Grace

grace ;

Spring was supposed to be a time of new beginnings and a fresh start, a time to enjoy life, not hate it. So why was this young lady in her car outside the café in the middle of the night? She was sleeping in her back seat, her best friend, Guardian, a German shepherd, was sitting in the front seat, his head on the steering wheel and his eyes close but he was sitting up, awake, always watching for danger. Something about the girl in the backseat told him to do this. He was once a police officer but his partner was killed in the line of duty so Guardian was retired and Grace had come along and picked him up when he needed someone the most, little did he know, it was she who needed someone the most. You see, Grace was brutally beaten by her boyfriend, she was sent into a week-long coma due to the beating. When she got out she was forced back with her boyfriend because he threatened to kill her if she didn’t. Well a few days after being back with him, she was tied to a bed in the middle of the night and beaten again, then she was raped but not only by him, but his 6 friends too. They attacked her with such force that she had cuts all over her thighs, belly, and arms. She had had enough, she told her parents. Now most parents would be furious at the man and his friends, but her parents said, ‘It’s your girlfriend duty’ and they kicked her out when she said she was going to the police. The day she was suppose to go to the police she was in the parking lot and about to head in but her boyfriend came up and threatened to kill her if she went to the police. She promised she wasn’t going to but that evening she went to the police. They did the best they could with no evidence other than her story and she left. Later that night her boyfriend caught wind of what had happened and went into another rage, beating and raping her again at a party with his friends watching. Suddenly cops were everywhere, she had set gotten the cops to watch her that night and good thing. The officer broke the door down, his partner, a K-9, took off towards the room and walked in on Grace's boyfriend raping her. He let out a low growl and looked to his partner as the officer drew the gun on the man and told him to get up. Just then a shot echoes through the room and the officer drops. Behind him was the boyfriend's friend. The officer died there on the floor while the boyfriend and his friend ran. Grace screamed for help but knew no one was coming so she struggled to untie the ropes. She got up and dressed quickly, trying not to look at the man dead on the floor. The dog whimpered and licked his master as Grace stepped by and ran.

Later that week rumors about the murder circled the town and Grace knew she had to leave. She stopped at a convenience store and over heard two ladies talking about the dog that saved her that night. They said the dog was retiring and being put up for adoption that morning because he was too depressed to continue. Well by then she had already decided to run away and never return and thought it wouldn’t be a smart thing to get a dog but she went in anyway and went to the kennel he was laying in and she felt tears come to her eyes as the memory came back. She knelt down and put a hand on the kennel and the dog got up and licked her hand. She knew she had to help him after he helped her so she adopted him right then and there.

Now she owns nothing but the bag in the trunk of her old beat up chevy truck that she had bought when she graduated high school, dropped out of college and received a small chunk of money from a reimbursement from the college. She then took the money and dog, packed up her truck, went to her hometown stables and took her beloved pony and loaded her into her old rusty trailer and ran. She is now here.
2 Weeks past.
So she lived out of her car, sleeping in the backseat and going to the local gym for showers. She lived off what little she had left of her reimbursement money for now but her money was running low quickly and she was beginning to worry.
This was why she was now up in the backseat, crying and sobbing as she thought of the past few months. It had been such a mess and she had lost everything, and started with nothing that was familiar to her. She was terrified of what she was going to do when her money ran out, where she was going to live, what she would even eat. So she sat in her truck in the back parking space in the dark, secluded from everyone and everything, it was so dark that her blue truck blended right into the dark night’s sky. She knew she had to be gone before the café opened so no one knew she had been there, but she didn’t know where to go from here. So there she was, curled up in the back seat under a blanket, tissues dotted the floor of the truck as she cried her heart out, several sobs causing Guardian to sit up and whine to her. A few times she quickly sat up and swung the back door open and puked onto the gravel outside the door, between the heart wrenching sobs and the hidden secret that she herself didn’t know about within herself, causing her stomach to flip flops several times. Her eyes were blood shot, face stained with tears and her sweater pulled up to her palms to keep the gashes and bruises covered. Shutting the truck door she curled back up under the blanket and continued to cry and sob.

Isabella Wayson

Isabella looked outside, it would be dark soon. Though, she just could not sit around the house any more. You see, she was a very active type and even though she had spent much of her day outside with the dogs and horses, this evening had been spent inside. The weather had begun to get warmer, she had noted. In the evenings it still got kind of cold, but it was bearable. This thought gave her an idea. The pups needed out for a walk, so why not make the best of this beautiful evening and take them out? The pups that she was thinking of, weren’t exactly pups any more. Instead they were almost full grown adolescent dogs. None of them weighed less than fifty pounds now, but still to Isabella they were considered pups.

She called the four of them to her, grabbing leashes from the hooks by the door. This was going to be a fun outing, she had decided. The pups were still pretty excitable since their breed tended to mature much later than other breeds. These were four full blooded German Shepherd dogs. The first to be hooked to a leash was a rambunctious male, the largest of the four, his name was Roscoe. Next came Colbie, a black and tan female. Then there was Midnight who was solidly black, and Ryder who was predominantly black with tan on his legs. And once they were all hooked up, she headed out the door.

The pups pulled until she stopped and showed them that they were not going anywhere until they stopped. So, they quickly calmed down and Isabella walked forward once again. She walked on the sidewalk with the pups, heading for downtown. They walked past the restaurant and once they made it to the café, Isabella saw a door open and someone leaned out to throw up. The pups all began to bark at the truck, now and this red head debated on whether to approach the truck or not… The woman seemed to be staying in the back of the truck, and it was still pretty chilly out.

Soon, her caring nature got the best of her and she approached the truck with the pups leading the way. She knocked on the window, being careful to avoid where the woman had been sick and waited to see if she would acknowledge her. There was a clear look of concern on her face and her body language showed no threat.

Grace

Grace was unaware of the visitors coming her way until a low growl was emitted from Guardian’s vocals. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up and she tensed, this made Guardian all the more worried about the company coming her way and growled deeply following the woman as she walked towards the window and the moment she tapped on the glass Guardian barked and charged towards the door, clawing and snarling as he warned the woman in every way he could to get back. Good intention or not, Guardian would protect his new mom with his very life, determined to never let anyone that he loved, die again.
Grace coward in the back of the truck and whimpered as Guardian attacked the glass. She shook violently and clenched the blanket until her knuckles turned white. She stammered as she then told Guardian E…Easy boy.. She was worried he would break the glass and attack the woman on the other side. Grace took a moment to glance around and make sure the woman was alone, then noticing the 4 German Shepherds standing with her. She reached out with a shaky hand and touched Guardian and he let out a whimper and licked her hand softly before backing up and his large body blocked the girl from the woman as he sat on her lap with his teeth baring and ears alert, head low and hair standing on end warned anyone with half a brain to not come any closer.
Grace leaned towards the door and turned the crank handle and the window squeaked and cracked open about an inch and Grace jumped back away from the window and coward in the corner of the truck’s cab, staring wide-eyed at the lady. I.. I have per.. Permission! She shook with such violence it was obvious of her terror, she clenched the blanket closer to her again and brought it up over her chest and shoulders as she covered herself as much as she could. It wasn’t because she was cold, it was to hide the cuts and bruises on her body from her violent past.