Veranthis

CHAPTER 1

The streets of West Crestwood, Boston was not very welcoming for Aliyah Torre. The big mansions, the gardens and general sophistication intimidated her more than a toothless man waving a knife back at the east side, near her home. Yet she has to be here. Here to work in one of the sophisticated mansions wherein the lives of the people here are more great than she can ever imagine. A fact that they never seemed to forget to remind her.

"Ugh! Another shoot out at the other side. Aliyah, why do your people always try to sabotage the town?" Brenda Sand asked reading the newspaper. Her voice as always was loud pitched and she was looking at Aliyah, waiting for her to answer the way she expected.

As usual Aliyah ignored the comments made by Brenda about the "other side" and "her people" and just smiled as if she fully acknowledged the conversation was a dead end. She will never give Brenda the satisfaction, the power to use her words against her this time. After the last time she raised her voice, she had learnt a valuable lesson. "Her people" should never talk. She learnt to keep her mouth shut and most importantly, fake smile.

But Brenda wouldn't leave it at that. She leaned forward in her rolling chair looking straight at Aliyah. Her blue eyes sparkled mischievously, she crossed her long, slender legs and noticed that the other maid boy gawked at her. He had promptly turned when she raised a perfect eyebrow. She noticed everything, how she made other fidget around her, how others always noticed her even in the west side where girls like her were in the vast majority. She ran her fingers through her long, dark hair and waited for Aliyah to fall into her trap.

"Of course a little education would do the magic, I suppose. You have a school right. Crestwood high, yeah? The one where your brother goes?" She waited till Aliyah nodded again. "Well I guess they don't breed good people there. Oh I'm sure your brother will turn out to be great. But I'm just saying. You have to be careful because quite frankly, bad eggs are everywhere in your side."

This time Aliyah didn't smile. Instead she just said with a sigh. "He is just ten years old now so I suppose we will never know. But right now, he is well mannered than most of the people in this whole town." She pushed her short auburn hair away from her face and resumed cooking not ready to look at Brenda. 

"Whatever. Just saying. You got to be careful though. I mean, multiple attacks by allegedly crazy people. These crazy people apparently attack only girls, huh? Well, so much for feminism."

Half hour later Aliyah was walking back home, hugging herself to keep warm. She so badly wanted to buy a nice winter coat but she could not really afford it. Right now she was wearing her one good pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. Her teeth were chattering when David showed up.

"Hey, Al," he said instantly throwing his arms around her shoulders to keep both warm. Like her, he didn't have any jacket and now appeared blue. For all practical purposes they both hug a lot. She felt his warmth and instantly felt her mind relax just for a second. He had blue eyes, just like Brenda's. But unlike Brenda's, his didn't have a sparkle. It was just warm.

"You know you really have to stop waiting for me here," she said also throwing her arms around him. "It's not safe."

"Yes, exactly. That is why I'm waiting for you here. Your mom is worried sick and so am I. I don't want you to walk alone and you won't buy a bike. You know you could buy a used one at a very low cost -"

"I have to use that kind of money to buy food and to stay alive, David," she shot back. "Anyway, you going to the market?" She asked.

"Yeah sure," he said smiling. She smiled too. If he was ready to go to market with her, that means he had the money to feed his little sister. They walked side by side on the desolate road. Nobody had dared to come out at night after what happened last week except for these two teenagers, at least in these deserted streets.