A Woman's Flight Chapter 24

Almost on cue, Angel looked at Rebecca with a dirty and indignant smirk and said, " Who is that supposed to be? I really hope she doesn't think she is going to sit with us?" Before Rebecca could say anything Ashley replied, " Just ignore her. She is my roommate. Can you really believe it? They actually put me with someone like her? I might just die. I wonder if it is too late to sue the school? I should at least get some sort of compensation for having to deal with her."

At that moment something broke in Rebecca. A pain started to form in her chest and her heart felt heavy. An immense pressure began to build up inside of her. She felt herself losing control and there was a full blown sense of anxiety and panic that began to take over her. Even though she wanted to run there was a vice like pressure that had taken over her body. All of the pain, anxiety, frustration, anger, and disappointment from her past began to well up to the surface in that one instant.

The last thing she wanted was to show just how weak she was; especially to some one like Ashley. She though she had gotten rid of all of her emotions about her past and dad but in that moment she realized just how wrong she was. Her vision began to blur and she felt herself blacking out. Just before she was about to pass out Alice gently patted her on the back. With this almost angelic and child like smile, she looked Rebecca straight in the eyes and said, " Its ok. You are beautiful. You are safe. You are whole."

Almost immediately, Rebecca felt herself become lighter and her anxiety just melt away as if her whole body, mind, and spirit were absorbing her positive words of affirmation. Even though her family went to church; she was never really a believer in God or the bible in general. She had convinced herself that it was just words in a book that people took way too much stock in. In the back of her mind she wanted to believe. The only thing that was holding her back was the fact that she saw the hypocrisy in the churches in Texas.

So many people who said they were people of God and yet openly judging people the most. Even the stories in the bible didn't make sense to her and only confirmed her idea that it was simply written to control people and that it didn't relate to what people were dealing with today. All of that didn't matter though. What ultimately kept her away was this deep seated resentment and anger at God for allowing her dad to get as bad as he did. She openly blamed God for not saving her or answering her prayers for salvation and she especially hated the people in the church for not doing anything about it.

In that moment it was like a light bulb went off in her head. Alice was an angel. She just felt it. Alice radiated light and love and this healing energy that she had never felt before, especially from someone she had just met. There was something that was filling inside of her that she had never experienced before. Without even realizing it, she was hugging Alice with all of her strength and crying into her as shoulder.

With an almost comical nod of her head and a smirk on her face, Alice lovingly placed her hand under her chin and raised her head so that she could be eye level with Rebecca and said, " You are making quite the scene aren't you? What am I going to do with you miss Rebecca? It seems like I am going to have to watch after you. We are going to have to watch after each other. We are not so different. Us misfits have to stick together."

Alice returned the hug as she lifted Rebecca off the ground and held her hand as they led each other out of the dining hall. It was at that instant that she felt a calm come over her. Somehow she knew things would be ok.

The very next day after orientation was the beginning of the first day of school. Rebecca was positively beaming at the idea of getting started with her courses. She had decided to get a degree in Pre-Law and she knew that Stanford had one of the best programs in the world. She was equally excited to see that her roommate Ashley wasn't in her first class of the day but she was also equally upset to see that her and Alice didn't have any classes together either. All Rebecca knew was that she had never seen so many people in one place at one time. Especially not coming from Tyler, Texas.

What also amazed her was just how many different races and even age groups of people were there in her first class of the day. She almost relished the idea of getting to know them and find out their stories and find where they had been in life and what brought them here. She knew already that this was going to be an incredible and awesome experience that she would have never gotten the chance to experience if she had stayed in Tyler.

She knew in the back of her mind that part of the reason she joined the Pre-Law program was so that she could be a social advocate for women and children in abusive living situations, but the ulterior motive behind her wanting to join the program at Stanford was because she knew it was one of the hardest programs at the school and she knew that if she could do well there she would truly be able to prove herself to her mom, all the people in Tyler in her community and church who never stood up for her or her mother , and even prove herself to her dad.

Even though her father had passed away many years ago there was a still a part of her that resented and hated her father and she resented and hated anybody who abused their family for any reason. Rebecca saw it as something that was unforgivable and should be punishable and brought to light instead of hidden under the rug and just accepted like it generally is. She wanted to prove them wrong  and especially prove to every one that she had the intelligence and the fortitude to take on the hardest program Stanford had to offer and still end up with honors.

Her overall goal was to see if she could graduate as a valedictorian but she would have sufficed to be on the honor roll. More importantly, she wanted to prove she just wasn't another statistic and that she wouldn't allow her situation to dominate her life but she also wanted to help other women as well face their husbands or abusers with strength and teach that they don't have to take it and they don't have to be another statistic as well.