City of Fate

Emelia

Emelia couldn't believe her eyes, even after all the craziness of the past few hours. Mason, her best male friend in the whole world, stood there, looking down at her through his mop of ruddy hair. His dark green hoodie, hood pulled up over the back of his head, had a colorful illustration of a dynamic anime character emblazoned on the front. His hands were thrust deep into the pockets of his distressed, black jeans as he rocked on his sneakered heels in a gesture that seemed to say "sorry about the confusion". Carol, her thick brown hair highlighted with streaks of dark purple, hung across her forehead and left eye. The one eye Emelia could see bore a look of embarrassed empathy. She wore all black, as she was known to do, from hardcore band tee to black canvas sneakers. It was a stark contrast to the red lumberjack and timberlands, the short stocky man that had stood in front of her a second ago was wearing.

"Okay, someone needs to explain because I'm feeling mighty triggered right now." Emelia said, fingering the charm around her neck though her shirt.

"Right, we'll explain everything but lets go somewhere, somewhere not creepy and dark." Mason said, he gestured toward the black BMW, suddenly seeming older then the 15 year old that Emelia knew.

Carol sighed heavily, her cheeks puffing out as she did. "This is crazy, I know, but trust us, we are the good guys." She pushed her hair across her face and hooked it behind her ear so Emelia could see both eyes. "And believe me, I am glad to finally be able to tell you the truth." 

"Lets go to my place, we will be safe there and it is really comfortable, we can eat and tell you the whole story." Mason said as he walked over to the drivers side, clicking the key fob to unlock the car doors.

Carol took Emelia's hand. She pulled away, her mind reeling. Who are these people? Why have they been lying to me this whole time? Could I trust them now? These questions and more swirled around her brain. It was all too much for her. She stared from Mason to Carol and back, a tear blurring her vision as it welled up in her eye. Emelia wanted to run, she wanted to scream, she wanted everything to go back to normal. This wasn't what happened to people in real life, she was just a simple city girl, wasn't she?

Carol looked her in the eye, "Come on Em, Masons place is nice, we will explain everything. I swear to you that we wouldn't, actually couldn't, do anything to hurt you. We are sworn to protect you. Please, we have to go, it won't be safe here much longer, Salazar's eyes are everywhere." Carol reached out her hand once again.

Emelia thought about what Carol had said, sworn to protect her. She was reluctant but she thought, then said, "Fuck it, lets do this." She had always felt like there was something more, some purpose she could never quite put her finger on, and now here were the fingers of fate outstretched to take her by the hand. She could just run away, but she had to find out, she had to take Carols hand and learn what this was all about.

"Lets go." she exclaimed as she took Carols hand and let her lead her to the car and to the answers she was looking for, possibly for her whole life.