Two Faced Europe

Chapter 5: Beautiful Belgium

Amani woke up from the sun shining in her face. With a groan she slit out of bed, washed herself with the new shampoo which disappeared in her bag as well. The same happened with her towel, the one she didn't use disappeared in her bag. She walked downstairs and went to grab some breakfast. Amani sat down on a table at the corner. She didn't want to be seen if she would take some food with her. She felt a kind of bad about doing this, but she had to keep herself alive. Amani took some eggs, toast, yoghurt, fruit, muesli and whatever she could use later on. The food on her plate looked so appealing. She took a slice of bread and covered it in egg. It felt so good when it disappeared in her growling stomach. After breakfast and with a bag full of food she checked out. A sigh of relief left her lips when she was outside without anyone noticing her taking the food.

She strapped the bag on her bike and hopped on. The sound of her roaring bike raced through the city.

It took her a while to get out of town and when she finally hit the open roads she saw her chance of speeding up. The wind slammed her clothes against her body and the pressure made her feel alive. Halfway she stopped at a gas station. Amani walked in the shop and went to the toilet. She should have paid but she jumped over the bar. A hand reached her shoulder.

"Young lady, the toilet cost money. You can't just jump over the bar."

Amani looked behind her and an old man was standing there. His lips pressed together, anger in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'll do it right away." She searched in her pockets and pulled out 50 cents. The man took it and nodded for her to go.

Amani shook her head, she really couldn't afford her money to be spend on going to the toilet. After her visit she went back to her bike. The package of cigarettes in her pocket was burning and she lit one. It calmed her tensed up body down. While enjoying the sunrays on her slightly tanned skin she dropped her cigarette in the rubbish bin. Her leg swung over the seat again and with a roar the engine started. Amani drove back to the highway on her way to Brussel. It didn't take her to long to get there.

Arrived in the city she looked around. Amani was surrounded by old buildings, all of them decorated from bottom to top. She locked her bike and walked around, looking up to the beauty of the city. She heard the people around her talking, French! She could understand little bits of the conversation but it was nearly nothing. These people had some different words and on top of that their accent was difficult. Other people passed her and they were talking in a complete different language, tourists?

A sweet, chocolate-like smell lingered into her nose. Amani decided to follow the scent. It took her through narrow alleys, some quite scary. Stray cats, dogs and homeless people were searching through the rubbish for something to keep them alive. All of them were no more than bones covered with skin. The animals had dirt hanging in their fur and even spots with no hair. Amani raised her eyebrow, this must be horrible. Even the homeless mad strolling around had a dirty blanket wrapped around his skinny body. A long beard held all kinds of leftovers. Sauces, pieces of food which were beyond recognition. The man turned around towards her by the slightest sound she made. He looked at her, a flicker in his eyes. He walked slowly towards Amani. For her his speed looked like the one from a race car. Amani pressed her lips together to keep a scream or even worse inside.

"Do you have some money for me?" The man asked her while tapping on her shoulder.

Her body froze, not able to move forwards to safety, not even to turn around. The man walked around her and showed a smile with gave her a glance at his rotten teeth.

"Do you have some spare money dear?" He asked it nicely but the sour smell coming from him as he talked made her wrinkle her nose. His eyes went over her body, inspecting every centimetre of her body. Her stomach twisted at his glance.

"N-no, I'm sorry." Amani readied herself to spurt away from him.

He grabbed her by her arm. "You can't fool me dear, I know you've got money. You can't possibly leave a man here to die can you? If you really want to do that, remember me then, until the day you die. Not knowing if you killed me or not. If you don't want something to happen like that, give me some change."

Amani's eyes widened, fear was fighting with compassion for the man. With shaking hands she opened up her bag. Threw her one bag filled with breakfast from this morning. He reached out for the bag and Amani didn't wait for what to happen next, she ran out of the ally. She came out at a big street and ran to the right. Amani stopped, panting heavily, hands resting on her knees. Drops of sweat covering her forehead. At that moment Damnien's face popped into her mind. With him in mind she calmed down. Amani smiled at herself and face palmed herself that she didn't ask his number. She could have called him if she had enough money to buy a new phone.

Who knows, we might meet again, if it is our destiny.

Suddenly she remembered why she walked this way. The same scent as before covered her in a something sweet chocolate-like smell. This time she could smell even some herbs. She turned around and looked into a glass window. On the other side of the window were several small round tables all covered with a table-cloth. The bright colours in a contrast with the many plates and bowls filled with chocolates. They had taints in every colour brown, from almost white to almost black. Amani looked up and saw a wooden sign, in golden letters it stated; 'Chocolatier COCO.' She opened the door and a heavy chocolate smell welcomed her. Completely dazzled she walked to the counter.

"How are you today?" A woman with silver grey hair and round blushed cheeks ask her from behind the counter.

"Hmm, fine thank you. How are you ma'am?" Amani looked around almost drooling over all the chocolates in the shop.

"I'm good, thank you for asking. Is this your first time here miss?"

"Is it this obvious?" The woman nodded at her.

"Would you like to try some chocolates? We've got so many that the most people are quite overwhelmed. So, we decided that people may try some before buying some."

"I'd love to try some!" A radiating smile broke through her face.

The woman took a plate full of little pieces bonbons and chocolates. Amani felt her mouth starting to water. She grabbed a piece of milk chocolate with a soft white filling. Eating the little piece felt like going to heaven. She closed her eyes to enjoy the taste. A tingling feeling on her tongue was the only thing left behind. The lady behind the counter encouraged her to take another one. Amani ate a lot of them, everything tasted wonderful but some were really outstanding. She bought five pieces that she liked the best. Off course it wasn't a good idea, she was short on money already. Sometimes you have to treat yourself don't you?

Amani almost walked out of the door and decided to go back, the lady behind the counter had a expecting look on her face.

"Is there something else I can help you with?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you can use some help in your store? I would love to stay a little in Brussel, to make it affordable I would like to get a job."

The lady took it in consideration. "Well, I'm getting old and working 7 days a week takes a toll on my body." Hope flared up in Amani, this sounded good. "Can I call you? I want to talk about it with my husband."

"I don't have a phone ma'am, is it possible that I come back tomorrow? Same time as today?" Amani asked hopeful. The lady nodded and replied that it was fine for her.

When Amani walked out of the store she felt like being watched. She looked around and saw the homeless man from earlier looking at her. A shiver went through her, gross!

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Hi people!!

I hope you like the change, this is completely different from the other story and from here on the whole story will be new ;)

The question is will she ever be able to see Damien and will she get the job from the old lady?

Find out more in the next chapter; Angelic voice, demonic deeds.

I would love to get some feedback on my work, to become a better writer. So let me know what you think and how I can improve myself.

Cheers!!

NatselPatsel