The day D

That day was the day where everything would be decided and Lina opened up her eyes this morning with that state of mind. She stroked the empty part of her bed with a sense of nostalgia, trying to remember the warmth of the man who used to occupy that place before she slowly left the bed, [it's just one day since he left, stop acting like a junkie] she said to herself while she was heading to the bathroom, [today is an important day, so interdiction for you to be down, stay focus and confident] she said while tapping her cheeks to wake herself up.

After her shower, she returned to the restroom, picked up appropriate clothes for the event, and went down to the living room. On the coffee table, surrounded by the three couches and the television on its pedestal, were laying a little stack of papers in where were written many versions of her speech. In the end, they finally achieved to find one which satisfied her, it was the only one paper separated from the pile of papers. Lina stepped toward the table, she picked it and spread herself on the couch in front of the television.

It was the third time, she finished rereading the text she envisaged to perform and she had already gotten rid of the ones rejected when Matteo opened the principal door and came into the house. He was all sweaty and the tiredness could be read through the dark circles around his eyes. In his right hand, he had a paintbrush and with his left hand, he was carrying a little bucket of glue he made himself.

He put them down and stepped toward the closest sofa by drawing his feet and by dangling his arms to emphasize the fact that he was exhausted. When she saw him passing the door, she laid down the paper on the table, crossed her legs, and started staring at him. Her smile was stretching proportionately as he was slowly walking closer. When he reached the couch and could finally flop down on it Lina couldn't hold on laughing, Matteo turned to her with reproachful eyes.

" You're happy to see me suffering? Are you such heartless? " he complained wearily.

" Excuse me, but look at your face ... it's just too hilarious, " she replied still trying to stop laughing. She took some minutes to calm herself a bit and meanwhile Matteo recovered enough strength to turn and sit conveniently.

She threw a long sigh of satisfaction before she said, " I suppose you have done the duty that I have given you ".

" You bet, " Matteo replied, still upset. " All the posters were successfully hung in every corner of this city but I'm still thinking you order that just to torture me though. I don't even see the sense of all that. Why couldn't I have just looked for the venue before spreading the posters with the communiqué and all the info at one time, instead of doing it in two times like I did ".

In fact, yesterday night Lina didn't let him sleep. They both stayed awake to work on her discourse and to prepare the new posters which were containing the venue for the big announcement once they had done with the first part, until very late at night. But when the poor Matteo was going up with the intention of rest on his bed, Lina ordered him to wake up early in the morning to go spread all the notices they made. They argued a little while, Matteo shouted at her telling her that he was too exhausted, that he couldn't do that but in the end, Lina won again, and as a good employee he fulfilled his duty.

" It was necessary to attract the attention of the citizens, " Lina explained to him, " if we had done only in one go, perhaps there would have been some of them who would have overlooked it. However, when we spread it in two parts, they will get a feeling of urgency and suspense which will attract everyone ".

" Bullshit! " Matteo cursed lazily, " I'm sure it wouldn't have made any difference. But, huh... I'm too exhausted to debate with you I'm going up to have some sleep ".

Lina wanted to tease him a little more but she saw that it would be a bit too much, so she let him go. [ The announcement will be within three hours minimum, he deserves some sleep until then ] she thought.

She then decided to go visiting Natasha. She checked the clock, [ at this time she already finished patrolling, so she must be at the dojo ] she deduced. She jumped on her feet, took the key to her car, and left the house.

She arrived there 20 minutes later, got out of the car, walked until she reached the opened door, and stopped there to stare at the little crowd moving around and executing a lot of movement energetically. Her sights traveled all over the gymnasium before she could see her friend, she tried to sneak in and surprise her as she had her back facing her while she was concentrated on the two little boys who were simulating a fight, in front of her.

The students saw her passing and one after another they stopped what they were doing to observe her, [ they will mess it up ] she thought, she made some signs and gestures to tell them to return to their stuff and not mind her but they couldn't do so as they really wanted to know what will happen. She still went on her way until she was at two steps from Natasha. She smiled, raised her hand in the air, and straightened it up as if she was about to break some wooden planks.

The latter, who was watching after the two boys in front of her, started to notice that something was wrong, she lifted her head and took a look at the others and saw that they were all immobile staring at her. When she turned around she saw Lina her hand high in the air with a large smile shouting at her, " too late! Surprise attack! " Lina dropped her hand toward the base of her neck but it seemed that she underestimated how sharp Natasha's reflexes were.

She grabbed her hand in the air, before she attained her, pulled it, and, in a circular motion, she lifted and threw her down hard on the rug.

She sighed and by a swing of her hand, she adjusted back her hair while Lina was moaning on the floor. Everyone around them started laughing.

Natasha looked down at her with a smirk and proudly told her, " if I knew it would be so satisfying I would have done it earlier ". She, then, lent her a hand to help her to stand back on her feet " how can you dare to do something this humiliating to me, the ruler of this city, around all these brats, " she started complaining " I promise to put you in jail, " she turned to the little crowd, " and with all of you, brats, it's your fault that I had to go through this " she shouted at them while them, on the other hand, continued laughing louder and innocently.

" Shut up damn brats, move your sweaty butts away from me, " she shouted again. Karen stepped out from the crowd and ran joyfully toward Lina who bent to catch her in her arms and greet her with many kisses on her cheeks, " how are you, my little princess? "

" I missed you, " she said.

" Yeah I know but I had a lot of work to do, " Lina replied.

" Seems like Nat' can finally unleash her furor over you when Jamal is not around, " said a teenager in the crowd.

" Shut up your mouth Clay I remind you that you got turned down by the two girls you proposed last month... wait! " she suddenly turned to Natasha " how can they... you told them? " she asked anxiously.

Natasha nodded, a little desolate, " sorry but I couldn't just close my mouth, they had to know. Keeping it secret would just have led to other problems ".

" The problems will be people getting into a panic because they heard that he left the city, " Lina replied by raising her tone. The little girl in her arms pulled gently her cheek to catch her attention as she said " you don't need to get mad, you know we all understand that he had something important to do, Nat' explained it to us and we are not worried because she said that she will protect us just like him ".

Seeing the cute face of Karen made Lina calm down at once, " I'm not talking about you only, there are a lot of people who may not be as courageous as you are, " she said while rubbing her nose in her little cute body, " after all what happened they need to feel safe every time and even though Natasha is largely qualified to fulfill the role, these people may not agree to entrust her their confidence ".

" So we just have to keep it secret, " said a teenage girl, " until now none of us said anything to anyone ".

" Yeah it's true, " another one added, " I don't think Natasha was wrong to tell us the truth but if you are worried that it would be catastrophic if we spread the information we just have to promise you that we won't tell anything to anyone else ".

Seeing that everyone was approving the idea, Lina took a look at Natasha who was proudly nodding before she sighed and said, " anyway what it's done is done, I don't have any other choice but to trust you, " she lifted her pinky finger in the air and said, " so everyone, form a line and come to swear me one by one ".

" You can't be serious, you want each of us promising you with the little finger? " the boy named Martin asked jokingly.

" You bet I do, " Lina responded seriously " come on, hurry up I don't have your time ".

They looked at each other, then they gazed at Natasha with their eyes like to say " is she really serious? " and she silently and slowly nodded. Seeing that they didn't have other choices but to obey, they slowly made a line where one by one they would walk forward to make the promise starting with Karen who was the nearest to Lina, even Natasha had to do it too.

•••

" Want me to drive you home? " Lina proposed to Natasha when they were coming out from the gymnasium.

" Don't you have a lot of things to prepare for today? " She asked back.

" I have already spent my entire night in those preparations, " she growled " I'm tired and bored let's go to your home hanging out until the time of the announcement, " she proposed.

Natasha stepped back suspicious, she narrowed her eyes and said " if you planned to come harassing me sexually, again, I would prefer to go back alone ".

" Come on, I know you love that when I touch you " Lina replied what made Natasha stepped back again, she waved her hand to stopped as she said, " okay okay you win, I promise I won't try anything. So you allow me to come? "

" Yeah okay, now we can go " she finally accepted.

They headed back together, the moment they arrived Natasha ran up to go to the bathroom getting rid of her awful smell while Lina slowly walked into the living room to wait for her. Before she had a seat, she smelled a sweet aroma coming from the kitchen, so she went to check what was it.

There, she found Dana wearing an apron and standing in front of the stove totally focused on the pot and the pan. Lina started to guess what she was cooking and trusting the smell which was coming out, it promised to be delicious. She leaned on the edge of the door, staring at the young girl, and decided to not disturb her. Dana lifted the cover of the pan and started to put in a lot of ingredients and spices that Lina didn't even know Natasha had in her kitchen, she stirred it all for some minutes and closed back.

Minutes later she turned off the stove indicating that it was finally ready. As she intended to take some plates to put the food on, she turned around and jumped in surprise when she saw Lina, " excuse me, I didn't want to scare you, " she apologized.

At the same moment, Natasha arrived in the kitchen, " what's wrong? " Lina turned to her and said, " why didn't you tell me she was such a good cook, if I knew it earlier I would have chosen her instead of the other grouchy boy ".

" So that is how you thank me after I exhausted myself to do your own job, " said Matteo who was just behind Natasha, he slowly moved to face Lina with his eyes still looking tired " I will remember that, " then he walked towards Dana to go help her serving the food.

Natasha stared at her with a satisfied smile, " I told you to learn watching out your mouth, you see the result now? "

" Shut up " the latter growled, " I got it, I will go apologies later, let's go ". They sat down together around the table full of delicious meals and they started eating and discussing joyfully.

•••

" You're ready? " Matteo asked Lina before they penetrated to the square where she was about to give her speech. She was waiting beside her car with Natasha as she had said that people must all be there before she entered, " Dana has verified the interior and she said that the place was literally overfilled, " there are more people than you estimated, we had to adjust a lot for people to find a place to sit but there are still who were forced to stay up in the end ".

" Well, it's positive that there are that many people, " Lina rationalized. They decided, then, to put a step forward toward the square, " did you prepare some spotlights in case? Because I think the sun will be gone within less than one hour, " she asked the boy, while she was checking the sky, " yeah don't worry, we already have all that we would need " he pulled the curtain showing the way and said, " now it's your turn to convince them ".

She walked alone toward the stage while all eyes were on her, she went up, reached the microphone, and gazed at the huge number of people present. " Good evening everybody, " she started while shaking her hand to accompany them to greet them. " Well, I'm sure that after all these hours of waiting all you want to know is the reason why we invited you here today, but first, let me introduce myself to our new citizens, neighbors, and friends. My name is Lina Lavard and I'm the mayor of Stainfall city. Subsequently, let me carry on by telling you that it is now 2 years since that tragic and horrible night that we made us suffering so much ".

" Everyone without any exception lost someone or something precious, what left deep and painful scars into our hearts and as if it didn't suffice, we also experienced the waves of criminality which resulted to enhance our trauma even more. I know it hurts to talk and recall about those experiences but you must keep in mind that if we are still here together it's because we are stronger than we could think, many have chosen the way of suicide and others chose the way of the wickedness, but for us, we are still here with all consciousness trying to go forward. They tried to take our lives to destroy our minds by violating and injuring our bodies but after all that, we are still here. For 2 years, my friends and I have been working hard to save and protect our people, and thanks to them and their efforts we managed to save our city by exiling all the criminals who were here. But now we've arrived at the important point. My dear new citizens, you left your goods, houses, and your hometowns to seek for security in here and I would say that it was with great pleasure that we have welcomed you, " she paused, glanced at them then she resumed, " some of your companions, of your member of your families, stayed to fight against those who wanted to harm you and take back the lands they wanted to steal from you, but the question is after that what will happen when they succeed? You may go back to your hometowns and your houses full of bad memories because you may take your things back and what? You cannot come back to your ancient life. So do you prefer going to live in a shortage of food, with depression as you don't have goals in life anymore while spending your time remembering nostalgically how good and peaceful your lives used to be? Or will you take action? My point is simple, I'm proposing you to stay here, in Stainfall, and contribute to the rebuilding of this city, your new city, and with our own hands we will rebuild again a new future, together, " she finally stopped marking the end of her speech.

In the beginning, the public was all quiet what installed stress on her heart as well as those of all her friends who helped to prepare that event, then an old woman stood up and looked at Lina on the stage, and asked " are you telling us to abandon all we have left to contribute on the building of your utopia? " The reaction of the public was immediate, they started whispering to each other and a few seconds later some voices raised on a general agreement, another man stood, " as you've said, there are many of our acquaintances who stayed there to fight for us... others who died for us and you would want us to ignore their sacrifices to live peacefully the dream lives you're promising us? "

From there the complaints started to become louder and louder but Lina didn't let negative emotions take over her, she stayed calm with her mind as clear as ever, she knew what she had to do, she waited few minutes before she clapped on her hands to bring back the calm.

" Maybe I wasn't enough clear, this offer is not compulsory for you to accept it, I'm talking to those who didn't give up yet and would want to start a new life with us here. But let me tell you something when you came here your hometowns were running out of food, the little provisions remaining served to feed the fighters, when the war is over the infrastructures will be all destroyed which means that you will be returning to the stone age where you will be starving with only your nightmares to accompany you. So I will say it again it's not compulsory for you to accept but those who would want to join us they can fulfill their CV at the city hall by now until tomorrow, my people all agreed to cooperate in your integration into the society, that was all I wanted to discuss with you and thank you very much for your presence, goodbye " she left them with that before went down from the stage leaving the crowd completely stunned ".

" It was looking more like an ultimatum rather than a proposition, " Natasha told her when she was coming.

" I tried to explain them gently but those guys are so dumb, " she stretched herself, sighed, and said, " well I'm tired let's go home and wait for my lover to call me, for the candidacies I will check them tomorrow ".

" OK I don't see any objections, let's go " Natasha replied.

They were about to leave in their car when Dana ran toward them while shouting to wait, she arrived a little out of breath " can I come with you... no I mean, I know I'm just a stranger I don't have a right to ask that ... but at least can you allow me to work for you? I may not be qualified for office works like Matteo but I can do a lot of other things... so please? "

The two women looked at each other then turned to Dana, " move your stuff out to my house tomorrow and I want you to bring your crew and other youngsters to the city hall before you subscribe then to our fighting training, alright? " Natasha asked. The girl showed a large smile and nodded before she turned to Matteo, " thank you " then she ran away.

" Does that mean that I will be living with you until Jamal comes back? " he asked, his face turned into a grimace, to Lina who nodded to him, " but see, the good of the things is that I can coach you in your quest to catch Dana's heart, " the boy went up in the car without replying, " let's go home I heard enough " he just said.