Love On The Run

    “Hey loser, your momma and papa want you to be with them, why don’t you do everyone a favor and join them.”
    Dusty ran from the girls that she lived with all her life at the orphanage in Lille, France. Her parents died when she was ten years old. She may have been surrounded by many girls, but she was lonely. Every girl in the orphanage seemed to hate Dusty. They treated her badly, and all Dusty could do was run away crying.
    As Dusty grew older, she became bolder when facing her enemies but on the inside she was still a frightened child; instead of running away crying, she faced them bravely. Dusty had one friend who stuck up for her, and Josephine was popular and pretty. Dusty felt that she was lucky to have a friend like Josephine. Nobody messed with Dusty when Josephine was around and that was all the time. Josephine never left Dusty’s side, they ate together and slept in the same room; Dusty felt safe with her friend by her side.
    When Dusty and Josephine turned sixteen, they stole money from the orphanage and ran away. The two girls boarded a plane and headed to Paris, France. When they arrived, Dusty and Josephine found an apartment and dined out every night. Dusty began to gain weight from all the delicious desserts the fancy restaurants offered. Josephine was very popular in Paris and went out every night. While, on the other hand, Dusty was embarrassed by her looks and so she always stayed home.
    One day, Dusty was so depressed she went for a walk. She went to a couple of stores and tried on clothes but nothing would fit her. The frustration of her fatness, weighed heavily on her mind, so she decided to get some groceries instead. On the way home, a man ran into her and groceries flew into the air as Dusty fell to the ground.
    The man helped Dusty up and said, “I am so sorry.”
    Dusty nodded, she did not know what to say. Men do not talk to her, especially good looking men.
    “Let me help you pick up this mess,” he said to her.
    Dusty smiled at him, knelt down to pick up the food and put it in the bag. He was tall, muscular and dressed in an expensive suit. After helping with her groceries, he smiled at her.
    “Don’t I know you?” He asked.
    Dusty stared at the cement and said, “I, I don’t think so.”
    “Yes I do, you work next to my building,” the man said. “I knew I recognized you, I see you every day. You do have such a pretty face.”
    Dusty looked up, smiled and quickly looked away as if ashamed.
    “I gotta go, hope I get another chance to bump into you again.” He told her.
    Dusty was excited and ran home to tell Josephine. When she arrived, Josephine was sitting on the couch reading Vogue magazine. Dusty excitedly told her about the man that just ran into her, then she abruptly stopped talking. Sadness filled her eyes as a thought occurred to her, “he wouldn’t want to go out with me, I’m fat and ugly.”
    Josephine listened to Dusty and then an idea came to her mind. Josephine went to her and said, “I can help you get this guy or any other guy you want.”
    “How can I get him, look at me?” Dusty asked.
    “First,” Josephine began, “you need to lose some weight, we can work out together. Let’s see,” Josephine reached up and took glasses off Dusty’s face. “You will need to get contact lens; you have such pretty eyes why hide them. You need some makeup, not a lot; your face is too beautiful for too much paint. Before you know it, you will be a new woman.”
    Dusty stared at her friend, she wondered if it would really work. “He did say I had a pretty face,” Dusty said shyly.
    Josephine smiled and said, “you really do.” Josephine gave her friend a hug. “Let’s do it.
    Six months later, Dusty was a new woman. Now when she looked in a mirror, Dusty would smile at her reflection. In the mirror, Dusty saw a young beautiful, skinny woman with long blonde hair that came down to her waist. Throughout her transformation, she would see her dream man leaving work, but Dusty would hide from him. She had such a low self- image of herself for so long and that feeling was too strong, it scared her to make an attempt at him. Day by day, as her new look emerged, her self- confidence became stronger. It especially helped when her co-workers would compliment her.
    One day while Dusty was getting ready to leave work, a handsome man in the next cubicle told her that she was very beautiful and wanted to go out on a date sometime. Dusty had had just stared blankly at him for a moment, she had never been asked out on a date. She smiled and said, “thank-you, maybe we can go out sometime.” She walked out of the building lost in her thoughts about her co-worker. His words was what she needed to finally gain the confidence that she lacked her whole life. Dusty was not paying attention, lost inside a wonderful day dream about a date that could be soon in her future, then she ran into somebody. Dusty looked up and inhaled sharply, it was him.
    “Didn’t we meet like this before?” He asked.
    Dusty smiled and said, “I believe we did.”
    “My name is William Michaels, I wanted to talk before but I was in a hurry. I’ve seen you after work, but when I was about to talk to you; you would seem to disappear. Now that I have you, do you want to go out to dinner with me?”
    Dusty was thrilled and said to him, “sure, I would love that.”
    During dinner they talked and got to know each other better. After dinner, he drove her home and promised to call. He did the very next day, wanting to see her again. After that, they gone out every night and eventually fell in love.
    On a rare night, Josephine and Dusty were both home and watched the news. The reporter talked about a jewelry store that was robbed, and showed the suspects that were involved. Dusty and Josephine were surprised to see that William was one of them. The girls also found out about his previous arrests, he had been arrested and done time in prison for swindling, robbery and possession of cocaine. Dusty could not believe it; she did not want to believe it. The reporter also said he was missing.
    “No wonder we haven’t seen him lately,” Josephine said.
    There was a knock at the door. Dusty ran to the door, hoping it would be William. She opened the door and saw two police officers in the hallway. They had found out that Dusty and William were dating, the officers asked her if she knew where he would be. Dusty honestly told them that she did not know. At that moment, Dusty realized that she did not truly know about William; even though they had been dating awhile. He was always a bit secretive with his past and private life, now Dusty knew why. After the police questioned Dusty and Josephine, they told the girls to contact the police if they saw him.
    “You bet we will,” Josephine said.
    Dusty looked at her, but did not say anything. After the police left, Dusty tried to call William but there was no answer at his home and his cell phone was turned off. Dusty was really upset with the betrayal and went to her room and cried.
    For the next couple days, Dusty fell into a deep depression and stayed in her room all the time. She would not do anything; Dusty would just sit in a chair and stare out the window, with tears in her eyes. One day she went into kitchen to get some coffee, when someone knocked on the door. It startled Dusty and she spilled coffee all over the counter.
    Josephine was not home, so Dusty reluctantly went to the door. She was expecting the police again; they were always coming over to see if Dusty had heard from William. Josephine always answered the door and talked to the police for her. She reached the door and opened it, William stood before her. Dusty was surprised to see him.
    The shock quickly wore off; she ran to him and hugged him. William held her and said, “you know.”
    “Of course, it’s all over the news and the cops won’t leave me alone. How could you leave me like that?”
    William told her, “I’m sorry, I had to leave but I couldn’t stay away long. I love you and I want you to come with me.”
    “Where?”
    “Anywhere that I will be safely hid from the cops.”
    “I love you very much, but I can’t just leave and go on the run with you,” Dusty said. “Besides, I am so mad at you for doing this to me, you lied to me.”
    “I never lied to you about anything, I just left out some information in our conversations,” William said.
    “The information you left out was a bit important, you should have known that I would find out about your secret life, it would have been best to hear about your criminal activities from you.”
    “I know and I am sorry. I do love you so much and I don’t want to be separated from you anymore. Please come with me.”
    Dusty smiled and kissed him. 
    William and Dusty did not notice Josephine had come back and heard everything that they were saying. She knew Dusty would go with him, Josephine did not want her to waste her life with the loser criminal. She had to put a stop to it, so she ran to the lobby and called the police on her cell phone. The police arrived and Josephine led them to her apartment.
    “Come on Dusty, move away from him. He is a criminal, you don’t want to associate with the likes of him,” Josephine said.
    William inched his way to the window. It was only one story so he knew it would be a good escape route. Dusty was confused, and she looked at William for a long time. She loved him so much and he must love her just as much, to take the risk of coming for her. Dusty made her decision and said to Josephine, “I’m going with William, sorry.” Dusty and William held hands as they jumped out of the window. By the time the police reached them, the couple had already escaped in William’s black Lamborghini.
    As they reached Lyon, France, William saw the police closing in on them but William lost them. While William parked on the side of the road looking at a map, they saw an older man chasing a boy. The older man stopped suddenly, breathing hard and clutched his chest. William stepped out of the car and went to see if he was alright.
    The man answered, “I’m all right, that little brat stole my money.”
    William chased after the boy, caught up with him and dragged the boy back to where the old man waited. Dusty was out of the car. “Give this man his money,” William said.
    The boy did not move and stared at the ground.
    William raised his voice, “give this man his money or I’ll beat it out of you.”
    “William! You will not beat this boy,” Dusty said.   
    The boy looked at William to see if he was serious, he saw that William was and gave the money back. The man thanked William and walked away.
    Dusty asked the boy what his name was, he replied, “it’s none of your business.”
    “Listen you worthless little punk, you tell us your name or we will have the police find it out,” William said hoping the young man would not catch his bluff; the last thing William wanted to do was call the police.
    The boy said, “my name is Billy, my parents are dead; please don’t take me to the cops. I live in an abandoned house and I’m doing fine on my own.”
    “Yeah doing real fine, stealing from other people is a crime, to me that’s not doing fine,” William said.
    Dusty quickly looked at William, her eyebrows raised as she smiled. “Yeah stealing is a crime, William.”
    He looked at Dusty and smiled. He said, “oh hush, Dusty.”
    Dusty shook her head at William, then looked at Billy. She said, “we won’t go to the police, how old are you?”
    He answered, “eleven.”
    William said with concern, “take us to your house.”
    Billy took them to his house. William and Dusty decided to stay with him and help out. One day William went shopping, he saw the police and recognized them from Paris. They were talking to someone William did not know, he was big and looked mean. William moved in closer so he could hear them, and what he heard made him nervous. William jumped in his car and drove back to the house.
    Dusty and Billy were sitting on the porch, when William pulled up. He jumped out of the car and said, “we have to leave, they hired a man named Joe; he is a bounty hunter.”
    Dusty could not believe it and said to William, “a bounty hunter is after us?”
    He nodded.
    “What’s going on?” Billy asked.
    William and Dusty was so wrapped up in their thoughts about Joe that they forgot about Billy. “I think it’s time to tell him,” William said to Dusty.
    “Tell me what?” Billy asked.
    “We are wanted by the police. I made a mistake in Paris, now we are paying for it,” William told Billy as gently as he could.
    “What did you do?” Billy asked.
    William looked at Dusty a moment, she smiled and said, “go ahead, tell him.”
    “You’re no help,” he told her and then to Billy William said, “well I kinda robbed a jewelry store.”
    “You were yelling at me and lecturing me about stealing to get something to eat and you stole just to get lots of money to blow on expensive junk, probably drugs,” Billy shouted.
    “Now wait, I never did those drugs, just sold them.”
    Dusty quickly looked at William and said, “not really a good thing to say right now, I don’t think it helped your situation right now.”
    Billy jumped out of his chair and screamed at William, “I hate you!” He ran into the house crying.
    “I don’t think that worked out well,” William said.
    “You think,” Dusty told him and rolled her eyes. “I’ll go talk to him.”
    William said as she walked into the house, “we’ll leave tomorrow night.”
    The next morning, everyone awoke with gunfire. Joe was shooting at the house. They took Billy to the basement and William told him, “stay here until way after we leave.”
    “I wanna go too, don’t leave me alone,” Billy said.
    “No, it’s not safe, you stay here,” William told him.
    Dusty knelt next to Billy and said, “when it is safe, we will send for you.”
    “You promise?” Billy asked.
    “We promise,” William said.
    Dusty hugged Billy and kissed him on the cheek. She said to him, “we will send for you.”
    William and Dusty escaped out the backdoor. They drove to Spain without any more incidents. They arrived at an airport and bought two tickets to California. Dusty lived in France all her life and so California was going to be a new experience for her. Sadly, William found out that they were wanted in California also.
    “Boy, you are real popular,” Dusty told him.
    William nodded and said, “too popular, damn all I did was rob a jewelry store, it’s not like I killed anyone.”
    They rented a motel room by the beach in San Francisco; it was late when they arrived, so they went to bed. Later that night, William woke up to find Dusty not lying next to him. He looked out the window and saw her walking along the beach. William decided to join her; he put on his jeans and walked out the door toward the ocean. When he arrived, she was gone. He searched the whole beach to no avail; he slowly walked back to the room.
    William knew Dusty was worried if she did the right thing by leaving with him. He spoke his thought aloud to the empty room, “she left me, and she didn’t even say good-bye.” William loved Dusty, and it made his heart ache at the thought of her gone forever.
    The next morning, he felt he could no longer live without Dusty. He walked to his duffel bag, opened it up and stared at the contents inside. He found what he wanted; William lifted the revolver out and looked at it. He raised the gun to his head and stood there. William thought, “maybe she didn’t leave me, maybe the owner of the motel recognized us. I know he did. The cops took her and she is gone, maybe back to France. I am still lost without her.”
    His finger began to press against the trigger, when suddenly the phone rang. “Dusty!” William yelled and dropped the gun on the bed. He ran to the phone and picked up the receiver, “Dusty, honey is that you?”
    “I don’t think so, William,” A male voice answered.
    “Who is this? Where is Dusty?” William asked.
    “The name is Joe, and I have been looking all over for you. Dusty is here with me, safe for now. You want her alive, then meet me at the Surfs Café at four this afternoon or this beauty will die, what a waste.” Joe hung up.
    William was nervous, he could not wait until four, to see Dusty again; maybe for the last time.
    Six hours later, William was face to face with Dusty. She was very pale, more likely from being frightened. Dusty’s clothes were ripped and her hair was down and tangled.
    Joe let go of her arm, she ran to William and they held each other tightly. Both of them knew that it was to be their last moments together. William kissed her tenderly and turned away. He began to walk toward Joe when a gunshot sounded from behind; William turned and saw that it was the motel owner with a rifle pointed at Joe.
    “Run!” The owner screamed at him.
    William did not need to be told twice; he grabbed Dusty’s hand and began to run in the opposite direction of Joe.
    Joe raised his gun toward William and another shot rang out; the owner shot and killed Joe.
    William thanked the owner as he and Dusty disappeared around a corner. He rented a car and the two drove to an airport. As they walked to the counter, William stopped and pulled Dusty aside. “Listen babe,” he began, “I don’t want to force you to come with me. I love you and want to be with you but I will understand if you want to stay here.”
    Dusty answered, “I love you too and wherever you go in this world, I will be right next to you.”
    They took to the plane to Australia and found out that the two of them were not wanted. William and Dusty rented a house in Sydney, and was able to send for Billy. There they lived in peace, making a new life for themselves, as a family.