NANO Challenge October 2013 &14

Oct 22 Minor #2 back story-Talia/Sprint 1109

Talia lay on her bed in the heat of the summer night. School was almost over and her friends were excited to be free for the summer. Not Talia, her heart was heavy and tears threatened to fall, but she blinked hard to press them back.
A slight breeze drifted through the window and cooled her heated skin. The covers lay bunched at the foot of her bed.
What was she going to do this summer with him? Who would train her to be the warrior she knew she was. Who would fight the hedge dragon or the Yew goblins? Who would spot her on the weights?
She slid out of bed and knelt at the open window. It faced Nick's back yard. In the moonlit yard, the shed where he stored their gear sagged in sorrow for the loss of it regular attendee. Every day Nick went to the shed to work out, even in the ice cold winter. Talia knew an electric heater sat waiting in the corner for the one who would never return. The whole yard looked sad and forlorn.

Talia turned back and threw herself on her bed. She was seven when Nicholas' family moved into the house next door. She had sat in her front porch that fall and watched all the furniture being carried into the house. The movers walked back and forth and Talia loved the bright colors and parade of chairs, tables and lamps that went into the house. She chuckled and hummed a song from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
When the movers were gone a car pulled up and a family got out. Father, mother, and a boy. She grimaced, someone for her brothers to hang out with, no girls or boys her age. She watched the family as they settled into their new home. Her brother's introduced themselves to the boy and she found out his name Nicholas Dukas. They were greek.
Her brothers made fun of their last name and Nick. Her parents didn't repremand them for the critisizm but just smiled at the funny things they said. Talia spoke out against her brothers who turned on her calling her names. Talia looked at her mother for help, but she stood and took the dirty dishes to the sink. She looked at her dad but all he did was slap the back of her one brothers head and told him to keep it clean in the house.
Her brothers wanted to be in the local gang. They hung out with some of the people who were around the edges of the gang. Talia's father was member in good standing with the hispanic community. He was almost like a mayor or something, Talia thought, everyone respected him. He didn't want his sons doing anything that would tarnish his repuatation. He kept a hard line most of the time on his sons, but they were sneaky and he believed everything they told him. They could manipulate their parents out of money, the car and smile as they went to the local Catholic church for mass on Sunday morning.
Talia hated that. She walked to the church with her family when the weather was nice. Her father wanted the community to see that his family attended church and they walked the five blocks rather than waste the gas to drive. Her brothers grumbled the whole way and Talia walked beside her mother in silence. This was just the way it was and there was no changing her father's mind.
It was a good thing in that after a few Sundays other families joined them in the walk. It became a parade, each woman dressing herself and her family to be seen by others. Talia accepted the tradition but after years of the same thing the hypocracy wasn't lost on the little girl.
The Dukas' family left their house in their car about the same time the Lazaro family left their house for their Sunday walk. Mr. Lazaro waved a hand to his neighbors and walked away, his back stiff and head held high.

They were friendly and Nick teased Talia. He told her that her name was Greek and all words were based in the Greek language. He even spoke Greek to her. Eventually when her brothers couldn't get Nick to join them in their "gang" they left him alone but taunted him with Nerdy name calling. Nick ignored them. He was going to college and then to Brown College for communications.
Talia smiled when she started working out with Nick. His parents bought him a gymn set and he cleaned out the shed in the backyard. Talia watched him and admired his growing muscles. He went to martial arts classes and came back to teach Talia what she needed to know about self-defense. She did whatever Nick told her to do. His attention was generous and while both families weren't happy about the relationship, they did nothing in secret so both parents allowed it.

That was six years ago. Nick had celebrated his twenty first birthday with a huge Greek party. The whole block was blocked off and the party lasted Sat and Sunday. Her family helped his with the party and her brother's, just older, attended with their friends and brought even more booze. By late Saturday night the party was loud and wild. The older folks went to bed and the young people partied. Sunday morning when the Lazaro family walked to church, just the three of them now, the Duka's family cleaned the mess.
Mr. Lazaro looked at his neighbors and turned around, "Not today. We help our friends." The Lazaron family and others in the neighborhood helped clean up from the Dukas party.
On Monday, Nick walked to the bus stop to go to school and a car drove by. An arm holding a gun was seen sticking out of the window. A blast of shots pierced the morning silence and the three people waiting at the bus stop were gunned down. Two survived as they were inside the shelter, but Nick hadn't arrived at the shelter. He was ten feet away crossing the street and the first to be shot. The others were in the line of fire as the glass in the shelter shattered and bits fell on the bodies.

Yesterday was the funeral. She'd lost more than a neighbor, but an older brother, a friend and confidant. The one who introduced her to the computer programing world and now he was dead.
She hadn't been able to protect him. She sobbed heart renching ugly cries from the depths of her soul.