Thorns

CHAPTER ONE - When in Rome

First chapter, wohooo! Please comment, vote and all that to show me what you think, it means a lot!

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CHAPTER ONE
When in Rome

"Grazie!" I chirp as I receive my bag with various cannoli's, watching the cashier cringe from my terrible pronunciation. As I walk out of the small, picturesque pastry shop, I look at my watch. It's 10pm, which means I've only been here for four hours and have another hour to kill before Lucy gets off work. Maybe I should go back to my hotel for a while? Not sure what to do, I start strolling along the streets, popping the lemon flavoured cannoli into my mouth. I inhale the warm Italian air, marveling at the fact that I'm finally here, in Rome!

What cracks me up is the vision I have of Lucy's face when she sees me. Coming here without her knowledge seems to be one of my best ideas so far. Since she's waitressing at a small restaurant until 11pm, I figured I'd stand outside offering her cannoli's as she gets off work.

The fact that I'm going to see her soon makes my stomach flutter. We used share a room in college, study together, go to parties together, try to pick up boys together and hold each other hair when we puked our hearts out. Fun times. Now, however, we only Skype maybe twice a week. At first, I couldn't understand why se wanted to continue studying in Italy of all countries, but now that I'm here, I get it.

The beautiful architecture, the air with that special scent to it, the friendly people, the amazing food, and oh yes, the good looking men. And not to mention the weather. Being a girl from Portland, I get overly excited by the change of climate from the crisp, cold air at home to this humid warmth.

As I study the buildings, I decide to derail from the main street to walk on one of the smaller backstreets, to really get to know the city. Even though it's over 10pm and dark outside, I feel oddly secure.

Big mistake.

I suddenly hear loud vioces to my left, talking rapidly in Italian. As I look in their direction, I see two strongly built men cornering a lanky old man. Their voices get higher and more aggressive as the old man cringes away from them. My instincts take over and I start walking towards them, wanting to save the poor old man. But as one of the men picks up something from the inside of his jacked, I freeze in my tracks. The silvery object shines in the night light as the man moves the gun towards the old man's head, saying something that I can't understand, but the way he says it sends chills down my spine. There's a split second of silence before a deafening boom echoes down the street, and the old man's body falls lifelessly to the ground. My heart nearly beats out of my chest and a loud gasp escapes my lips. My body is now all riled up, ready to run for it. My mind, however, is still in chock and the panic drills me to the ground.

Both the men snaps their heads in my direction, and the one with the gun starts walking towards me, like a lion set on it's prey.

He shouts something at me, but I just shake my head while looking down at the ground. If I look him in the eyes, it might upset him. Salty tears start streaming down my face. Is this really happening?

He now stands next to me, gun pointed at my head, and shouts at me again.

"I can't understand!" I screech, realizing that I'm sobbing. This can't be real, this can't be real, this can't be real...

"You English?" The man spits with a thick accent.

"I'm American, yes" My voice breaks, and I keep my eyes on the ground.