Cursed Beneath the Shadows

At the Airport

LEO'S P.O.V.

  We find a spot by the nearest cafe and set down our remaining luggage on the cold, tile floor.

"Hey V, why don't we eat something before boarding the plane?" If we don't eat now, i'm sure she'll say something on the plane how hungry she is...

She glances up from her book and nods at my question. Placing her book-marker inside her chapter, she sets it down and motions for me to walk to where we are eating.

"Come on, V, they have a good Asian spot around the corner, let's eat that." I motion towards the hallway behind the large plant in our way.

"That does sound pretty good right about now..alright let's go and eat before the flight."

She flips her dark brown hair over her shoulder and tucks her hands into her back pockets, rocking on the back of her heels. Her lilac eyes are coated with silver shine, the longer I stare the darker the become, seemingly swirling with rage. I start walking around the corner and stuff my hands into my front pockets as well. Well I guess this is a good time for her to release some of her pent up feelings. She always feels better after some good fried rice.

5 minutes later...

We come across the petite food stand and happily make our way over. I already know what she is going to order..fried rice with steak and broccoli. Never has she got anything different. I walk up to the older Asian lady and order for Via and me.

"Hello, may I get an order of fried rice and an order of steak and broccoli? What do I want..hmm I'll get an order of the orange chicken with a side of fried rice as well. That will be all." I pull out my wallet and hand the nice lady my C-Card and grab a number from the machine and go wait at one of the nearby tables. In less than 6 minutes, an older man comes to our table and sets our food down in front of us.

"Thank you for ordering, please come again!" He gives us both a warm smile and heads off towards the back of the kitchen to make the rest of the food. I can smell the MSG resonating off of the food. It smells amazing. I glance up at Via and see that she has eaten a quarter of her food already. Damn, that girl can eat. Guess I should start eating as well, we only have an hour and a half until we need to board the flight.

"This is so good! We haven't had Asian cooking in soo long." She smiles with a piece of rice hanging on for dear life on her lip, and continues eating in silence.

"Well I'm glad you like it, but really, V, you should eat something more than just your usual all the time. Get your taste-buds out there and explore the other menu choices." I try to say.

"What?! No way, I love what I get. I order the same thing all the time that way I wont feel disappointed if I don't like the way that it tastes." She exclaims confidently.

"Okay, okay, fine. I guess you have your reasons. Don't say I didn't warn ya' though. My meal is super good and this is the 5th dish that I've tried." Turning my attention back to my meal, I look over the amount of salt and oil this must have and dive into it without a second thought.

15 minutes later..

V and I have demolished our plates in less than 20 minutes. We organize our table and get our mess together and return the plates to the stand.

"Thank you for the meal, it was delicious" We both smile and head off back towards our spot. We arrive around the corner and notice that our luggage has been tipped over. That's strange. I'm sure the magnet was on when we left. Maybe the connection got broken or something. Oh well, we only have 45 minutes until our flight starts boarding.

"Hey, Leo, can I ask you a question?" V asks suddenly.

"Yea, sure, what's up?" I place my luggage upwards again and turn towards her voice behind me. I get to look at her, and I mean really look at her. She looks tired. She has dark circles under her eyes and her hair isn't as shiny as it usually is. It's strange seeing her like this. No makeup either, huh. I wonder why she didn't want to look as radiant as she usually is.

"Where are we going to be staying? I know you haven't told me the specifics yet, but I can't help but to feel weird about not knowing where we are going to be living." She says nervously.

I hesitate for a moment. Should I tell her now, or will it make things worse? If I keep stalling I might be able to avoid the blow a little easier...but she looks worried. I guess I'll tell her.

" Well do you remember my last trip to America? I ended up staying with this guy and his parents for a little while until I could pay for an apartment. Just so happens that we are going to be staying with them for a little while, or at least until you graduate high school." I spit out horribly.

I stop after the last word. I glance at her face, struggling to read her reaction. A few moments pass.. then her face twists into a scowl.

"You're telling me, we are staying at your friends house with their parents until I graduate? Why did you think this was going to be a smart idea? I thought at least we were going to be protected! You know how shitty our situation was back at home with the gangs. Now we are living in a house with a bunch of people who, let me guess, don't even know what happened to us? Leo, we at least need to be watched by someone who knows our situation. Knows us?"

She exhales and calms down after the last sentence. Thank God, she was scary. Especially knowing that she's murdered people with that same look on her face, I shiver just thinking about all those bastards that had to see that as their final moment. I wouldn't want to be on her shit list, fuck that. We sit down on some shitty sofas and set our stuff down, relaxing until the staff announces that our flight has been reinstated.