Down the Rabbit Hole

Power Surge

Lacey took a bite out of her ice cream as she strolled along the boardwalk. She had no idea where she was but the place was amazing, sub-tropical temperatures, a beautiful beach and the people were so friendly, if a little oddly dressed. Lacey headed away from the boardwalk and towards the shopping district. As she passed a supermarket an old lady was coming out. As she passed her shopping bag split open and a load of fruit fell out. Lacey bent down and began to help pick up the scattered produce. She straightened up and handed the fruit back to the old lady.
"Thanks." She said as she took them from Lacey. "It's not often you find young people willing to help these days."
"Oh that's ok, anytime." Lacey smiled. As the old lady turned to go Lacey called after her. "Could you tell me where I am?" The old lady turned around and blinked at her for a moment.
"You don't know where you are?" She asked, surprised.
"I've been travelling around a lot so I'm kind of disoriented." Lacey explained.
"Oh, right. Well you're in Dade County, Miami."
"Miami? Wow no wonder it looks so amazing." Lacey smiled. As she turned to go the woman asked.
"Do you have a place to stay while you're here?"
"Umm, no not at the moment." Lacey admitted,
"Well if you don't mind living with a bunch of old ladies, I'm sure we could find some room for you." The woman offered with a shrug.
"Really? I wouldn't want to impose."
It's no imposition and you seem like a nice kid." The old lady smiled. "I'm Sophia."
"I'm Lacey." She replied shaking her hand.
"Right, well we better catch the bus, it'll be along in a minute." Sophia told her as they headed to the bus stop.

Half an hour later they turned up a driveway of a low set bungalow. When they reached the door Sophia opened it and they walked into a spacious living room with wicker furniture. Just then a door on the other side of the room opened and a tall woman with grey hair appeared.
"Oh, there you are Ma, I was wondering what was taking so long."
"Dorothy this is Lacey, Lacey this is my daughter Dorothy. Lacey helped me out at the market and it turns out she has no-where to stay while she's in Miami, so I asked her to stay with us." Sophia told Dorothy. Dorothy's eyes widened.
"Ma, do you really think it's wise to invite a total stranger to stay in our home?" She asked. "No offense." She said, turning to Lacey, "But we don't know you from Adam."
"Yeah and he was a weirdo." Lacey muttered. "It's ok, I understand, I can go." She put the shopping down on the floor.
"Now wait just a minute. Dorothy, Lacey needs a place to stay, why don't we have her stay for dinner, we can get to know her and decide about whether she stays from there?" Sophia suggested. Dorothy sighed.
"Fine, Ma, whatever makes you happy."

For the rest of the afternoon Sophia told Lacey about her life, about growing up in Sicily and coming to America. As evening closed in Sophia's other room mates arrived home from work and Sophia introduced her to Blanche and Rose. They went out on to the Lanai and Lacey helped set the table for dinner, which was Ravioli, made by Sophia. As they sat down to eat Dorothy asked;
"So Lacey, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself? Where are you from?" Lacey put her fork down but continued to stare down at her plate.
"Umm, to be honest I'm not really sure." The four women looked at her in confusion. Lacey racked her brains to find the best way to explain things. "You see when I was a kid I was... kidnapped." They baulked at this. "The people who kidnapped me kept me somewhere up in the mountains until nearly two years ago. That's when I escaped. Anyway these two guys found me and seeing as I had no memory of my family I stayed with them for a while...." Lacey stopped, unsure of how to continue.
"So how did you end up in Miami?" Rose asked.
"Well a few months ago I decided to go back to school and then do some travelling and I went to Virginia, then ended up here." Lacey shrugged. Dorothy got to her feet and began to clear the plates off the table.
"Lacey, welcome to our home, you can stay as long as you'd like." Lacey looked up at her, surprised.
"Are...are you sure?"
"Absolutely, after everything you just told us, I think we should make your time in Miami as fun as possible." Dorothy smiled.
"Thank you." Lacey smiled at them broadly. It looked like her time here was going to be interesting, to say the least.