Annabel Lee ─ emily prentiss

eleven

THE following afternoon, instead of going straight home, Bel went into the heart of town. She'd never been into any of the stores on Main, so she didn't know where to start. She decided to work her way down the street store by store, beginning with some expensive-looking store. All it had was a lot of clothes and a lot of tacky jewelry, none of it reasonably priced. No luck.

By the time she reached the end of the block, the only thing Bel had bought was a card from the drugstore (on its cover were drawings of hanging ornaments and the words "Merry Christmas" in the corner, and the inside was blank). She opened the door to the final store on that side of the block.

"Whoa," Bel whispered as she stepped inside. It was a cute boutique full of clothing and trinkets of every variety. There were wooden wall signs, candles, wine glasses, jewelry, velvet scrunchies—everything under the sun. She wandered through, taking care to examine every little thing. This had to be the perfect gift.

Eventually Bel came to the jewelry section. They had bracelets, necklaces, rings, and earrings, and there were so many. She couldn't remember if Emily's ears were pierced, so those were out. She didn't know Emily's ring size. Bracelets were probably annoying when you were chasing criminals and handling a gun, which left the necklaces. There were a few different necklace racks, plus a couple on special display. She studied each one closely.

One rack caught her eye. The necklaces had thin gold chains, and each had a small letter charm. The charms were delicate, small enough that they weren't tacky but large enough that you could make out what it was without a magnifying glass. She frantically searched for an "E" necklace, relief washing over her when she found one. She maneuvered it off the rack into her hands.

Perfect, Bel thought as her fingers curled over the charm. She took it up to the register. The middle-aged woman behind the counter looked up at her.

"Just this?" the woman asked when Bel laid the necklace on the counter. Bel nodded. "Find everything you needed okay?"

"Mhm." Bel nodded again. "Thank you."

The woman rang her up. "Forty three-fifty two."

Bel's savings would really take a hit today, but that was okay. She needed Emily to know how grateful she was for all Emily had done for her. No matter what the future looked like, Bel would never forget it, and she would always be thankful. No gift, no amount of money could ever do that thankfulness justice, but it was a start.

When Bel lost her mom, she lost her whole life. Her house, her town, her friends, her teachers, her school—everything she'd ever known was gone, traded for constant uncertainty. Nothing about her life had been secure or stable in three years, including the people in it. Her six-month stay with Evelyn was the longest time she'd been in one place. She got jerked around frequently, and whenever she moved, she usually lost complete contact with friends and foster siblings from her last placement. She had nobody to talk to, to lean on, to support her when things got tough. She had nobody who gave a damn about her, with the exception of her overworked, underpaid social worker and Evelyn, who had enough problems of her own. Then she met Emily.

Emily had been there for Bel when no one else was. She came all that way to bring Bel her jacket. She took time out of her day to take Bel's calls, even when she was working. She helped Bel work through the hardest moments. She looked out for Bel, hopeful that the system would come through on Bel's next placement. She was willing to use her vacation time to come visit on Christmas. She cared. She literally saved Bel's life in that basement and saved it several times since, keeping Bel sane when it felt like the world was ending. She earned Bel's trust, a feat no one had accomplished in years. She cared, and all of it meant absolutely everything to Bel. Bel had to show her how fucking incredible she was and how much she meant, because to Bel, she meant the whole world.