White Diamonds (10 page)

Nash fell asleep early one night and awoke to the sound of tapping on his door.  He was nearly to the shower before he realized it was only two in the morning and that today he wasn’t needed on the set.  So who was tapping on his door?  He opened the door to find a young woman shivering, her eyes wide with fear.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“Um, I just…do you have an extra coat?”  Then she began to cry.

“Sure, come on in,” Nash replied, but he sensed the young woman was in some sort of trouble.

“That’s okay.  All I need is a coat.”

Nash held the door open.  “I won’t hurt you, I promise.  Come in…please.”  He stepped back, hoping the young woman would enter.  She turned to leave but Nash stopped her.  “You shouldn’t be out in the dark.”  The woman tentatively walked inside and stood just inside the door.  “Have a seat.  Want a soda?”  The woman said nothing, but Nash grabbed them both a soda and handed one to her.  “It won’t bite, I promise.”

She reluctantly took the foreign can from Nash’s hand but remained at her point of safety by the door.  Nash stood beside her, still wondering what she was doing alone outside in the dark.

“I’m Nash.  What’s your name?”

Looking down, the young woman replied, “My name is Analeigh.”

“Pretty name, welcome to Hollywood,” Nash said with a chuckle as he motioned around the inside of his trailer.

When he could finally convince Analeigh to leave the safety of the door, they sat in silence for a while.  Analeigh didn’t take her eyes from the stranger, having been taught not to trust outsiders.  What Nash noticed was the exhaustion in her young face.  The girl looked as if she hadn’t slept in days.

“I should go,” she started, but Nash stood up to block her.

“Why don’t you stay?  What were you starting to tell me at the door?”

Analeigh looked down and spoke so softly that Nash barely heard her.  “It’s the movie.  You’re one of us and I need to know what happens to you.”

Nash was confused.  What did she mean, he was one of them?  Then he got it.  “I’m just playing a part in a movie.  You know that, right?”  He turned to look at her, but she continued to look down at the floor.

“But I’m not,” she said.

“I can’t say how it turns out, Analeigh.  I don’t know.  I read the script from day to day and act the part.  I’ll be right back,” he said, returning with a pillow and blanket.  “Stay the night, Analeigh, right here.  Hands off, I swear.”  He smiled, but Analeigh’s face was blank.

Nash knelt down and untied Analeigh’s shoes when he noticed her threadbare socks and scratched feet.  Analeigh quickly withdrew her feet and hid them underneath the blanket so Nash could see no more.  His heart went out to her.  He moved away to give her some space, but Analeigh held tightly to the blanket.  “Can you talk about it?”  Nash sat down on the floor and listened as she told her story.

“I left when I was sixteen.  I wanted to leave when I was fourteen but I thought I should be an adult first.”  Nash hardly thought that sixteen placed her in the adult arena, but given the world she had been raised in, he wasn’t surprised to hear her take on it.  “They wanted me to stay and marry the prophet, but I couldn’t bear the thought of him touching me.  My best friend was married to the prophet and she told me that he hit her, and the sex was…”  Her voice trailed off, fearing she had said too much.

“Take your time.  I swear I won’t hurt you.”

Analeigh took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  “When I was sixteen I ran away, but they found me and forced me back.  I was never married to the prophet, but he took me to ‘the Temple bed’ and made me…”  Tears began to fall from her eyes and she buried her face in the pillow that Nash had given her.

He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her until the pain went away, but he knew that would frighten her.  “How old are you now, Analeigh?”

Slowly lifting her head, she whispered, “Eighteen.”  The tears flowed endlessly and Nash offered her a box of tissues.  She wiped her face and continued.  “I was picked up in Idaho, but I lied to the authorities.  I told them my parents were dead and I had nowhere to go.  They sent me to a foster family, but when I turned eighteen I left.  They were good to me, my foster family, but I always feared the prophet’s people finding me.”

She was gasping for air when she finished talking, and Nash very slowly put his hand on hers.  “You’re okay now, Analeigh.”

“But..I..have..nowhere..to..go,” she said.  “I have no money or belongings.”

Nash was silent.  Everything he had read was true.  He hadn’t doubted its validity, but hearing firsthand accounts was almost too much to bear.  Analeigh laid her head back down, but she didn’t move her hand away from Nash.

“Where do you live now, Analeigh?”

“In the Davie Village.  One of the restaurant owners lets me stay with him and his wife.”

“Are you staying there now?”

“I haven’t been there since your movie began.  I don’t want to get them in trouble.”

No one could do a thing to her now that she was eighteen, but Nash knew the young woman had been brainwashed.  The reality was that no one was looking for her.  She was one of a million young girls available to the men who followed the prophet.  Nash took his hand from where it lay on Analeigh’s hand and slowly smoothed her long blonde hair in gentle strokes.  She was beautiful, with the biggest eyes he had ever seen, and soft petite features.  He wanted to protect her from any more evil, but he didn’t know how.  He could keep her safe, he decided.  That was a start.

“You’re safe here, Analeigh.  Sleep now.  I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Analeigh could no longer stay awake no matter how hard she tried, so she lay in a curled up ball on the sofa as Nash placed a blanket over her.  She drifted off to sleep, and Nash went to the bedroom and did the same.

He awoke early despite not having to work today.  He slowly made his way to the living area where Analeigh was sleeping soundly.  He quietly made coffee and sat down across from her and looked over his script for the following week.  The young woman on the sofa wasn’t the only one trying to find answers.  Her story had become much more than a film, at least to Nash.  Analeigh’s story was real, and it was occurring in real time on a daily basis in the lives of many young women just like her.

It was almost noon when Analeigh opened her eyes to find Nash sitting in a chair across from where she lay.  She sat up quickly, and Nash hurried to her and knelt on the floor.

“It’s okay, Analeigh.  You’re safe, remember?”

Analeigh nodded and lay back down.

“Sleep as long as you like, and stay here as long as you like.”

Analeigh didn’t doubt the sincerity of the stranger, but she knew that once the film was completed, the handsome actor would return to the States.

“I’ll bet I can find some clothes if you would like to change,” Nash offered.

Analeigh half smiled at him but didn’t say a word.

Nash returned with a t-shirt and jeans from one of the boxes that had been stored in his trailer, hoping the smaller size would fit her.  “If these don’t fit, there’s a box full of clothes in the back.  We’ll find something.  Would you like to take a shower?  You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Nash’s offer was nice, but Analeigh knew she was too weak to stand up for very long, especially on the slick floor of a shower, but she feared making Nash angry with her.

“Okay,” she replied.

Nash laid out everything, and somehow Analeigh made her way to the bathroom in her weakened state.  She hurt all over and could barely move, but the warm water did feel good.  It wasn’t long before she began to feel weak and slumped to the floor.  Nash heard the thump but thought that Analeigh had probably dropped something.  After a few minutes, however, he went to check on her.

“Analeigh, are you okay?”

There was no answer.  Nash walked into the bathroom and noticed the silhouette of Analeigh’s lifeless body huddled on the floor of the shower.  He opened the door of the shower and quickly turned off the water.  Wrapping a towel around her, he tried desperately not to stare at her beautiful naked body, but she was breathtaking.  As his hands grazed her body, the softness of her skin was unexpected.  Days on the run had not damaged the silky softness of her flesh.  He wrapped her cocoon-like in the soft towel and lifted her enough so that she could lean against him.  Analeigh was embarrassed at Nash seeing her naked and she tried to curl up so he wouldn’t see more of her.  What he did see were numerous bruises and scratches covering the young woman’s body.  The bruises were in various stages of healing, but the scratches looked relatively new.

“Analeigh, will you let me clean your cuts?”

“I’m okay.  It’s really nothing.  I get scratched from the trees and stuff,” she said.

Nash didn’t doubt her words, but he knew how quickly infection could set in.  He turned on the warm water again, in a slow trickle, and opened the towel.  He began to wash Analeigh and she tensed at first, but later began to relax.  She closed her eyes and lay against her strong hero, too weak to move.  Nash lightly washed Analeigh’s young breasts and as the water ran down along her nipples, the small brown areas hardened instantly.  He closed his eyes to try and erase the thoughts that were racing through his mind, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted her.  He wanted to make slow love to her and hold her in his arms forever.  Offering the cloth to her so that she could wash her private parts, he was surprised when she clutched the towel to her and lifted it from the bottom.  Closing her eyes, she handed the cloth back to Nash.  He washed gently, opening her legs to allow the warm water between them.  He could feel his erection pushing at his zipper and he tried to will it away.  He wrapped the towel around Analeigh again and lifted her in his arms.  She held onto him tightly, burying her face in his chest.

“It’s okay.  I won’t drop you.”

Carrying her to the bedroom, he laid her down upon the bed and placed his big soft robe over her, taking the wet towel away.  He washed her hair using a pitcher and allowed the soapy water to drain into a bucket.  Toweling it dry as best he could, he sat down beside her.

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

“I don’t know.”

Her big eyes watched his every move, and he smoothed a hand along her cheek.  “Rest, Analeigh.  I’ll bring you some dry toast.”

He left her with a smile and a wink, hoping to make her feel more at ease.  When he returned, she ate slowly, sipping the hot tea that he held for her, until she couldn’t force down another bite.

“I can’t eat much.”

“No problem.  One step at a time.”

She curled up and fell asleep as Nash watched her.  She looked so innocent, and he tried to keep his emotions in check.

When she awoke, her affect was a little brighter.  The jeans and t-shirt fit her fairly well, but she was in desperate need of new shoes.

“Let me buy you some new shoes, Analeigh.  I have a limo driver eager to earn his keep.”

Analeigh was impressed with the big shiny vehicle, and Nash was impressed with Analeigh.  He didn’t know if he would have the strength this young woman had to keep going after all she had been through in her young life.  Analeigh had never seen anything like the inside of Nash’s limo and her eyes were wide as she looked around.  To Nash, however, a limo represented nothing more than one of the many superficialities that adorned the streets and mansions of Hollywood.

The limo driver let them out where Nash directed.  It was a beautiful day in Vancouver and he wanted to know more about the couple with whom Analeigh had been staying.

“I don’t know if I can go very far,” Analeigh admitted.

“You don’t have to.  We’ll take lots of breaks, and when you want to return to the movie set, let me know.”  He took her hand in his, and she looked up into his eyes.  “If you begin to feel weak, I won’t let you fall to the ground.”  His smile and wink made her look away, but Nash noticed the blush on her cheeks.

They walked slowly through the village, making their way to one of the establishments where shoes were sold.  Analeigh tightened her grip on Nash’s hand at one point, and he stopped in his tracks.

“Do you need to rest awhile?”

She shook her head no, and Nash smiled, but deep inside he was bursting with joy.  She was beginning to trust him.  When he led her to the prettiest pair of tennis shoes she had ever seen, she protested that the cost was too high, but Nash insisted.

“In my business, shoes can be your best friend.”

The new socks and shoes felt too good on her tired feet to object for very long, and she was genuinely grateful to the sweet stranger.  She felt like a princess.

“I’m hungry, Analeigh, so unless you plan to carry me when I fall, I think we should get something to eat.”

After a pause, Analeigh realized that Nash was joking, and she smiled.  They entered a quaint little eatery and sat down.

“This is where I stay, upstairs,” Analeigh whispered.

“Oh, are the owners here?”

“I don’t know,” Analeigh admitted.

A man brought the two of them glasses of water and asked for their order.  He didn’t notice Analeigh at first, but when he did, he was thrilled.  “Hey, Analeigh, where have you been?  My wife and I have been worried sick.  I’ve asked around, but no one has seen you.”  He hugged her, and to Nash’s keen intuition, the man seemed genuine enough.