Sanctuary

What I needed was a place to call my own. A place where I kept the key. A place where I could learn to be me. Cassie's Place was the first space like that for me. When I moved in I was so tired and scared. Being clean had me edgy, hiding from Amos had me scared.

I remember the moment Annie opened the door for me, and the colour just over-whelmed me. It wasn't loud, but it was just beautiful, and safe, and real. We walked through the front door and I saw two other ladies sitting in arm chairs, reading. They both smiled shyly at me. One of them I recognized from way back. The wall behind them was yellow. The yellow you feel when you heat a hot, buttery roll.

Annie's husband Mike carried my bag through the living room to the stairs, and up we went. Photos on the wall caught my eye. Women. Women of all shapes and sizes and ages at gatherings, in the lake being pulled up out of the water by Mike, cooking in kitchens, sitting in classrooms, in circles, heads bowed. With their children. Getting married. Women.

Mike unlocked the door to a room down the hall. "Okay, Harriet. This one is yours. And so is this." He handed me the key, hanging from a purple plastic flower key chain. "And no one has one but you."

Annie hugged me. Mike left my bags outside the door and they went downstairs. "Come join us when you're ready." And now it was up to me.

I stepped into the room, tentative. My place. And it was mauve, Just like I asked.