Leah
Another job, another mysterious bag that I had to give to Leah. Though Leah would’ve killed me if she ever found out I went snooping into her stuff, I looked inside one of the bags once to see what she was guarding so intensely that she only trusted me to hand deliver it to her. Instead of seeing some deep dark secret that would send bombshells rippling throughout the world and tearing off the
front pages of the magazines she had appeared in, I saw donuts. Donuts. So that was the secret. Leah Harkin’s famous diet that gave her the perfect curves and healthiest lifestyle- was a lie. It was strange, I already knew that Leah had gotten plastic surgery and lied to the media about her diet, so it never made sense why I was forbidden from looking in the bag. Although, there was always an envelope that came with it that I was never able to open. Leah would know. I was already lucky enough to get away with prying into what lay within the white bags of mystery. I couldn’t get away with opening the crisp white envelope that was sealed with the same scarlet wax in the shape of a rose. Not with Leah’s prying eyes. And certainly not with my poverty. Not when she was watching me as it is.
I geared up to get out of my car, the frost already taking over my windshield, turning the world into a blur of ice. The air was already getting colder with the heater turned off, but I didn’t want to leave.
There was something comforting about these black cloth seats. It wasn’t a very stylish car but it got around okay. Nothing I had was very nice- well, that was after I ran away a year ago. It seemed like a lifetime. Back when I had first met Leah after sneaking on to her plane. Back when she had made her first big decision without a clue of what she was doing. Back when my parents wanted me to be something I wasn’t. Now, she didn’t know what was worse- my sad, empty pockets, or my lavish, lonely lifestyle. Thinking about it just made me ache for the familiarity of France. I had Leah, but Leah was a snob. Too busy rolling in her pools of money to pay attention to anything else. I guess that’s what rich people are like. I hate rich people. I’ve been around them my whole life. I hate rich people.
Still, I had to suck up my pride. I was living with a rich snob after all. With a sneer on my face, I kicked open my car door, light bathing the car’s black interior and glistening off its obsidian exterior, finally getting to shed its true brilliance. I had to squint against the harsh change in lighting as I stepped out of the car and my Carmel boots slid on the ice, nearly sending me into a plummet toward the freezing ground. In a moment of panic, my arm caught in the door’s handle. It saved me, but twisted my arm in an awful direction. I let out a yelp of pain as I struggled to keep at least half my body on the seat. My arm inevitably slipped and I fell straight into the ice, immediately turning my legs numb from the frozen ground. Thank god the bag was in the passenger seat and I didn’t crush all of its contents inside my hands. Especially because Leah was rushing out of the manor before me, nearly slipping on the ice herself.
« Amy! » she giggled as her brown boots slid on the ice, causing Leah to completely lose her footing as her beanie fell off and revealed her shiny brunette hair. She picked up her white beanie and began to carefully jog her way over to me, nearly slipping again about a dozen times before making it across the road where I was parked. A big smile begrudgingly tugged at the corner of my lips as my own lavender beanie slipped off and into the road below me. I couldn’t tell if my smile was real or a desperate attempt to look pleased. Leah had that kind of effect.
I began to pick myself up from the floor, my once light wash jeans a deep hue of blue.
« You’re back! » she screamed loudly.
« Yeah, » I said with the fakest laugh to ever escape my mouth. What the hell was that? I even flinched at the sound, loud and echoing throughout the otherwise empty street. Leah either didn’t notice or was too anxious to care.
« You have the bag, right? » she said with growing anticipation in her voice.
« Yes, I do, » I droned before turning around and crawling over the driver's seat and middle console to reach the white bag sitting in my passenger seat. If it wasn’t an inanimate object, I would’ve sworn that damn wax seal was smirking at me. Taunting and heckling my curiosity. I hesitated before grabbing it and climbing out of the car- almost tempted to open the letter right then and there. There was something so alluring about it.
« See, this is why I let you live here, » Leah joked, giving me a warm hug that I did not reciprocate. I simply looped my hands through my belt loops to pull my jeans up and bit my lip. It was times like these when Leah could seem just as jeering as the scarlet letter that lay in the bag she was currently holding tight to her chest and skipping away with.
I watched her distantly, my eyes locking on the grand, iron gates that adorned the front of her three-story mansion. I was just grateful I had one friend in Victoria. A very wealthy friend. Otherwise, I’d be freezing on the streets, likely even dead. It wasn’t until Leah grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the gates that I snapped out of my second envious trance in the span of five minutes.
What is wrong with me? The voices that were constantly arguing over everything in my head answered in dozens of ways. Now I regret asking that question in the first place. Maybe I’ll just ignore them for now. I had too much to deal with with Leah.
As she dragged me closer to the gates, my stomach began to fill with a strange feeling. I couldn’t pick out what it was before Leah started giggling again. Her laugh was the most annoying thing on the planet. But Leah was laughing, so I had to laugh too. Just to deceive her long enough to let me stay here. So she thought we were friends. So maybe, I could survive on whole continents away from home.
