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Step 7: Home
Anika and her newfound friends stuck around the fire that they had built, simply laughing, telling jokes and having fun. Merritt took out a bottle of wine that he passed around and the young girl took her first sip ever of alcohol. It had a sour sweet taste that moved up to her nose that made her grimace at he first try. Tim laughed as he saw her taking the sip and patted her on the back.
« You’re going to get used to it! Trust me! » he said, laughing heartily.
« I’m not too sure I like this stuff… » she said, handling the bottle over to Tim as she wiped her mouth clean.
« Then you don’t have to drink it, Nik…We’re not going to treat you like an outsider just because you dont like alcohol, you know? » said Hugo with a reassuring tone.
«Yah, it would just leave more for the rest of us! » said Vic with an arrogant smile taking the bottle away from Tim who was barely done with his sip .
« Shut up Vic! » said Jenna snatching the bottle away from the hotshot giving the boy an arrogant yet friendly smile of her own « She’ll do what she wants. Period. Nobody wants to hear your constant bragging around here . »
And it went on and on for a few hours, as Merritt took took out another bottle as soon as the one they were drinking was finished. Anika did keep on taking sips and soon enough, she could barely feel her head anymore. And for hours and hours, they all kept on drinking around the fire and Marritt kept on taking out new bottles. Her legs were having more and more trouble supporting her weight and she her head was spinning. Her whole body felt warm and she had the tendency to laugh out loud for absolutely nothing.
At a certain point in the evening, someone mentionned the option of returning to the party. Everyone agreed to go except Hugo.
« You guys go right ahead, I’m heading back home. I’m a little too drunk to dance anyway! » he said smiling.
« Are you still going to come with us Ani? » asked Merritt joyfully. « Obviously, you’re welcome to do so! »
Anika looked at Hugo, and then at all of his friends. Every single cell in her body wanted to be with Hugo. She looked again at Merritt who looked at her straight in the eyes and smiled. He then winked with subtility at her.
« But if you’re tired, you’re welcome to crash at our squatting place. Hugo could lead you there because he’s heading there anyway. » said Merritt in his loud and lively voice.
Anika felt blood rush up to her head and was affraid that she was blushing, but there wasno way to know if she was blushing indeed.
« I…I’m a little tired too… »
« Then we’ll all see you tomorow morning! » said the man laughing. « Good night Ani, Good night Hugo! »
Hugo looked at her and smiled warmly again. The rest of the crew wished the both of them good night as they left the scene, but for the young purple-eyed girl, there was only Hugo and her in her world at the moment.
« Come on! » Hugo said softly « Let’s go… »
The two of them walked for a little while, with an uncomfortable silence hanging over the both of them. Whenever moments like this happened, whenever he seemd at loss for words, Hugo would light up a cigarette, an Anika predicted that he would do so within the next two minutes to pretend that he’s doing something when not talking.
He lit up a cigarette. Anika laughed her hear out.
« What is it Anika? » he asked with a confused look.
« It’s nothing… I just find your habits… funny… Are cigarettes a shield of some sort for you? »
« A shield? »
« A shield! »
« I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about! » he replied.
« Well, you wouldn’t mind giving me one of those shields would you? » she asked laughing.
« But you don’t smoke… » he replied , more confused than ever.
« Whoever said I wanted a cigarette! I want one of those shields! » she said giggling.
« Alright, suit yourself then! » said Hugo, handing her his lighter and his pack of cigarettes.
Anika took both and lit herself a cigarette. As the she inhaled the smoke, she could feel the tingling feeling going down through her tongue, to her her throat and to her lungs. She coughed heavily, spitting out all of the smoke. Trying to catch her breathm the young girl looked at Hugo with teary eyes and a smile.
« I …feel safer already! » she said as she handed him back his cigarettes and his lighter.
Hugo looked at her and laughed.
« I still have no idea what you’re talking about ‘nik… But trust me… You,re going to feel alot safer than that when we get home… Our home… And yours also. »
This time, it was Anika who was at loss for words… Knowing nothing better to do, she kept on smoking that cigarette. It did work as a very effective shield against showing her true feelings at the moment after all…
The squatting place was empty and the only lighting it had were a few candles that had been lit. More than fifty sleeeping bafgs were littering the wooden floor along with hundreds of personnal effects obviously belonging to diferrent people : clothes, empty cigarette packs, lighters, books, a few old radios…
« Home sweet home! » said Hugo when he was done lighting up the last candle.
There was so much space in this abandonned warehouse, enough to house at least a hundred people or so.
« It’s a nice place you all have here… It must be much less lonely than my place. »
« Having people constantly around does get to you after a while… But I still remind myself that we all help each other to survive, and, well, it makes a guy think that this isn’t such a bad place to live after all… It’s actually as good as it gets for the moment for a guy like me… »
« Or for a girl like me? »
« I can’t answer that for you Anika… You’re the only one who can truly know that… But I do have a feeling that if you do stick around with us, things will only get better for me… And for you… »
Hugo sat down on a sleeping bag that seemingly was his.
« Sit down, make yourself at home. » he said .
Hundreds of thoughts bombarded her young mind and she truly didn’t know how to react. Before she knew it however, she was was already sitting next to Hugo.
« Where is everybody else? How many of you live here anyway? »
« Well, there’s something like seventy people that actually live here, and about a hundred more that come very often to visit. But everyone’s at the party we were at earlier on… »
« Oh… »
Another heavy moment of silence.
« I don’t want to invade to much personnal space Anika, but I have to wonder… Why doesn’t a nice and gentle girl like yourself have a home to go back to? »
Flashes of her parents being murdered rushed in and made their wat to her mind. She could hear the gunshots all over again, she could see the hooded murderers clearly in her mind’s eye.
«Should we kill the little girl too? » asked one of the hooded men in her memories « We’d put her out of her misery, she seems rather sad without her parents… »
« No! » answered the second man in a deep authoritary voice « We were paid to kill her parents, period. Professionals like ourselves never kill anybody unless we are paid to do so. You still have alot to learn in this business before you get to where I am right now. »
« Anything you say boss… »
And as the painful memories replayed themselves in her mind over and over again, Anika wanted to stay silent once more. But she looked at Hugo straight in the eyes, and looked at the floor in front of her. She felt his hand going up to hers and squeezing it gently.
« I’m sorry…I only wanted to make conversation…I obviously stirred up some awful memories. »
She squeezed his hand back.
« No… » she replied weakly « It’s alright… I’ll have to face these demons one day rather than running away from them… But I’d rather not talk about it tonight… Let’s just say it was fate that brought me to where I am right now. »
«And it was fate that brought the both of us together. » he replied.
Anika layed her head on his shoulder and they stayed silent for the rest of the night. This time however, it was no longer a silence that felt comfortable. Eventually, the both of them lied down and stayed in each other’s arms, as the candles dies out one by one.
« I’ve finally found a new home! » she said as the sun started to rise.
« Welcome home then Anika Jansen… » Hugo replied , caressing her soft blonde hair.
That was the last thing she heard before falling into a deep comfortable sleep like she hadn’t felt in years…
Hugo was tired, and sleepy, but he didn’t want to fall asleep. He was so comfortable with Anika in his arms that he wanted this moment to last forever. And falling asleep would cut this moment short, and he certainly didn’t want that. He had never had a girlfriend before, and hadn’t felt the need to have one yet. What he felt for Anika was new for him.
For the first time since he had run away from home to get away from his abusive step-father, Hugo could disregard the fac t hat he was in a constant struggle for survival, he could disregard the fact that he was homeless.
While he wasn,t sure if she felt the same thing he felt for her, he could only acknowledge the fact that he felt so goo with her.
Anika wasn’t the only one who had found a new home tonight. He had found one too… A very comfortable home indeed.
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