The Beauty of Being Broken

Manhattan's Shut-In

Her father was a wealthy businessman with a secret dealing service. You could say her only means of a real family died long ago with the flood that took her mother. Elaina Jones' life, was as perfect as could be under the eyes of Manhattan.

The mid-October breeze outside the windows carried multicolored leaves from street to street, creating bristling crackling noise all throughout the city. The constant roar that the tourist complained about seemed to be nonexistent as Elaina sat at the edge of the balcony on her laptop. She had become used to living alone most of the time. Ever since she had graduated high school and become a homebody under her father's orders she hardly ever saw the outdoors of the city. But, really what reason did she have to go into the city, after all she lived there. She had seen, breathed and experienced everything the city had to give all before.

Her father, Elijah Jones was a strict and serious multimillionaire, who spent the majority of his time putting money in the stock market and sitting in his high rise glass office on the Forty-Seventh floor of the E.L. Hudson Building. Once again here Elaina sat all by herself, another lonely night in the city that never sleeps. The lit streets below were filled with bodies keeping their pace swift and steady, determined to get somewhere as hurriedly as all the other bodies that roamed the metropolis.

Elaina closed her laptop and hopped off the railing of the balcony. Her Flat Suede Prada Mules hit the ground with a thud as she ventured back into the comforts of her penthouse. She slouched off her over sized sweater and draped it across the back of the bergere in the living room. She made herself comfortable in the open room of the house as she dimmed the lights with a clap of her hands. The marbled floors reflected what little light left in the sky. Still in her street clothes she laid her head against the arm of the divan, closed her eyes and awaited the return of her father from his office.

The house was darker than before when her eyes opened once again. The light that had been left in the evening sky was long gone. Now the sky against the New York skyline was pure darkness. The was no longer a reflection of the marble floors. She reached for her phone and checked the time. Twelve Thirty Four.

Her father's voice echoed through the empty corridors. She brushed through her hair with her fingers, rubbed the sleep from her eyes and went to welcome him back home. In the dimly lit entrance way stood two bodies. One of them she recognized the medium-tall build and broad shouldered one, but the other silhouette was unknown to her. A tall slender figure with dark hair and gentle familiar eyes. His hair covered the top half of his forehead and hung wispily over his eyebrows. His body ever so slightly twitching to move the hair away from his lashes. His jawline was sharp and somewhat attractive, the slight glance that Elaina took in every few seconds made her heart spin in her chest.

Clearing her mind and returning to the situation, she brushed her shoulder against her father's arm getting his attention and breaking him out of the on going conversation he'd been carrying on.He pushed her away and stared at the other figure nodding his head towards him. He paid little to no attention to Elaina, making her feel obnoxious like a cat that mourned for attention. In her own amusement she continued to stand in the back of the conversation. Only a few moments passed before she could no longer go unrecognized. Her father turned away from the young man to which he spoke and left the two of them as he disappeared into the darkness of the house.

In the split second that her father had gone away Elaina had drawn the attention of her father's guest. She watched him carefully as he inspected her from the doorway. His eyes scanned up and down her body until finally they found their way staring into hers. The fear in his expression was real, she could tell he was afraid but once his eyes seemed to find hers his nerves dissipated. There was something familiar about him that seemed to be distant. Elaina could finally see the young man's beauty in direct light, which had been hidden by her fathers shadow earlier. His eyes were a light, hazy brown with delicately placed flecks of green near his pupils. Freckles lined his under eyes and nose like sprinkles placed on a cupcake, they fit so perfectly against his complexion. His dark hair was unwashed and dusted with dirt. Then she inspected his clothes. The black jeans he was wearing had darker spots in various places most surrounding his knees, as if he had knelt down into something wet. The long sleeve shirt he was wearing was for the most part clean but had leaf particles stuck to it around his mid-back. She looked him over several times trying to figure out where she'd seen him before. If it hadn't been for the slight blood stain on his collar bone she never would have expected anything.