Two Faced Europe

Chapter 9; Strangely calm

Amani slept until it was morning again. Out of her bag she grabbed a new set of clothes and some soap left from Paris. She took a shower and got dressed. All her food was gone so she took a few candies which she bought yesterday. The sweet flavor made her close her eyes in enjoyment. Amani was in need for coffee and asked for a coffee shop close by. The man gave her directions and she made her way over there. A building appeared in front of her and people were smoking inside. She walked in and ordered a coffee. She went to sit at a table and lit a cigarette, people looked at her and then she noticed it, their cigarettes were different. The paper was slightly see through and the smell in here was sweet. Different from a normal cigarette smell, Amani furrowed her eyebrows trying to paste all the pieces together. Then it hit her, Amsterdam, coffee shop, sweet smell, different cigarettes, those were joints. No wonder those people were looking at her strangely. She wanted to mingle with people, just to get her mind of all the things but Amani felt uncomfortable under all their gazes. A hurt expression crossed her face and Amani tried to cover the glistering tears in her eyes. A man walked up to her and went to sit on the chair beside her.

"You seem to need someone to talk to." Amani looked at him his brown eyes looked sincere and she could need someone to talk to. She nodded her head at him.

"Yes, I would love to talk." Amani said while sniffing the last bit of sorrow away.

"You're not from here, so where are you from?" The boy next to her asked. He leaned in a bit to make himself more clear over all the noises in the coffee shop.

"I'm from Spain, I started to travel a couple of weeks ago."

"Do you travel all alone?"

"Yes, I had some troubles at home and thought that this would be a great opportunity to get to know myself better. I do think traveling alone is better than with someone else, you get to do the things you want to do." The boy nodded at her and this situation reminded her of Damnien. He had asked her about her traveling alone.

"What do you parents think of you traveling alone?" This question got to Amani.

"They don't know, I ran away from home and yesterday..."

"What happened yesterday?" He asked "You can tell me, it might be a relief to tell about it." Although Amani didn't want to talk about it, she knew the boy next to her was right.

"This involves a little bit more than just yesterday, it's quite the story."

"I've got time." He exclaimed and Amani decided to tell him.

"Well, almost two weeks ago I was in Belgium and I tried to get a job there. But they couldn't afford me so the job owner told me to go and work for HelpX. Do you know that?" The boy nodded and motioned her to continue. "I made an account and worked for ten days for a wonderful couple, I carried wood, learned to drive a tractor and they took me to several places in the area. It was such a good time, after ten days they got two German boys and I found a place elsewhere. Before I went they gave me a little bit of extra money for my hard work. I liked them so much." A small smile was on her face when she told the boy next to her about them. "After them I went to meet up with Zoran, he asked me if I could help him move. Once I reached his house there was another girl there. We talked together when Zoran told us that he wanted to party that evening. So, the three of us went to do groceries and Zoran bought each of us two bottles of wine." A tear ran down my cheek knowing what would follow.

"Do you still want to continue?" He asked Amani, she in response nodded. The feeling of telling this relieved her more than she initially wanted to admit. "Do you want to have a huff?" The boy asked while holding the joint in front of her.

"I don't smoke weed." She replied, he didn't take the joint away from the spot in front of her.

"It will make you feel better, you'll be able to relax." Amani looked at the joint again, wary of trying it but the thought of feeling more like her old self was appealing. The boy moved it up and down to convince her that way, it worked. Slowly she took the joint from him and inhaled the smoke. She didn't feel that different than before and gave the joint back to the boy. What is your name?" He asked her.

"Amani, yours?"

"Jay"

The employee came to their table and put the coffee down Amani ordered. She thanked her and the girl walked away again. Amani turned herself back to Jay.

"Jay, that sounds very... not Dutch." The weed started to work, Amani felt calm and relaxed like nothing happened in her life.

"My name is Jelle but a lot of my friends are from other countries and they can't pronounce it. They kinda made my name into Jay." He laughed at his own little 'joke.' Amani laughed with him, she felt good.

"May I?" Amani pointed at the joint in his hand and Jay handed it to her. This time she inhaled but didn't gave it back right away.

"Are you feeling a little better?" He asked her and she nodded while inhaling again.

"Yes, I'm feeling so much better."

"I'm glad to hear that." Amani gave the joint back and she took a sip of her coffee. It counteracted with the joint and she felt more awake but still calm.

"Do you perhaps know a place where they are hiring people?" Amani asked, she was still in need for some money, especially after spending it so recklessly.

"You need some money?"

"Yes, when I went away from home, I left everything behind. My bank pass, phone, computer, everything."

"Why did you do that?"

"I was scared they could track me, I don't want to be found."

"That's quite the reason Amani but to get back to the point, I don't know any place for you to work." He looked like he was regretting saying this to her.

"Don't worry about it. If necessary, I'll go home again."

"You know what, if you need something, come here and I might be able to lend you something."

"Thank you so much, that's really sweet."

"I do have to go now, otherwise I'll be too late." He left Amani alone and they waved to each other before Jay went out the door.

Amani continued drinking her coffee and she lit another cigarette, she knew they would look strange at her again but this time she didn't mind.

That day she wondered through the city of Amsterdam. She liked the buildings, they were very small but high. For her it was almost like every house was a mini flat. The numbers on top showed when they were build and she enjoyed walking around the city. When she was tired she went back to the hostel, she booked it for several days and hoped to find a job before her money would run out. She had around hundred euro's left, for her it was a lot but in reality, it was nothing.

Amani laid in bed looking to the bed on top ofhers. She tossed and turned but was wide awake. Trying to fall asleep shecounted sheep. The furry white balls jumped over a little fence in her mind andshe was already far past a hundred sheep, still nothing. She yawned and closedher eyes but she didn't drift into sleep. After what seemed like a century shemanaged to fall asleep.