So here we go! Chapter 9! Sorry it took me so long to get this up here. I've had a lot of homework and tests and stress and- and-... ughh! Anyways... here's Chapter 9! Enjoy :)
Chapter 9:
"Ada? Hellooo?"
I woke up to the sound of banging. Chunks of sleep still lodged in my eyes, I fell out of bed, the comforter falling with me so that it covered me in complete dark.
"Ughh," I groaned, trying to will myself to my feet. "I'm coming! Just a minute, please!"
I wiggled free of the comforter and stood. Walking to the front door in my pajamas, I rubbed the sleep free from my eyes and opened the door. Ms. Janson, Jeannie, stood with a beaming smile plastered onto her face.
"Geeze, I thought for a minute there you had forgotten about our interview." She looked down at my pajamas. "Oh… guess you did. My goodness child, it's nearly five in the afternoon in your still in your pajamas!" She didn't seem the least bit hurt as she slid past me and into my apartment. She took a seat on the couch, same place she had sat yesterday. "Now, let's get this interview crackin'."
Three hours later and Jeannie had hardly a page's worth of notes written down on her yellow legal pad. I don't think I had ever met someone so easy to talk to as Jeannie. To call our three hours an "interview" would be an extreme overstatement.
"My goodness," She spoke, looking out my balcony at the sun setting over Manhattan Bay. "Would you look at that!"
I turned my head. The sky was lit up a peach and grapefruit pink, the Atlantic Ocean reflecting the colors of the sky so that it looked as if the ocean were a pool of stirring magma. "It's gorgeous. I guess New York isn't too horrible when you've got moments like these."
Jeannie nodded, smiling.
"You know, every day I wake up to sirens and baby's crying and I'm almost tempted to leave this place." She kept her steady gaze on the disappearing sun. "I tell myself it would be easy to leave the ruckus and violence behind. I've got nieces and nephews. I tell myself I could go live with them, somewhere nice and quiet like Wisconsin. Nothing bad ever happens in Wisconsin." She paused, licking her weathered lips.
"What's stopping you?"
"Every morning, I want to leave this place and never look back. But every night, right before I go to bed, I remember something from the day that gives me hope for this city. One day it might be seeing a fireman pulling a man from a burning building, the next day it could be a little girl opening a door for an old woman like myself. Just so happens that today it's something as simple as watching the sun set with a friend."
The word "friend" hit me like a ton of bricks, knocking the breath from my lungs. I looked over at Jeannie who was still looking at the horizon, the purple night sky chasing after the long-gone sun.
Friend. She had said it with such nonchalance like we were old friends at a habitual noontime tea.
Friend. I ran the word through my head. It created a gentle warmth that brought a dreamy smile to my face. A genuine friend. One who wasn't interested in my money, status or appearance. Someone who just enjoyed my company.
I turned to set my gaze upon the horizon as she had. The air was still; as the air is wanton to do right before nightfall. For a brief moment the mechanical hum of the city was drowned out by the seagulls flying over the water.
"Ada?" Jeannie said my name as though she were asking. We kept both of our heads turned forward, unable to break away from the purpling sky.
"Mmhmm?"
"Thank you."
Special thank you goes out to Asuperheroatheart! Your tips helped a lot! Mucho, mucho gracias.