Chapter One

Chapter One

“Cara!"

The booming male voice rang through the quiet street as night fell over the city of Milan.

“Cara!”

He continued to scream into the night. Frustration in every syllable. Pain in every cry. But the small, shapely figure nearly at the end of the road kept running with her short bob style haircut swaying swiftly and the smooth, loose blue cotton dress fluttering from the wind created by her speed. It was almost as if she could not hear a single sound that fell from the lips of the man calling out her name.

The only sign that she could hear was when she turned her head once toward the direction of his voice just as she ran past a dim street light before whirling around the sharp corner. But she had a greater problem threatening her. However, no one could ever see it from the back… but Cara’s face was covered with the dampness of tears. Her eyes bulging with fear. Her rapid breathing filled with an apparent desperation.

“Cara!”

His voice began to fade faster and faster the farther and farther she ran. Every time she extended her legs a little further she came closer to a better life. A better time. A better future.

No one ever told my why she returned to Aurora after all this time. No one ever asked me why I never saw her until that day.

No one…

Even wanted to make sure that she was okay. No one but me.

Then came the day where everything changed…

But the future was difficult to think about when the present was becoming a living nightmare. Cara did not want to look back. She didn’t want to think about him. Or her. Or any of it. She was tired of what her life had become. I suppose that was good enough of a reason to leave… and I guess it was good enough of a reason to return.

… but that is only half the tale.

I still wonder why she ever came back after disappearing for so long. But there is more to her story than it seems… as it turns out we share this story: she and I. It started on a Monday in January.

 I was in the local Starbucks on Cedar Avenue gazing out of the large window watching the locals walking into their small businesses or conversing. It was mid-morning just after everyone had left for work and most stores and shops began to open their doors welcoming customers. It was supposed to be a cold day but already at fifty-three degrees it seemed that it would be a warmer day for once.

It was any other day and I am no one special, if you were wondering. In fact, I am simple in every way. Blending with the “common folk” with the aid of my job as the manager of a local gas station, I live in a rather large home but I in no way earned it. After my grandmother passed away seven years ago she bestowed her, in my opinion, large home to me. My parents and older brother and sister and basically all of my family that still breathe were extremely relieved.  They always saw me as a screw-up; they just never said it out loud.

But in my defense, like everyone else, I graduated from high school. I graduated from a descent university but work was not really available. I had my degree and in the long run it basically meant nothing.

My family does not live in Colorado as I do, but my grandparents did. I actually was born and raised in Sacramento, California, at least until I was fifteen. Then my family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida after my sister Elaine had graduated from high school.

I resented my parents for forcing me to leave the only home I had ever known. For making me leave the only social circles and streets and school and neighborhood I had ever been apart of. I never thought I would ever leave Sacramento but the more I thought about it as we took that dreaded flight to Florida, twelve years ago, the more my heart began to change.

And as we drove up to the house, I began to grow excited. When I heard my parents that night talking about how much better life would be for us now that dad had gotten a promotion and mom was going to be able to start her own dress boutique, I decided that I could tolerate St. Petersburg. Then when I went to school, the deal was sealed.

It seemed that as I walked through the door I was greeted by thousands of smiles and made friends almost instantly, It was like some strange dream. It would not be until my class graduation that I would admit that the move to St. Petersburg was probably the best decision my parents had ever made. For me. For them. For us.

                              ~

I never really thought about how greatly my childhood influenced my life until I was nearly out of college. There  I was a senior with only two more months left before graduation,and suddenly I felt as if I had made some grave mistake. Business management had seemed like a great career but suddenly it did not. 

I tried my hardest to remember the time I had wanted to be a manager and I could not. I wanted to recall why I had chosen such a major but again I could not. Had I made a mistake?

                                               ~

After graduation,