Page 16 of Mia Amata

I took my bowl and spoon to the kitchen, washing up the dishes. I knew Eva and Lauren were right. I can’t let myself get too comfortable, cannot let my guard down. I need to get out of here, I need to start a new life somewhere else. WE—I corrected myself. There were two of us now that needed to go.

The doorbell rang at that point. Eva ran up to answer it. She returned back in a few minutes with a slightly older woman who had a couple of bags with her.

“This is the young lady that needs a new look,” Lauren said, not saying names.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, sticking out her hand.

I shook it in return, “Nice to meet you also. Thank you for doing this for me.”

“I’m happy to help. Let’s have a seat and talk about what changes we should make.” Eva and Lauren said they were going to head back upstairs and would come see me when I was done. “Can I take a look at your hair?” I nodded. She undid the braid, brushing out my long hair and running her fingers through my hair. I had long blonde hair, not super thick but not fine either. “You have lovely hair, but you do have some split ends that we should take care of to start with.” She sat back down across the table from me.

“I haven’t had a haircut in over five years,” I stated. My hair was down to my waist, and I usually wore it in a braid to keep it under control.

She nodded, “I could tell it had been a long time, but it does look like you have taken very good care of it otherwise. So let’s talk length. I’m thinking we go shoulder length or shorter. What are you thinking?”

“I want to go really short,” I replied.

“I think you would look really nice with a shortcut, like a pixie cut. It would frame your face nicely. What about color? How do you feel about becoming a brunette?” I told her I approved, and she clapped her hands together, “Perfect! Let’s get started!”

She worked away, cutting my hair off, giving me a short pixie cut, then coloring it brunette. She gave me a piece of paper with the color information on it so that I could keep it up wherever I went. She took me to the mirror to show me the finished style. “What do you think?” she asked.

“I love it!” I exclaimed. “My head feels so light now, this will be so easy to take care of.”

“It looks great on you,” she said. “Now let’s have a seat to discuss makeup and how to use it to make you look a little different.” We discussed the different ways to use it to make myself appear older or younger without drawing a lot of attention to myself. Lastly, we discussed some other ways that I could change my appearance, just slightly. She explained to me that, as part of what she does to help people, she was trained in a couple of other things that we could do to make small changes to my appearance.

She could do piercings and small quick tattoos. Things that could be done quickly. I didn’t have pierced ears, so we double-pierced them and put one up at the top of my right ear, which she stated is a popular trend. She also gave me a tiny tattoo behind my ear. We decided on a butterfly, which was a symbol of new beginnings.

She sat back and looked me over. She seemed satisfied; she took me back over to the mirror. I stared at my reflection, hardly able to recognize who was looking back at me. I looked older, but only by a couple of years. I turned to her, “I love it! I can hardly recognize myself. Thank you so much!”

She smiled at me, “You are very welcome. Best of luck to you.” She grabbed all her things, leaving me some makeup and a few pairs of earrings. She also gave me instructions on how to care for everything. She headed up the stairs, opening the door, “I’ll send Lauren and Eva down to see the new you.” A couple of minutes later, Eva and her mom came down the stairs. They stopped when they saw me, staring at the new me.

“What do you think?” I asked them, taking a slow turn to give them the full effect.

“Wow!” Eva exclaimed. “You look great! I hardly recognize you.”

“I agree. Not that you weren’t pretty before, but you are stunning!” Lauren stated.

“Thank you,” I said shyly. “I feel so different. I feel like I have changed a lot in two days.”

“You definitely have,” Lauren stated, “you will have a lot of hard days ahead of you. You are getting stronger both physically and mentally, but there will definitely be days when you feel like you have lost ground. You need to remember that you are a strong person, you can change your circumstances. You are your own boss, not a prisoner anymore.”

“I know I have a long road in front of me, but for the first time in years, I feel like I do have a choice, that I have a chance at a good life. I want that so much, yet it is so hard for me to make even the simplest everyday decisions for myself.”

Eva took my hand, leading me to the couch. “We have some news about your future. Can we sit down and chat for a bit?” Sitting down, Lauren and Eva told me about the job that was being lined up for me. “That sounds like a great situation for me,” I remarked, “since most of the typing I did for Allen was all legal-related.”

“There is more good news for you, regarding your living situation. Our contacts have found you a house. They are working on your fake IDs, including a deed to the house. You will own the house outright.”

“How is that even possible? I don’t understand, your contacts bought me a house?”

“Not exactly, one of the contacts recently gave the house to our… group I guess you could say, to give to someone that really needs a safe place to live. You fit the guidelines that the person outlined for who should get the house. It is all yours, free of charge. Although going forward you will be financially responsible for all the household bills, maintenance, taxes, etc.” explained Lauren.

I sat in shock, trying to absorb all of this information. I will have my own house! This was more than I could have ever hoped for. Every minute of every day since these two wonderful women rescued me my life has gotten better. I feel now that I have been blessed somehow to be this lucky. We chatted a little bit more although they said they didn’t know the exact details—it would be something I would learn that they would not be privy to, again for all of our safety.

Lauren told me that she had asked Audra to come over tonight, so they could discuss how soon I could travel, with all the new developments, it was felt that the sooner I could start my new life, the better off we all would be. There was some more planning that was needed, so we needed to come up with a set time frame. She then took a picture of me with her phone, to send to the contact, so I could get proper IDs with my new name on them. This was all happening so fast, but I felt so ready to get my new life started.

The doorbell rang. Lauren went up to answer it. She soon came back with Audra. Audra gave me a hug, then sat down on the couch with Lauren. “You look great Mattie.” She observed. “Besides the new makeover, you look well-rested, like you are feeling better.”

“I am,” I stated. “I have been following the doctor’s orders, getting a lot of rest.”

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