Chapter 2
June 2002
Erin Lawrence slumped into her apartment, sighing heavily as she tossed her purse on the couch. Making her way over to the closet, she hung her coat up and headed into the kitchen to make dinner.
It'd been a long day at work and she couldn't wait to slip under the covers. Pulling out a box of cereal and a bowl, she grabbed the milk out the fridge and sat to the table, pouring the cereal into the bowl and adding the milk. She knew she should eat more, but she just didn't have the energy.
She munched away at her cereal, feeling her eyes starting to droop, it was crazy. Eight-hour days meant forty-hour weeks. She'd been going non-stop for about a year, throwing herself into her work.
Erin loved her job though, she did. It was nice to know she was helping people, working at a woman's shelter was an emotionally draining job, but it was all worth it in the end. So many lives had been saved because of the work she and the others did. She not only worked with the women there, helping to get their lives back in order, but she helped run the facility as the assistant director.
It seemed to be her calling, helping those who couldn't help themselves, or those who'd lost their way and needed the assistance of others. Mostly she worked with women of abuse, or women who were jobless. There were women from all walks of life at the shelter, each story different, but painful nonetheless.
All her schooling and training hadn't prepared her for what she'd be facing, nothing had. She could safely say she'd seen it all and it never got easier. Sitting back in her chair, she looked off thoughtfully, thinking of what'd made her want to go into counseling. College was supposed to have been about Child Education, she was fully prepared to be a teacher, but then something happened...someone happened.
AJ happened. After dating him for seven months, she knew she couldn't be a teacher, it wasn't her. No, she had to do something else, had to help others in a different way. She'd wanted desperately to help AJ back then, but he wouldn't let her and that hurt more than anything, he hadn't at the time, let anyone help him.
Erin didn't want anyone else to go through that, didn't want anyone else to feel that they had no chance, that they couldn't have help. She vowed that she'd help others, help them better themselves, turn their lives around. She'd do it one person at a time.
Her first job had been at a homeless shelter, there she ran into women and men a like, young children as well. It broke her heart to hear their stories, see the look of loss and sorrow on their faces, hopelessness. It was almost too much. She stayed there for two months when she decided to move on, she wanted to absorb everything, do all she could. Next she went to a men's shelter and helped out there for another two months, but found that was too hard, it brought back too many memories of a time long ago, that emptiness a lot of them had was much too familiar, she stayed a month.
From there she went to her local YWCA and YMCA, volunteering and helping out when needed. She did that for another two months before landing her current job where she'd been since. For some reason, she couldn't leave after two months, this just felt right.
All her friends had tried to understand, comprehend her moving around so much, but they couldn't and she didn't explain, she couldn't. Her boyfriend had tried to get her to stop, to rest, he couldn't, but supported her fully.
Erin had been dating Austin for the past six months, she met him at the YMCA and they'd hit it off. He understood her work and while he may not always understand her motivations, he never questioned, just accepted.
Smiling weakly, Erin stood, her dinner forgotten, and walked over to the couch, slumping down and grabbing the phone, dialing quickly.
"Hello?"
"Hey Honey!"
"Erin! How's ma girl?" Austin called.
"Sleepy, but good."
" 'Nother long day at work?"
"Yeah, how bout you? How was your day?"
"Not too bad, pretty quiet at the store."
Austin worked in retail, selling insurance.
"You sound ready to pass out."
"Mmm hmm, I'm so beat." She stifled a yawn.
"Well I won't keep ya baby."
"I just wanted to call, hear your voice, you know I miss you."
"I miss you too, get some rest, I'll talk to ya tomorrow then."
"Ok, love you Austin."
"Love you too Erin, night."
"Night." She hung up and started back over to the table, grabbing her bowl and pouring the rest of the contents into the garbage disposal and putting the milk away before heading up to bed.
