Dark Promises
By: Anubis
August 27th, 2001
It was a hot, humid day in Athens, Georgia. The air was thick and sticky, and dark gray clouds threatened to create a flood, drowning all the people that moved like ants along the busy street. 'It doesn't rain in Georgia, it pours.' Camille remembered her friend, Tiffany, repeating this to her over and over when she was packing. She and her family had just moved to Athens from Kansas a day ago. Her father had been offered another job at Compaq, and he had uprooted the entire family and moved them down into the old-fashioned state. When she was alone in her room in Kansas, she had pictured horse-drawn carts and beautiful Victorian houses lining a cobblestone path instead of the busy, bustling city that lay before her. She snapped out of her glum reverie at the insistent honking behind her. The light had changed, and she hadn't moved. She pushed quickly on the accelerator, and the car leaped ahead, nearly crashing into the bumper of the car in front of her. She pushed down hard on the brake, and narrowly missed rear-ending the white Toyota. She took a deep breath, and pushed gently on the old Camero's accelerator, and to her relief, it didn't jolt forward. She moved along slowly, cars whizzing past her. A man passed her, and gave her the finger out the window. 'So much for southern hospitality!' She thought. She turned quickly, and finally was able to race into the grocery parking lot. Traffic was terrible out here, and the overbearing weather wasn't helping at all. Grumpy and nervous, Camille made her way to the wide glass doors. Cold air spilled out of the marketplace, and gave some small relief to her sweaty body. She moved along the aisles, picking up cereal and bread. Her mother had sent her on this errand, tired of hearing her whine about how horrible this place was. Camille didn't mean to be a pain, she was just upset over losing her friends and leaving behind her boyfriend. She had made all of them promise not to forget her, and she and Mike, her boyfriend, had made a vow to call each other every week.
A loud thundering echoed through the large building, and she could hear the rain beginning to pelt the roof. 'Great…' She moved quickly down the bright aisles, trying to grab the things on the list quickly before the storm got too bad. She sighed in relief when all of the things were in her basket, and grinned when she couldn't hear the rain anymore. She walked to the checkout line, and stood behind a middle-aged woman. Her buggy was full, and it took forever for her to unload it. When the woman was finished, Camille was in such a bad mood she nearly screamed in frustration when she had to get a price check on the popcorn. The rain increased steadily as each package went by the scanner, and when she had finally paid the boy that packed all her bags, it was coming down hard. The drops of rain hit like miniature bombs on the roofs of the cars, and the entire parking lot was under one centimeter of water. She growled angrily, and sat down on the wooden bench outside the grocery. She sat the two bags down at her feet, and watched the rain pour absently. After 15 minutes, the rain hadn't let up at all. She scowled and cursed at the shower, and stood up defiantly. She picked out the bags, and braced herself to run across the rainy street. She took a deep breath and ran quickly across, and was almost to her car when she bumped into someone. All her grocery's fell to the ground, and she stared blankly as the rain softened the brown paper bags. She bent to pick them up, and knocked heads with the person that bumped into her. The girl looked to be her age, if not a few years older, and had a rich strawberry blonde hair. Camille realized suddenly that the girl was talking, and pulled herself out of her shocked state enough to hear the girl's words.
"…I'm so sorry! I didn't see you. I was tryin' to get out of the rain, and wasn't watchin' where I was goin'…" The girl smiled. Camille registered the soft southern accent, and smiled back in return.
"It's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going either," Camille answered. She picked the two bags up, and clung to their slippery surface.
"I'm Ashley. Nice to meet you," the girl said, holding out her hand. Camille shook it quickly and grinned.
"Camille. Nice to meet you too." She smiled at the girl, and shifted from one foot to the other.
Ashley started to turn away and yelled over her shoulder,
"I'll see you around, okay?"
She waved, and moved quickly to the store, running through the lightening rain. Camille walked to her car, and popped the trunk. She laid the bags in the back, and walked to the driver seat. She got inside and smiled. 'It's only the second day here, and I think I already made a friend,' she thought happily.