Lost in the dance

One

She pulled on her jersey. It was very windy at the airport and, she regretted not wearing anything heavier. She was dressed casually. Washed-out black jeans, black converse, a white tee and her thin blue jersey.

Her breath became a fog of air as she breathed out, entering the airport while pulling her luggage bag behind her. She hated that she hadn't listened to her mom, that AC was not promising any warmth.

As she paid for a coffee, she heard her flight being called to board. With a deep breath and the burning coffee in her throat, she went to board her flight.

She was still coughing when she found her seat. And as she settled in, she only thought of one thing. Freedom. She was finally free.

***

Once the plane was in the sky Shadi felt a giddiness inside her. Nothing could stop her. Nothing would ruin her mood on this long flight.

Not even the grumpy old man beside her, muttering profanities under his breath at her accidentally spilt coffee on his shirt. There were  bubbles of joy bursting inside her until she couldn't hold herself anymore.

She told the grumpy stranger that she was admitted into the prestigious dance academy, how it all happened and how ecstatic she was. At first the grumpy old man was annoyed by her and she could tell.

She just didn't care. And slowly, as she went on, the old man found himself intrigued by the story and was now smiling at her. It wasn't in that creepy old man type of way, she decided.

Soon enough, he was telling her about the time he tried to steal a pen from this girl he liked so that he could 'heroically' save the day, that was until she caught him in the act.

She yelled at him and turned around to stomp away, slapping him with her hair in the process, he added while rubbing his wrinkled chin.

Eventually they both fell asleep and were woken by the flight attendant. Before they could part ways, he gave her a card, telling her to stop by whenever she could.

And as she waved him goodbye, she caught herself a cab. Only when she was inside, did she realize that she didn't know the man's name. She looked down at his card.

It just had an address. Although she didn't feel threatened with the old man, she felt a twinge of doubt. She shoved her feelings of uncertainty to the back of her mind as she climbed out the cab.

She paid the man and turned around to look at her new home. It was a three floor, red brick apartment. Looking out of place by the two surrounding buildings, obviously new and exciting.

It was colder here in the states than it was back home and she rushed to enter the apartment. She had expected the building to have few to no tenants at all. But it had quite the number.

She saw a few teens entering what seemed to be a gift shop, an elderly woman drinking tea and a few other people. She moved to what she hoped was the reception.

Unfortunately she didn't see the plastic in front of her, so she tripped and fell forward. Into a man-like-wall. No, it was man. And as she looked up, she noticed that it was a very angry man.

It seemed as if for a moment, time stood still. That was until she noticed that everyone had left. She stood up and stared at the man. "I'm sorry. See, my name is Shadi , and I'm new in the country and I.."

"Shut up.", he cut her off.

The man looked at her coldly, causing a sudden interest of the floor to peak. Though she was hardly listening, her excitement barely contained.

That was until he said it. He called her a stupid girl. She glared at the ground. 'Well you're not a ray of sunshine, blast you. ', she muttered and moved to get her keys from the lady. She grabbed her keys and moved up the stairs.

She made sure her steps were loud and proud, just like she was. That man's opinion didn't mean anything to her. Oh no! It certainly did not make her wanna curl up and cry.

No! She was a strong woman. A very strong woman. And when she was sure she had fully convinced herself of this she entered her room.

***

The apartment was of a fair size, on the second floor. The first thing she noticed was how dusty it was. And as she moved to open one of the windows, the strained sound of the creaking floorboards under her weight filled the room.

She frowned. The window wouldn't go up. The bars were rusted, the paint was peeling off and she could feel a cough tickling the back of her throat. She covered her mouth and hurried to make her way out of the room.

There, she let out her once held breath. Gulping the air around her selfishly. Once she had regained a regular breathing pattern, she went downstairs to the reception, asking for a dust mask.

***

Shadi stuck her head out, after checking that no one was in the corridor, she made a quick dash to the stairs. Once she had made it she leaned against the wall, she let out a breath.

"What are you doing?", said an unknown feminine voice. Shadi jumped and lost her footing. She was now trying to find her balance on the the final step without falling down to her doom.

Yet again luck was not on her side and she began rolling. Down and further more down the stairs. This is what happens to creepy creepers busy creeping like creepy creeps.

Shadi didn't know whether or not to be grateful that she was done rolling or upset at her painful landing. Grunting she pushed herself up, only to feel a searing pain in her hip.

***
Hello my lovely lemons,

Feeling quite chipper today, so here it is, the first chapter of my first African-ish story. Yay! 🙃😋🙃
Just like all my other stories, I'm still working through it so please give it some time.

Lots of lemon
Lemonade 🍋