Enter the night

Chapter one

September 17, 1937
K e z i a h
I was sitting in the back seat of a taxi cab driving through Marseilles, France. I was subconsciously looking out the window admiring the city's architecture, while my fingers flipped through the pages of 'Around the world in 80 days' by Jules Verne.
"Madame, we have arrived." The taxi driver announced, breaking the silence.
"Oh, thank you sir." I responded politely, getting out of the car and handing him a decent amount of francs.
"Thank you." I said timidly.
"You're very welcome young lady." He responded.
I turned around quickly and walked out into the crowd of French men and women. I decided to ask a local where the harbor was, as any of them knew better than I did. I shyly walked up a woman dressed in fancy clothes.
"Madame, would you mind giving me directions to the harbor?" I asked.
"Just go straight that way for about 5 blocks." She responded, pointing to my right, rolling her eyes.
"Thank you Madame." I thanked, even though the woman had already started to walk away. I sighed.
I walked in the direction she pointed in until I came up on the port on the Mediterranean I had heard so much about. I was sort of dissatisfied, but I knew I shouldn't be because it was the reason I could be free. I sat down on a bench and continued to read my book. Fifteen or so minutes later I looked up to see a ship coming towards the port. I smiled, knowing that is my trip to America.

New York City
K o s u k e
It was a crisp afternoon and I was sitting in my last class of the day. Shortly the bell rung and I stood up to leave. I grabbed my bike and started peddling to my house, located in northern Manhattan. When I arrived I unlocked the door with they key situated under the potted plant next to the door. I walked into our two bedroom apartment and went straight into my room to do my homework.
  After about an hour, I finished my homework for the evening, and grabbed a copy of 'life on the Mississippi,' by Mark Twain off the corner of my desk and sat down on my bed to read until my mother came home.
  At about 6:00 I heard the door open. I put my book down and rushed into the main room where my mother stood, her pale face flushed pink and her hair messy after a long day at work.
  "hey mom." I said nonchalantly.
  "Hello Kosuke. How was your day?" She asked, her choclately brown eyes looking at mine.
  "It was pretty good, thanks. How was yours?" I answered.
  "It was pretty good, long though. I forgot to tell you, we're going to the Harris' house for dinner. You should go wash up." She responded. The Harris' we a middle age couple that lived a couple apartments down from us.
   "Oh, ok." I replied, walking towards the bathroom to wash my face. I walked into my room and changed into dark dress pants and a somewhat fancy white dress shirt and combed my hair back.
  "Kosuke, are you ready to go?" My mom asked, knocking on my door.
  "Yes, I'll be out in a second." I replied.
  I walked out of the room and slipped my shoes on and walked out of the door, my mother following behind me. Together we walked to room 514, where my mom knocked on the door. Mrs Harris opened the door with a warm smile on her face.
  "Welcome you two! Come in, have a seat!" She said happily. My mother and I walked in, took our shoes off and sat down on their sofa. It smelled of smoked salmon. Mr Harris walked out of one of the rooms I presumed to be their bedroom.
  "Hello you two." He said kindly, shaking my moms hand.
  "Thank you for inviting us." My mom said, nodding her hair slightly.
  "Wash your hands, dinner is ready!" Mrs. Harris calls from the kitchen. I stood up and followed Mr. Harris to the bathroom where I thoroughly scrubbed my hands. I walked back into the kitchen where I sat down at the table. My mother and Mr Harris joined and Mrs Harris brought out at platter of salmon and a salad. We began to eat and the adults started to talk about boring adult stuff. At one point close to the end of the meal, Mrs Harris commented "We decided to adopt a child from Europe. And she's supposed to be around Kosuke's age! Isn't that wonderful. Those sentences ran through my head for the rest of the night.