It was silent. The wind stopped blowing, the trees stopped chattering, the street lamps stopped humming even the rain seemed to halt. Everything was to be still. Like someone hit the pause button in Storrow Drive.
BANG!
Everything carried on as if no one noticed that everything just became oddly still. That is everyone except Layla. Even when the city of Boston came back to life, she stood,cold, still, and motionless. She was unable to move or speak. She was standing in awe of how no one else seemed to notice that the world just paused.
“What just happened” she muttered to herself.
People around her were beginning to stare as if she was the strange one in this situation. Layla ran. She was afraid it might happen again. She didn’t know where she was going, she just ran. Layla often did this in a time of doubt. As she was running she heard a familiar voice.
“ Layla” “ Layla where are you going” a familiar voice screamed.
She turned around to see who it was and a rush of relief fell over her. It was Andrew, Layla’s best friend. Some how he always seemed to find Layla in a time of trouble. Andrew and Layla have been best friends as far as she could remember. Always there for each other, always helped each other, always cared for each other just as best friends should.
“ It’s just you” said Layla with relief.
“ Who did you think it would be” said Andrew jokingly.
“ Did you feel that” Layla said completely ignoring Andrew
“Feel what”
“That pause a few moments ago”
“Yeah, it was weird as if the whole world just shut down”
“ I was starting to think I was the only one that felt it”
Layla and Andrew always understood each other, even if no one else did. Neither one of them had any idea of what just happened. All they knew was that they were the only ones aware that it did.
They started to walk. They walked and walked until they came to the place that they spent most of their time. When the two of them were in a time of trouble, they went there. When something important needed to be discussed, they went there. This place was a secretive place to the rest of the world yet an open book to the two of them.
“We are finally here” Layla said at long last.
On that far side of town stood a very old, very decrepit hotel. It was once an extremely well known hotel. The Haven Hotel was for some time the topic of everyone’s discussion. Far from what it is now, rare if a person even knows what it is. The two always found new features that the building possesses. They enjoyed every minute of the time they spent there. Some days they searched one of the rooms on one of the 17 floors or somedays they sat in the lobby and read, talked or did homework. They found it fascinating to clean the hotel and come across things they have never seen. They soon came to a conclusion that this hotel had secrets. Andrew was the one to ask questions. And Layla knew the answers. It was rare when she didn’t. Especially when she had a book to reference.
As soon as they arrived at the Haven Hotel they hurried to sit down on the cozy and worn out cushions of the hotel. Today held a obvious topic; what just happened to their city. Andrew asked the question but today Layla didn’t have the answer.