City of Angels and Darkness (Contest Version)

Chapter 3

-Los Angeles, 2007 -

Taking two stairs at once Amelia leaped up the stairs to the library. In front of the heavy wooden door, she stopped and tried to calm down her breath. One last time she ran her hands through her hair before she entered the library. The light inside was dim; the lights along the racks threw shadows on the walls. It was quite late, but the training had taken longer than usual and Amelia had wanted to change clothes before she came here. Instinctively she turned left, where the poems and the novels stood Mark preferred. But all the corridors were empty, no books on the floor, and no sight of him.

A little disappointed Amelia turned around. Throughout the last three years the meetings in the library had become some sort of ritual between her and Mark. At first they had met by chance, then more often and now almost every second day. They learned together, helping each other with the subject matters, or simply talked about books they had read. Bit by bit they had gotten to know each other better and now these meetings were the highlights of Amelia's days. But obviously not today.

Slowly Amelia went to the table, where she usually sat. She stopped and looked at Mark, who was sitting in one of the armchairs. He had swung his long legs elegantly over one of the arm rests and was sunken into a book - as always. Without looking up, he turned a page and said, "You're late."

"I can't be late," she countered. "That would assume we had an appointment - which we didn't. So technically I am not late." Amelia went to the table, sat down in the other armchair and put her books on the table. She pointed at one of the paper cups standing on the table. "Is that for me?"

"Maybe." Mark turned another page. "I'm not quite sure whether you deserve it or not."

Amelia tried to prevent a smile. "What have I done?"

Finally, he looked at her. "Making me wait. And arguing about it." He waited some seconds, before he sighed theatrically. "Go on then. Take it."

Amelia smiled, took the cup and led it to her lips. It was iced coffee, flavored with a lot of hazelnut - just the way she liked it. "Hmmm... Perfect. Thank you."

"You're lucky it's iced coffee," Mark said quickly. "Otherwise it would have gotten cold while I was waiting for you."

His words made Amelia shiver, as always when he said something like that. Of course, she knew that he did not mean that he was actually waiting for her in the way she was dreaming about. But it did not matter. He was here, with her - that was what really mattered.

He leaned forward and took the other cup. Amelia knew that his iced coffee would taste like caramel, just as he knew she liked hazelnut. She took another sip and nodded at the book in Mark's hand. "So, how did you like Wuthering Heights?"

Mark looked at the book and frowned. "It was not bad. I liked reading it, although it was a little bit too much drama for my taste."

Amelia pretended to be shocked. "Drama? It's one of the greatest love stories ever told."

"I don't think it is a love story," Mark disagreed and she looked at him with surprise. "What would you say it is about?"

With one elegant move he swung his legs around, so that he was facing the table directly. "In my opinion it is mostly about a mad man taking revenge on all the people that have hurt him."

"Yeah, but what about Cathy? She loved Heathcliff and he loved her too."

Mark grimaced. "She didn't love him. If she had, she would have married him and not the other prick. And Heathcliff destroys Cathy, making her believe that he still loves her, just to let her down. That is not love. That's quite the opposite to me."