LIGHT AND SHADOW: UNTIL DARKNESS DO US APART

incidence, our stars were

AYA'S

Maria Jacobs would be o

uickly as I can to the next aisle since Maria wouldn

t to vomit just like the first day I got in here. The whole flower shop was full of weeds and dying flowers, it sme

she's willing to help. Sales have been fluctuating lately and it isn't because of excessive

not happy. Maria was from Spain. She moved here twelve years ago in th

w this place, it was old and rotting then. After two years of grieving, Maria finally got up and decided to s

nally stops walking. I sigh in r

. To me, Maria would always be like my mother. She treats me

I'm sorry I can't have you work here, los clientes están quejándose."I d

" I ask in concern and I p

ed. I slid my hands off her shoulder instinctively."

he shop door before she could comple

underclap that nearly ripped off my eardrums. I didn't even notice it was going to rain

in in the first place. Maybe if this was one of those romance movies Andria always watches, some guy would show up and offe

avishly, they dress the same weight as a bucket of gold. Sometimes they would be with their husbands or boyfriends who were in no way close to being poor. They drove the most exotic cars w

rcely enough for bile to rise in my throat. I saw a little girl with her father and there was a group of men surrounding them. T

was wearing a thick brown coat that looked expensive and smelled like vanilla which oddly calmed my nerves. I was panting heavily as I withdrew fr

ls were aching and I knew I had sores nevertheless, I began to run. Tears poure

oke, she was like the living dead. I always prayed for her to cry because she'd always sit down and stare in one direction with no emotions. She ev

in a one-room condominium that Andria paid for. She offered to pay for everything includ

t myself in the mirror, gray eyes staring back at me. Nothing about me seemed right, I was full white American but I had African hair. None of my parents were African, none of my an

water. When it was filled, I entered ignoring the fact it was nearly three

ani

ecall crashing into the stranger dressed in

dressing table where I placed it. I smile a bit at the song that plays. Runaway.

phone and

I heard you got fired. I'm so

fine,

ou aren't fine." She whines and I wa

fine...

uckle. "I gave Maria a haughty call and she

iden as I s

ria. It wasn't her fault.

that rust bucket has been booming, and just because one stupid pers

y fingers i

same." I bite my lips t

have me and that's all that matters and don't tell me you are crying." She talks like a detective

."I laugh and

heck did

ps dramatically and I laugh harder. She

ut I promise I'll stop by." She said

oodb

atching Titanic." She says and I c

chuckle li

e table. I hadn't seen it before, and I was certain I hadn't left it there.

he ground as I mistakenly hit the table in fear. Fear

ket on the streets and a woman lay dead next to t

o murdered y