Miguel O'Hara / Butterfly Effect

Chapter 1

Queens-Nueva York 2101 Earth - 938

3 months later...
5:44pm

"Alicia! Ven! Ayúdame un minuto por favor!"

"Voy!" My name, is Alicia Starkhaven, or Stark for short, and no, absolutely no relations to any resemblance of a wealthy man in his forty's in an iron suit. Anyways. I'm 23 years old and I used to live in my moms hereditary home that she passed down on to me in her will upon dying a few years ago. Three months ago, I lost my best friend. Lauren Davis, she used to be in the military then turned into a cop and...well, you know the rest...

She used to have a friend that always hung around with her, Miguel O'Hara, but...I haven't seen him since the day before the incident. I don't know wether he's alive or not...never answered my calls, my texts...it was as if he just vanished...or died...

It felt incredibly lonely to spend the weekends or pretty much every single day after work in the house. Those walls had to many hurtful memories...but also very good ones...

So, I decided to move out. Moved over to Manhattan to start a new life from scratch. I transferred from my old job at the nursing home back in Queens to another place here in Manhattan. The district was...overwhelmingly fast paced. It felt as if the city could swallow you up at any moment of the day. It never stopped. Peace and quiet seemed to be an unknown thing. Stopping, was an unknown concept. Everything...moved forward. And that's, what I so desperately needed.

But hey! I know Spanish now! And I can speak it fluently on my own in just three months! How cool is that!?

Alicia was just finishing the process of setting down the last of the movers boxes on the empty living room of her new apartment. "Ungh...!" She groaned, setting the box down at her feet, hunched over it.

"Ow..." she mumbled softly as she straightened out her back. The central spot on her back was killing her from having to move some of the boxes from the movers truck up to her apartment. Luckily, the movers were more than happy to help for an extra fee...
Other than that, she had Maria, her neighbor from Queens who came out all this way to help her settle in.

"Dime, Maria..." Alicia spoke fluently now, still having her American accent and slightly picked up the Puerto Rican one from Maria. She stepped away from the boxes, making her way towards the hallway that led into the bedroom. Maria was there, standing over the wall that was essentially a blacked out window that gave view of the thriving city outside.
"Que necesitas?" She asked, approaching the older woman.

Maria turned to look at her, she had darker tanned skin and curly hair, tied up in a bun. "Mira, mi amor...hasta dónde has llegado." Maria spoke with affection, words that reminded Alicia of her mother. "Estoy...tan orgullosa de ti." She spoke, turning to face her and opening her arms to bring Alicia into a hug.

"Ay Maria...me vas a hacer llorar..." Alicia spoke, wrapping her arms around Maria and resting her chin on her shoulder, embracing her tightly in the warm hug.

"Este es tu nuevo comienzo." Maria spoke softly, placing her hand on Alicia's back as she stroked along it.

"Lo sé..." Alicia replied briefly, letting out a shaky breath. The emotions were piling up, beginning to overwhelm her. I promised myself I wouldn't cry, come on, stop it. She told herself, but it was difficult. A small sniff was the only thing that escaped her nose as she closed her eyes tightly, fighting back to keep the tears within her eyes.

Maria slowly pulled away from the hug and looked up at Alicia, placing a hand on her cheek and giving it a gentle caress. "Cuídate, mi amor. Ahí te veo." Maria leaned in, pressed her lips to Alicia's forehead before moving away, heading out of the room and essentially out of the apartment. The door closing shut behind her with a soft thud.