True Diplomacy: The Story of a Feminine Heroine Part 2

in #ecotrain6 years ago

If you'd like to read it, here is part 1

Janelle awoke in a bit of a fog. She felt terribly disoriented and couldn't figure out where she was. Suddenly everything came back to her, and she jerked her head around and realized she was not in a hospital. Her heart started to race, and she tried to leap from the bed. She immediately cried out in excruciating pain and laid right back down. Suddenly Lena was right beside her. “Oh my God, you're here. You're safe! Where are…”

Lena put her finger to her lips and pointed off in the corner. Alice and Jayden were asleep together on a big recliner. Lena then laid her head on her sister’s chest and sobbed. “I thought you were going to die. This isn't even a hospital. I don't understand why they brought you here. They just kept saying it was the only way to stay safe. You can't imagine the bombing. Even under here. Shit’s really bad out there. I've tried to keep the kids with videos going on their tablets and headphones, but I know they're terrified. We have to get out of here!”

Lena was sobbing through this whole soliloquy, so it took Janelle a minute to piece together what was happening. She was also pretty sure they had given her some kind of crazy drug for pain or trauma because she felt extra furry in a way that took her back to the music festival days of her youth. She waited for Lena to calm down and then started the line of questioning.

After an hour or so she had put together that her shooting had caused quite an uproar and also that perhaps some of the circumstances around it were nefarious. Obviously being shot is always nefarious, but it seemed the motives in this case were not of the garden variety. Luckily for Janelle, Shemaya had realized quickly that something was off.

As Shemaya knelt by Janelle’s side, she watched things deteriorate quickly. The two sides started to blame each other, and there were others she didn't recognize who seemed to be agitating both sides. Suspicious looking men were also headed her way trying to elbow through, eyes focused on Janelle. Luckily, they were getting held up by the increasingly violent brawl. Shemaya turned toward the approaching ambulance which was also being held up by the chaos. In any case she had a suspicion about that ambulance. She knew better than most what happened to “enemies of the state.”

She whispered to Ruth who scuttled off immediately. Within half a minute, she was back with three men and a sheet. Shemaya whispered to the men. The youngest immediately headed to the suspicious men in suits, while the other two began helping the women put temporary bandages on Janelle and get her wrapped up as quickly as possible. The young man was instigating trouble to delay the men in suits, but they were quickly approaching. Shemaya rushed the process, and she, along with the two men lifted Janelle and moved quickly to a waiting rickshaw. It would be the easiest way to maneuver through the scuffle until they could get to a place where they could drive. At this point the men in suits began shouting. Shemaya’s young friend stepped directly in their way and started to throw punches. The last thing Shemaya saw before the bike took off was the poor kid taking an elbow to the throat. She winced but maintained her focus. The other two men would spring to his aid.

They zigged and zagged through alleys and side streets until the world was quiet. Shemaya looked at Janelle and knew she could delay no longer. She was getting pale and clammy. Shemaya hailed a cab and headed to the underground medical facility that had been patched together by The Mothers of Peace. Knowledge of this place was pretty limited. Essentially they cared for anyone from any side who could not, for whatever reason, go to the public hospital. The only rule was no fighting, even verbal, within the compound. They had a number of doctors and nurses, many of whom worked full time at the hospital only to come here to volunteer. They gathered what supplies they could and kept it immaculately clean.

Once Janelle had learned how she had gotten to this place, it was her turn to cry. This is what she had been trying to fund. This was what women did with money during war time. She looked at the clean floor contrasting with the crumbling walls and ceiling. Her iv had been done perfectly, and the stitches on her side were very well done. It was sore as hell, but it didn't look infected, and all things considered, she felt pretty good. She was so glad to be here with the women. There were herbal compresses on her wound, and at that moment someone walked in with some hot tea.

Janelle gratefully took her tea from the young woman who looked so genuinely delighted to see Janelle awake. She promised another cup to Lena and hurried off. Through the fog of Janelle’s furry mind, something emerged like a ghost in a mist. She realized she had no clue how her children had gotten from the hotel to this place. “Honey, how did y'all get here?!”

Lena looked cautiously at Janelle. She had been told not to reveal too much until it was certain Janelle was healing properly, but she seemed mostly herself, though a little pale still and a tad disoriented. They told Lena Janelle had lost a lot of blood. She looked quickly to the kids and figured it was best to talk while they slept. Besides she had been through a lot, and it was always her big sister she confided in. She needed to talk about it. This long pause had Janelle quite worried.

Lena took a deep breath to calm herself. She wanted to sound as calm as she could. “Well, you know I was a little foggy yesterday morning.” Janelle looked alarmed, and Lena realized Janelle didn't know she had been out for so long. “Well, it's almost morning again. You've only been out for 18 hours or so. They honestly didn't expect you to wake up as soon as you did. Anyway, the kids were watching tv and eating some cereal, so I went on the balcony with my coffee. I noticed an armored vehicle pull up, and some men in suits filed out with a couple armed US soldiers. I was suspicious, so I ran inside and switched the bedroom tv to the news and saw immediately what had happened. The phone rang, and the woman at the desk sounded alarmed and told me armed guards were headed to our room. I have been worried a long time about this, Janelle. You have pissed off the wrong people! I grabbed the kids and headed to the stairs. As we were running down, I could hear them banging on the door. I went out the back because I figured there were more men out front. We just ran until we saw a taxi. I had no idea where to even go, but I remembered you talking about the women's groups, so I asked him to take us to a park. It was just the one place I could think of that would almost certainly be mostly women. I remembered the name Shemaya because I thought it was so beautiful, and I just began asking all the mothers if they knew of a woman by that name. Of course most of them didn't because we were an hour away, but I found one woman who had heard of her work with the women's groups because her husband was killed last year.”

At this point, Shemaya walked in. “I am so glad to see you awake, my sister. I see you are being filled in. This lady here gave us quite a scare, but in the end she probably saved all their lives.”

Janelle blushed but continued. She wanted to finish before Jayden and Alice woke up. They had been through enough. “Well, I just kept following my intuition and tried to stay calm. I didn't want to scare the kids. Anyway, she took us to her house, and dug out the number. Shemaya was pretty relieved to hear from us. It seems she had already sent people to the hotel, and they were terribly worried when they saw the state of the room. Anyway, at least they were close by and able to come get us quickly. I waited until then to tell the kids what had happened. I basically played it off as an adventure until that point. I tried to minimize it as much as I could, but I needed to prepare them to see you. They've tried to be brave, but they're definitely scared. They fell asleep last night standing up with their heads laying on your arm.” At this point Lena crumpled to tears, and Janelle rubbed her back.

“I'm so sorry to have put you in this position, Lena. I am so grateful to you for saving my babies. You were so brave.”

Suddenly Alice stirred slowly and then suddenly bolted upright. “Mommy! You're awake!” She ran to Janelle and tried to hug her but was clearly afraid to hurt her. Lena lifted her up and laid her on Janelle's good side. Alice buried her face in her mother's chest and sobbed. “I was afraid you would die, mommy! I was so scared!”

“No, baby. Mama’s not going anywhere. I'm right here.” Alice was usually the stoic one, so Janelle was pretty taken aback. She was now shedding her own tears, and in fact everyone in the room was crying.

An hour later, after what little food Janelle could eat, Lena took the kids to a small playroom down the hall. Janelle looked sideways at Shemaya, “Now what? How bad is it out there?”

“Well, they're blaming each other for your shooting and saying you've been taken captive. It would appear the powers that be have instigated all of it, and much of your progress has been lost. Also, it would appear you are not safe. Here or maybe anywhere else. If you want my honest opinion, it seems it's your government behind the whole thing. Both sides are blaming the other, but I don't believe either. You know we see this shit a lot here.”

“I am committed, Shemaya, to this process and our work, but I think we have to do something a little different. Also, I need to do a better job keeping my kids safe. We are now all in a lot of danger, and that includes you. I can't ask you to risk your life any more than you already have.”

“No turning back now. We are forever intertwined, Janelle. Our destiny lies in changing things together. First we need to get you healed. Then we will get you and your family to safety. Only then will we get back to work.”

Janelle was worn out and began to doze off. The last thing she heard was, “You get some rest, dear. You are safe now.”

Stay tuned for part 3 to find out what happens to Janelle, her family, and the peace negotiations. This is part 2 of my first story in a series about fictional feminine heroines. I want to show women using feminine qualities in heroic ways. I have long been concerned that most female heroes, like Wonder Woman or Black Widow, are still using the same old masculine tricks of violent conflict resolution. I want to give our girls heroines who use compassion, communication, cooperation, and gentleness to make the world a better place.

Much love, y’all!

As always, all pics are mine or pixabay unless otherwise noted.

)](https://discord.gg/qfu4yRE)

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Please post part 3 what happened??

I haven't written part 3 yet, but I'll let you know when it's out! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.

I thought I missed the rest of your story after reading part 1 some time ago.
Keep going, don't stop here.
As an aside, I upvoted you with what I have, that being a few steem pennies. Yet I appear on the top 10. Top 10 out of 88 votes currently. What's going on? Are these steemians so stingy? Or don't they know their voting power goes down and needs to get recharged. OMG!!!

steemsig.png
Joe
@joe.nobel
science fiction, fantasy, erotica
I have a new story Infidelity Games, part 1 & 2. Part 3 coming today.
Careful, erotically graphic.

Well, I had a story a while back that I stopped posting because I wanted to publish it, but this one I just started a few days ago. It's gonna be a short story. They have a similar theme but are different story lines. I'm glad you are enjoying it!
As far as the voting goes, it's because I'm part of a group, and everyone gives a tiny bit to the trail. It's a power in numbers thing. The group upvotes a lot of people, so we all have to keep it at a tiny bit so we don't destroy our vp, but every little bit helps! In any case, thanks for your 100%!!!

I have been waiting for this to find out what would happen to Janelle and her kids, it was well worth the wait I most say and once again you have left us with a cliff hanger, great job mama keep it coming xxx

I'm glad you liked it! I thought it would be done in two parts, but it seems there's more. I'll let you know!

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