Hello! This is my first time writing a fic and English is not my native language so please go easy on me, and if you find spelling errors feel free to tell me.
I welcome constructive criticism and moral support and it would be great if you review! I know how hard it is to write something that makes you proud and feel it is good enough for others to read. It took me a very long time to upload this story because of my lack of self-confidence, but here it is and I hope with all my heart you like it.
Death… She could feel its cold fingers getting closer and closer with the passing time. Her heart was beating loudly against her ears and instead of a leaving organ, it was more like a clock. A clock counting the seconds she had left until the end - her end. People usually say that in the last moments of one's life, their past runs in front of their eyes and they have just enough time to realize and think about their regrets, their accomplishments, their mistakes, their decisions, their family and friends, the people they love. It was true. In her last moments that was all she could think. It filled her mind, both happy and sad memories, even memories she thought she had long forgotten came to her in one last rush of breath.
Has her body started to shut down from the lack of oxygen, her vision becomes nothing more than a murk. The pain caused by the big and rough hands she was so desperately clawing, in a useless attempt to yank them off herself, evaporated, leaving just a small sensation of their touch in her skin, as she gradually lost her sense of pain. As seconds became minutes to her confused self, she didn't think about the man who was ending her life, nor did she cursed her luck or fate or other illogical force. She thought about the people she would hurt with her absence, the people who would mourn her, and the life she was forced to leave behind. Moreover, she realized something. She saw someone she did not imagine she would see in a moment like this, someone she did not expect to be so important in her life. In her last moments, she understood she was in love with him, as his face was the last one she saw.
The moon was shining high when the plane finally landed. The coldness of the night was a nice and welcome felling on her body, in contrast with the stuffy air that she had been living with for the past seven hours. The wind kissed her hot face, making her dark brown hair hover back and she took a big and deep breath, eyes closed in content. At last, she was able to breathe again.
"Finally we're here! I couldn't take one more minute of that horrible plane."
The child beside her frowned at the comment. Her small hands grabbing tightly the straps of her black backpack.
"I was the one who couldn't take any more of your complaints. Seriously Alice, you're just like a child sometimes…you complain about the chair, the food, the washroom and the fat, sweaty, smelly guy sitting beside you-"
"I'm not really in the mood for your lectures Lea, so shut up or I'm going to leave you behind." She snapped, interrupting the girl's parental speech about her childish behavior. She was an adult, not a kid, moreover, she wasn't in the mood for anything unless a good night's sleep, her back was stiff from being in the same position for hours and she was having a horrible headache. In conclusion, she was sore, tired and grumpy and the last thing she needed was her eleven years old niece nagging about her conduct.
The small girl looked up at her, with big transparent teal eyes, much like her own, shining with mirth.
"Yeah right as if you would leave your favorite niece alone in the airport, in a new city not to mention at night." She chuckled, her chest puffing with all the confidence she had in her statement.
"What do you mean by 'my favorite niece'? It's not like I have a choice, I only have one." A small smile bloomed on her lips. "Come now, I want to get home as soon as possible."
Home… Alice mused. It was a strange concept. To her a house was only a place with four walls and a roof on top, it wasn't home. A home was much more than such a simple and lifeless thing. If someone asked her to describe what home was, she would say it was warm, something that would fill her body and heart with irrational happiness and serenity, and it would make her smile and taint her dark days with a beautiful and colorful palette. Unwittingly, her brain tried to remember the last time she felt like that, and to her annoyance an unwanted memory spread through her mind, taking her to paths she didn't want to walk at the moment.
Trying to take back the control of her emotions and thoughts she picked up their huge suitcase full of their clothes and some other items on one hand and extended the other to the small girl, who took it letting herself be lead to the nearest taxi. Beside her Lea squeezed her hand harder, her delicate fingers were a little cold and Alice squeezed in return hoping her heat would spread and warm Lea's hand. They were so little and thin compared with her own - and people usually said she had small hands. Things like this, remedied Alice how young Lea really was. The little girl always acted so maturely, she sometimes forgot she was dealing with a ten years old. She behaved so unlike the kids her age, and it took Alice some time to notice that deep down she had the same fears, the same complexes – probably even more than the other kids did.
She knew that Lea didn't like changes, it made her niece feel insecure and moving to a new city was a huge step for her small feet. Even now, Alice was unsure if it had been a good choice if with time they would be able to make a home out of this city, make friends and be happy. She wanted to tell Lea that everything was going to be all right, but she couldn't, she wasn't sure if it would be true and one thing Alice didn't do was lie. With a heavy burden on her chest, Alice did the only thing she could for now – prevent her own dismays from showing. She needed to be a steady, strong and reassuring presence in Lea's life and for that, she couldn't and wouldn't let her own fears display.
As they exited the airport and made way to the taxi stand a few feet away, the driver of the nearest cab saw them getting closer and not wanting to lose a customer to the others, got out of the car at a fast pace. He greeted them with a 'good night, do you need a ride?' and extended a hand offering to put the suitcase in the trunk, while they got inside. It was warm, however, the strong smell of lemons hover in a nauseating way that made Alice wrinkle her nose.
Once inside as well, the driver turned back in his seat. "To where ladies?"
The man was chubby and short, in his mid-forties, with a grayish beard surrounding a kind smile squeezed between two big red cheeks.
"To upper town." Alice said while searching her pockets. After some frantic search among forgotten tissues, finished snacks and keys, she finally took a piece of paper from one of them and gave it to the man. "Here's the address."
"Oh I know exactly where this is, it's not far. Nevertheless, it's a good thing that you arrived at night, because during the day mainly in the morning and late in the afternoon it's chaotic. Sometimes it takes hours to get anywhere."
"Uau, I'm already loving this town." Lea said her voice full of sarcasm.
The driver seemed to found her words amusing.
"Well that's how it is in Gotham or you love it or you hate it, there's no middle term. No one can be indifferent to this city, I guaranty. Anyway, I welcome you to Gotham City." The man whose name was Gary, said while showing them a big toothy smile from the rearview mirror.
"Thank you, but how did you know we weren't from around here?" Alice asked.
"I interact with a lot of people in my daily job is just like a six sense I developed thanks to my work-"
The soft music of the radio abruptly stopped interrupting Gary's line of thoughts – a female voice took over the radio.
"Breaking news on GC Midnight News, an armed robbery has just occurred in one of the most famous jewelry stores in Gotham…" The sound of a couple of loud sirens of police vehicles passing by prevented the trio to understand the rest of the news.
Alice turned back in her seat, looking at the blue and white cars driving away. Moving to Gotham was a very bad idea.
Since the beginning, she didn't like the idea of moving to such a dangerous place, but she couldn't complain, mostly because it was her fault Gotham was their destination and before 'choosing' they promised to not back of, regardless wherever luck or in this case bad luck took them. Previously coming here, Alice investigated everything she could dig about the city and surprisingly she found a ton! Mostly dirt, crimes, lunatics, vigilantes in capes and spandex… she was amazed how absurd the crime rate and the news related sounded, it seemed a completely new world to her, a world she knew it existed but she feared to enter. For three years, she was able to prevent her and Lea's involvement in such craziness and now because fate, misfortune, or some other shitty superior force out there, they were both opening a door that would lead to a path she feared not have enough strength to walk.
"Don't worry miss it's not near us or the address you gave me." Gary said, trying to assure their safety after seeing the apprehension painted on her face over the mirror.
Alice didn't respond, the man kind words did nothing to ease her worries.
With the radio turned off, the rest of the way was done in silence, something both girls appreciated since small talk was something that didn't run in the family.
There were shadows dancing inside the car, almost like living things, constantly changing their abstract forms, big to small, darker to lighter, appearing and disappearing as they passed lamps, buildings, and other vehicles, creating dark panthers all over them. Alice was looking through the window, chin supported by her palm as the scenery changed before her eyes. The landscape was so different from what she was used to, the roads, the buildings, the environment and in the morning the people too, she was sure; everything seemed so big, grey, cold, detached. It hasn't been an hour since they arrived and she was already feeling like a fish out of water as if she didn't belong there. She always felt like something was missing but if it was from her or from the places and people around her she didn't know.
Taking a deep breath to prevent herself from brooding about the past – something she was doing more and more since they decided to move – the brunet told herself once more, the words she kept repeating in her mind since that day.
This is for Lea's sake, for a happy and bright future… for both of us...
As long as her niece was safe and happy, anywhere was fine for her. Lea was her friend, her family, her most beloved person in the entire world… she was home. Therefore, anywhere was fine as long as they were together and her niece was happy.
When they finally arrived at their new apartment Lea was already half-asleep, eyes shut and head slowly falling forward, before opening them again with a jolt, only to repeat the same procedure after a few seconds. Like a small bow to an invisible someone. The younger girl was trying hard to stay awake but it was already two in the morning and even though she had slept most of the flight, the nerves of the day were getting to her.
"Lea wake up we're here." Alice said her voice no more than a whisper, as she shook the girl up a little in the shoulder before taking some money from her wallet to pay the driver.
"I'm awake." Lea grumbled before letting her eyes shut once more.
"Then come on and get out of the car, I can't carry you and the suitcase at the same time."
"Then just leave it be, I'm more important than that stupid bag."
Alice chuckled. Now who's being childish?
"If I let it be, it's going to find a way into someone else's house."
Alice was already outside paying the man and thanking him for getting their luggage out of the truck when Lea finally got out of the taxi with a big yawn that she didn't care to hide.
"Now hurry and go to your parents, don't go wandering off at these hours, the streets of Gotham are dangerous. Have a goodnight sleep, you two look like you need one." Garry was a cabby since he was old enough to drive, he was born and raised in Gotham and knew the town like the back of his hand. He had driven all kinds of people, good, bad, rich, poor, old, young and that made him a very good judge of personality. He could see that the two girls were kind and good-natured and like every newbie in Gotham a little naive to the city rules; as a father of a girl and a boy, one with fourteen and the other with eleven, he felt the need to warn them about the risks of the night. They were young and looked like easy targets, not that this part of town was particularly dangerous, it was actually a good zone to live, but like every other neighborhood of Gotham it didn't lack crime. Bad, freaks and madmen were everywhere, creeping out of every dark corner or alley, just waiting for the perfect prey and chance to attack.
Lea covered her giggle with a fake cough, trying not to be rude in front of the man when he was just being nice and attentive. Gary didn't notice but Alice did and sent a silent, but very useless, scold to her niece while he was shutting the truck.
"Yes, thank you for your concern we will be careful. Goodnight mister."
"Thanks and a good night to you too."
Alice's eyes never left the yellow car, as it drove away from her vision, disappearing behind some buildings. Beside her Lea finally let her giggles loose.
"I bet he thought you were a teenager!"
Alice just sighed; it wasn't worth fighting a losing battle. She knew Lea was right, the taxi driver assumed that she was younger and this wasn't the first and would not be the last time that people would confuse her for a teen, even though she was twenty-six.
She looked again at the girl beside her. Lea was starting to shiver from the cold breeze, autumn was just a few weeks away but here in Gotham it seemed it had already arrived, so cold it was. They would need to buy more warm clothes, they were not prepared for such an intense winter. With another sigh, she took Lea's hand in hers and started walking to the front door. She hated the cold and the need to wear layer upon layer, upon layer of clothing.
"Let's get inside it's chilly out here."
"I searched and it seems that in Gotham it snows in winter! It's been years since the last time we saw snow."
"You remember that? The last time you were six years old and we were still in England, the three of us..."
"Yeah… I remember a little. Just small memories here and there, like how numb my fingers become when I touched the snow or how unstable it was to walk in the frozen and slippery ground-… it's that an elevator?"
It was more like a rhetorical question, Lea knew that the noise was indeed from an elevator but Alice figured she had been caught by surprise since she wasn't paying much attention around her, something she rarely did. With her condition, her niece learned from a young age the need to always count her steps in new places or least frequented ones, to be alert of sounds, smells and movements, but at that moment she was probably too tired to do all that and in her presence Lea didn't feel the need to depend on all her senses so much.
It had been the sound of the elevator descending that awakened her niece to her surroundings.
"How many floors does this building have?"
"Twenty and ours it's right on top."
This was one of the few things Alice was thrilled about coming to this city, most of the buildings were big and she loved high places. This apartment was a found; the price was really good and the location too. In addition, the fact that they got the highest floor was just icing on the cake.
"Whoa that's cool! It's the first time we live somewhere so high. Show me where the buttons are!"
While they were going up, Alice showed Lea where were the buttons to close and open the elevator doors, the stop button, the emergency button, and the buttons of the respective floors, beginning from the bottom to the top. Lea small fingers traveled through the entire panel, memorizing each and every one of them. It was an old but tall building with big windows, located at the edge of the block, which made it a street corner building. Each floor had four apartments but the last one - theirs - only had three because of the access to the rooftop that took over a big portion of the space, which made their house a little bigger and expensive than the rest. Not as expensive as the other three, the previous owner made them a big discount. He was desperate to sell, something about an accident that occurred a few years ago and since then no one wanted to live there. Alice didn't really care about such things, the house was in good shape and she got a good bargain. Over the phone, the owner said that it had one more room and a second bathroom compared to the others on the lower floors.
Arriving, she opened the door. It was dark and smelled at cleaning products. Alice took the small girl's hand and guided them through the house, opening all the doors and lights to have a quick glance inside each room. Overall, the apartment appeared to be in good shape, taking into account the age. The floors were old with scratches texturing the dark wood boards that they quickly noticed screaked a little while walking and some of the light-colored tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen were cracked here and there, but apart from that, it was a pleasant space. Placing their stuff on the floor, she took blankets and two pillows from the bag, gave one of each to her niece, and took the girl to her new room.
"My room is the door on the right beside yours and the bathroom is on your left. If you need anything call me."
"Ok"
"Alright so let's just change clothes and go to sleep, I'm exhausted. And tomorrow we need to go out to buy the furniture, so we can't wake up late Lea."
"I don't know why you're telling me that, I'm not the one who has problems getting up in the morning."
They had decided that it was out of the question to send their stuff all the way from Portugal to Gotham, it would take too long to arrive and the expenses would be too high. Therefore, they sold almost everything they had - except for a few irreplaceable things they didn't want to get rid of - and in the new city, they would just buy what they needed. Tonight they were going to sleep on the floor with pillows and blankets, not that any of the two would complain, they were both too tired for that and in Alice opinion, it was still more comfortable that the damn blue chair from the plain.
And this was the first chapter! What do you think? I know it didn't happen much but I wanted to introduce the characters to the city and to you guys, showing a little of their thoughts, personality and background. I want to write a story with a good construction: beginning, middle and end. In my opinion, those chapters most people think are boring because there is no action or 'mind-blowing' events, are very important parts to make a firm, strong and organized story. I promise in the next one some exciting things will happen!
Until next time,
« Hakkane »
