Authors: Jack Parker
"Actually, we have a court order-" Kaiser stopped in mid sentence, seeing how distressed I had become, because I knew they were right, it was the only way I could ensure that I wouldn't be plagued by Mickey's vicious crones. They were at my school, my house. I was done.
"Be packed and ready to go by tomorrow morning."
The next morning came slowly. I didn't sleep at all, even though I saw two cars parked near my house, extra protection. I had five giant suitcases packed, and although my clothes didn't have the same shine and appeal they once had, they were part of my old life, my normal life; I couldn't leave them. So I packed it all and threw in my make-up, hair supplies, IPod, laptop- everything I used. When Detective O'Connor showed up, he had brought along a friendly looking lady.
"This is our agent Anna Michaels. She is assigned to your case and will be working undercover with you, acting as your aunt."
"Hi." I waved lamely,
a
little tired from the lack of sleep, it had been days since I had more than a couple hours of sleep. I looked awful and I just wore sweats, not really in the mood to go through my bags for something to wear.
"Hi Heidi!" She smiled, very peppy-like. She was in her thirties, with pretty blonde hair and soft brown eyes. She walked over and helped with some of the suitcases, chatting while she went. "I know this must be really hard for you, but it can also be kind of cool. You can be whoever you want to be. Just think-you can invent a whole new you."
But this was not what I wanted to hear; I was tired of changing. I didn't want a new me. I wanted the old me. The one that wasn't scared of every sound and movement I heard, the one that could go outside and not be paranoid of every person on the street.
"I guess," I said lamely, shrugging as if that could convey a better response.
"Nah. You'll see. You'll have a fun time in Iowa, new experiences and all that, and you'll be back here in no time." She smiled at me, flashing nice pearly whites. I looked over at Detective O'Connor who followed her around with longing in his eyes, smiling whenever she smiled, laughing whenever she did. It was extremely apparent, as I saw him rush to her aid whenever she tried to pick up a suitcase that was the least bit heavy, while leaving me to drag along the biggest one.
I hung back while Anna took my suitcase to the car. I nudged the handsome detective, giving him a little wink. "That your lovely lady friend?"
He stared at me in horror. "No. She just started working with our unit. We've talked a little bit. Nothing else."
"But you want it to be." I grinned, suddenly changing moods from somber to hopefulness. I liked these detectives, even that rude Kaiser, they had grown on me.
"It could never work. I doubt she would ever like me that way. Besides… just look at her. I'm sure she is married." He automatically smiled at seeing her, as she walked in the door.
Anna walked upstairs to grab another suitcase and I grabbed one as well. "So Anna, I really appreciate you helping me out and staying with me in Iowa." I turned and looked over my shoulder and gave Detective O'Connor a coy smile. "I bet it must be kind of a pain, leaving your husband and everything behind."
Detective O'Connor's head snapped in my direction and he sent me a death look.
"Oh no! Don't worry about it. I actually got a divorce about two years ago. It was pretty messy and dragged out, I figured that taking this assignment would be nice, a little low-key for me, but I certainly don't mind."
"I'm glad." I sent a smile her way, loading up the rest of the car.
"Oh and Heidi, I almost forgot," she said as we all packed into the car. "It's strongly recommended that you change your look a little bit. Your hair is pretty distinctive and you have nice light eyes, but you can get colored contacts if you want."
I stared at them. I had to change looks too?
I sighed. It was hard to do whatever these people wanted. But a part of me couldn't fight it anymore. I just wanted peace and solace; I wanted to feel safe around people that weren't police officers. And if I had to dye my hair to do it, I guess I couldn't complain.
"Can we use my hair
dresser
please?" I asked.
"Oh. Of course," she said. And we drove over to my hair stylist, Theresa, where she sat me in my chair and began dying my hair a light blonde. I loved Theresa; she was friendly, and talked to anybody and everybody. She was the best, one of the only people I could actually stand.
"I'm going to make it look natural," she cooed, clearly excited. "I love your old hair, but this will look great and your face will look perfect with the light color!"
"Can we get it cut as well?" Anna offered. "I was thinking layers."
"No cutting," I said. "I like it long."
"What about a loose perm? Like waves," Detective O'Connor put in.
All three of us paused to stare at him. How could he know what a perm was? Or
a
loose perm for that matter?
"I have
a
teenage niece," he explained sheepishly.
"Sure." I shrugged, "Good suggestion, Miss Jay."
But, apparently his extensive knowledge on female culture only extended to hair and he didn't get my reference. Anna did though, laughing lightly while the detective shifted uncomfortably, knowing I was probably making fun of him but not really understanding it.
So about an hour and a half later, I was several shades of blonde, with new, wavy locks. It was surprising, to look at myself in the mirror. I looked… different. But I liked it, a lot. I wasn't sure at first, but as I played with my hair, I noticed it wasn't the same stick straight strawberry blonde. The waves framed my face nicely, my blonde hair looked really natural, and made me look slightly tan, something I had been trying to do for years.
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah." I smiled, pleased with at least one of the new changes in my life, "Yeah, I do."
My dad's curiosity and short attention span has led us to move around a lot, so I never really became close to my friends. It wasn't worth it, when his contract would be up in two years. I wasn't really missing my friends. I mean, they're nice. I have to say, out of all the friends I've made, I especially like the ones I had here. We worked very well together. And I'll end up seeing them again as soon as this whole situation is sorted out, so when I landed in Iowa, and Anna kept bringing it up, I had to reassure her.
"It really won't be that hard, trust me." I inched away from her hugging arms. I guess we were starting to act like family early.
"Oh I'm sorry! Do you not like to be touched?" She asked totally serious. I began to wonder about her ability to 'protect' me. She was petite, bubbly, and kind, not really the gun-reeling type. But, as I noticed our surrounding area, the possibility of anyone finding us in the middle of nowhere is quite slim. So maybe it didn't matter.
"Um. No. Touching is fine. I just am really tired, long flight you know."
She nodded knowingly, and we drove to our new home. It hadn't quite hit me yet, that I was staying here, without my parents, it seemed unreal, that I would be in this small town in Iowa, where there were a lot of fields. I had never seen so many fields, and endless road.
"So, I heard you have some experience with moving around." She huffed, pulling out a suitcase.
"A little," I said, doing the same. When I looked at the house I smiled. It was nice, one of those mid-west houses. I lived in Illinois when I was 7 up until I was 9. It reminded
me a
lot of that house. The house was brick, white shudders, and a black door. It was small; maybe a ¼ the size of my house in Phoenix, but it was just the two of us. When I walked in, I looked around, noticing the comfortable décor. The inside was painted a warm rogue, and a sunny yellow in the kitchen. My heart ached for a little bit, this house was a home.
That's one thing that I noticed, when moving around. There are places you go, where you can just feel it, that the place is meant for family, it's meant for a home. When I lived in North Carolina, and now Phoenix, it was a house, a piece of property you waited in until the value increased to a point that you sold it. Everything was material, where here, this house was meant to be lived in until you grew old and had grandchildren. The stairs creaked; there was a laundry shoot, and small curvy stairs that led to the second floor.
I continued to explore; the upstairs had three small bedrooms, one slightly larger than the other, which I assumed was the master bedroom. The master bedroom was the size of my bathroom. I had a large bathroom for sure, but I had become accustomed to space. But I didn't mind, I liked it, small rooms and all.
"Sorry," Anna looked apologetic "I know you're used to a much larger… situation, but this is what all the houses are like here."
"I love it." I smiled, looking at the ceiling, which indented to create the pointy roof I had seen outside.
"You do?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yeah." I shrugged "It's… nice."
"Well great!" She clapped her hands together, "I figured we could paint your bedroom, but most of it has been painted and such for us, we even have furniture! Do you like it?"
I peeked into my room, which was painted a pale pink, with a patterned cover to match.
"Its very sweet." I ran my fingers over the quilt.
"I'll let you get settled then." She smiled at me, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes, and resting her hands on her hips. She reminded me of an overgrown teenager, in a good way though.
"You should probably go get your bags and everything, but just to continue briefing you, we're saying I had a bad divorce, I'm moving out here and working at the law firm not far from our house, and your parents are on a sabbatical, traveling and what not, and you wanted to visit. I am also sure they told you not to have any type of contact with the people back in Phoenix, not even your parents, it is way too dangerous." She reached into her pocket. "I almost forgot. Here's your license, it has all your information redone, and everything else you should get at school on Monday."
"And one more thing, I'll let you know if there are any updates on the case, or if there will be any visitors, but otherwise, try to relax, your safe now."
"Thanks." I smiled at her, and went downstairs to get more of my bags, and opened my door to be face to face with bright blue eyes.
My body jolted involuntarily and I took a sharp intake of breath in surprise, ready to scream before a voice said, "Hi! We live down the street, and wanted to come and introduce ourselves… I'm sorry. Did I scare you?"
I let a shudder run through me as I composed myself. "Oh don't worry about it, I was just lost in thought. Hi. I'm Heidi…" I checked my ID and stuck out my hands, "Risler, Heidi Risler."
"Camdon." Big warm hands enveloped mine, and those pretty blue eyes stared at me. I literally stared right into them, they seemed so deep and beautiful, I felt my body gravitating towards them, almost wanting to lean in and get a closer look.
Anna rested a friendly hand on my shoulder, pulling me back from my thoughts, and saving me from doing anything too embarrassing.
Sitting in a little pulley wagon next to Camdon was a sweet little girl, with the same brown hair as Camdon, but brown eyes instead of his intense blue. She looked three at the most and was holding a plate of cupcakes.
I was never especially into children. I've just never really been around them. They're messy, and demanding, and I had never been the babysitting type. Cute to look at, but not fun to deal with. I stared down at this little girl, who had big brown eyes, looking up at me expectantly.
"I feel like she wants me to pet her or something." I murmured to Anna, who pinched me in response.
Ouch. I rubbed my arm as Camdon gave me a funny look, hoping he didn't hear, I opened the door a little wider.
"Want to come inside? It's kind of cold." I commented. The brisk fall air was not very pleasant. Why couldn't I leave during the middle of the summer? When it hit 120 degrees?