Clementine had become a wild child. Born in America but raised abroad, she now had little regard for the expectations of high society. But her reckless ways eventually catch up with her when she is kicked out of college in New York City and forced t...
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23
They walked home together. Slowly, along the pavement they laughed and giggled, mostly reminiscing on all their memories. Clementine almost forgot how good it felt to see a friend, a genuine friend after all this time. Especially after all this time.
"Why don't you come over?" Clementine offered when they got to the edge of the neighbourhood, where Clementine was to meet the family driver.
"Oh, C you know I'd love to, but I can't. I have to run back to the studio, got a class to teach," Mina was trying to organize her bag while talking. It was like a Mary Poppins bag, full of unnecessary things and ballet shoes and hair pins. "But hey, come out with us. This weekend, just like old times?" Mina cocked her head to the side and tried her best to be persuasive.
Clementine hesitated for a moment, apprehensive about going out again after last weekend, but what's a little fun going to do except give her a good time and an excuse to stop worrying about everything so much.
"Okay." Clementine finally said, "Call me!"
"I will!" Mina was waving as she was running away towards the studio, checking her watch.
Clementine, realizing it was just about sundown, as Brazil was so close to the equator that the sun set at nearly the same time everyday and early - 5pm - realized that it was going to get dark soon and this wasn't her favourite past time, as much as it may start to seem. Hanging around strange neighbourhoods in the dark was a thing of the past, actually. Or at least, she hoped so.
She remembered that she agreed she was going to take a taxi. Not agree, but it was implied considering she kind of sneaked out to to this dance studio as well. She looked around her, and realized she'd have to get to a busier area to find any taxis here.
She wasn't 100% sure where she was going, but she let her intuition guide her. She started walking West, towards the setting sun.
As good as a start as any, she thought to herself. But her intuition also told her that something was off. She felt uneasy, or at least a bit more uneasy than usual in these types of situations.
She walked a few blocks, when she realized that someone was following her. At first, she thought it was just a coincidence, but when she realized that there wasn't anyone else around them and the tail was a few steps back behind her, she started to sense that something was wrong.
What are the chances? She asked herself in an attempt to calm her down, but as she turned the corner and so did her tail, herm ind started running with everything that she knew about how to handle these situations.
Yes, she knew many people that were robbed out in plain daylight on these streets. It's not anything out of the ordinary, but unpleasant nevertheless. And her being a woman, she would be lucky if it was just the robbing that they wanted to do.
As she sped up, so did the footsteps behind her. Her body responded before her mind, and she broke into a run, letting the adrenaline fuel her.
"Just give it to them, don't try to put up a fight." She remembered the words of her old high school boyfriend when he lectured her on the scary possibilities of the 'streets', as she always dismissed him. Thinking it would happen to someone else, not her.
She thought that maybe he was right, and Clementine dropped her bag all of a sudden and kept running.
Finally and soon enough, she turning a corner onto a busy street. She walked into a crowd and looked behind her, it was too bustling now to be able to distinguish anyone, and stopping to catch her breath, she spotted a taxi stopped on the side of the road. Out of nowhere, as if a heavenly gift.
She ran up to the cab, and knocked on his window to get the attention. The cabby let her in, putting his paper down. At this point, it was nearing dark, the sun having set, and it was only once she was safely in the cab and moving that she tried to recount what was in her bag.
The ballet shoes, which sucked but she could replace them - a benefit of having what seemed to be an unlimited amount of money in the bank account. A few other pieces of clothing and some cash. Then, searching her pockets, she realized that she lost her phone.
"Shit," she said involuntarily.
"Um problema, senhorita?" The cabby made eye contact through the mirror.
"Não," Clementine responded curtly. Except that there was a problem. Many of them.
As they were nearing her road, the energy of the streets feeling significantly different, lighter, she tried to force herself to breathe deeply as if to calm down.
She realized her fists were clenched, and she tried to consciously unclench them. Trying to clear the fog of fear from her head, she told the cabby to wait as she ran inside to ask Ernesto for some cash. This serving as a reminder that eventually, she'd have to pay for everything. There really was no such thing as a free lunch.
