A/N- New chapter! Yay! Anyways, this one is in Bianca's POV. This one took a while to write. Who knows why? R&R!
Yeah, here we were again. Just me and Nico being shuffled from foster home to foster home. But this time, it was different. It was in the winter of New York City and we had just escaped from some monster like dog thing at our foster home. (Man, it's funny how I can say that so casually.) All we had on us were thin jackets and a few crumpled up dollar bills in my pocket.
"Bianca! I'm cold!" I heard Nico complain. I looked down at him. His face was red, and his lips were blue. I wrapped my arm around him.
"I know, Nico. Me too." I half-whispered. Huge gusts of wind kept blowing past us. The sky was now flurried in little white snowflakes. My knuckles turned white against my thin jean jacket. We had to find somewhere to keep warm. As we walked, I fought back tears when we passed old homeless beggars. They were probably colder than I was. My hair blew in front of my face as I walked.
"B-Bianca, look!" Nico tugged on my jacket sleeve. He pointed a skinny, frozen finger to a bakery. It looked warm and comforting inside with huge couches, and glance counters displaying pastries by the dozen. I could make out a fireplace in the bakery with a casual theme. Looking into it made me forget how hungry I was.
"Nico, c'mon, let's go in there." I grabbed his hand and broke into a run towards the bakery. As we arrived, I reached towards the handle of the door and pushed it open.
It was warm inside and very welcoming. Nico stood close to me as we slowly made our way in. The bakery was well-lit and casually decorated. You could smell cinnamon from the counters and burning wood from the fireplace. The moment I had stepped into the store, I wanted to fall asleep. In a daze, I was tugged back to life by Nico.
"Bianca, do you have any money?" he asked, keeping his hungry eyes on the pastries behind the glass counter. Before I could answer him, I heard some shuffling from behind the counter. I looked up to see a woman sitting neatly behind the many pastries that were displayed in the case. She was, for loss of words, pretty. She had long red hair and deep brown eyes. She wore a maroon short sleeved button up shirt with black dress pants. On her left pocket was a name tag that read "Natalia." I envied on how she could wear short sleeves in weather like this, but then I considered the warmth of the fire that was starting to make ma uncomfortable in my jacket.
"Hello, may I help you?" She asked, her voice thin and soft. She smiled as she looked at us, her eyes filled with questions. I shook my head.
"We don't have any money, sorry." I told her, my voice weaker then I had intended it to sound. Natalia scrunched her eyebrows.
"Now what would children like you be doing alone on the cold streets of New York?" She asked.
"Um...," I was suddenly at a loss of words until I remembered the homeless people out on the streets. "We're homeless. Me and my, brother, our parents are, um, dead." it wasn't exactly lying, I mean our parents were dead."Oh dear, well you must be hungry." Natalia said, with a pitiful expression. She got up off of her seat and made her way to the glass counters of pastries. Nico and I watched her closely as she picked up two cinnamon roles. I could smell the two pastries from where I was standing. She smiled. I stepped forward with Nico.
"I really couldn't take that." I said. Nico nudged me. I glared down at him. Natalia just set the cinnamon roles on the counter.
"Don't worry, my pleasure."
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We sat near the fireplace with the pastries, and ate quietly. Halfway through the cinnamon role, I set it down. My eyes were becoming heavy. I didn't want to fall asleep, no matter how tired or satisfied I was. I felt Natalia's eyes examining us slowly. The bakery was strangely empty, which was something I hadn't noticed before. As I sat there, Nico broke the silence.
"Bianca, that was scary." He half-whispered. I knew what he was talking about. The monster dog thing that had made an attempt to eat us. (don't ask. )
"Yeah, I know." I said just as softly as he had said.
"Do you think it will come back? We didn't kill it, we just ran from it." Nico asked. I sighed.
"I don't know, Nico. But if it does..." I found myself at a loss of words. Nico just stared into empty space.
"Why does this always happen to us? The monsters, I mean." He sat up in his chair. "Sometimes, I don't think we're normal. People don't see things like we do, or they just don't care." I took that in for thought. I had to admit, Nico had a good point. I had forgotten how observant he could be.
"Nico..." I was cut off at the sound of the door opening. The chair I was sitting on was facing away from the door, but Nico could see clearly who had come in. His eyes were wide in horror. My muscles tensed as I slowly turned my head.
It was him, the monster, only in human form. There he stood, at the counter, talking on the phone. I got up.
"Nico, let's go." I urged. Without protesting, he stood up and walked ahead of me. I kept my gaze away from the man, keeping sure that Nico got out before me. I thought all was well, until I felt a firm grip on my shoulder. I froze. "Why me?"
"There you are. I've been looking for you." The "man" said in a gruff voice. He was heavy-set and bald-headed with a dark skin tone. He wore over-sized jeans and a leather jacket. I caught a glimpse of Natalia.
"But you said-" She tried to protest, but the "man" was all ready shuffling us out the door, and into the streets. I gulped. He had my brother too.
"What do you want with us?" I said, my voice breaking. I had just about given up on this whole "running away" thing. All I got was heavy breathing down my neck. I turned toward him.
Just as I had thought, he was an animal. He had black fur sprouting from him and long bear claws. His teeth were fangs, and his eyes were red. I nearly fainted, but managed to keep my balance. I grabbed Nico, who was shivering in fear next to me. I thought he was crying for a second. That only gave me a reason not to. The monster thing stared from me to Nico, as if trying to figure out who to eat first. It seemed like an hours wait before he took a step towards me. I stepped back.
"Okay, listen..." My voice quavered. I was trying my hardest to hold back tears. "You can take me, but leave Nico."
"Bianca-" I heard Nico protest.
"No, just...please!" I pleaded. The monster looked behind him, then back at me.
"Bianca! Wait!" Nico yelled. Something was going on, but I didn't know what. All could hear were police sirens coming towards us. Wait, did I just say police sirens? A smile spread across my face.
"On second thought, I think I'll just-" I was cut off. The monster thing shoved me down onto the hard concrete sidewalk. I came down with an unpleasant BUMP!
"Ahh!" I screamed. Pain spread throughout my body as I came down. I scrambled back up on my knees, only to find myself on the ground again.
I went blank.
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New York Times Breaking News
CHILD ABDUCTOR FOUND ON ROADSIDE
CHILDREN NOW SAFE
NEW YORK- Authorities received a call last Saturday from a small bakery owner. The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, claimed that two children entered her bakery looking scared and lonely. Minutes later, a man came in and allegedly took them out of the bakery. The owner claims to have received "looks of despair" from both children. Bianca,(12) and Nico(10) di Angelo were the two orphan children found at the bakery. The witness states that "He took them to the front of the store window and attempted to maul the older sibling. She tried to get up, but fell back down." NYPD arrived shortly after with medical assistance. According to medical reports, the younger di Angelo appears to be in perfect shape, with only a few cuts and bruises. The older di Angelo came out with a slight concussion and a sprained elbow. Both of the children will be in a good enough condition to travel tomorrow to yet another foster home.
A/N- Ooh! News article! Please review. Reviews make the world go 'round!
~Rainy