Aria Charleston

        It was late spring, Aria and her friends planned on hanging out this weekend after an exhausting week of work.  Out of all the women in the group, Aria was the only one who had a job that required her to work with children most of the day. Although she loved her job, she is more than grateful to get off at five at the end of the day and have her weekends.  Not all of her friends were so fortunate to have jobs like that, so when all five of them could hang together, it was a real treat. They had decided to go to the carnival at the mall and hang out this Saturday. It was, after all, a festival outside the mall, and they had money to spend.   The five women wanted nothing more than to cut loose and enjoy the much-wanted warm air.  The girls needed this after a really long winter. 

           Aria checked herself in the mirror. Ensuring that her hair was neatly done and her peach spring dress was decent before leaving.  She hadn’t gone out like this in weeks.  Not since she broke up with Jamal three weeks ago.  She needed to take her mind off of home and her last relationship. Her parents had converted the basement downstairs to another individual living space for her after she graduated college.  It was only a temporary solution until she saved up enough money to get an apartment, but she appreciated her parent’s effort to support her independence.  She grabbed her keys, said goodbye to her parents upstairs, and headed out the back door.  Her small KIA car was good transportation until she could afford a bigger car, and she smiled as she put the keys in the ignition and drove off to her destination.  She was going to enjoy this Saturday off.  She had no idea that another person who undoubtedly would change her life forever was heading in the same direction.

           It was mid-morning when Aria pulled up in the parking lot of another building across the street to meet her friends at the city’s carnival near the mall.  The carnival took up most of the mall's parking space, so people had to park in other places near the area.  Crowds of people were starting to pour in by the hundreds, and the noise began to grow.  She managed to find the four by a snack bar outside. She waved to them as they ushered her over toward the bar. Aria grinned as she came up to them. Alesia, Joyner, Zenobia, and Tracy all greeted her with hellos and hugs.  Alesia was very energetic to get the day started quickly, but Tracy, on the other hand, likes to roll with the day and take it hour by hour. Joyner and Zenobia discussed who could get the most boys to turn heads toward them and how many numbers they can get throughout the day.  Aria had known this crazy bunch since her freshman year in high school, and even though they went their separate ways after that, they still found time for each other. She shook her head and chuckled as she observed them, yep that was her group, and she was proud of it.

        “Let’s go inside and do some shopping,” Alesia suggested, “I’m sure something is interesting for everyone at the booth sellers.”  Aria agreed, and so did the others.  They walked inside, discussing what they were going to buy.  Hours went by as they went from one store to another. She found a few things that she liked, but it was just for show when she tried them on.  Eventually, Aria looked at a few clothes that were on sale at a fancy clothing designer store. She reinforced her promise to herself to have fun and be lose today.  She could only afford to spend so much, but she often wanted to treat herself when she went out. Saving up enough money for moments like this was Aria’s specialty. As she carried the bags out of the store with Alesia, who insisted the outfits she purchased were perfect for her, they meet up with Joyner, Zenobia, and Tracy.   Tracy insisted that they make a pit stop at the jewelry stores before heading to get something for lunch.  Aria just rolled her eyes. Tracy always bought things she couldn’t afford on her credit card. No wonder the girl’s in more debt than me, she thought. To get to those stores, one has to cut through the inner circle of the food court inside the mall.

                 They walked by a bar that was attached to a restaurant while talking on the way there.  Aria felt something hit her all of a sudden, some strange warm connection radiating from the bar. It felt familiar while simultaneously being foreign to her. She paused, letting the group surpass her. As they walked ahead, she was completely overtaken by this feeling; although faint, it grew stronger like a light unblemished piercing through the submerged darkness.  Then she turned to see what could be drawing her attention; a faint whisper caught her ears… a small voice calling... reaching out to her.   Aria’s eyes became awe-stricken when the voice pierced through the noisy cloud of people as if in a vacuum. The words sent shivers down her spine and caused her hair to prickle on the back of her neck.  

Fates… 

       Merged…

             By the light...

                                             Your heart…

                                                                 His heart…

                                                                                    As one…  

            What did these words mean? She tried to shrug them off by shaking her head, but they continued to haunt her thoughts. Her head turned in the direction of the voice where it was the loudest; eventually leading her searching eyes to a bar to her left in a restaurant.  Her eyes combed the area of the bar where she was being pulled…no guided to, and they quickly fell on a man sitting in a booth with another older man.  As she got closer, Aria could see the older man, possibly in his fifties, having a serious conversation with someone obviously younger. The younger man seems particularly uninterested in the subject and often looked away while drinking his alcoholic beverage in disgust.  What the older man was discussing seemed to have stressed the other one out. Whatever the issue was, it seemed to be very important.  He would turn his head, roll his eyes, and look the other way, or pretend to be interested in what was on the menu. However, his eyes thickened and his head jumped up suddenly out of the blue for no reason.  Immediately his gaze went to Aria’s, and for a moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl and even stop. As soon as their eyes met one another for the first time, the voices in Aria’s head stopped, to which she was relieved.  He stared at her with fascination and wonder.  The man parted his lips almost to speak to her, but then his attention was taken away by the other man who quickly scolds him for not listening.  At the same time, Aria’s friends grabbed her, pulling her away from the bar's entrance.  “Hey, have you’ve been daydreaming again,” Zenobia asked. 

Aria chuckled, “Naw, not this time.” 

“Well, unless it’s a cute guy, keep up, girl,” Joyner stated, “We can’t afford to have you get lost.”