Opal and the Masked Man

Chapter One

"Please! I'm begging you! You have to take me back. If my mom finds me gone, she'll beat me again! Let me go! Please!" Panic was setting in quickly as I cried in hysterics. I began to thrash against the iron hold that binds me. His grip on my arm slackens and he turns around to look at me. He looks to be around my age, and he has stress etched in his features. His gray eyes grew wider and wider as they trailed all the way down to my feet. My auburn hair was matted, and my ocean blue eyes were sad. My beige tank top and my faded blue capris were tattered and worn. My translucent skin was covered in bruises, cuts, and welts. My stomach felt hollow.
"Do you want my help?" His voice was surprisingly gentle. Not rough like I expected it to be. He seemed to genuinely want to help me. "O-okay. I just need to get away from this place. Do you have a plan?"
"Of course I have a plan. I'm a burglar. Escape plans are my forte," he said, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. He starts leading me to a car that looks like a taxi. "Your car's a taxi?" I say, bewildered. "Of course not. It's called a disguise. That way I can go places without being detected."
"I guess that makes sense. But, taxi's aside, why did you help me? Burglars don't help people. They steal from them."
The masked man looks at me, deep in thought for a moment. "Some people say that chivalry is dead. I broke into your house looking for valuables. See, my family isn't doing well. My parents are sick, and we don't have enough money for medicine. When I finally managed to break into that huge vault, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. But when I opened it, I found you instead. I broke you out of there because, as cheesy as it sounds, it was the right thing to do. Plus, it would be far from chivalrous to leave you tied up in all of those chains."
"A chivalrous burglar. Who would've thought?" I say as I get into the passenger seat of the car. The burglar removes his ski mask and turns to look at me. I see his chestnut hair. It has a hint of red in it. He has stormy gray eyes, full of steely determination. I realize that I've been staring at him for about a minute. My face turns red. Like, really red. Trying to divert his attention from my face, I stammer,"M-my name's Opal. What's yours?"
He gives me a smile and says, "My name's Daniel. Nice to meet you, Opal. You have a beautiful name."
I'm blushing profusely now. "U-um, thank you. You're probably wondering why I was in that room. I have healing powers. My mom told a couple of renowned scientists about my abilities, and that they should take some blood samples and do a thorough study of me. They poked and prodded at me, punched me, and a bunch of other crap like that. They wanted to see if my body could heal itself quicker than the average person. But they discovered that I could only use my powers to heal others. I'm basically treated like one big science experiment. My mom only lets me out of that vault to heal people. And she treats me horribly. She only gives me the leftover scraps of food that she doesn't eat."
Daniel looks utterly appalled. He stares at me with a dropped jaw for about a minute. His mouth closes and he's clenching his jaw now, muttering swears under his breath. "You really have been treated like that?" He breathes, disgusted. I nod. I realize that my hands are trembling and I've broken into a cold sweat.
"Opal, are you alright?" Daniel asks worriedly, alarm in his voice. "I'm...I'm fine," I say, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. He gives my hand a gentle squeeze, and he rubs his thumb over my knuckles. I blink, and tears finally come spilling down my cheeks. My body is racking with sobs as Daniel leads me out of the taxi, his arm slung around my shoulder.
After a while, my sobbing begins to quiet. "I've never opened up to anyone about my story," I say to my rescuer, sniffing and wiping my tears with the back of my hand. "I guess talking about it proved to be more difficult than I expected."
Daniel gives me a small smile and says, "I'm really surprised that you trust me so much. After all, I'm a complete stranger who you only just met."
I meet his eyes and say in an earnest whisper, "You saved me from my mother. From further pain and mental abuse. You saved me from utter despair. You gave me hope. You're giving me a chance at a new life, Daniel. I'm forever indebted to you."
Daniel grins, shaking his head. "You don't owe me a single thing." He puts his hand on my shoulder, and my face turns red, the redness going all the way to the roots of my hair. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. "Cat got your tongue?" Daniel says, laughing. He continues, "What do you say we get outta here? I've got a safe house in California. I can book us a flight."
Nervous, I fidget with my hands for a moment. "Um, Daniel, are you sure this is a good idea? I really don't want us to get caught doing-"
"Relax, Opal. You don't have to worry about anything. I'll make sure we don't get caught. But, on the rare occasion of us getting caught, I have an emergency getaway car."
I smile. "Hold up. Daniel. You have a getaway car?! You get more amazing every minute."
"Oh, do I now?" His lips are twitching, and it seems like he's trying to hold back a laugh.
"Um, oh gosh, I...I didn't mean it like that," I lie hastily, heat beginning to flush to my cheeks. Oh, shoot...Was I seriously falling for a burglar? This is getting complicated.