The big day was finally here, and I didn’t know what to make of it.

I arrived at the airport a little earlier than what the arrival was programmed for, not wanting to deal with the traffic that would begin soon as most people returned home from their jobs. Finding the gate was easy enough, I even managed to get a seat before the room got crowded. I figured these were the people who had families that decided to extend their vacation to the very last minute, regardless of school or responsibilities.

I chuckled, finding humor in the situation. I used to be the one having someone wait for me, usually Mom, whenever I went to an outing with my friends; now that the roles were reversed, I couldn’t help but wonder if the nerves were part of the package too.

I glanced at the clock on the wall across from my seat, the hour and minute hand still in place while the second hand slowly made its way to meet them. Six-thirty-three. Twelve more minutes before she arrived.

For the past couple of months, Mom and I had been preparing the house for the arrival of our exchange student. My father had been the one to suggest the idea a couple of years back, when he and Mom were still together, as his response to me wanting a sibling. I figured he wasn’t serious and just trying to buy time long enough that I would dismiss the idea as I grew up, which eventually happened. So, when I came back one day from school and my mother of all people said what would I think of hosting an exchange student? To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

She had explained how there were no commitments yet, so far there had only been the back and forth of information between her and the school: Our responsibilities, how long we could afford to host the student, how the matching process worked and so on.

“I know this is a lot, sweetie, so I wanted to talk to you about it before I went any further with this” she had said.

I wasn’t sure what I was feeling exactly, and some part of me believed that it was a normal response, after all, something of this magnitude required planning, making necessary changes to our schedule; I thought of my car and having someone else to share the ride to school with, then I also remembered how we could have the best intentions and our inexperience could still ruin things for everyone.

The other, more honest part of myself said that I wasn’t ready for a change of pace.

“Excuse me?”

I blinked as the words brought me back to my current surroundings. With my train of thought interrupted, I looked up to where the voice had come from. A thirty-year-old looking woman wearing a hoodie and an elderly lady grabbing her arm stood by my right side.

I had an inkling of what she was going to ask me, so I started to reach for the floor.

“Is there any-”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence. I picked my bag from below my seat as I stood up, motioning the old lady to take it. She gave me a soft ‘thank you’ and slowly let go of the arm of the other woman, giving her a look that to me seemed to be meant to reassure her that she could sit on her own.

After whatever worries she had died down, the younger woman turned towards me, “Thank you, my mother likes to pretend she’s not that old, but I can tell when she’s getting tired,” she said.

“It's not a problem, the flight I’m waiting for will be here soon, so I had to get up anyways.” I responded.

“Do you also have family coming back?”

“Yes”, I lied. I knew she was only trying to make small talk, but I didn’t exactly feel comfortable telling a stranger my business.

“I feel jealous”, She replied. “My brother, he went with his wife to Orlando and sent me some pictures of them at the beach. It really made me wish we had something we could go swim at around here.”

“Well…there’s the Dome, though I guess the pool doesn’t really beat the real thing, no matter how fancy they make it.”

“And it’s not even the main attraction anymore”, she interjected, “Sure, the thing is still going strong and brings in a lot of people, even more so during this time of the year, but every time I hear the Dome being brought up is always about the new stuff. The holograms, the computers- In fact, weren’t they going to make another exhibition?”

“You mean the automation one?” I answered.

“Yeah, I think that’s the one”, she made a pause, “If you had asked me ten years ago what I thought about all the tech rush going on in the world I would have just shrugged it off as a craze”.

The woman opened her mouth, intent on keeping the conversation going, but the sound of a chime from the speakers cut her off.

“Good afternoon,” The announcement began, “Flight PK 7865 from Chicago has arrived, and the passengers will soon begin to disembark. As they collect their belongings and make their way to the exit gate, we ask that you stay clear from the doors to ensure faster movement, and to allow passengers with connecting flights to reach their boarding gate on a timely manner. From the Dencemont International Airport, we thank you for your cooperation and wish you a great day.”

A crowd began to form around the doors despite the announcement’s plea. There were some cries of excitement, muffled laughs, exasperated sighs and one or two people getting posters with greetings ready to be identified by their recipient.

Me? I stayed where I was. Joining the sea of people would only make it more difficult for her to see me once she left the plane, and it would also make it easier to leave as soon as possible.

The doors started to open; a moment of silence passed where the crowd held their breath until the first passengers came out. One after another, they turned their heads to look for familiar faces, those that did were greeted with hugs and small talk, those that weren’t either had to wait just a few more seconds before someone recognized them or simply kept walking.

It was somewhere around the second wave of passengers that it dawned on me I hadn’t taken out my sign yet.

I dropped my bag on the floor, opening it and taking out the white cardboard that would save me the embarrassment of yelling and probably butcher the name of the girl in front of everyone. Maybe I was overthinking it and she wouldn’t really mind, but I decided to err on the side of caution, at least until we could get to know each other better.

As I raised the sign high enough that I thought it would be visible, I noticed the woman I was talking to had moved to where her mother was. It made sense, the conversation had been interrupted and my attention had moved on to the people getting off the plane. The window of opportunity presented itself and she took advantage of it.

The size of the crowd began to dwindle as the minutes went by, not too much, but just enough for me to be able to have a good view of whoever came through the doors. With each new wave my focus grew higher, eyes darting between each person that fit the profile, being careful not to make a false move in case they weren’t her. For a moment, I feared that we might have missed each other, and she had wandered the airport alone. The possibility of that happening was slim and if I was being honest, illogical, but as the seconds went by and no one approached me I couldn’t help but think of the worst.

Then I saw her.

Nearly my height, she had light brown skin, and dark curly hair long enough that some of it spilled over her shoulders. She wore jeans, sneakers, and a plain green t-shirt, which scored some points with me as I wasn’t one to use shirts with designs that much.

She stood still, one hand on the handle of her luggage, and her head looking up from where I was. As she lowered her gaze, my eyes met hers, and I guessed my sign did the trick because she started to approach me with confidence, wearing a bright smile on her face that gave her an aura of kindness.

“Marianne?” She asked, stopping just a few feet away from me.

I had expected the accent, though you really had to pay attention to notice it. Her voice on the other hand, surprised me. I had thought a high-pitched voice was likely from the way she looked, but was proven wrong with how smooth it was.

“Yeah, but Mary’s fine,” I replied. “Are you-”, I prepared myself, “Belisaria?”

“Yes!” Belisaria exclaimed.

“Cool, it’s nice to meet you. Do you need any help with your bags?”

“No, I’m okay, but thank you.” Then, offering me her hand, she added, “Nice to meet you as well.”

I shook her hand, giving her a smile of my own. So far so good.

“I should probably mention,” I started as I let go of her hand. “My mom had to sub for a coworker at the very last minute so she couldn’t come with me, but she wanted me to tell you she, quote unquote, ‘was really sorry for missing out on your very first day here, and she’ll make sure we have a girls night out soon to make up for it’.”

Yes, the irony of my mother not being here didn’t escape me, but in all fairness it really had been a last-minute call from her job, and they needed her badly there. I couldn’t really complain about it.

“Oh, that’s okay, I thought she was in the bathroom because I didn’t see her with you, but thanks for letting me know.”

“Yeah, I told her we would have plenty of time to show you around, but it was a big deal to her, so if you could just humor her when she asks you about it that would be perfect.”

Something in the way I said that must have been funny, because Belisaria gave out a snort before saying, “I will keep that in mind.”

As glad as I was about how well our conversation was going despite my worries, I wanted to get us home at a decent hour to give Belisaria time to unpack and find us something to eat, which meant we needed to move fast.

"I don't want to sound rude, but traffic is gonna get rough in a minute if we don't hurry, would it be okay if we leave now?" I asked.

She nodded in response, grabbing her luggage as we went on our way to the garage.

It was amazing how much the airport had changed over the past couple of years. Everywhere we looked was crowded with enhanced advertisements, what they promoted could range from the shittiest of headphones to Ashtynn Bella's upcoming concert. It didn't matter, what attracted us was the holographic images, the disturbingly realistic visuals that always managed to catch our attention without fail. Most of them worked under the same method: A projector would slowly build up a rough three-dimensional form of the product in pixels and work it's way until all the finer details came together.

“You know, I wasn't expecting to be exposed to the future this early, we haven't even left the airport yet”.

Belisaria's words caught me off guard. I had no idea what she was talking about so I simply offered an, “hmm?”.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Yeah, like isn't that the whole deal with Dencemont?”, she asked.

Oh, now I knew what she was on about.

“I don't…think it's accurate to call it that anymore, we still pump new toys every now and then but I know for a fact that other places like New York and Boston have the same tech we do. Actually I think they're pushing for some kind of inclusion of tech in schools at New York”, I answered.

Dencemont had been called the city of the future way back when I was a child. The development of technology such as cassettes and flip phones made us a huge deal, in no small part thanks to how portable they were. My dad used to tell me how in his day people carried phones the size of my arm around and used vinyls at home to listen to music. They had no replacement yet, but with Boston's entrance on the stage thanks to their development of personal computers and New York's investment on the internet it was clear we were no longer top dog in the country, let alone the world.

“Is Mexico City the same?”, I asked.

Belisaria's expression shifted, a grimace forming on her face as she began to speak.

“In a way, but I think in our case it's reflected more on the subway system than anywhere else. There was so much publicity and promises from the party in charge to make the city completely connected that we were all really surprised when they actually made it happen”, she said.

“Because of logistics?”, I ventured.

“Oh no, we just didn't have any faith in it, that's all.”

Damn.

Belisaria continued, “You would be surprised how many times projects like that would be either forgotten, or made completely different from what was originally promised. Now?, We've got not only a subway system that connects the city but most of the country too. It's only a matter of time until the states in the north are connected as well.”

“But?”

“But”, she said, dragging the word into buuuuut. “It could be better, it could be safer, and it could also not be so damn late all the time.”

I chuckled, “Sounds like New York.”

“I don't know about that”, she responded, the humor noticeable in her voice. “I would need to jump in there to properly compare.”

Belisaria and I kept sharing stories, each word shattering the silence that, up until a few hours ago I was sure would be there with us. The garage couldn't have been more than ten minutes away from the gate but it might as well have been seconds for me. Our long conversation only stopped as we finally reached my car.

I helped Belisaria get her bags inside, feeling relieved for the extra trunk space of my SUV as it was almost full by the time we put everything inside. Just as I got ready to turn the engine on and get us home, a question came across my mind.

I turned towards Belisaria, “Your name…did I say it right?”

She looked at me for a moment. “No”, she answered, and then, with a smile, she asked, “Did I say yours right?”

“Close enough”, I responded.

“Then don't worry about it. If you want, we can help each other. I came here to be better in English after all, and I can teach you some Spanish.”

“I could definitely use the help for my Spanish class”, I said with a giggle.

“Sounds good. Do you wanna start now?”

----------------------------------------

“There's more space in this drawer if you want to put your stuff in it.”

“Thank you, I'll put some of my shirts there”, Belisaria said.

We had arrived at my house some fifty minutes after we left the airport. The game plan was to help Belisaria set up in her room, give her a tour of the house, and go eat. I told her we could take it easy, we had avoided the worst of the traffic and all the food places closed around ten. It was barely eight o'clock right now. Mom wouldn't be back until late at night and she would probably crash as soon as she got into bed so introductions would probably have to wait until tomorrow morning.

“Okay”, I said as I put one of Belisaria's jackets on the closet. “I think I'm ready for another one.”

“La verdad es relativa pero la neta es absoluta.”

Well, alright.

“So I'm catching something about the truth and…being relative?”, I offered to the best of my ability.

“Yeah! The full thing would be something like, ‘The truth is relative but the neta is absolute’”, Belisaria explained. “It's like a street saying, my brother was the one that said it to me.”

“What's neyta?”, I asked.

“Ne-ta”, She corrected. “It's like”, she seemed to struggle to find the words, “a word that we use to tell someone to be honest with us, or when we want others to know we're telling the truth. It's supposed to mean the same as truth.”

“Like when we call something bullshit when we think it's a lie?”

“I think that’s the best way to put it.”

“Heh, that's funny.”

I had thought that my Spanish wasn't terrible, but after hearing her talk I was completely taken aback by how fast Belisaria could speak it. I knew it was her first language but still, there were leagues of difference between us.

“Your turn now”, Belisaria said.

“Girl, I really don't think you need help with English, you speak it really well”.

She shrugged, “You can always keep improving, just try and give me something hard”.

Hmm. “Okay, here goes: They're going to get their papers at the store over there”, I threw. “Can you tell me what kind and where I'm using each ‘there’?”

Belisaria frowned, arms crossed and deep in thought. After a few seconds, she extended her hand and began raising a finger. “The one with i is before the papers”, she raised another finger, “The other one, the one with a wye is the one at the beginning”, she raised a third and final finger, “And the last one is the, umm, the normal one at the end.”

“The ‘normal’ one?”, I asked, emphasizing the word as a coy smile formed on my face.

“I can spell it if you want”, she retorted.

“I'm just messing with you. But you just proved my point, I threw you a curveball and you hit it out of the park.”

“You do pretty well too, you just need more practice.”

I decided to take the compliment at face value. All of Belisaria's belongings had finally been organized so we decided to stop our impromptu lesson and start giving her a rundown of the house.

“Well, obviously this is your room, and right across from it is mine, it's pretty much like yours except it's smaller. At the left is my mom's room, it's probably the biggest room in here and also the only one that has a bathroom in it.” I made a pause. “Don't hesitate to ask either of us for anything you might need help with, okay?”

She nodded.

“Okay, there's the living room with a couple of couches right over there to the right of my door, the TV on the stand is pretty old but it still holds up. if you turn around and walk just past the stairs there's the bathroom, it has two sinks and a mirror, a toilet, a closet, and a shower. If you want to you can also switch it so the water comes out to the bathtub.” I turned on the faucet to demonstrate and closed it soon after. “I usually do the cleaning once a week, would it be okay with you if we take turns on the cleaning?”

“Fine with me.”

“Thank you.”

I moved to the right onto the next room. “This is the laundry room, we have a washing machine and a dryer, we also–”

“You don't have–”

We apologized as we urged the other to talk. After a moment of silence, I broke the spell, “You go ahead.”

“I was just wondering if there was anywhere you could put the clothes to dry outside, or just somewhere where the sun can shine its light on it.”

I considered possible places where that could work, but the weather really wasn't gonna make us any favors for the next few months. “I mean, right now I don't think it would work because of the weather, you noticed how it was cloudy outside and it's only gonna get colder and windier. But I know for a fact you can do it on the summer, the sun burns hotter than hell then, so we could probably set the clothes to dry on the yard.”

“That's good to know, thanks. What were you gonna say?”

“Oh, just where the detergent and softener are”, I pointed towards the shelf right above the machines.

“Oh, okay.”

“That's it for this floor, now if you follow me I'll guide you towards the great downstairs.”

“Is that where all the fun happens?”, Belisaria asked as we went down the stairs.

“It depends”, I answered. “When my mom brings her friends it gets lively down there, but when I bring my friends we usually hang upstairs on the living room or in my room. I'm more of a book person though.”

“Must be nice having a quiet house, mine has to handle my mom, my dad, my brothers and I.”

“Must be loud”, I told her.

“Oh it is, but I think we're all used to it. It's been that way my whole life and most of my parents’.”

I turned the lights on when we reached the end of the stairs. There had still been enough light when we had come in but now there was barely enough for good visibility.

“This is the first floor.” I pointed one hand to the left. “Over there we have the other living room, with more couches and a better TV. A little to the right behind the brown sofa is the door to the yard.”

“Can I see the yard?”, Belisaria asked.

“Absolutely.”

I stopped to let her check out the yard from outside, it wasn't cold enough that we needed winter clothes yet but we would get there soon.

Once she had her fill I closed the door behind us and resumed the tour. “The kitchen is right across from the living room. You have the table bar which also has the sink in it. Both the stove and oven are electric, we just had them changed last year. The cabinets above have, from left to right: plates and cups, spices and sugar, and glassware.”

“They're pretty big”, Belisaria mentioned.

“The size is misleading, the things inside don't use up all the space”, I said.

“But I'm guessing that's not true for the pantry.”

“Oh no, that thing is full to the brim.” I opened the door to reveal the cereals, doughs, sweets, pasta, waffles, juices and canned meat and fruits.

She widened her eyes in mock surprise, “Yeah, that is pretty full.”

“Everything in there is fair game. You want it? Take it. It usually lasts us a solid few weeks before we need to go grocery shopping again.”

“I appreciate it.”

“And if we go back to the living room, there's a corridor behind it, on one end there's a bathroom, with a mirror, a sink and a toilet. And on the other end there's the door to the garage.”

I turned around, only one room left.

“And”, I voiced as I walked past the kitchen to the right, stopping at the white double doors besides the entrance. “This is the studio, it used to be my dad's workspace since it has good illumination from the windows inside, but now we mostly use it when I need the computer to do my homework or my mom has work from home.”

With the tour finally over I thought it was finally time to eat, but I needed to check something first.

“Look”, I began, Belisaria's attention wholly focused on me. “There's food on the pantry and the fridge, and I'm pretty sure between the two of us we could cook up something awesome. But I also know you had a pretty long flight and it's nighttime, so there's also the option of eating outside. Whatever you choose, we do.”

She put her hands on her hips, face looking down. “Well, I do like cooking”, she then raised her head, facing me with a fox-like smile. “But not tonight”.

God, her smile was contagious. “Do you need anything from your room?”, I asked.

“No.”

“Let's go then.”

I turned off the lights and headed out the door, Belisaria right behind me. I made sure to lock the door and that I had my wallet with me and headed straight to my car.

The drive wasn't long, a couple of minutes at most. One of the perks of living where I did. I parked right outside the clothes shop, a strategic choice since it was close to the food court.

I guided us through the mall proper, I asked Belisaria what she wanted and said she would eat anything. I liked this girl more and more by the minute

We eventually settled on a burger restaurant called Loaf o' Meat, it was crowded but I had heard it was pretty decent. We sat in a booth, where one of the waiters gave us a menu each. After choosing our drinks, a soda for me and a milkshake for Belisaria, he left to give us time to look at the menu and order.

“I think I'm gonna get the Double Cheddar and Beef, you?”, I asked.

“I'll get… the Chicken Party”, Belisaria replied.

“Okay, as soon as he comes here we'll tell him.”

“You think they'll take long?, it looks busy”

“Maybe, are you that hungry?”

“No, I say it more because of-”, instead of finishing her sentence, Belisaria signaled me with her eyes towards the table next to us.

There, a man looked like he was on the brink of losing his patience at a waitress, with her visibly uncomfortable and looking down.

“I've been waiting for one. goddamn. hour”, the man said, loud enough that some other customers turned their heads around. “I really fucking hope these are some quality burgers, this is absolutely ridiculous”

“I'm sorry sir, some of our staff is still on vacation and we're short of hands”, the waitress replied, a practiced restraint flowing from her voice.

“That's not my problem”, the man spat.

Then why the hell are you still waiting here?, I thought.

“Fucking asshole”, I blurted out without thinking.

“Do you want to leave?”, Belisaria asked.

“No. He doesn't get to ruin our dinner. If this place was as crowded as it was when we entered then he knew what he was in for. We're not to blame for his lack of self-awareness.”

I didn't bother to hide my frustration, I had dealt with plenty of idiots like that in the past, after all.

To my surprise, Belisaria also shared my feelings, “I'm used to seeing it in Mexico, but it's sad to see it happening here too. My older brother works at a fast food restaurant. My father said everyone should work in the service industry at least once in their lives, that's why he did it. He told me it humbled him, seeing people that have to work multiple jobs get treated like shit by others.”

I didn't reply immediately, not sure of what I wanted to say and not knowing the right words for it.

Until I did.

“I think”, I started. “That we could use some more people like your father and your brother”

Those words earned me a ‘thank you’. And I could see how earnest it was by the look of her eyes.

It was soon replaced with an eager one, as she seemed to realize something and raised her hand . I turned around and saw our waiter approaching, I guessed she was trying to get him to take our order.

Despite the clear line of sight however, the waiter ignored us and walked straight to the table with the man who had just made a scene.

“Excuse me sir, we're working on your order, it should be ready soon”, the waiter said. If the smile he was wearing was faked I had to give it to him, it didn't look like it at all.

“What is soon?”, the man asked with little patience.

“Ten minutes”, the waiter calmly replied back.

The concrete number seemed to have worked on the man, he was still angry, but he looked less antagonistic after that.

“Okay, sure”, he said. That would have been the cue for the waiter to either take our order or, due to the lack of manpower, focus on any issues that needed his immediate attention.

The waiter didn't move.

He stared at the man, long after he had already said his piece. At first the man was confused, but that soon transformed into anger, which fully came out in his next words: “What?”

I couldn't see it clearly from where I was sitting, but the waiter seemed… confused?

“No, it's just– There's something in your eye, sir.”

I don't know what happened first.

The waiters’ index and middle fingers, pushing through the man's eyes as if they were no more than a piece of paper, or the screams from the customers who had just witnessed him doing so.

The man was down in seconds, blood pouring from where his left eye had just been and staining his blue t-shirt and green cargo shorts. Both of his hands covered his eye, maybe a reflex in response to the pain, as he agonized on the floor, sobbing.

And the waiter just stood there, droplets of blood falling from his fingers, mere inches away from his face. Observing them like they were the most fascinating thing in the world.

I don't know how long it took me to process what had happened, but by the time I came to myself I had noticed something else entirely.

There were customers who had rushed to the man's aide, regardless of medical knowledge or experience. And others who, after waking up from their stupor, had quickly restrained the waiter.

But there were others who simply… did nothing.

Not like the bystanders, who had congregated around the area and were either too terrified or morbidly curious to do anything. Or the ones who had fled, eager to get out of whatever danger they might have sensed.

I was talking about the ones that looked exactly like the waiter did. Simply standing there, their expressions dead. Not a single reaction coming out of their bodies.

Every single cell of my body screamed the same thing: Run.

I got up from the booth, grabbing Belisaria from the wrist, not caring if I used too much force, I could apologize later. I needed to get us out of there.

I pushed through the crowd, feeling my heart sink when one of the dead-looking people focused their sights on us. I ran faster, and the only thing that greeted me after we reached the inside of the mall was more chaos.

I could see people running in every direction, fleeing from something.

In one of the stores across from us a lady was crawling, her legs looking wrong, bent in a way that could only have come from violence. I did not want to stay and find the source.

Belisaria seemed to have regained her senses, so I told her that we were gonna go through the clothes shop, and to keep up.

I mentally cursed. The cacophony of sounds made it extremely hard to concentrate. Every person in front of me could try and hurt or kill us, and they thought the same about us.

We had barely made it towards the clothes shop when I stopped dead in my tracks.

A body laid in front of me, I had only managed to evade it because of Belisaria's warning. Just a few inches more and I would have been just below it. Dead on impact, I could only conclude it had fallen from the upper floors.

Or was it pushed?

I couldn't, or didn't want to think about the implications of that question. Not when we were this close to the exit.

We kept running past the aisles, not slowing down for a second. Around me, I could see other people running in the same direction. I could also see others being attacked, I had the impulse of stopping and trying to help, but I just kept running. I couldn't risk it, not when there were so many of them. I forced the thought out of my way as I felt tears running down my cheeks.

The whole world seemed to stop when I heard the shots.

I nearly tripped as I stopped, and I had to summon the strength to get myself back up quickly and turn Belisaria around.

The clothes’ shop exit was not an option anymore.

We could outrun single people, maybe a group if we timed it right. But I didn't trust myself to evade bullets when I also needed to worry about someone else.

Going back to the mall was too much of a risk as well. Too much open space. Too many things that could go wrong.

As if to prove me right, the power went out.

We were in complete darkness. It was only because of Belisaria grabbing my hand and whispering to me to get down that I managed to regain some sense of control.

We crawled towards the back of a kiosk, hands on our mouths to try and mitigate any sounds we could make.

It was then that I realized how quiet everything was. No more screams, no more shots and no more running.

But we weren't alone. And they knew that too.