Shelter.

Chapter Three

A day went by and the sky seemed to get darker and darker, the wind was picking up more tremendously and fewer people roamed the streets. Lizzie walked with Poppy on her hip as she walked through her small town while Flynn held her hand. Lizzie was job searching and was hoping to see if she could get a job. Lizzie never really had a job, she had no experience working because she was a stay at home Mom for most of her time. All she knew about was being a mother, and so she necessarily didn’t have any experience with anything.  She went to several places, and she didn’t get much luck with getting a job. Lizzie couldn’t blame them.

Lizzie waits at the stoplight, and she looks down at Flynn. “There is no luck for me today, bud.” Lizzie says and Flynn looks up at his mother, he frowns because she has been searching hard and people weren’t willing to give her a chance or to see what she was capable of. Flynn thinks his mother is very strong and is a fast learner, she always seemed to impress him because she was just this magic woman to him. She was smart and people don’t think she is because she stood next to their Dad and he always tried to dumb her down someway, somehow but Lizzie was book smart, street smart and had common sense unlike many people don’t have around here.

They cross the street and she puts down Poppy, Flynn grabs her hand just in case Poppy wants to run off because it was something she was known for doing. Flynn’s eyes catch a home improvement company building, it was a large building, and it had Sokolov’s Home Improvement Company on the front of it. Flynn points towards the building, and he looks up at his Mom. “What about that place Momma?” Flynn questioned her and Lizzie looked at the large building that seemed like a too good to be true of a place to get hired at. “I don’t know Flynn.” Lizzie mumbled and Flynn frowned as he looked up at her. “It wouldn’t hurt to try Momma.” Flynn remarked and Lizzie bites her lip, she nodded and she smiled a little. “Your right, babe.” Lizzie smiled, and they started walking towards the building.

They walked in, and it was like a typical office building that had different professional areas. The sales area, a warehouse area, main office and they even had a small chain business inside. Lizzie looks at the directory and she sees the main office was on the fourth floor of the building. Lizzie gets into the elevator and Lizzie fixes her clothes. She wore a black long sleeve lace blouse she got a year back, black tapered trousers, and she had her hair in a low neat bun and she wore some black boot heels.

The elevator stopped, and she got off, then they met a quiet lobby, she looked at the directory once again before walking towards the main office. She opens the door to the office, and she sees a group of people who all were sitting at their desks. Lizzie smiled softly, and she looked at what to believe was the secretary. She clears his throat. “Hi, I’m Elizabeth Davis and I was visiting to see if there're any jobs open.” Lizzie stated and the secretariat, she was this older woman with silver hair even though she looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had the bluest eyes, she wore an all-pink business suit, and she was obnoxiously chewing her gum. “My boss isn’t in right now but we have the assistant here, he can tell the positions we have available.” The woman says, and she gets up. Lizzie nodded her head quickly with a smile. 

Lizzie looks down at her children and she looks at Flynn for a moment, she rubs his hair. “Sit down and watch your sister. Do not get up or run around. I will be back.” Lizzie stated, and Flynn nodded, and he sat down with his sister. “Good luck, Mommy.” Flynn smiled and Lizzie blew a kiss to them as she followed behind the woman towards the office.

They walked into an office and they saw this tall man with a gray suit on; he was pale as snow with yellow blonde hair and blue eyes that appeared gray. “She wants to know if there're any positions available.” The woman says, and the man gives Lizzie a smile, then he holds out his hand. “I’m Parker Warren.” The man introduced himself. Lizzie shakes his hand with a firm grip, and she looks into his eyes. “Elizabeth Davis.” She smiled, and the woman left the office, shutting the door behind her and Parker motions for her to sit down.

Lizzie sits down, and she straightens out her trousers, then crosses her legs. Parker walks behind his desk, and he sits down. “We have a secretary position available. We usually take applications online, but I can print out an application for you to fill out.” Parker says as he starts clicking his mouse and he gazes at his computer. “You already have a secretary-Oh, right.” Lizzie clears her throat, and Parker slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, Shirley is a nice woman, but she can be quite the pest for someone who has to direct our calls. We need someone who is reliable, willing to handle multiple calls at once and to assist us when needed.” Parker explained and Lizzie smiles ear to ear. “I’m all of those things and I will never discourage you.” Lizzie smiled, and Parker stared at Lizzie for a moment. “I have a feeling you do, this is the first time that someone came in to apply in person.” Parker says and he was already impressed with Lizzie.

“Tell me about yourself Lizzie.” Parker says as he does one last click and then he diverts his attention to her.

Lizzie straightened her posture a bit more, and she smiled. “Well, I’m Elizabeth and I’m from Monroe, Louisiana. You can hear it in my accent sometimes, but I’ve lived in New York before I came to Maine, so you can’t really tell anymore. I’m a single mother of two. I… necessarily never had a job, but I’d say being a stay-at-home mother should count. I will never disappoint you, Mr. Warren, neither your boss and I’m a person who is very goal orientated, works very well under pressure and I’m a perfectionist so my work ethic is very close to perfect.” Lizzie stated and Parker nodded as he reached over to his printer, then he grabbed some papers.

Parker gives her the papers, the clipboard and a pen. He smiled, and she took the clipboard. “I’m glad to hear.” He replies, and Lizzie grins, then she starts filling out her paperwork. “What are your kid’s names?” He questioned and Lizzie smiled as she continued writing. “Their names are Poppy and Flynn. Poppy is three and Flynn is four, almost five.” She says and Parker beamed. “That’s cute. Me and my husband want children, but we’re too busy. We babysit our friend’s kids, nieces and nephews to keep us content and happy.” Parker says and Lizzie smiles. “Well, you and your husband can gladly watch my kids one day. Poppy might be your favorite because she is sassy and will make you laugh. Flynn is very shy and quiet.”

“We will have to take you up on that offer.” Parker grinned.

About ten minutes later, Lizzie finishes filling out her application and Parker examines and then makes copies. “My boss isn’t here today, will you be happy coming back Monday morning?” He asks, and Lizzie nodded her head. “Yes sir, I will be here at nine.” She says and Parker stands up. “That’s perfect.” He says, and Lizzie gets up, then she shakes her hand. “It was such a pleasure to meet you and you have a good day.” Lizzie says and Parker shakes her hand. “Likewise, you have a good evening.” He smiles and Lizzie nodded at him and she walked to her kids that were sitting on the couch, she smiled and the kids got up. Flynn smiles as he grabs Poppy’s hand while Lizzie grabs Flynn's other free hand. “How was it, momma?” Flynn asked her and Lizzie smiles softly as she rubs her head. “I think I got the job.” She smiled and Flynn was so glad to hear how confident she was about the job, he really hoped that she did.

They get back home and Lizzie gets dressed up while she gets the kids in the bath, gets them in their sleeping clothes and also packs a bag for when they go over to the babysitter's house. 

She packed all of their essentials and snacks for the night. She was nervous about going out tonight; she hasn’t been out in years and she was quite awkward when it came to social interaction. She hoped that Paisley is a social butterfly because it would be one awkward outing.

Lizzie wore a white blouse, blue jeans,, and her Doc Martens. Her hair was in a curly Afro and she put on a little makeup and did a nice brown lip look that was more of a nude.

They headed out into the evening again, they caught the very last bus for the night all the way to Paisley’s house.  It was a very nice house, not too big, and had a pretty front yard with a lot of flowers and a cute tree with a tire swing hanging from it. It was like looking at a house that was in the movie, it seemed a bit too good to be true. Lizzie didn’t live in a very nice house, but it was nice enough for her and her children to live and to be free from all the troubles that they endured in the past life.

Lizzie carried both of their kids down the pathway to the door, she struggled to ring the doorbell, if she retracted her hand then she would most likely drop Poppy. The door opens to Paisley, and she smiles. “You came, please come in.” She smiles and Lizzie walks in with both of her kids. The inside of Paisley's house was very homey, it smelled like vanilla and warmth. 

A girl with very similar curly hair comes walking into the hallway. She looked a lot like Paisley, in fact, they were twins. Lizzie looks between the two women and they looked practically the same. “Wow, I-” Lizzie grinned and the row women giggled. Paisley nodded as she looked at her sister. “Yeah, we’re twins. I call her my little sister because she came out of the womb after me and we’re thirty minutes apart.” Paisley chuckled, and Paisley’s sister held out her hand. “I’m Josie.” Her sister introduces herself and Poppy looks at her hand, Josie awkwardly pulled her hand away. “Oh right, your hands are full. Here, let me help you.” Josie says, and she takes Flynn, Josie holds the boy and this unfamiliar embrace immediately wakes him up.

Flynn rubbed his eyes, and he looked at Josie who is carrying him, his eyes went wide then they trailed to Paisley and they grew even wider. “There's two Paisleys.” Flynn mumbled, and Josie smiles. “I’m Paisley's sister, Josie.” She smiled and Flynn grins as he stares at Josie who looked like a princess to him with her long red hair. 

Lizzie gets her kids situated, and she gives them kisses goodnight. It took ten minutes for Lizzie to actually leave her children because it’s been so long that she has to spend time without them. The two women finally headed out in Paisley's Black Jeep Wrangler and Lizzie sat in the passenger seat, she fiddled with her blouse nervously as she looked down. Paisley looks over at her and she frowns. “It’s gonna be all good Lizzie, I’ll be there with you and I won’t let anyone hurt you babe.” Paisley assured her and Lizzie slowly nodded her head, she looks out the window and she sighs.

They get to Barnaby’s and it was crowded, people sat outside and talked while drinking their beers. Paisley parks her car, and they get out of the car. They walked from the car, eyes already drifting to them because they were women that were hard to look past. They were very in contrast with each other. Both had deep curly hair, Paisley was as pale as ice but Lizzie’s skin was dark as a summer night but an entire galaxy that shone against her skin. The duo walked into the bar, and Lizzie looks over at Paisley who was smiling so wide.

“Drinks are on me.” Paisley smiled and Lizzie wasn’t much of a drinker, one beer could last her an entire night.

They got their beers, and they sat down at the bar, Lizzie looked around and she was uncomfortable because she was the only black person in the entire building. She hated being the only one, she didn’t feel safe nor did she ever feel comfortable. “There is a guy… looking at you, do you know him?” Paisley questioned her and Lizzie turned her head to the direction Paisley turned her head to see Saveli. Her eyes furrowed. He sat alone, in the corner of the bar, drinking alone. His cold stared remained on her and Lizzie looked away and she turned her body towards Lizzie. “Sadly, yes.” Lizzie huffed and Paisley’s mouth dropped.

“What?” Lizzie questioned.

“That guy is the meanest guy in this entire town, he is a complete asshole and many people fear him.” Paisley explained.

“I don’t… I promised myself that I will never fear a man again.” Lizzie replied.

“He’s the man you should fear. He’s a Sokolov Brother.” Paisley remarked.

Lizzie leaned forward a little because now she was interested to learn some information about him and she takes a sip of her beer. “Tell me about him.” Lizzie says, and Paisley swallows hard, and she sits her beer down on the counter. “There are three Saveli Brothers.. Junis, Saveli, and Nikolas. They came to town about fifteen years ago. I went to school with them. Saveli and Junis are ten months apart so they were always in the same grade. They were always up to no good, they drove the town mad, and they were so ruthless except for Nikolas. He always had his head in the books, he was the only good seed out of the three. The only reason why their family was so f****d up, it was their Nazi father. Everyone hated that man. He owned a lot of businesses around town. There were rumors that the reason the boys didn’t have a mother because their father back in Russia did something to their mother, she ended up going missing then was pronounced dead about a month later, they found her body in a lake.”

Lizzie's mouth parted, and she gasped. “No way.” Lizzie didn’t want to believe, but a part of her wanted to. “Yes, way, Russians can be quite dirty sometimes and who knows what is going on over there.”  Paisley explained, and Lizzie rubs her shoulder with her hand. “Wow, that sounds terrible. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t grow up with my mother… I don’t talk to my family but I couldn’t imagine growing up without a Mom.” Lizzie explained and Paisley nodded as she shrugged. “Same here, I didn’t have a Dad but my Mom did everything to raise me and my sister right.” Paisley smiled softly.

Paisley looked behind Lizzie, she smirked a little as she leaned closer. “You know the handsome blonde from yesterday? I think he wants to talk to you, do you want me to leave?” Paisley questioned, and Lizzie immediately shakes her head. “Oh God, I don’t know what to talk about.” Lizzie rushes out and Paisley gets up. “Just look pretty, be mindful, watch what he says and holler my name if you want out.” Paisley says, and Lizzie exhaled, she nodded. “Okay.” Lizzie mumbled and Paisley patted Lizzie’s back. “Atta girl, I’ll be over here.” Paisley says before walking off.

Lizzie closed her eyes and she exhaled, she relaxed herself and Christopher sat next to her. “Hey, pretty lady.” Christopher grinned and Lizzie smiled softly. “Hi.” She shyly smiled and Christopher’s eyes raked her body. “You look amazing.” He remarked, and Lizzie nervously chuckled. “Um, thanks.” She replied and Christopher can see that she was uncomfortable, she kept looking over her shoulder and looking around. “You’re not a social person aren’t you?” He questioned, and Lizzie exhaled. “No, I’m not really a people person. I thought going out for a change would be nice but I rather be at home with my kids, cuddled up and watching 80s chick flicks.” Lizzie talked, and Christopher smiled. “I see what you mean, I’m not much of  a people person either.” Christopher replied, and he was staring at her very oddly, it was weirding her out.

“Tell me… why are you single?” Christopher questioned her.

“No reason for me to say.” Lizzie shrugged.

Christopher seemed to get closer to her, or she was just tripping for no reason. Christopher let out a scoff. “I’m sure there’s a reason why, you moved to this small town, you have two kids who are young and you are not with anyone.” He remarked, and he now crossed the line because she said that she didn’t want to say why, because talking about it, let alone thinking about it was hard enough. “I said I didn’t want to talk…” Lizzie's words faltered when she felt his hand rub his back, she moved his hand off of her. “I don’t like that.” Lizzie tells Christopher and his hands started rubbing her arm and she yanked her arm away. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Lizzie questioned him and she could see his eyes, they were a bit red and that meant that he was drunk.

“Relax, I’m just trying to make you comfortable you seem tense.” Christopher says.

Lizzie gets up, but he grabs her arm, she tries to yank away her wrist. “Where are you going? I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable.” Christopher stated and Lizzie began to panic. “Can you let go-Paisley!” Lizzie exclaimed and suddenly, Christopher was being yanked out of the seat. Christopher let's go of her and Lizzie rubbed her wrist, she looks up and she sees Saveli and he had Christopher by the sleeve of his shirt. “Chris, I suggest you go take a taxi home.” Saveli suggested, and Christopher yanked his sleeve from Saveli. Christopher said nothing because Saveli was the wrong guy to piss off.

Paisley comes, and she hugs Lizzie, Lizzie was on the verge of having a panic attack because she was having flashbacks of when Warren used to grab her, throw her around like a rag doll. “It’s… It’s fine.” Lizzie stutters, and Paisley pulls away a little to look at Lizzie. Lizzie didn’t know it, but she was crying. “Are you okay? I can take you back home-”

“No, no, no, it’s fine..” Lizzie sniffled, and she wiped her face. “I just need some air for a moment, I’ll be outside.” Lizzie rushes out, and she pulls away from Paisley, and she walks out of the bar. 

Lizzie walked to the side of the building, she couldn’t help but cry and she felt so sick to her stomach because she really hoped nothing like that ever happened to her. She was scared; she said that she wasn’t going to be scared and for the first time in a while she was. She wipes her face as she leaned against the building; she hugs herself as she sniffles. “I shouldn’t have come, I’m not ready for all this. What the f**k were you thinking, Lizzie? That right there was gonna be another Warren situation all over again.” Lizzie said to herself, and she wipes her eyes.

Saveli came around the corner and she straightened her posture, she furrowed her eyes. “Are you here to lecture me or something?” Lizzie questions him and Saveli’s green eyes look at the state she’s in. “No.. I came to see if you were okay.” Saveli says, and he walked closer to her. “Christopher, he is known for getting really handsy and clingy when he’s drunk. No excuse at all, though.” Saveli says, and Lizzie sniffles, she looks away from Saveli. “It isn’t.. He knew what he was doing.” Lizzie huffed and Saveli looked at what she was wearing, he smiled a little but it faded quickly before her gaze drifted to him.

“I like Paisley but I don’t want to go back in there.” Lizzie mumbled.

“You don’t have to go back inside.” Saveli tells her, and she nodded.

Lizzie sits down on the ground, she crosses her legs and she looks up at the dark sky that has been dark for days. Saveli sits down as well to keep her company and creeps are always walking around out here. “That storm is really coming?” Lizzie questioned Saveli, he nodded, and he bites the inside of his cheek. “It’s gonna be a bad one. It might come tomorrow night.” Saveli says, and Lizzie looks over at him. “Why aren’t you insulting me or being mean to me?” Lizzie questioned and Saveli shrugged as he fiddled with his thin brown jacket. “You already shook up and I don’t want to make things worse but after tonight, things will go back to normal.” He says, and Lizzie chuckled, she covers her mouth and continues giggling.

Saveli looked at her and he didn’t know what he thought was so funny. “Why are you laughing?” He questioned her and Lizzie shakes her head, she stopped laughing and she looks at him. “It’s nothing, I’m just… very tired and I tend to laugh at everything when I’m tired.” Lizzie explained to him, he snorted. “Like a baby.” He replied and Lizzie squinted her eyes. “I guess you could say that.” Lizzie beamed, and she ran her hands through her hair. 

Lizzie yawns, and she crosses her legs. “How many tattoos do you have?” Lizzie questioned and Saveli thought about it for a moment. “About one hundred.” Saveli answered and Lizzie hummed as she looked at her arms. “What if I get a sleeve?” Lizzie questioned him and Saveli grabbed her arm, he looked at her arm. “I could do it for you, I do tattoos.” Saveli says and Lizzie hummed as she looks at her arm. “Cool… wait, I want to start simple. Okay, so if I get a tattoo on my chest, how bad will it hurt?” Lizzie asked him. “A lot.” Saveli replies and Lizzie smacks her lips, she looks down, and she suddenly gets an idea. “My back, how bad will it hurt on my back?” Lizzie questioned and Saveli clicked his tongue. “Not as bad, but it still hurts.” Saveli answered and Lizzie grumbled as she leaned against his arm. “Why does everything pretty involve pain? I just want a simple rose and I can’t even get that because it f*****g hurts.”

“How many beers did you drink?” Saveli questioned.

“Two but I don’t drink so that’s a lot to me.” Lizzie mumbled.

Saveli gets up and Lizzie looks up at him. “You’re gonna leave?” Lizzie asked him and Saveli shook his head as he held out his large hand. “I’m gonna take you inside to get you some food and some water.” He tells her, and Lizzie hurries up, she gets up and she walks beside him. “I like nice Saveli, he is actually pretty cool.” Lizzie smiles and Saveli lets out a small scoff. “Don’t get used to it, everything will be back to normal tomorrow,” Saveli remarked and Lizzie rolled her eyes as she walks beside him.