Ashes Of The Phoenix. Jane Fade Merrick

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СКАЧАТЬ crossing a group of punks seated on some secluded steps. Her thoughts were giving her a headache, so she decided to walk through secondary roads. There, the streets were definitely less trafficked and she could move faster.

      The search for the place she needed to reach was very unnerving but at least she didn’t have time to think about the life she had left. At times, it even seemed to her to be walking along familiar roads, she stopped every now and then to look at the overflowing windows of some Arabian shop with the temptation to go in and steel something, because she was starving. She cursed Jag for letting her to get used to eating early in the morning.

      She stood still in front of a store remembering those days, and then she shook herself, deciding not to think about them, focusing her attention on the items in front of her.

      On a side shelf, lying between multi-coloured diaries, one with a black cover and shiny Gothic accentuated designs stood out. The girl couldn’t help but feel a connection between her and that object in that exact situation. Then she skated away.

      Over two hours later, she found herself in a large square full of pigeons. She hated pigeons; she couldn’t stand the sight of them since she had seen a group of them fighting over a fried chicken thigh on the ground. She also hated fried chicken, which is why that disgusting association of 'fried cannibalism' aroused her disgust for birds.

      Suddenly she heard Jag calling her from afar, his voice was accompanied by the noise of flapping wings from a large group of birds. Turning around, she saw the boy sitting on the back of a large lion's statue; his waving had scared all the birds around him. She reluctantly skated toward him, banging her skates noisily to get rid of the wretched animals that blocked her road, but they just flew a few yards further and continued to peck the ground; others flew around her head making her feel under the attack of an enemy fleet.

      When she reached the boy she was quite bemused. He cheerfully drew bread crumbs from a paper bag and threw them to the birds; he even had a pigeon on his head. Fade solemnly decided that from that day onward she wouldn’t even touch him again.

      The boy threw the crumbs far away and all the birds disappeared, as if they had been tied with invisible threads to the paper bag and had been dragged away with it, then he slid off the metal body of the statue and enthusiastically reached her.

      â€œI guess you didn’t take the taxi,” he said, looking at the wrinkled map in the girl's hands.

      â€œI prefer managing on my own,” she replied proudly.

      â€œCome on, I'll bring you to a special place!” He said running off and raising a column of pigeons with his feet, which dropped back to the ground, creating a sort of grey ‘wave’.

      Shortly later, they found themselves in a narrow pub with wood panelled walls. Behind the counter, a hearty man was about to cut some meat for a sandwich.

      â€œThis is the best kebab in the city. Come on, let’s eat, I'm starving!” He said as he approached the man. She followed him, uncertain as to trust him or not, but her stomach left her without a doubt: she was also starving.

      â€œIbrahim!” The boy called. The man turned suspiciously but then he glowed at the sight of the pink bob.

      â€œJag, you're back! Is it me or have you shrunk?” He kidded him.

      â€œYou're the one who got fatter, you nut head!” The child replied with a hint of animosity in his eyes; the man noticed his look and tried to calm him. “Sorry, sorry, I was just kidding! I’ll make you a nice sandwich!”

      â€œAlright,” he cut him short, still visibly angry, but then his mood changed. “This is Fade!”

      â€œGood morning Miss,” Ibrahim countered, with his back turned as he cut some more meat. “Good morning,” she echoed, weakly.

      â€œIbrahim, I'm going to wash my hands, I’ll have the usual” the boy ordered, heading toward a dark door, through which he disappeared.

      After minutes of endless silence, the man turned around holding a stuffed sandwich in his hand. “What do you want?” He asked seriously. “What do you mean?” She replied suspiciously. “What do you want in your sandwich? You can add any of the ingredients I have here,” he said, pointing with a movement of his eyes to some bowls sunk into the counter, full of weird slops. She looked at them disgustedly. “That's all!” And she grabbed the huge sandwich he offered her.

      The man took a lit cigarette, abandoned on a corner of the counter, and dropped a long line of ash.

      â€œYou must be careful, Miss. Jag isn’t what he seems to be”, he said, and then he took a big puff reducing the cigarette to the filter alone.

      â€œWhat does that mean?” She asked, remembering her own suspects. The owner approached her, leaning against the counter, as if to tell her a secret. Fade also approached him, but not too close, to listen. The man, before starting to speak, exhaled a puff of smoke onto the girl’s face, and she began to cough violently; one of the many things she hated was cigarette smoke.

      The redhead kept coughing, her eyes and lungs burning, the sandwich fell on the floor as the heavy coughs made her head burst as if someone was hitting her with a hammer. Although it seemed absurd to the eyes of the owner, she dropped unconsciously onto the sticky floor.

      â€œMiss!” The terrified man shouted, slipping out from behind the counter to help her, but it was too late: Jag was coming out of the bathroom at that moment.

      â€œIbrahim!” The little boy roared fiercely, “What the hell did you do?” He asked, kneeling next to the girl and holding her head.

      â€œNothing, I was giving her a sandwich and she fainted!” He babbled in confusion.

      â€œGo get a glass of water!” he ordered as he tried to make her com to.

      The man got up and went behind the counter bumping into everything and clumsily filling a glass. “If something happens to her, I...” Jag murmured as he waited.

      â€œHere's the water!” The man exclaimed, reaching them, and poured it all on Fade’s face under the boy’s petrified gaze. The girl woke up screaming.

      â€œIbrahim!!” he yelled at him angrily. “She was supposed to drink it!”

      â€œSorry, Jag! Sorry!” He excused himself, in total panic.

      â€œOh, leave him alone!” She interrupted him, bothered by the noise.

      â€œHow do you feel?” He asked.

      â€œVery clean,” she said sarcastically.

      For the rest of the time the man didn’t speak, while the two of them ate at their table. Fade had a terrible headache and wanted to turn off her noisy companion who kept talking like a crazy machine, and then she tried to concentrate on the taste of the sandwich, which she actually liked a lot.

      The two went out, she said goodbye to Ibrahim, who shyly returned her greeting. She was a little surprised to see such a big man obey so humbly to the orders of a small little boy. Jag, on the other hand, went out without looking back.

      â€œWhat СКАЧАТЬ