Saraya sat on the couch and listened to the TV in the background as she started perusing her Facebook. She decided that she needed to update her current location and post a small status update letting everyone know that she arrived and was safe in Hawaii. Lots of updates from her friends back home, sports teams she liked, and cooking pages had uploaded new recipes. Her phone then sent through a notification from the messaging app. "Hey beautiful, glad to see you on the island baby. I'm going shopping this afternoon, you should come." It had been a little over 3 years since she had seen Jade. They were friends back on the mainland, and usually, they got along great. Judging by a quick Facebook stalk, Jade had apparently become very popular and a partier as well. Saraya didn't see anything wrong with going out, she had noticed some shops near Steve's house from the drive before. Saraya sent a message back saying that she would need a ride and sent Jade Steve's address.
Saraya went upstairs, changed her clothes into something that she hoped looked appropriate for the island, ran a brush through her hair quickly, grabbed her purse, threw her new iPhone in it and gabbed the extra cash that she had stashed for emergencies, and headed back downstairs. She heard a car horn outside, she opened the door and suddenly she was thrown back by something that had run into her. She found herself being gripped tightly around her neck. "I've missed you, my friend," Jade said happily as she started to untangle herself from the girl now standing in front of her.
"I've missed you too," Saraya said happily as she pulled the front door shut behind her. She walked with Jade to the chauffeur-driven car parked outside of Steve's driveway. Jade's family had always been well off, so she wasn't surprised to see that Jade had her own driver, he was a man probably around his mid 20's, and he was wearing a nice polo and jeans. He was holding the door for the girls to climb in. Once Saraya was in the car, the young man shut the door and got into the driver's seat.
"Where to Ms. Stewart?" he asked politely. "Ala Moana, please Jackson," Jade answered. "Very well," Jackson spoke as he pulled out onto the road. It was about a 30-minute ride for the girls due to the traffic they had encountered. Once they arrived Jackson held the door open for them to get out. Once they were out of the vehicle, Jackson went and parked the car and then joined them before they went into the mall.
Saraya had never seen so many shops of varying things, and it was all out in the open as well. She thought back to home, they didn't have anything like this. Jade grabbed her hand and lead her to one of the clothes boutiques. Saraya looked among the clothes, nothing really catching her eye, and the prices for some of the most basic things made her blink twice. One t-shirt of basic color was going for $20. At this rate, she would need to get a small job if she were to have to pay for her things. Saraya went over to the clearance racks that were jammed packed full of useable items, she found some cute shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans. She went to the front of the outdoor store and purchased. She waited for Jade to join her at the front of the mall. Jackson walked over to Saraya and offered to carry her bags to which she declined. He gave her a small smile at the decline, of course when Jade came out of the store with five bags she just shoved them at Jackson. He took them into his arms and walked to the car while the girls started looking for another store to go through.
"Wow, did you try to buy the whole store?" Saraya asked Jade.
"No, that's just the beginning, we have so many more stores to go to, and don't worry if you can't afford it, I will buy it for you. Daddy is away on business and he left his credit card for me to use." Jade explained.
"Oh!" Saraya said quietly. " Well, I don't know what all I would need, I mean I literally just got here. I don't know much of anything really."
"That's okay, what are friends for?" Jade asked as she led Saraya to another store. This store sold more clothes and accessories. "Why don't you go pick out a few bikinis? It's always ocean time around here." Jade said quietly.
Saraya gave a slight eye roll as she walked over looking at the swimwear. She knew that she had put on some weight since her mom had passed away. So she went looking for something comfortable but functional. She found a few swim shirts that she liked, and she then went in search for bottoms for them. She ended up picking out three swim shirts and 3 pairs of swim shorts and one two-piece swimsuit. She took them overto Jade who was filling up another basket full of clothes and what appeared to be shoes, which reminded saraya that she had only brought her other pair of tennis shoes with her. She blushed and went to find the shoe racks. She picked out a pair of sandals and a pair of flats. She then returned to Jade and together they checked out. Again Saraya refused to let Jackson carry her bags and she added them to the other two bags she was already carrying. Jackson took the bags that were again shooved at him and took them to the car.
"Why don't we get something to eat?" Jade asked as she noticed that Saraya was looking around at everything going on in the outdoor mall.
"Okay, sounds good. What is good around here?" Saraya asked quietly.
"Here i know just the place. They have a bit of everything." Jade said as she led the way to a little diner towards the outskirts of the mall. Jade and Saraya sat down at a table and waited for a hostess. Jackson took a seat not to far from the girls, keeping a watchful eye.
Once the girls were able to order their drinks, they were looking at the menus when Saraya stared feeling a burning sensation on the back of her calve. Her first instinct was to rub her hand over the spot that was hurting hoping to help alleviate the pain. She looked down and didn't see anything but then the hand she had reached down to rub her leg began to hurt as well. She took a drink of water and noticed a mottled red blotch on her hand. She didn't pay any attention to it. Just as their food arrived a wave of nausea hit Saraya hard, she took a deep breath to help it pass and thats when she felt that her chest was getting tight.
She could also feel her heart racing, she tried to breath through her nose and found that was hard to do as well, she immediately froze and went straight for her purse, she was digging through it frantically as she soon realized what this was. She dumped everything out on the floor next to the chair and went to the floor. She began panicking realizing that she did not have her epi-pen with her. She grabbed her new phone and frantically unlocked it and went to emergency contacts before everything started going black.
"Saraya, are you ok?" Jade asked frantically as Sarays hit the ground. "Ants, allergic..." she said before she passed out cold. She couldn't hear anything and everything was black.
