Healing His Broken Luna.... Chapter 98

###Chapter 11 - Shelter

I looked up to find an elderly man wearing a white collar around his neck and black clothes with a gentle smile on his face.

"I'm father Francis. Are you okay my child?" He asked and I nodded. He looked me over and noticed the bruised eye and cheek I had, and his expression softened.

"I'm afraid we have to lock up for the night. If you need a place to stay, our parish shelter for women is two blocks east of here, in the basement of our community center."

I nodded my head and gave him as slight smile to thank him. I looked around and realized I had actually fallen asleep in the quiet church with beautiful windows. He walked me to the door and handed me a sheet of paper that had the shelter information on it. I walked east until I found Saint Joseph's Community Center and walked inside.

I was asked to complete a registration questionnaire, general information, name, age, last known address, phone number. I made up most of it except my name and birthday. I didn't have any form of identification and wondered if this would be an issue if I tried to find a job.

A nice woman walked me downstairs and showed me to a large room with roll out beds and partition dividers every four feet between the beds. Each bed had a clear plastic bag with clean sheets, a blanket and a pillow in it.

"We have three dozen beds total in three large rooms. The restrooms and showers are down the hall. We only shelter overnight, from 8pm to 8am. Your assigned bed has clean bedding in the bag. When you wake up, you are to strip the bed and return the bedding into the bag so we may send it off for cleaning." She told me.

I nodded my head and was thankful for the warm bed with a pillow.

"The soup kitchen upstairs serves breakfast at 7am and reopens for dinner at 7pm. If you need to shower, I suggest you get in there early, you won't have time tonight. Lights-out is in ten minutes and we lock the doors for the night. I'll let you get settled in." She smiled at me and walked away.

I made my bed and took my shoes off. I reached into my backpack and removed Saul's wallet shoving it into the front of my jeans to keep it safe. Before I zipped up my backpack, I saw the chocolate bar I had purchased earlier. I opened it up and ate half of it. Then I shoved my backpack under my bed and laid down.

I was laying in a real bed, with a real pillow, for the first time in eight years. I thought about Domino and felt a wave of sadness. I hope someone was tending to the horses. He was the only thing I would miss at Sapphire Moon Pack. The lights went off and half the beds in the room were empty. I heard the sound of a small child being cooed by its mother and wondered how they ended up here. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

I woke up ready to clean horse stalls and almost forgot where I was at. I had finally had a warm and comfortable nights rest. The digital clock above the door said 6am and I knew I had two hours before the shelter closes. I picked up my backpack and quietly walked to the door to find the bathroom and showers.

I walked into the shower area and found sealed plastic bags with a towel and wash cloth. There was an all-purpose liquid soap dispenser with blue gel in it hanging on the wall in each shower stall. I turned the water on and smiled when I felt the hot water. I washed my body and hair with the gel soap. After I dried and dressed, I brushed my teeth and hair with the items Selene helped me buy yesterday. 

As I thought about Selene, I also thought about little Michael and hoped they made it home safely. They were the nicest rogues I'd ever met, even nicer than my own pack members. I returned to the sleeping room and more women were stirring awake and heading for the bathrooms. I walked to my bed, striped the bedding and placed it all back into the plastic bag. 

I went upstairs and followed the smell of food. I received some warm smiles and was given a paper cup with warm oatmeal and a banana. I love bananas. I ate my oatmeal first and then the banana. The humans had provided me with a warm bed, hot shower and food, they were more compassionate than my pack. Human life was certainly looking more appealing than pack life. The shelter was getting ready to clean and shut down for the day, so I left to find a job.

The streets were buzzing with life as people hurried and scurried by. I checked my map and counted the number of blocks I would need to walk to get to the Hell's Kitchen district. It looked like a twelve block walk on the map. I started walking and grew anxious about finding a job. How am I going to manage it without talking? I opened my mouth to try and say good morning, but nothing came out. I tried again and some squeaks came out of my mouth.

As I continued walking, I had an idea. I saw a pharmacy and went inside to buy what I needed. Ten minutes later, I walked out with a note pad and a packet of pens in my hand. I made my way towards Hell's Kitchen excited to find work. Those yellow taxi drivers moved quick. I waited with the crowd of people and crossed the streets when they crossed.

A big box delivery truck was parked in front of a Brazilian steak house and I watched two men with kitchen aprons on looking over the produce delivery. I quickly scribbled on my pad of paper and walked over to them.

"Yo! You need something?" One of the men asked me.

I held up the pad of paper which said "Hello, I'm new in town and looking for work."

"You deaf?" He asked reading my note.

"You dummy, you can't ask that. That's discrimination." Said the younger man standing with him.

I shook my head no and scrawled on the pad, "speech difficulty."

"Oh, well I'm sorry but we hired a new dishwasher last month. They don't last long, so check back again in two weeks." He said and went back to his produce check.

I waved goodbye and walked down the street looking for the next restaurant. I saw a yellow sign that said, Mr. Lee's Chinese Kitchen. I pressed my face against the window, and it was still closed. I turned the corner and walked down the block. A short fat man, with a funny mustache that was curled on the ends, was carrying a case of wine into a restaurant called Aladdin's Lamp. I stood with my pad of paper waiting to get his attention.

"Are you a prostitute?" He asked.

I'm not exactly sure what a prostitute is so I shrugged my shoulders and held up my note pad.

"Scram, I don't have time for this. I like my tricks older." He said.

Tricks? I wasn't playing any tricks. What a strange little man he was. I continued walking, and noticed a tall man carrying an arm full of bags who was trying to unlock the door to a salon and dropped several small bottles all over the sidewalk.

"Oh Fuck! Just great!" He said in a huff.

I reached down and started collecting his little bottles to help him. 

"Oh, thanks hon, be a dear and set them on the counter for me." He held the door open with his hip and shuffled in with his other bags. He started turning the lights on and then walked over to me.

"Oh honey, what happened to your face? No man is worth that!" He said to me. 

I smiled and looked down. Not exactly sure what to say, so I pulled out my note pad and he read the note.

"What kind of work are you looking for?" He asked.

I took the pen and wrote, "anything, I'm good in the kitchen and cleaning."

"What's your name?"

I wrote my name on the pad, "I'm Syble."

"Hello darling, I'm Russ, Owner of this lovely beautifying establishment. My friend Lola owns the bar and grill down on the corner. It's called Brews and Bites. I think she's looking for kitchen help. But she's not usually an early riser, so you'll have to catch her after eleven."

I managed a smile and bowed my head to him to thank him.

"Come back and see me when you've started working. I'd like to resuscitate your hair with a deep conditioning and lowlights." He smiled.

I left the Hell's Glam Salon and walked down the street in search of Brews and Bites. It was still closed, but I planned to come back and ask for Lola. I tried to peek in the window, but they were tinted nearly black. I couldn't see a thing.

"Can I help you with something?" A raspy female's voice startled me. An older woman in her late-fifties, with short brown curly hair, and light brown eyes looked me over. She was smoking a cigarette and the smell overwhelmed my senses.

I held out my pad of paper and she read the words on it.

"Is your name Syble?" She pointed to my name when I wrote it earlier. I nodded.

"And you have a speech difficulty." She kept reading what was already written. I nodded my head again.

"How old are you?" She asked and I wrote eighteen on the paper.

"Can you follow directions well?" She asked and I nodded my head more vigorously.

"Alright kid. I'm Lola, I own this joint. I'm looking for a dishwasher and barback. Come back at four o'clock and ask for Pete, we'll give you a trial shot tonight." She said.

I smiled with relief and wrote the words, "Thank you."

It was still midmorning and I had six hours before I needed to return for my trial shot. I wasn't sure what to do with myself, this had gone better than expected. I walked two blocks and found another subway entrance station. I decided to stay on the west side of town where I was so I wouldn't have trouble getting back in time. I swiped my card and got on the subway.

Twenty blocks later, I got off the subway and found myself by central park. It was huge! This is no park, this is a majestic world in the heart of Manhattan. A piece of paradise.

I walk for about an hour and found myself in awe, trying to take every little detail in with my eyes. I soon found myself standing at an information board looking over a map of the park. It has a zoo, a lake, museum, conservatory, fountains, boats, carousel, an ice skating rink, a castle and so much more. It would take me days and days to explore all of it. It felt great to see so many beautiful trees.

The more I looked around, the more Central Park became my favorite place in this city. I sat on a bench and pulled out the apple I purchased yesterday to eat. I enjoyed people watching as some people walked, some strolled, and others jogged by.

I thought about Saul and wondered if anyone found him yet. I wondered if he would be pissed enough to try and find me or if he had died in the van. I should have blinded his other eye too, to make sure he couldn't find me. Then I thought about the gray wolf from Blue Mountain Pack and wondered if he really knew my mother. The memory of what he said to me rang through my head. Could I really control the wind?

I felt the energy of the wind rush through me when I jumped off the cliff, it slowed me down and saved my life. At least I think it did. I thought about the wind and noticed a few kites in the air. I stared at them and thought about the wind blowing them south. Almost as soon as I thought that, the kites all seemed to drift south, and the wind picked up. I envisioned them blowing north and the kites floated north as the wind changed directions again. 

I giggled. It was just coincidental I'm sure. No one really controls the elements.

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