Her French Boy: International Migration #1

Prologue

She walk down a narrow hallway with high ceilings, painted red about a century ago. The carpet is ripped and in permanent stiff, pushed down position caused by years of people walking over it. The hallway they walk down has an old, mysterious vibe. This place needs a makeover, she think as her best friend Samantha checks the email on her phone one more time.

"This is it..." Samantha says reluctantly. She's standing by a dark wood door with a gold knob: the traditional door. What intrigues Katie is the gold embellishment set right in the middle of the door. She runs her hand over it, feeling the cold lines. It's about the size of her hand, and is shaped like a lion. Realization sinks in when she escapes the trance it seems to have put her in. It's one of those old fashion things that knock for you when you lift and drop it. She looks down the hallway, noticing that all the other doors have the same thing, but as a different animal. To their left is an elephant, and the one after that is what looks like a bird. Carefully, she lifts the lion's paw and drops it. The sound of metal hitting metal is almost deafening. She covers her ears until it finishes. Well, if anyone was in there, they would have answered by now.

Slowly, she turns the brass knob. A satisfying "click" assures them that the door is unlocked and that this is, in fact, their apartment.

"I don't know how the apartment I saw in the pictures could be in a building this..." Samantha starts, but is cut off when Katie finally yanks the door open, revealing their new apartment. Their jaws drop as the two girls walk through the door. To their left is a bathroom, a massive one at that, with white walls and marble countertops. There are 2 sinks with crystal faucets and a luxurious shower as well as a jacuzzi bath, all with golden detailing. Stepping out of the bathroom, Katie walks into the main room. It was breathtaking. On the wall facing her there was a giant window, reaching from the ceiling all the way to the dark polished hardwood floors. On the right is a kitchen, with modern appliances and, again, marble countertops and gold detailing. The walls all throughout the house were white, making the rooms seem brighter, and there seemed to be a mirror in every room, making the rooms feel bigger too. Some pieces of art were placed on some of the walls that would otherwise seem bare, Katie's favourite one being a landscape with black silhouettes kissing while the sun sets behind them. It seemed classic, but the sunset had been done in watercolour, so that you can see the layers of paint the artist had done, making Katie feel like she knew the artist. When she replaced these pieces of art with her own, she might keep this one up.

Finally, she walked towards what she figured was her room, since it seems that Sam has already claimed the other one. She opened the door to a giant room with a beige carpeting. Katie takes off her socks and slowly walks across the room, letting her calloused feet relax for the first time since they'd come to Europe. There was no walk in closet in this room, but that didn't bother Katie much. Her usual outfit was a coloured v-neck t-shirt with oversized jeans that had been rolled up. Consequently, she didn't have much clothing and she would probably end up storing her art supplies in there. Katie runs out to the red hallway and drags her 2 heavy suitcases into her new room, rolling them under the bed. This apartment was perfect. How could Samantha possibly have gotten this apartment for so cheap? Katie quickly changes out of her travel clothes (pyjamas) into her traditional outfit: rolled up ripped light wash baggy jeans and a red v-neck t-shirt. About to walk out of the room, she first decides to unpack her bags, because with a new apartment comes a new Katie: an organized one.

Maybe Europe won't be so bad.