Marble Hills (BWWM)[CURRENTLY BEING REEDITED]

Car Trips

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To be perfectly honest, I usually have a lot of trouble falling asleep in cars. I mean, a fast moving object that runs over bumps and grooves, as well as speeding along the curves of the road?

Nah.

I am a nervous-wreck if that wasn't completely obvious for everything about me. I get anxious about food, traveling, school, spiders, and other various horror films I probably watched way too young. I'm the type of girl who will stay up for the entire length of a road trip until I'm back in my bed, no matter how self deprived I may be. This car ride was no different.

The man who had picked me up from the airport had been quietly driving for about an hour before I quickly became bored of the scenery. As I said before, his aura was very daunting and I can't imagine I could hold a conversation with him very long before the anxiety would kick in. But I decided it was better than staring out of a window.

"So...?" I continued the word as if it was a question. He raised an eyebrow at me and gave me a taunting smile through the rear-view mirror.

"So?" He asked back. I feel my face flush in embarrassment. I threw in a light cough in hopes of distracting him from my nervousness.

I tapped my fingers against the seat beside me and I licked my lips praying that sudden dryness within my throat would go away. "What's your name?" I finally asked in.

He smiles at me through the mirror.

"About time you asked," he responded with. This time the southern accent was evident and I could tell he was definitely someone born in the south. "My name is Milo. I work for your cousin."

'Cousin?' I thought to myself.

"Yes, she's your cousin," he laughs at how I replied.

'Crap, I said that out loud,' I thought as I scolded myself. "What is she like?" I asked him. I hoped to learn a little more information about her.

"You're acting like you don't know her," he said, still grinning from his previous laugh.

"That's because," I said with a sigh, "I really don't know her. My mom never talked about her. I was hoping if you knew anything about their relationship, you would give me a lil' more info on what to expect."

"I mean," Milo gave me a bewildered look. "I know your mom and her were never close or anything, but that's because of your grandparents. Not because of you."

I shook my head. "My grandparents were really nice people," I smiled thinking of them, "They could never hurt anyone."

Milo looked back at me. "I'm talking about your great grandparents on your mama's paternal side? Do you know anything about them?"

"Not really," I said. "Am I supposed to? Mom usually kept her family a secret. I mean, this is the first time I'm hearing about my cousin."

"Yeah," he nods his head in agreeance, "I suppose you're right. She's your mom's first cousin by the way."

"Oh?" I questioned. "Oh my gosh. So my grandpa had a sibling?"

Milo nods his head. "He had a brother. Very successful and very popular man in Marble Hills. A good man near the end. He passed away not too long ago though. Cancer. His wife followed soon after."

"Oh," I whispered quietly. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"I could say the same to you Kendra," he said back to me. The car is suddenly drowned in silence.

"Fortunately," Milo continued, "the family business was taken over by Maria and she has raised profits more in a couple years than her father did in twenty."

"Wow. She's impressive."

Milo nods in excitement, "You can say that again. The oil business is tough business to run so It's amazing to see her flourishing in an industry that would typically reject her. Nice to see we are progressing."

I leaned back in my car seat and looked out the window to see the scenery has changed. The houses have become much larger in size. The doors stand at about, and this is a guess, thirteen feet tall. The other miscellaneous buildings are polished with not a single graffiti tag on the side. The sidewalks were marbled and unlike anything I had ever seen. 

It made the entire place feel regal. On top of that, not a single piece of trash was littered within the streets and the roads became much more smooth. I couldn't feel a single bump from inside the car. And above all that - let's not forget the rolling green hills in the background that rise above all of the structures.

"Welcome to Marble Hills," Milo said--pulling me from my thoughts. "I think there's something you should know about Marble Hills."

I turned to face in the direction of Milo. "Looks expensive," I said back to him.

He laughed again. "It's one of the wealthiest towns in the country," he retorts.

"I've never heard of it until a couple of days ago."

"I'm sure there's a reason for that," Milo continued, "This town is really...different from Chicago."

Now I smiled and replied, "Yeah, I can see that."

"No jokes Kenya," Milo said to me sternly. "This place is filled with some of the most wealthy people in the United States, but you're gonna see a lot of ugly and bigotry behind their faces. Things that you're used to doing up in the North won't pass down here unless you look like them. Which, and not to be rude, you don't."

I raised my eyebrow and asked, "What are you implying? I'm gonna be a target cause I'm black or dark-skinned or something? Are you saying no black people live in this entire town?"

"Not one," he replied smoothly. "You're the first one in awhile. And I'm not saying you're gonna be a target, but just understand people with money often tend to act differently towards people who don't have money. Just..be careful."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. It was until we arrived in front a large steel gate when Milo spoke again.

"We are here," he said to me as he typed in what seemed to be the passcode to the gate. All of sudden the once closed gates were now opening up - allowing us to drive through. Once past the gate, I could truly get a view of Maria's estate. And it was massive!

The house could have easily fit my old house within itself thirty times. There were luxurious fountains and sparking fairy lights dangling across the trees. The house itself wasn't very tall meaning that amount of floors were limited, but it was extremely wide and it honestly had a shape similar to a strip mall, but the designs and decorations of a Royal wedding.

"Maria, lives here?" I asked Milo in complete shock. "Holy crap is she secretly the Princess of Alabama?"

"Uh," Milo laughed, "I don't believe Alabama has a Princess, but yeah the house is very nice."

I shook my head as I agreed with his underdeveloped opinion.

Milo parked the car close to the entrance and very close to the tall front door, but he doesn't turn it off. It confused me, but I pushed the thoughts away. Milo ran around the car quickly to open my door. This took me by surprise as I jumped back quickly into the seat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said to me.

I smiled and said, "This place is really huge."

"28,000 square feet," Milo started, " eight bedrooms, ten bathrooms, and an assortment of other fun things I'm sure Maria would like to show you herself."

"You're absolutely correct, I would."

The voice is unfamiliar yet not completely unsettling. I turned around to the one person I was most nervous about meeting.

"Maria."