A New Beginning- A Casino Cups Story {Under Editing}

The Sister Arrives (part 3)

While Josephine was packing up her stuff she couldn't help but still think about the charming stranger with the mysterious but intense green eyes. She hadn't felt this way for a VERY long time. The first time was when a few thousand years ago before she and her sister met the Cup brothers. But after the "incident" with her first love, she hadn't dared to try to get into a serious relationship with anyone else. In fact, all other suitors that came running for her attention and love all met with icy cold rejections while wearing a seemingly heart warming smile. Since then, her work associates all called her "The Queen of Broken Hearts." The name is quite mild and tame compared to the "other" nicknames that she had been given throughout the years. But it still seemed to equally tick her off, just like the other names did. The only thing that kept her anger in check were the sweet memories of her childhood and all those who comforted her when times were tough.

But through everything, she kept whatever joys that she had with them. Even if they weren't around her anymore. And though she was an angel and could easily find their souls in the afterlife, the one that she desperately wanted to find, wasn't where he should've been. She could only come to the conclusion that he was reincarnated into someone else. So whenever she had the time, she would endlessly search for his soul. It drove her almost to the point of madness. And even till today, she hasn't stopped looking for him. The feelings that she had for him were strong but for some reason, those feelings somewhat diminished? When she first met and talked with the stranger, she felt as though that she had all of her struggles and frustrations lifted off from her shoulders and aching heart. As she now continued to think about it, she kept wondering, "Why? Why does this ease my heart and soul?"

She pondered this for hours. Even during her discussion with the apartment landlady that she contacted through an add on a poster that she somehow managed to find in her guitar case. Her vision was coming back slowly but still couldn't see entirely. She at least could make out the blurry words and numbers on the poster to call up the landlady and discuss temporary living arrangements in her appartment building. The little old landlady said that she could stay as long as she paid her monthly rent on time. "Fifty bucks per month isn't bad at all. This old woman must be well off. Probably owns several other businesses on the side. Oh, well, so long as it doesn't give me trouble. Not only that, but she's really nice and easy to talk to, so I don't think that we'll have much trouble with each other." While she signed her lease for a temporary stay, (for who knows how long), she managed, along with the help and guidance from the landlady, to find the building and her appartment room. It was a decent sized place. It had a nice kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms. One for the resident and the other for a guest or roommate. But what really attracted her was a large window that had one of those window ledge/comfy looking cabinet seat. Also, this window had a latch so that when you opened it far enough, it would lead you to the metal balcony/fire escape. Which was attached to all the other appartments. And in fear of intrusion, she asked the land lady if she had to worry about "uninvited guests" entering in and out of her appartment. The landlady reassured her that everyone in the appartment respected each other's privacy and would only use the fire escape for emergencies only.

When she said this, Josephine felt a certain aura emitting from her that said as clear as day, "Those idiots had enough experiences not to disobey my rules. So you can rest assured that NO ONE will be breaking an entering on my watch. That includes you as well." Josephine felt a little nervous around her but reluctantly agreed that she will also obey her rules to the T. Josephine loved and respected her elders and treated them with utter patience and kindness. And this "scary" landlady would be no different from all the others that she had treated with love and respect. The landlady asked when she would let the movers in through the front entrance. She also mentioned that the security guard in the lobby would need to know this so that he could let them in. Apparently, the building had it's own security employees stationed at the inside lobby entrance to keep things in order and to keep track who goes in and out of the building. It also had a LOT of security cameras and alarms as well as the classic "buzz in" doorbell that only classy apartments had. Clearly, this building had seen its fair share of "suspicious" activity around the neighborhood. And apparently this lady had enough money to secure a large building such as this one.

"Ummm, actually, I just moved to this island. So I don't have any furniture whatsoever. These things are all I have with me for now." The land lady scanned her up and down with a judging like look. All Josephine had was her guitar, her fold out chair, her money, her sunglasses, and of course, the clothes on her back. The land lady sighed and asked her how much money she had all together. Josephine replied, "About a hundred grand ma'am." The lady took another deep sigh and said, "Listen sweetheart, even with that much money, you still can't buy all the things you need." She dug around her purse for some long sheeted colored notepapers and a fountain pen that had dark blue ink. She wrote lists of various stores for which Josephine needed to get her supplies from. "Sweetie, here are the names of the stores and the people who run it. Tell them that Momma Maxina de Umbra told you to come here and get the required necessities you need to have in order to live here. Don't worry about the payment too much, those young ones owe me a favor that has been itching to get fulfilled." Josephine didn't know what to make of this situation. But took her landlady's advice very seriously. "Thank you so much Miss......?" "Mrs. Umbra dearie. But you may call me Miss Max." Josephine smiled a little and thanked her for the help. Miss Max asked her if she would like a ride to the places given her (temporary) disability. Josephine said that she was fine and was quite familiar by now what she was doing and where she was going. Miss Max had her concerns but she trusted her anyways. As Josephine walked away to go shopping, Miss Max yelled out to her, "Be sure to come back before midnight, you hear?! Or I'll send a police search for you!" Josephine complied with a slight nod of her head and when she walked away from ear shot, chuckled to herself. It has been a while since anyone has taken that much concern for her safety. It felt.........refreshing to hear such words.

Throughout the day, she went from store to store and did exactly as Miss Max told her too. The store managers and owners all cringed when she mentioned Miss Max's name and the mention of the "favor" that they owed her. Apparently she was well known throughout the small community by familial means. And, just like that, they complied and gave Josephine what she needed and told her that they would later on send it over to the apartment via company movers/delivery men. As she went to the last store, which was a popular grocery store, she told the owner that she would carry the ones she needed immediately by herself on her way back to her newfound home. As she walked out of the store, she noticed that it was already dark and that some of that blasted blinding powder was wearing off. She still couldn't see 100 percent, but at least she could more easily find her way home without too much trouble. As she walked down the street she came up on and quickly passed the alley way that was next to the apartment building. She was about to reach for the entrance door, when she heard muffled grunts and smelled the thick scent of blood and gunpowder. She was now on full alert. She didn't know what to expect. But it's not like this was the first time seeing what could possibly be an injured or dead individual. But it was always hard for her to swallow since Death was always a bitter and horrible pill. She braced herself for the worst and slightly peeked around the brick corner. There in her blurry vision, was a severely wounded man bleeding out from his chest. To her he seemed like one of those people that were living objects. Only this one had a white head, no neck, and had a purple colored suite on, (with the exception of the red blood that was pouring out of him).

"Oh my gosh! Sir! Are you ok?! What happened?!" He couldn't talk but with only rough muffled grunts and whenever he moved, it seemed like he was making the situation worse. She couldn't fully see his distinguishing features, but she could tell that he was in a lot of pain and could clearly see the nasty gash on his chest. She started to panic and started to gently lift his back towards the brick wall and got out one of her new fancy and thick looking royal purple bath towels from one of her bags, (which she earlier insisted that she would carry on her way home. Instead of it being delivered). "Here, hold this towel to your chest with whatever pressure you can use. I'll be right back with some help, just hold on!" But before she gave him the towel she put a healing blessing on it so that it can start to repair whatever heavy damage there was to his bloody chest. As she did this, she gave the towel to the man and applied some gentle pressure on his chest. Then left him for about a minute to get the security guard. But when she brought him to the scene where the injured man was; he was gone along with the towel. Leaving nothing but a bloody mess in the dark and gloomy alley way.

To be continued....