Strings of Fate

Strings of Fate 196- Rescue and retreat Darrien is the closest to her and he sees her at the st| do. He takes a step towards her and she whimpers in fear. He freezes and backs away slowly, trying not to startle her. | gesture for everyone else to stay back and take a few steps closer. | stop a good metre away from the little table and then slowly lower myself to the floor. Kneeling down so that | can see her properly. Kiara is covered in soot and | can see little trails of tears smudging around on her face. She is still crying and whimpering. | am careful to keep my voice gentle and calm.

“Kiara?” | call her name. She doesn’t answer or look up, but her whimpering quiets a little and | can see her tensing up like she’s listening carefully.

“Kiara sweetheart. You're safe now. You can cout. We can get ssomething to eat, you can have a nice bath and sclean clothes. How does that sound?” | try to sound soothing. Her crying stops and she looks up atwith wide, teary, red-rimmed eyes. She doesn’t speak, but she does meet my eyes. | keep going.

“You know what else sounds really nice? A warm blanket and a hot chocolate. | bet we can find sof those little. marshmallows somewhere too. Do you like hot chocolates?” | prompt, Kiara gives a tiny nod, so small that | can barely see it.

too. | don’t know if you remember my name, but I'm Ryann. I've been looking everywhere for you. We're friends, remember?” | tell her gently. She gives another nod, stronger this time. | hold out a hand to her.

“Would you like to get out of here sweetheart? You can chwithand we can get you cleaned up. We have this super nice bathtub, | bet you'll love it.” She doesn’t move right away and | stay still, holding my hand out to her.

| don’t want to rush her. She’s been through a lot. She’s had no control over her life for weeks now, | won't force her to move. | can stay here all night if | need to. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be necessary. She slowly inches out of her hiding place. She hesitate a second and looks at my face. | try to give her a reassuring smile. In a second, she launches herself atand clings to my hand with both of hers. So tight that it's painful, but there is no way I'm going to complain. | start to get to my feet and pull her up to hers-But she sways and her knees buckle a little. | don’t know if it's due to her physical condition being so poor from her captivity or because she’s scared and in shock. She tumbles towardsand | hold her securely. She releases my hand only to wrap her arms tight around my waist while she hides her face against my stomach. Despite the recent fire, she is freezing and shaking.

“I can carry her.” Bellamy offers. Kiara instantly whimpers again and presses her face into me. | stroke a hand through her knotted hair as carefully as | can.

“Shh, it's o to her.

okay. This is Bellamy. He's been working really hard to helpfind you.” | explain. | lean down and whisper “He’s also my boyfriend. | promise he is super nice.” | assure her. This seems to be enough to convince her to turn her head just enough to peek out at him with one eye.

“Hello Kiara. | am really glad to meet you. I've heard a lot about you. Ryann toldthat you are a very brave little girl. It is really smokey in here still. You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to go, but would you like to coutside with us to get sfresh air? It might make it a bit easier to breathe.” He suggests. Kiara looks up atand | nod encouragingly. She gives a small nod of agreement.

“Okay, Kiara I'm just going to let you know that there are more people out there. The other Shifters who cwithto rescue you. They are all good friends and you are safe, but if you want | can ask them to give us a bit of space. Would you like that?” | offer. Kiara nods again.

1/2 196- Rescue and retreat “Good girl. Would you like Bellamy to carry you for a bit? | promise | will be here the whole time. You can even hold my hand.” 1 offer. Kiara looks very hesitant and | can see fear in her eyes. She bites her lip and stares at the floor for a second before nodding again. Bellamy checks that the towel on his waist is secure, then slowly steps forward. Kiara swaps back to clutching my hand instead of my waist.

“Okay. | am going to put a hand behind your back and one under your knees to pick you up, okay? You just letof Ryann know if you needto put you down.” He tells has as he slowly moves to pick her up.

With Kiara safe in Bellamy’s arms, we turn to the door. Darrien and Megan are hovering near the doorway. | can see pain and sympathy in Megan's eyes. | know she wants to g Kiara in a huge hug but she is restraining herself.

“Kiara, this is Bellamy’s sister Megan and our friend Darrien. They've been helping us look for you. Kiara squeezes my hand tightly and tucks her chin into her chest, avoiding their eyes. | use my free hand to gesture for them to lead the way out.

“Megan, can you please let the others know to give us a little space?” She nods and darts off to warn everyone.

“Darrien, has someone gone to get the cars?” Bellamy asks, keeping his voice low and gentle to avoid spooking Kiara. Darrien speaks similarly.

“Yes. Aaron, and Shaun went for the cars. Shaun also called Alex to to update him and Alex called the police to keep them in the loop. They are sending someone to ch*ck things out here but we advised them that we would be moving the little lady back to your place as soon as reasonably possible so | think they're going to meet us there. Alex is arranging it.” He assures him. Bellamy gives an approving nod. Kiara gives a dry, painful sounding cough.

“Can someone contact Dr Dae and have her stop by too?” | ask with a pointed look at Kiara.

“I'll take care of it.” Darrien promises.

“Thanks.” | tell him with a slight smile.

| thought that everything would be okay when we found Kiara, but I'm still stressed out. Yes, it’s definitely better.

But she is clearly not okay. She looks pale and unhealthy, not to mention she still isn’t talking. | add it to my mental to do list to make sure that Kiara is put in contact with a good psychologist or something. When she is ready to talk, she is going to need someone to talk to. Bellamy continues to gently narrate all his actions to Kiara as we make our way out of the building and into the dimly lit street.