Dom's POV
Letty and I were sat on the front porch in the fading sunlight. Letty sat swinging her legs like she had always done. I stole a glance at her, watching as the sunlight caught at the ends of her grey hair. Even now she was still the most enchanting woman I had ever seen.
I met Letty when she was ten years old and I was thirteen. I met Letty down the street from here. She lived in 1345, it was just visible from the porch of 1327. New to the neighbourhood, she possessed the lilt of a Spanish accent, a lilt she's retained until this day.
Vince and I were playing football in the street, messing around and trash talking each other in the way that young teenagers do when trying to appear the hard man. The next thing to fill the air was chants of, fight, fight, fight, from down the street. One glance at each other conveyed to the other we needed to be at the spot of that fight. We raced down the street, leaving the football abandoned on the side.
By the time we got there the fight was well under way. A small scrap of a girl was fighting with this guy I went to school with, Thomas. Thomas was bleeding from his nose and he was trying his damnedest to win but the girl was quick on her feet. She barely paused to catch her breath. She seemed able to anticipate his every move. There were a few faded bruises on her arm, evidence of previous fights.
Thomas reached to grab her to put her down but he failed. Instead of her winding up in the ground it was him. She put him down in one smooth motion and held him down.
"Now give it back," she demanded in a firm tone. Her hand outstretched. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to be a velvet pouch. There must have been money or something of value inside. Maybe jewellery but she didn't look like the type of girl who wore jewellery.
"Thank you." The lilt of her accent rose. I frowned. Where was she from?
The girl turned her back on Thomas and walked right up to my sister, Mia, but I hadn't noticed her until that moment. She was stood in the sidelines, her face pale. The dark haired girl handed her the pouch then smiled at her.
"Let's go."
As rapidly as the sparse crowd had gathered it dispersed. I turned towards Vince slightly impressed by the girl. Who the hell was she? She'd stood up for my sister. I was in her debt. I didn't like to be in anyone's debt but here I was, I owed that girl a lot.
Hurriedly I ran after her. She was skinny but obviously very tough. My sister was thanking her.
"Hey Mia!" I said loudly. I needed their attention.
Mia turned to look at me, her long dark hair whipping wildly. The two girls waited for me to catch up.
I held my hand out to the girl who'd fought my sisters battle for her. "Thank you."
"No problem," the girl smiled.
"I'm Dom, by the way," I said realising Mia hadn't even introduced us.
"Letty," she said in reply. Her eyes were wide as she studied me. She was obviously deciding whether or not to trust me. In that moment I could tell she had chosen to blindly trust me and I was grateful to her for that.
I was jolted back to reality by Letty's warm hand brushing against mine. Her hands were wrinkled with age but to me they served to show the hard work, blood, sweat and tears she had poured into this world.
"You're a million miles away," she remarked from her seat on the porch.
I smiled at her. "I was just thinking about the day I met you."
