Ready To Run

Chapter One

"Are you ready?" Estella asked her twin sister, Vera.

"Yeah. Lets do it before I change my mind," Vera replied shakily.

"You're nervous. So am I. It's okay, we'll make it through this together. No matter what." Estella grabbed Vera's hand and squeezed it gently. This was it. This was their chance to finally be free, to move on from their stained past.

"Flight 247 is now boarding. Please make your way to boarding gate C at this time," a woman's voice projected throughout the terminal. Hand in hand, the girls boarded their plane to a new beginning.

-

The only sound that was heard on the plane was the hum of the engine and the quiet conversations of passengers. It's the middle of June, and most people are traveling for a sweet summer getaway. This isn't exactly the case for Vera and Estella.

The fraternal twins are getting away from their home in Virginia and moving across the country to California. It had always been a dream of theirs. The truth was, they were orphans. The girls had been from a very young age. Their parents were killed in a car accident. Now that they were 18, they were too old to be adopted. They grew up with just each other for company, never knowing what it was like to have a family.

When they were new to the orphanage, a wealthy couple came to the orphanage and offered to adopt Vera, but the sisters refused to be torn apart. The couple understood why. When the only family you have left is a sibling, you hold onto them and pray you never have to let them go.

They saved all the money that their parents had left in a trust fund for their plane tickets and enough to get them an apartment in California. They had been on the plane for about seven hours and would be landing soon at LAX.

-

Three days later
"We need to get a job." Vera said as the girls got out of a cab, arriving at their apartment complex.

They had found a nice, and decently priced, apartment in Malibu. The rent was $3,875 a month. They could afford it for now, but needed a job. The orphanage had taught them life skills like time and money management so that when they were 18, they could go out into the world prepared for what was to come.

Their apartment was spacious. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a good sized kitchen, a big living room with two couches, a flatscreen tv, and a fireplace. There was also a balcony. The bedrooms had walk-in closets. The bathrooms had showers and huge bath tubs. The kitchen had stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and lots of cabinets.

"Where should we start? We've unpacked and gone grocery shopping. We have the rest of the day to ourselves."

"There are some stores down the street. We can see if they have any job openings," said Vera.

The girls didn't have drivers licenses so they relied on their skateboards for transportation. They didn't want to use a ton of money on public transportation or on cabs if they were only going down the street. The sisters grabbed a backpack and their skateboards and headed out to the streets.

The streets were busy with tourists eagerly heading to the beach or getting some shopping done at the shops and boutiques that lined the street. Vera and Estella maneuvered around the tourists. They found a historic art gallery that was hiring. Estella is passionate about art and eagerly grabbed an application. Further down the street, Vera found a job opening at a movie theater and also grabbed an application.

They were both called for interviews later that night. Estella got a job as a hostess and tour guide for the gallery. She was in charge of providing information on pieces and giving historical background information on the artists. Vera got the job of selling tickets at the movie theater and occasionally working at the snack bar in the lobby.