Part I Autumn
Broadway was the exact opposite of Waterstreet even though they were only a few blocks apart. Giant signs, showing shining ads for new movies, books, restaurants, and anything else under the sun. Thousands of people pushed by like the current in a stream.
This was the rare occasion where Kathy and I split up after school. Mr. Walsh had rolled up to the school in a sleek black limousine. I'd never known Kathy's family had a car let alone a chauffeur. Mr. Walsh rolled down the window and beckoned Kathy to the car. We had been standing on the school green talking about Halloween costumes when he had shown up. When Kathy hadn't come right away he honked the horn drawing everyone in the schoolyard's attention to Kathy's car.
Now I was navigating the busy city while Kathy was sitting alone in the state archives. I continued down the street, pushing past people as they walked every which way.
When I came across the intersection I knew exactly what I was looking for. I couldn't exactly see it, just the bright colors reflecting off a puddle. I crossed the street over to a bakery, unlike many of the other buildings on this street, this one looked brand new. The navy blue siding didn't have a single water stain and the "Penny's Cakes & Bread" sign didn't look weathered at all.
I diverted from the street and headed into the alleyway. Unlike on the Frontier building I wasn't immediately met by a large bright mural, I didn't even see a painting in the alley. Turning around, I didn't see anything either, there was no painting in this alley. I glanced down at the puddle, the same blue and purple kaleidoscope reflected up at me. I turned around again and saw the back wall was blocked by a dumpster. I shoved it out of the way and shimmied into the crevice.
Then I saw it, even more, beautiful than the last one. This painting was smaller, but even more detailed. It featured dahlias and some sort of purple orchid. They were surrounded by some sort of bubbles, like water flowing between the flowers. There was one stream of water that cut right through the middle, with a name swirled within the water, as if it was being dragged away by the current.
I stepped closer to the wall and traced my fingers along the name spelling it out slowly.
"Daniella" I whispered, "Daniella Cavallero" the name wasn't an artist's tag, it was for Daniella. I scanned the rest of the painting for any other words, but I couldn't see anything. I stepped back from the wall and the farther I went the more Daniella's name faded away, just another shadow in the water. Stepping away though I saw two other words written plain as day among the flower petals.
"What are you doing?" Somebody screeched at me, I whirled around to see a young blonde woman, standing with her hands on her hips frowning at me, "Painting on my wall? I just opened and you hooligans have already started to deface my building"
"I..uhh.I didn't do this. I was just looking, I saw it from the street" I stutter
"How did you see the back of my building from the street?" She asked me disbelievingly.
"I saw the colors in a puddle, I just wanted to see it." I tell her, "I don't have any spray cans with me" I add opening my bag for her to look in. She didn't say anything, instead, she stood hands on hips tapping her foot impatiently.
"Well, what are you still doing here? Scram!" She hissed.
"Do you mind if I take a picture?" I ask timidly sliding my phone from my jean pocket. She didn't answer my question instead she asked, "How did you even move the dumpster?"
I take a move from her book and ignore her, focusing on taking a picture for Kathy, "I didn't realize I was that loud, how'd you know I was out here?"
"Saw you from the window," She tells me pointing to a blue paneled window, "What's your name kid?"
"Sam, you're not going to call my mom or anything, right," I ask her
"Nope, Sam I was going to get you a croissant for you to take on the road, then maybe you won't make so much noise trying to move an empty dumpster." She said pointing to my muscleless arms, "It's Penelope by the way"
She leads me back through the alleyway, to the front of the shop. Inside it smells heavenly, the aromas of sugar and yeast fill the tiled dining room. Penelope hopped behind the glass counter and pulled out a croissant.
"Thank you," I say taking a small bite, "Are you going to wash it off?"
"Haven't decided, it was pretty but it's still vandalism." She says pulling a scone out for herself.
"Please don't, it's important," I say taking another bite of my croissant.
"Care to elaborate?" She asks
"Trust me" I reassure her, I finish my croissant and rummaged around in my bag for the photographs Kathy had given me. I slide them across the display case to her, "Look". Penelope picked them up and examined them, she had the same look of recognization on her face as Kathy and Joanie.
"Were you in the city when it happened?" I ask her taking the photos back.
"Uh, no I worked with Maggie in her family's restaurant." She says clearing her throat, "I was friends with her sister Gabriela, the restaurant closed a few days after the shooting, I think it's best if you leave now."
Penelope walked from behind the counter and opened the door for me, pointing out onto the street. I slowly walked out, confused by what just happened. Once outside, Penelope slammed the door and flipped the Open sign on the door to closed, locking the door behind her.
"Well, that was weird" I mumble, pulling my phone out again to send the photo to Kathy.
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I was supposed to be writing an email to my father to apologize, but instead, I'd pulled up a search engine. I glanced out the window onto the terrace, it had started raining again and the wind was ripping leaves off some of the plants. My phone buzzed again as Kathy sent my costume ideas from Pinterest. I clicked off the ringer and pulled the photos from under my phone.
My fingers hesitated over the keyboard before I typed in, "Daniella Cavallero", I hit the enter key and waited as the laptop struggled to hold onto the vague internet connection. After a few moments, two links popped up one that led to the article Kathy had found and another to a school website. I hovered over the link before clicking on it scrolling through the article.
"Daniella Cavellero wins state swimming sectionals, Daniella Cavellero takes first in state Science Olympiad competition" I read before continuing down Daniela's list of achievements. Each item was accompanied by a picture of a short girl with braided black hair and olive skin holding a trophy or smiling with a team of students. Nothing really helped, I knew nothing more about Daniella than her name, that she was dead, and that she liked to swim.
I opened another tab, taking a moment to think about what Penelope said this morning. "Margarita and Gabriela De Leon" I hit the enter key again and waited for a minute. The same vague article came up, but a few more hits came up than last time. Most of them related to Gabriela's time in college, but one matched exactly was I was looking for.
"De Leon Family Eatery", I excitedly clicked the link and waited as it loaded. I was met by a cheesy Mexican flag logo with over-the-top gifs of tacos in sombreros dancing around the restaurant name. The bright logo hurt my eyes so I scrolled down to the menu, which consisted of cheap and authentic Mexican dishes. At the very bottom was a family photo surrounded by images of the dishes. Four happy smiling people stood in front of the store.
I continued scrolling down and finally found something helpful, a second link that led to an obituary.
Margarita Grace De Leon
{April 17th, 2002-November 1st, 2016}
Margarita De Leon born on April 17th to Salome Vasquez and Henry De Leon. Margarita is survived by both her parents and an older sister Gabriela De Leon. Margarita was fatally wounded in a shooting this past Tuesday. A vigil for Maggie and the other three victims will be held this Sunday at Bower Park. The funeral services will be held at St.Mattews Roman Catholic Church this Tuesday and public reception will be held at the De Leon family restaurant in Crown Heights.
I pulled up my email again but instead of writing to my Dad, I wrote to Kathy sending her the copied link.
Word Count: 1487 ---- June 16th, 2021
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A/n I don't have much to say today which is a rarity because I like to talk. Like I said these next few chapters are under editing because I won't have time to write due to school orientation stuff. The next few chapters were somewhat edited but I figured I'd edit slowly rather than writing. If you liked vote and comment, if you caught a mistake pls tell me I love grammar police. Question of the chapter, What do you think of Penelope and are you excited to see more of her?
ALSO: We are at 9920 words exactly, that's almost 10,000 words! Very proud of myself.
{UNDER EDITING}
-Marja