Hidden Whispers

d a n i e l // 12

The small area where I was confined in smelled like bad breath and sweaty armpits. Max and Lee were supposed to meet me in this newfound hideout spot of the slum area of Rowstern, a little far off from our town.

Known as the King of Black Market, Rowstern holds a fancy repute in burglary and black marketing. Now, one might wonder what a seventeen year old might be doing at such a dangerous place, let alone waiting.

Rowstern is also the partial home of Leesha. Scary, but utterly normal. Leesha's father has a huge name in the morphine dealing business. It is indeed as crazy as it seems, and so, Leesha's mother opened up a small Antiques shop in Glanville and settled there with Lee, divorcing him.

Lee's father, however, isn't half as bad as the business he's in, and loves Lee genuinely. Lee's shifted to Rowstern for a month now, and we were supposed to spend the morning having breakfast and lunch there.

Soon enough, a jeep drove towards me, with soft indie classic dancing out of the car speakers. Max.

In no time, a girl with a tee shirt dress and leggings and another with baggy jeans and a casual turtleneck jumped off and made their way towards me.

"You trying to look like the deceased Cinderella or what?" I asked Max, cracking up. "A dress? Seriously?"

"Yeah, so?" She rolled her eyes. "Lee says that I look good. You," she pointed her finger at me, "You don't have a good fashion sense. So stop."

"As if you do," I grinned and ruffled her perfectly backbrushed hair, destroying it in turn.

"Why the hell, Dan? Why?" She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Let's go. Y'all are too kiddish for my ass to carry. Wait. Do you both need to toddle or y'all can walk?" Lee looked at us with an I'm-done face.

Laughing, we started walking. Max and Lee were completely habituated with the place and the bitter smell of coffee and beer. It was I who was feeling like an outsider.

The streets were gloomy but lighted up. Sunlight was falling on the charcoal lit streets but the beauty was lost. Where there's impurity, there's no beauty. And that phrase couldn't have been any true.

I felt like all the eyes of the passer by-s were on me. I felt knife eyes daggering into my skin, through my clothes. I didn't belong here and I couldn't wait to get to her dad's house.

Lee was posh. She dressed laid back but she had her levels high up. Even for her the place was too stuffy but it seemed that she had habituated herself with the place.

A few knocks and an uncomfortable walk later, we sat in Lee's room. The house was beautiful. And the room held a strong fragment of the house.

Her room had a strawberry smell to it. The more one stayed, the less he wanted to leave.

Mr. Choi was a man of politeness and had a sturdy self which he carried around quite magnanimously.

When we came in, he offered us fresh pancakes and a wonderful preparation of milk. The food was delicious, and I would definitely regret eating my old boring cereals every morning henceforth.

Currently sitting on Lee's bed, my eyes hovered over the pictures on Lee's wall. Out of the variety of brilliantly captured pictures, one caught my eye.

"Isn't that Mikaela? She seems old. Where'd you get that from?" I asked, pointing at the picture of a woman staring up at the chandelier in Antiques.

"She's back in town, apparently. Her motives were clearly delusional. But she's really turned pretty," Leesha informed, her hungry hand already digging out the first Hot Cheetos from the packet.