The Shadows

Chapter Two

Finally, the plane was called and Annabella began making her way towards the gate. In just a few short hours, she would be back with her best friend Isabella Rossi. How they actually met was an interesting story to say the least.

Annabella was on a mission in Italy when they met. She was tasked to take out a filthy politician and was one her way back home after completing her mission. She had been driving down the road when she saw three men harassing what looked to be a drunk teenager in an alley. She knew she needed to help her no matter how her brain was screaming to just leave it alone.

Pulling over, she quickly hopped off of her bike and made her way towards the scene. Once she saw what was happening in better lighting, she rushed over yelling.

"Hey! Leave her alone."

The three guys looked over at Annabella wanting to know who interrupted their 'play time'. They saw that it was another teenager and thought that they had another person to prey on.

"Why don't you shut up and come on over to have some fun with us? We like feisty girls." One of the drunken men replied to her shout. She would never understand the sleazy men that cover the earth. Annabella refused their 'offer' and that is when things went downhill for both girls.

Two of the men made their way towards Annabella while one stayed with the girl they had been harassing. Getting prepared for the fight that was about to occur, Annabella rolled her eyes just wanting a break from violence for a few minutes, but that is what she signed up for when becoming an assassin.

When the two men were within reach of Annabella, she could smell the alcohol wafting off of them, making her eyes water from the pungent odor. She quickly punched the one closest to her in the stomach, making him bend over in pain. The other man took advantage of her being distracted and kicked her in the ribs.

Annabella, however, was used to this pain and recovered from the attack and swiftly punched him in his jaw, knocking him out. The man that was holding the girl back had come over to see what was taking so long while dragging her by her hair. This action just made Annabella angrier. She kicked the one she had punched in the stomach in the head just as he was getting back up.

The last man was horrified by the damage caused by the teeneager that he let the other girl go and ran, not wanting to be next. Annabella ran up to the other girl and began checking on her, making sure she was alright.

"Hey, are you okay? They didn't hurt you or anything did they?" Annabella asked the shaken up girl, hinting towards other possible things that could have occurred before she had found them.

The girl took a second to collect herself before answering the questions. "No, they didn't do anything. You came just in time. Thank you so much. I will never be able to repay you. Oh, and my name is Isabella. Isabella Rossi."

"Good, and I am Annabella Rose."

That is how their friendship had begun and Annabella was grateful for a friend like Isabella.

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The plane had finally landed and Anna was getting off and heading to the baggage claim to get her suitcase. It took about 5 minutes for her bag to come out, but she quickly snatched it up and texted Isabella asking where she was. Isabella replied saying she was waiting at the entrance of the airport.

Annabella felt like the walk to the entrance took forever as she was excited to see her best friend once again. When she spotted her, she ran towards her and hugged her. It was a heartfelt moment between the two teenagers, but a much needed one. Once they had finished hugging, they began the 30 minute drive back to the Rossi estate.

By the time they had arrived, the two girls were too tired to unpack Annabella's belongings and headed straight to bed. Annabella was hoping to get a peaceful night of rest, free from the nightmares that plagued her each night, but she was quite unfortunate.

She had woken up in a cold sweat, panting after the same nightmare that she had been having for the past few weeks had crept into her dreams. Knowing she would not be going back to sleep after that, she got up and took a shower before beginning to unpack her stuff in her new room.

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A few hours had passed before Isabella woke up and headed to Anna's room. She was excited to have her best friend back with her. She missed hanging out with her when she came to Italy for missions.

The two girls were peas in a pod. When they both were in the same country, they would rarely be seen without each other. They had a special connection, after all they had met in a dark situation which they helped one another through.

Isabella knocked on the door before opening it when she heard a faint 'come in'. She walked in and was amazed at how the once bare white room had transformed with the little amount of items Annabella had owned.

The room was still plain white but now had posters covering the walls from different bands and movies. The covers were now a dark gray and the shelves were decorated with little knick knacks. Overall, the room now had a personal touch rather than the unwelcoming and cold arua that seemed to cover the rest of the estate.

Isabella found Anna in the closet putting her clothes on hangers. She had originally come into the room to ask her if she wanted help putting her things away, but now that was unneeded. She instead decided to ask if she wanted to go to the store and get some more decorations and some food.

"Hey, do you want to go out and get some food and maybe more stuff for your room?"

Annabella replied with, "Yeah, just let me finish putting these clothes up and we can head on out."

Satisfied with that answer, Isabella left to go get dressed. Annabella however was thinking about how her life had changed in under 24 hours. Never had she thought she was going to leave and have her own freedom. She snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she had put all of the clothes up finally and got up from her spot on the floor.

QUickly sliding on some shoes, Annabella headed downstairs where she found Isabella waiting for her in the foyer. They went outside to the car that they were going to take and took off to the mall.