Yessica: The Saint of Writing...and Death

Yessica

I landed in LaGuardia Airport at around 5:00pm eastern. My Uncle Anton, was supposed to pick me up at that airport. Turns out, he went to the wrong airport. He was waiting at JFK, while I was at LaGuardia. My Tia gave him an earful when they finally saw me. She still likes to pretend that I don't know Spanish.

The car ride wasn't very exciting. I spent the whole time answering questions. My Tia would reassure me that I would be spending the whole summer exploring what I could of New York. Walk around, shop? I don't think I could do much. New York was just a big city and I had no idea on what I could do.

I followed my Tia to my new room for the summer. It wasn't much to get excited about. The room was shared with my cousin, Vanessa. It was big enough for two beds, two dressers, a closet, and a tv. My bed had stars and galaxies on the sheets. I smiled, it wasn't much, but, it was nice. Vanessa was playing video games when I entered the room. She stood up and gave me a hug. "Nice to see you again, prima!" She pulled away and grinned. "We can unpack later, play some games with me." I set my bags down on and by my assigned bed. "Sure!" I replied.

Vanessa was born the same day as I was. Apparently, the doctor was off by a few days on the original due date. My Tia blamed the doctor for weeks after Vanessa was born. Vanessa and I were best friends since birth. Even though we lived so far away from each other, we always managed to keep in constant communication. Letters, emails, texts; anything to keep us together. When we got older, our constant streams of communication slowed down. We kept to texting everyday, minor bits on random topics.

Vanessa was also very beautiful. While my long hair was straight and pitch black, hers was curly and light brown with blonde highlights. I had random colors in mine. My eyes were dark brown, hers shined in any light. My skin was darkened by years of being outside and running around, I ended up with a lot of freckles. She has a nice glow, her skin was flawless. She never needed glasses or braces. She was perfect. She was smart and perfect and I was completely jealous.

Vanessa let me play some games while she sat out on the fire escape. She had her phone pressed to her ear. I could barely make out what she was saying. Vanessa was a good person. She never drank or did drugs, the only problem was that she would sneak out at night. She always told me about her going out to paint the town. I never thought that she meant literally. She came back in through her window. She tossed her phone onto her bed and sat down next to me. She turned up the volume, "Want to go with me to paint a bit?" Another thing I liked about Vanessa, was her voice. She didn't have the accent that I had. I had a soft accent, one that was only noticed if I spoke Spanish all the time, which I did. That accent would come back when I spoke English. I bit my lip, "Where would we be going?"

I should've said no, Vanessa isn't the type of person to pressure someone to do something. She would find an alternative. It was late and she had a swimsuit on and so did I. We were going to swim the Hudson river. No, it wasn't dipping our toes in or sitting by the river. We were going to swim! I gulped whatever fear I had and slid into the water. Vanessa had a head start while I was contemplating running away and taking my chances on not getting caught. I sighed and started to swim.

The bridge above me was huge. I will admit that I was scared when I looked up. We swam to the pier of the bridge. She climbed up and helped me up. I was getting cold from the water. It would be difficult to go back without getting sick. I'd have to hurry. Vanessa looked down into the water. She was studying something in the water. I scooted over to see what she was looking at. I froze, ready to scream. Vanessa pulled me into the water. She and I swam back as quickly as possible. We took whatever we brought with us and ran.

When we found our way back into our shared room, we made the silent vow to never speak of what we saw. There was no point in bringing up what we saw without getting in trouble for sneaking out. Vanessa took our swimsuits and hid them in her closet. No one would know that we left.

The next morning was very uneventful. My Tia wanted Vanessa to take me around the Heights and maybe to see a play or musical. My Tia and Tio weren't rich people, but, Vanessa saved all her money for a chance to see something she likes. When we were younger, her parents took us to see In The Heights. My mom and my Tia kept looking at each other and smiling. It was very obvious that they liked the story. They understood the story more than what I could comprehend.

Vanessa took me to see some sights and take some pictures. There wasn't much for me to do on exploring. We sat on some large rocks by the river. It was obvious what we were thinking. I shook my head, wanting to go back to the apartment, or at least go get some food. I'd rather not remind myself over and over again. I climbed off the rock, Vanessa in tow, and headed back home. She seemed to have silently agreed with me that we should stay away from the river for a while. We decided that some lunch and a quick discussion on what to do next would be a better idea.

(The introduction to Vanessaaaaa!! At least Vanessa who is Yessica's cousin. Not Vanessa who is married to Lin. As always, comments are nice to have and yeah.)