooking oil that was never opened, she opened it and she put some oil on the pan.

Her children watched their Mom, and she was moving all over the place because she did not understand what she was doing. Lizzie gets out the pancake mix, and she mixes water and some eggs even though she didn’t need any eggs but she did anyway because she was pretty sure you add eggs to the mix. She looks at her children, and she smiles as she holds up the bowl of mix. “Viola!” Lizzie chimed and Poppy smiles as she clapped her hands.

Poppy and Flynn, they were very gorgeous little children. Tawny brown skin, silky raven hair,  freckles all over the nose and their cheeks. Poppy was a sweet child, a very shy and affectionate one. She had these beautiful hazel eyes that were so big like her Mother’s. Flynn was a child who didn’t like anyone, he hated being held by anyone else but his mother and was a good big brother and he had a hard time trusting anyone that came their way. Poppy could understand why he was the way he is because he has seen his father hit his mother, he has seen his father make his mother cry and he has seen his father spit at her or make her feel bad about herself.

Lizzie wished that he didn’t see all that, she wished that she never met her ex-husband.

Lizzie poured some pancake mix onto the pan, and she smiles as she looks at her children. “See, Momma’s got this.” Lizzie remarked and Flynn smiles as he stares at his Mom. 

Lizzie was a woman that people never fail to look past. She was a short, very youthful looking woman. People always mistook her for being between the ages of sixteen to nineteen years old depending on what she was wearing or how her hair was styled. Carob skin, chocolate brown eyes, she had coarse hickory toned hair. She had a diamond-shaped, sculpted face, long eyelashes with these big Bambi eyes that people would get so lost in. She had a pigmentation stretching from her arm to her collarbone. 

Lizzie flips the pancake with the spatula, and she smirked. “Now that’s a pancake.” She smiled and Flynn looked at the pancake and he tilted his head. “Mommy, why is it… really wet..?” Flynn questioned and Lizzie looked at the pancake and it was drenched in oil. Her mouth parted because she honestly put a bit too much oil in the pan. “Ummm…” Lizzie uttered as she tried to flip the pancake again but when the spatula flips the pancake, half of it landed in the pan and the other in the burner's crease. Flicking oil into the burner, the stove erupted into a small fire. 

The children gasped and Lizzie panicked as she took the pan off of the burner. “Oh, shit.” She muttered, and she grabbed a cup of water, she tossed the water at the stovetop and it went out but then a millisecond later an even bigger flame erupted and Lizzie let out a small scream. The fire detectors began to wail and her two children covered their ears, Lizzie grabbed the kitchen towel and began to hit the fire with the towel. Smoke started to build up, and Lizzie turned the burner off, but the fire was still there. 

Lizzie ran around and tried to find a solution to put out the fire but all her boxes were still packed, she couldn't find anything to put out the fire.

Lizzie gives up, and she grabs her children, she grabbed the house phone and she runs out of the house. She dialed 9-1-1 and about five minutes later she can hear sirens come from down the street. Lizzie could now see the flames in the kitchen window. “Maybe.. I shouldn’t ever cook again.” Lizzie says and her kids watch the flames dance around in the kitchen window.

The firefighters came, and they quickly put the kitchen fire out and it was embarrassing for Lizzie because all of her neighbors were outside and she sighs as she looks around because not only she was in her very flimsy nightgown but it was short and she didn’t have time to get her robe. She held Poppy and Flynn stood behind her as one of the firefighters approached her. “Miss Davis, you put a bit too much oil in that pan. The oil with the water made the fire worse.” The firefighter says and Lizzie nodded her head slowly. “I figured.” She remarked, and Lizzie looks at Poppy and Flynn. “My kids wanted pancakes, and I thought I.. I don’t know how to cook. I’m sorry.” She apologized to the firefighter, and he took his hat off. “It’s all good ma’am. Next time be careful.” He tells her and he walks off, Lizzie sighs and she looks around at her neighbors who whispered and chatted to each other.

“You should invest in a fire extinguisher if you’re ever gonna cook again.” a deep Russian voice says from behind Lizzie. 

Lizzie turned around, and she sees this very tall man, he appeared to be about seven feet tall to Lizzie when he was just six-four. He was pale but had this ivory-toned skin; he had chestnut brown hair, forest eyes, and he had cherry pink lips. He had big eyes like Lizzie, but not as big as hers. He was lanky, skin built with very toned arms, and could tell he probably did some lifting. He wore a white muscle tee, dark denim jeans with some black boots. The man had a lot of tattoos, a prominent one was on his chest, sticking out of his muscle tee. It was a tiger, looking as if it was growling and ready to strike. 

Lizzie's mouth parted because she has never seen someone as handsome as he, he looked very intimidating and very mean. “Oh, um.. Haha yeah.” She remarked, and the man looked at Lizzie and her children. “You just moved into this town, I have never seen you before.” The man says, and his accent was very strong. “Yes, last week I moved here. Castine is beautiful, so I thought why not?” Lizzie remarked, and the man looked around at the neighbors who were looking at him crazy, she didn’t realize that he directed all the attention from her. “I live next door, I came back from the ports. Welcome to Castine.” He says and just like that he walks off.

Lizzie opened her mouth, and she watched him walk off. “I’m Lizzie by the way!” She yelled, and he ignored her, Lizzie rolled her eyes and she let out a small scoff as she walked up the pathway to her house. “Rude.” She mumbled, and she went back into her house.

                                                                                               ~

Lizzie watched her kids play on the playground at a local park. She sat on a bench by herself as she watched them play with other kids, but it was mostly Poppy playing with other kids and Flynn playing in the sandpit. Lizzie felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and she sees a text from an unknown number.

                                                                                I will find you.

Lizzie's heart dropped, she got up, and she looked around and her eyes stopped to a lake. Her heart was thumping in her chest, she walked towards the lake and she looked at her phone then she tossed it into the water. She turns around, and she looks around to see if anyone saw her do it. She walked back to the bench, and she sat down, covered her face and rubbed her cheeks as she let out an exhale. 

“Mommy, can you play in the sand with me?” Flynn asked her as approached her and Lizzie quickly got herself together, she uncovered her face and she smiled. “Of course!” She singsonged. She gets up, and she sees Poppy playing with a couple of girls and Lizzie sits down with Flynn in the sandpit. She began to scoop up to make a pile with the shovel. “Why did you throw your phone in the water? What if grandma calls?” Flynn questioned her and Lizzie sighed as she patted her sand pile. “So Daddy won’t find us and Grandma doesn’t really care what I think or say so her calls don’t matter to me anymore.” Lizzie said truthfully because she didn’t like lying to her kids, Flynn already knew so much of the truth that there was no point of lying to him because then right after he’s gonna ask why she’s lying? 

Flynn nodded understandably, Lizzie’s parents never seem to help her when her husband was beating and hitting on her. They always ignored it, they always asked her, what did she do for Warren to hit and beat on her the way he does? Nothing, she did nothing for him to do her like that. She stayed home, cleaned, looked pretty for him and had his children for him. Then he came home, beat on her and sexually abused her whenever he wanted. 

They were separated for a couple of months, but he held onto her as if she was still his wife by law she was. So secretly, Lizzie found somewhere where she knew he wouldn’t find her, bought a house with money she saved over the years, got her children, packed whatever she could, she said goodbye to her friends one last time, changed her and her kid’s last names and moved to Maine without saying a word. That’s how bad he made it a living nightmare for her, she left everything behind because she knew somehow if she still was in contact with one person from her past life that he would find some way to find her. People don’t know she’s here, and she made sure to tell them she was all right and wasn’t kidnapped or nothing, giving no hint or detail about her new life. 

“Grandpa and Grandma are mean.” Flynn mumbled.

Lizzie didn’t say anything else because he wasn’t lying, and it was still a bit too hard to talk about them. 

Lizzie began to make her sandcastle, she smiles as she looks over at Flynn who had this sandcastle as big as he was. “Impressive.” Lizzie smiles and Flynn giddily jumps up and down as he dusts his hands off. “It’s my… my.. kingdom.” Flynn grinned, and she looked at her pile that didn’t have much, but she was trying. She still kept her eyes on Poppy, who was running around with the group of girls she was playing with. 

These were the very few days that the little family had peace, it was never this peaceful to Lizzie. It freaked her out and ate at her a little because there was always something happening every single day, there was always some dark wave that comes crashing onto them and they all drown for a while until that wave calms down and they finally are able to reach the surface, to finally breathe again. 

It was like they were floating in a calm ocean, no waves to knock them under and they’re able to breathe without the worries of drowning. Lizzie floated, but she was on edge because she felt that someone was gonna yank her under and torture her but there was no hand, no torture and she has to get used to it.

The family went home because it was starting to get dark, and they became the only ones who remained at the park.

Lizzie and her toddlers get into the shower. Lizzie held Poppy while Flynn stood further under the showerhead, playing with the water. Drenching and shaking his hair, he repeatedly shook his hair, and water flicked everywhere. They took showers together, it was always something she did with then when they were babies because she felt safe when she was with them, this was a moment of peace for all three of them. 

Lizzie gently bathes Poppy as she sleepily lays against Lizzie. “Did you have fun today?” Lizzie asked her, and Poppy nodded as her thumb was in her mouth. She wet the towel, and she stroked Lizzie’s dark raven hair, her curls were in little ringlets. Much different from Lizzie’s hair type that felt like soft cotton candy texture. “Momma, tomorrow can we go to the boats?” Flynn asked her, and Lizzie wasn’t so sure about going to the docks that weren’t so far from where she lived. She was from Louisiana, she lives around lakes, bayous and was raised near a port so she wasn’t afraid of water but she wasn’t familiar around here but Flynn liked anything that had to do  with water. 

“Yes… we can.” Lizzie says and Flynn pumped his fist in the air. “Yes!” He exclaimed, and he opened the shower door, he grabbed his towel. “I’m done, you don’t have to tuck me in Momma, goodnight.” Flynn rushed out, then shut the shower door. Lizzie chuckled because she knew he was gonna get his outfit ready for tomorrow. She would walk into his room to have his outfit for tomorrow already laid out and ready. Flynn loved everything about boats, the ocean and anything in the ocean. Lizzie didn't understand why he did because the ocean was just too deep for her, but that’s what made it so interesting to Flynn, it seemed like endless wonders in there.

Lizzie gets out of the shower and she got Poppy into her sleeping clothes then she combed her hair then put her cute little pink bonnet on. Poppy wanted to sleep with Lizzie for the night. Poppy laid on her Mom as they watched TV. It was so peaceful and quiet for them, Lizzie, of course, was very much alarmed when she didn't need to be but eventually, she fell into a deep slumber. It thundered and crackled softly in the sky, a storm was coming and Lizzie didn’t know that this storm might forever change her life.