It was a warm Tuesday morning, birds chirping and a cool breeze blowing by the streets of Sicily, a small suburban town where everyone knew everyone. The houses, midsize family homes, are arranged in a neat pattern, with a car or two outside, and their lawns are perfectly designed and trimmed down with delicate flowery designs as decorations. A local school, church, cinema, and supermarket complete the town.
In one of the houses resides a small family of four, the Maxwells. A standard family they were, Ashley and Tom Maxwell being the parents of 24-year-old Larry and 19-year-old Alexandria, Alex for short. This being the last day of summer break, Alex wakes up to the loud noises from downstairs. Groaning, she tries to bury her head under her pillow to mask the noise, to no avail.
"Sigh, what are they on about this early morning?" she grunts as she sits up, pulling her feet down and slipping her feet into her black sandals that were neatly placed on the soft furry carpet. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she then reaches over to her bedside cabinet, her right hand softly tapping on the wooden top where her glasses lay, grabbing them and placing them on her face. She blinks twice, her eyes slowly adjusting and the view becoming clearer by the second, her image coming into view on the full-length mirror directly standing against the wall across her bed. Black fluffy sandals on her feet, her hairless long legs in full view, black pajama shorts and t-shirt, waist-length black matted hair falling down her shoulders and back, her messy bangs framing her round face almost perfectly. She considered her facial features a little average, despite getting compliments every day from people in her school she classified as weirdos. Yes, she couldn't fathom why anyone would find her attractive in the first place. I mean, all she had was smooth and spotless skin that had never been plagued with acne, pink plump full lips, a slightly sharp nose, large doe eyes with dark long eyelashes, and perfectly shaped eyebrows that completed her natural look. Frankly, she looks just like her mother; everything from her face to her slim, thick body, she took from her. Her dad, ever so unwillingly, blessed her with his personality and dark pin-straight hair.
Shaking her thoughts off, she stands up and walks towards her bathroom to freshen up for the day, ignoring the escalating argument downstairs. She was determined that her day would not be ruined by whatever storm was brewing in the house. After all, she had plans to go swimming with Jenny, her childhood best friend whom she considered her only sister from another mother. Why Jenny had proposed to invite her boyfriend is beyond her; she had hoped that they would spend the day together since she'll be leaving to go join UEL (University of East London) in a week. Having been done brushing her teeth and taking a quick shower, she steps out and heads to her closet, picking out the usual skinny jeans and black long-sleeved tank top. Remembering that they're going to the swimming pool, she switches up the jeans with jean shorts that cover her thick thighs. Brushing up her hair and puts it in a high ponytail, tucking away some of the loosened-up bangs to the back of her ears as she finishes applying her mascara and lipgloss. Packing her swimsuit in her tiny backpack, she picks out her sandals of the day and steps out of her room.
Noticing that the house got pretty quiet except for the sounds of someone scraping the pan in the kitchen, she skips down the stairs as she texts Jenny a good morning text and that she's picking her up in a few. Stepping into the living room and scanning the place for any sign of life, no one was there. She then walks towards the kitchen, and she immediately spots her mom washing the dishes with her back facing her. Standing at 5'3 and with a slim body, she often got mistaken for Alex's sister and not her mother. Ashley had always managed to look and stay young despite being 45 years of age.
Something was wrong. She was not her usual chirpy self, which should have been a sign if Alex had been paying close attention. Alex slips in, mutters a quick "Good morning," picks up an apple, and takes a bite, eyes fixated on her screen as she walks towards the front door. She turns around to look at her mom, concern flashing on her face just for a millisecond, wondering why she did not get a reply, but it quickly disappears as she shrugs and announces "I'm stepping out" while opening the front door. Squinting her eyes, she notices how bright it is outside. The 11 am sun shining in all its golden glory, the perfect weather for washing away the heat in the pool. Fishing out her sunglasses from her bag, she puts them on together with her headphones over her ears and starts walking towards Jenny's house, which was three blocks to the right, away from hers.
As she got closer, she noticed Jenny skipping down the front porch steps and running down the road toward her with a huge smile on her face. Dropping down her headphones and letting them hang over her neck, she opens her arms wide enough just in time to catch her flying into her arms for a good 'ol embrace. They stay like that for a couple of minutes before breaking the hug off with her giving Jenny a cheek kiss and a smile on her face. They chat as they walk a few steps before hearing a car honk behind them, making them jump in surprise and look back in shock only to find Dave, Jenny's boyfriend, in his maroon Toyota Camry, his hand and half his head sticking out of the driver's window, waving towards them. Alex sighs and flips the switch in her head, which automatically brings on the mask with a fake smile as a replacement for the genuine one she had a few minutes ago.
Jenny rushes to his side, as Alex is forced to look away as they share a long kiss, clearly wanting to bite each other's face off. A good minute passes and Jenny calls out her name, and she goes to say the normal salutations after waving "Hi" to him.
"How have you been?"
"Good, you?"
"Been okay."
"Cool."
Alex jumps in the back seat as Jenny occupies shotgun, and Dave calls out, "Everyone ready?" Jenny's squeal was enough to bring her soft smile back to her face as Dave began driving off towards the pool grounds. The ride was boring apart from the music blasting in her headphones and, of course, the view of the town as they zoomed past the houses. Alex had always loved the calm nature of their town, and she enjoyed counting the number of trees that were aligned along each side of the road, noticing how the brown leaves had fallen on the ground and some being blown away by the light breeze. Her thoughts drift to how it's going to be during her first couple of days in university, dreading the human interactions but also excited about the change of environment and what new things it might bring. She's been to the city just a few times, and apart from the loud noises, she loved the busy nature. People always seemed to be rushing somewhere, and the only ones idle were the street beggars on the sides of the streets.
Her thoughts were interrupted, and she was forced to come back to reality the minute they hit an abrupt brake, jerking her off the seat, her hands shooting ahead to brace herself on the back of the driver's seat. Startled, she looks ahead, seeing a black SUV directly in front of the car that had also braked right before Dave hit its side. Dave proceeds to stick his head out and starts apologizing for not paying attention to the intersection, but the black SUV just zooms past them without paying as much attention to him.
"Rude much; the least they could have done is roll down their window and acknowledge me," he mutters angrily as he starts the car once more and steps on the gas.
Alex situates herself comfortably once more after making sure Jenny is okay and checking her seat belt. Not even three minutes pass and her eyes randomly landed on the side left side mirror that was where she was watching the road from and she noticed the same black SUV with heavily tinted windows slowly driving behind them. The first thought was to just ignore it, but after ten minutes of taking different corners, she notices the car trailing behind them. She panics but doesn't have time to tell the others as they pull into the swimming parking lot and the black SUV zooms past them. She brushes it off her head and focuses on stepping out of the car and having a good time, failing to notice that the SUV had parked just a few meters ahead, something she will come to regret in a few hours.