Shannon West stood outside the airport patiently waiting for Ruby, her cousin, to come pick her up. She was in a great mood since she's in an entirely different country from hers. She kept on listing things in her mind that she wanted to do here. They were a lot.
All of a sudden, the once quiet vicinity turned in chaos, with people running from something. She was confused and scared. What were they running from? Why do they look terrified? She was almost pushed over by a little boy. She quickly got a hold of him.
"Hey, what's happening? Why is everyone running?" She asked the little boy, who was struggling to free himself from her grip.
"If you love your life, run nitwit." He said and freed himself from her grip, running away. Her questions were answered as she heard sounds of gunshots. She didn't hesitate to run back into the airport building. The security guards were already shutting the doors, she just narrowly went through with her luggage.
There was panic all over the area as the gunshots echoed. Shannon was getting really scared. She watched, with other people, through the glass walls.
There were a group of guys wearing all black outfit and masks, they were the ones who were shooting. They were shooting at another set of guys wearing the same all black attires and masks. It was a gun battle. Shannon cringed as she heard the gunshots and saw people falling on the floor. She quickly looked away from the violent scene. She was definitely not use to this.
After some a long gun Battle, the groups started fleeing to different directions because of the siren of the cops coming their way. They abandoned those who got shot and ran away. Soon, there were no signs of the two groups who were involved in the gun battle. Shannon heaved a sigh of relief as the savage scene was over.
Walking outside, everything and everyone had almost gone back to normal. There were broken glasses on the road due to the impact of stray bullets on car glasses, shop windows and doors etc. Some shop items were destroyed.
But Shannon was surprised at how everyone got back to their normal activities. Could it be that this kind of gun battle was a normal thing for them? Jeez. She couldn't imagine this, being a normal thing. Looking at the road and sidewalks, there were blood all over, goshing out from probably dead youths. Yes, they were youths. The cops remove their masks.
Shannon's mind wandered about. Why would this happen? Was she really safe here?
A yellow Lamborghini pulled over in front of her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked over at Ruby, who came down from the car. She was wearing almost nothing. She wore a yellow fish net shirt. Her white bra was visible due to the net and it exposed a huge deal of a cleavage. And then on her waist was a white shirt that was the same length as the net dress.
"Shannon." Ruby called with a sweet smile and embraced her. "Welcome to Canada." She said refraining from her.
"R..Ruby can we leave this place?" Shannon asked nervously, still overwhelmed by what happened ten minutes ago. Ruby stared at her with a slight smile and then helped her with her luggages. She placed them at the back of the car and they both got into the front seat. Ruby started the car and drove. Shannon still couldn't get her mind off the dead bodies at the airport.
"Hey, you alright?" Ruby asked glancing at Shannon.
"Do you know about what happened at the airport vicinity earlier?" Shannon asked instead, looking at Ruby. Ruby's gaze was fixed on the road.
"Yup." She answered, taking a packet of cigarettes from under her seat with her eyes still on the road. She took one out of it and took a lighter from her purse which was beside her. She held the steering wheels with her elbows and lighted the cigarette. She kept the lighter back in her purse and placed the lighted cigarette in her mouth, sucking it in and puffing out white smoke. The whole thing got Shannon stunned.
"What?" Ruby asked, when she caught Shannon staring at her.
"You smoke?" Shannon asked in perplexity.
"Yeah." She said. "You should try it out sometimes. It reduces stress." She said, taking it again. Shannon cringed at the idea.
"I'll pass." Shannon said and Ruby chuckled. Shannon remembered what she wanted to ask Ruby before the whole cigarette thing. "Why were those people killing each other? Do they always do that?" She asked.
"Yeah, it's a pretty regular thing around here. But don't worry too much, where I live is safe." Ruby said giving her an assuring smile, then taking the cigarette again.
"But why?" Shannon asked.
"I guess they had an issue again. The two groups are always on each other's neck.. Damn.. I thought he would go easy this time around." She said, muttering the last part but Shannon heard it.
"He? You know them?" Shannon asked and Ruby glanced at her shortly and focus her attention on driving and smoking. She deliberately ignored Shannon's question. They remained silent till the car parked and stopped in the garage filled with fleets of cars, different in colours.
They alighted from the car and Shannon looked around. The house was not bad at all, it was nice. Actually a duplex painted white, with glass walls on the second floor.
"Welcome to my residence." Ruby said and took in the last drag of cigarette and she threw the remnant into the trash can. Shannon took her luggages from the car and they both walked in. The house was quite a beauty. Pink was the major colour of the house. Pink sofas and throw pillows, pink glass table in the middle, pink posh curtains etc. The house had a nice fragrance also. Over at the dining table, there were eight chairs around the beautiful glass table. She wondered why Ruby bought this much chairs when she lived alone.
"I'll show you to your room." Ruby said and led Shannon upstairs. They walked pass two rooms then Ruby opened the door to the third room and they both walked in. It was also all pink, from the bed covers, pillowcases, closet door, reading table etc.
"Wow, it's nice." Shannon said with a smile.
"It's not as huge as your room at home, so I'm glad you like it." Ruby said. "Okay, so.. you can do whatever you want while you are here. I'm not gonna lock you up the way your parents do." She said and laughed while Shannon rolled her eyes. Ruby was always teasing her about her strict parents. "Feel free here, but don't do anything that would make aunt and uncle kill me." She said.
"I've heard you.. and.. what about what you promised me." Shannon asked with a pout.
"I haven't forgotten about it. But I still wonder why you want it though, but, okay. I'll just go easy on you." Ruby said and Shannon smiled. "I'll be going out now. I've got somewhere to be right now." She said.
"Dressed like this?" Shannon asked.
"You know, I was waiting for you to comment on it, gosh you're so innocent." Ruby said, chuckling.
"Well, you look exposed." Shannon said. Ruby rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah, so I'll be back soon. There are food, snacks and drinks in the kitchen. Help yourself out when you get hungry, okay?" She said.
"Okay." Shannon said and Ruby walked out of the room while Shannon sat on the bed. She sighed. "Finally free." She said with a wide smile as she looked around the room. "I think I'm going to love it in Canada.
