Finding Home

Chapter 1

Finding home

AMELIA finally made it to gate E35. Around her were business men typing away on their phones, overwhelmed mothers trying to get their children in order and couples strolling leisurely to their gates. The flight to Seattle wasn't going to start boarding for another hour so she made her way to the little, run down restaurant in the middle of the terminal. It wasn't one of the fancy places she used to go to with her father, but it would do for a simple meal.

Food was never a bad idea, even more so considering the six-and-a-half-hour flight she had yet to take and she sure as hell wasn't going to eat that junk they serve in the plane. It was even worse than military food, and that's saying something.

While waiting to be seated she felt the eyes of passing men on her. You might think that it would make her uncomfortable, but she had gotten used to it over the years.

Ever since she had gone from a little girl to a woman, men had noticed. She didn't mind her appearance. She was about 5'7'', athletic, but with a very feminine figure women envied. What many didn't know was that countless hours of training were put into her body everyday for it to look the way that it does. Her olive skin tone complimented her wavy, dark brown, almost black hair, which reached her mid back well. That hair was currently hidden under a quite short, straight, brown wig with large bangs, making her look quite different from what she would naturally look like. What usually made her stand out were her striking, hard, navy blue eyes, that gave her an intimidating look. Those were covered up with brown lenses making her look almost average or at least she'd thought so until now. Apparently she was still drawing the attention of men to her.

She just hoped nobody would recognize her. If only all those newspaper articles hadn't been published she could have disappeared after the service relatively unnoticed. Her award had gained the focus of the media for longer than she would have liked, making her a vulnerable target, especially easy to track down. Her photo was all over the Internet accompanied by, what others call her hero story. To her it made no difference, it just attracted the attention of people she was desperately trying to avoid.

"Table for one?" the waitress asked Amelia, bringing her out of her thoughts. Not feeling the need to talk, Amelia just nodded her head, indicating a yes. The waitress, a young girl, not much older than eighteen, guided her to a table, handed her the menu and walked away not saying anything else, as if sensing she didn't care what she might have to say.

Scanning over the menu to make sure they had some kind of salad, her thoughts began to wonder again. Over the past couple of years her life had taken a dramatic change in direction. She, the perfect daughter, the poster child, lost her father, the only known family to her. She went from the rich girl to the woman with no money of her own. Well, that wasn't completely true. After the death of her father she had inherited all of his money, but she considered it dirty money and she was never planning on using it, so it left her where she was now. How had she gotten to the point of not having a home, not having a job, not having a single responsibility? The thought made her chuckle. She, Amelia Duchamp, the daughter of the great Michael Duchamp, was a homeless veteran. She might as well just move into a cardboard box on the side of the road and beg for money. What a sight that would be. Her father would be so damn proud of her.

"Did I do something weird?" asked the guy sitting at the table next to hers irritated, bringing her out of her train of thoughts.

Startled, she asks herself why he would ask her something out of nowhere. Oh, of course, she was being the awkward girl again, the girl she had been many years ago. The girl she'd been before she'd seen the real world for the first time, when she learned her family secrets, discovered the brutality of the war, and the true intentions of mankind. She was laughing for no apparent reason and staring at a random guy, while deep in thought. Just leave it to Amelia to make a fool of her at every given moment.