Madness

01

01| New Normal.

First of all, American Airlines sucks.

Secondly, I did not realize that I was seated in First Class which was very nice for my first time on a plane.

I reached JFK International after three hours from O'Hare. It was a domestic flight but I didn't realize the hassle of boarding and exiting a plane.

People are fucking insane. Literally insane.

I remember in the file it said that after I had gotten my bags I should head to entrance B3 and just wait there.

So I did exactly that. Chief Markham was kind enough to take me back to my apartment and let me pack all my other clothes and stuff that I didn't want to leave behind. Which meant that I had an extra suitcase but apparently it didn't matter in this case.

So I grabbed my suitcase and duffle bag before heading to entrance B3 in the arrivals section.

I had butterflies in my stomach. When I looked in the file and saw all their photos, there was one thing that I realized.

They were all white.

Which means that I am biracial. Not something that I am unhappy about, because it answers a lot of questions about me.

Like why I have wavy hair and not 4c like my mother. Or why my skin is significantly lighter than most of my mom and friends and people who got to my school.

I mean at least my identity crisis is now over. I had a white father and I had a black mother.

That thought made me all sad all over again.

I had a mother. Past tense. It's hard for me to still accept the fact that she's still gone and everything is moving at such a fast pace I don't know when I'm going to be able to process this.

"Aurora." I heard a deep voice from beside me. I looked and saw a tall, bulky young man who had striking blue eyes and bright blonde hair. He looked familiar but I couldn't figure where I had seen him before and like not just from the file. In person there was something that just sparked a memory that I can't seem to put my finger on.

I assumed this was Vincenzo because that is what the instructions had said, that Vincenzo would pick me up.

I nodded my head, confirming that I was who he presumed me to be.

He gave me a small smile before grabbing my bag and suitcase that I was holding before motioning for me to follow him to where I assumed his car was parked.

I couldn't help but feel uneasy as we walked to his car though, because I could feel everyone looking at us as we walked there.

Finally we got to his car and got settled in and he pulled out of the parking lot onto the connecting highway.

"This won't be a long trip, I promise." He said, his eyes on the road.

I nodded my head and looked out the window, zoning out for the rest of the ride.

+++

We arrived a little bit outside of New York City to this gated community, but there was only one house. On our side of the community. The rest of the houses were a bit of a distance away.

His house, or mansion I should say.

This was a gated community but this fucking house had its own gate to the fucking driveway that looked like a mall parking lot.