I walk into Sal's Hair Cuts and the first thing I see is multiple people with different colored hair. Purple, pink, blue, green, yellow, you name it they have it. They all look up and give me a smile, then go back to what they were doing. Well at least they're friendly. I see a bald guy with tattoos, piercings, and dark clothes putting money in a cash register and start walking towards him.

"Hi I'm looking for Peter Rivera." I say pulling out my fake badge. The guy behind the desk looks up giving me a blank stare. "Someone told me he comes here once a week."

"Ya but he called in last week saying he won't be coming in for a while." The guy finally speaks. He then goes back to putting money in the register. I turn around and walk back out of the salon. Well that was a waste of time. Dammit why can't this guy just make things a little easier for me. How the hell am I suppose to find him now? I reach into my pocket and take out a cigarette, putting it in my mouth. Well now what do I do? 

As I turn a corner I see a gas station and decide to get a bottle of water. Snow started to fall and the wind got a little stronger, making it feel colder than it really was. When the traffic light turned red the cars stopped and I quickly ran across the street, into the gas station. I head to the back of the store and grab a bottle of water. When I get to the front I put the bottle on the counter and ask for another pack of cigarettes. Before I could grab my wallet someone is already handing the guy behind the counter 20 bucks. I look over and see none other than Aila. Well dammit can this day get any worse? I look down and see she has an orange soda and a candy bar I've never seen before.

"What, never seen a Snickers before?" she asks with a laugh. When I don't answer she looks at me horrified and quickly runs to grab another one. "Ok first you've never had a hot dog, now Snickers. Have you been living under a rock?"

"Well you could say that." I take the bar of candy and walk outside with her. I watch as she opens the bar and takes a bite from it.

"Go on, try it." She encourages me. I rip one end of the candy bar and find a thick lumpy stick of chocolate. I hold it up to my mouth and take a bite. The first thing I taste is chocolate and peanuts. I look down and see that there are layers inside. The outer candy bar has chocolate, caramel, peanuts, and then some fluffy white stuff.

"So, how is it?" Aila asked looking eager to hear my answer. My gaze lands on her hand and I notice she already finished hers.

"It's amazing." I take another bite, this one bigger than the one before. How did I not know about these?

"What part of New York are you from?" Aila asked taking a sip from her soda. We both started walking down the sidewalk together.

"I'm just visiting." I stated. After this job I won't have to see her ever again. She's making me feel things I've never felt before, nor do I want to feel them. I'm actually starting to feel happy when I'm around her. I'm not use to being happy, and I kind of like it which isn't good.

"Really? Then I could give you a tour of the city!" She then grabbed my hand and dragged me to the nearest bus stop. "I could show you the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Central Park, The Museum of Modern Art, oh and-"

"I'm really sorry Aila, but I'm a little busy today." I apologized. I still need to find where Rivera lives. I thought that maybe I could just go to an alley and ask around. I'm a bit desperate now.

"Oh, ok. Then maybe some other time. Here's my number, just call me whenever you're free. I want to be the first one to see your face when you eat a hot dog." She smiled while writing her number down on a piece of paper. I took it from her a placed it in my pocket.

"Thanks for the Snickers." I watched as she hopped on the bus and waved goodbye. I walked a couple blocks down the road and found a dark alley next to a bar. Well this has 'drugs' written all over it. As I made my way down the alley I could see a group of guys in the distance. All of them were dressed in ripped baggy clothes. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I could hear them laughing and screaming. One of the guys punched another guy in the face and the others burst into laughter. Well they seem friendly. I walked up to them and they instantly stopped laughing.

"Hey man, I think you're lost. You don't look like you belong here." The one who punched the other guy said leaning against the wall, crossing his arms. He must be the leader of this sad excuse of a gang. I looked down to his arm and saw a crown tattooed on his wrist, yup definitely the leader. The gang leader always has the crown, it indicates that they're king. I looked around at the other guys and saw that they had a tattoo of a spider in the middle of a web in the same spot. That means that they're committed to the gang. They have all the right tattoos but they don't seem very intimidating, they could use some work.

"I'm looking for Peter Rivera. You know him?" The leader raised his eyebrow and smirked.

"Ya I know him. What do I get if I tell you?" They all snickered.

"You won't get your asses kicked. What more do you want?" I say in all seriousness. They all then burst into laughter. They think I'm fucking joking. I raised my eyebrow at the leader and watched as he stopped laughing.

"You can't do anything to me." He said pushing my shoulder slightly. Just from that I felt like splitting his head open against the brick wall.

"Don't touch me." I said through clenched teeth.

"Or else what?" He grinned. He pushed me again but this time harder. Without warning I slammed my fist into his nose, it immediately started gushing blood. He fell back and slumped against the wall. For a second my heart stopped, thinking he was dead. But then I watched as his chest continued to rise and fall slightly. Out of nowhere two guys grabbed both of my arms and pulled me back. I slammed my elbow into the face of the guy on my right, watching as he fell to the floor unconscious and pried my arm out of the other guys grip. I grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed my knee into his stomach, knocking the air out of him. I punched him in the face a couple times until he wasn't moving, but not dead, and laid him down. There where only 2 more left. The first one started running towards me. I bent down and wrapped my arms around his legs and flipped him over my shoulder onto the ground. The last guy looked at me scared.

"Rivera lives on 45th street, building number 253, 3rd floor, 4C." He then ran out of the alley. I walked out of the alley and looked up at the nearest street sign. I'm currently on 32nd street. His house isn't too far, so I started walking.

I finally made it to 45th street and make my way down the row of houses. When I reach the building I find it almost completely covered in vines. It was a faint yellow color and some of the windows were broken. I took out my camera and took a couple pictures. I walked up to the door and found it open. There were a couple people sitting in the hallway giving me dirty looks for letting the cold in. I walked up to the 3rd floor and looked for the apartment number. I knocked on the door and waited. No one came to the door. I took out my knife and jammed it between the door and the frame. The door opened and I walked in. There wasn't much in the house. No TV, stove, microwave, or washing machine. There was a small table for eating, a small gas stove on the floor, a dirty looking couch, and some candles scattered around. I opened one of the doors and found a room with thick blankets laid out on the floor. That's probably where they sleep. I opened another door and found a room with a little bed and toys everywhere. Right then I started to feel nauseous. This must be their son's room.

After looking around the rest of the house and taking more pictures, I left. I just needed to see where they lived and what the inside of their house looked like, after a couple days I'll take care of him.

As I walked down the sidewalk, I tucked my hands in my pockets. I felt something brush against my fingers, when I pulled it out I found Aila's number. Without thinking I already had my phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" I hear a voice over the phone. Nolan, what the hell are you doing?

"Hey, it's Nolan. Is that offer for a tour still open?" I ask nervously. The snow finally stops falling but the wind is still blowing, making my face numb.

"Absolutely! Meet me at the café we were at yesterday." She said excitedly, then hung up. I walked over to a bus stop and caught the next bus. I walked to the back and sat by the window. This is a mistake, a huge mistake. Leo's going to flip if he finds out about her. Right then my phone started ringing, I looked down at the called ID. Speaking of the devil.

"Hello?"

"Nolan, what have you gotten so far?" He asks without hesitation.

"I know where he lives. I'll take him out in about 3 days." I tell him. I don't have to see him to know he's nodding in approval.

"Good job, as usual. Can't wait for you to come back home." He then hangs up and I put the phone back in my pocket. Home, that place can't even be compared to a home. When the bus finally pulled up to the café, I walked out to find Aila standing outside of the door impatiently.

"Finally you're here, we're wasting precious time." She grabbed my hand and walked over to the curb. She let go of my hand and placed her two pinkies in her mouth, then blew. About 6 cabs stopped. That was pretty cool, I'll admit. She took my hand again and led me to the nearest cab.

"First we're going to see the Statue of Liberty. She's gorgeous." The whole way there Aila continued to talk. She didn't stop once, but it was cute. She's a real people person. The complete opposite from me. I finally got a chance to see what she looked like today. Instead of paint covered clothes, she's wearing red leggings with a purple skirt, a dark blue jacket, an ugly orange scarf, and green ballet slipper things. Nothing she wore matched which was quite amusing. Her hair's in a messy ponytail like yesterday though. She was so weird but in a good way. "We're here." She squealed.

When we got out of the cab the first thing I say was the Statue of Liberty. She was right in front of me. She wasn't as big as everyone made her out to be. To be honest she really wasn't a statue at all.

"This is the Statue of Liberty?" I asked pointing at it.

"No silly, that's someone dressed as the Statue of Liberty. It's for tourist. That's the Statue of Liberty." Aila said turning me around. Off into the distance I could kind of make out a small blue person. Yup, definitely smaller than people made her out to be. "I would take you to the island to see her but we would have to wait in that line for hours." Aila said pointing to a line that looked about a mile long. "Come on, follow me."

"Where are we going?" I asked as she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards a man behind a metal cart.

"You are going to eat a churro." She grinned. What the hell is a cherro? The man handed her a golden stick-like thing covered in sugar. "Now bite it."

I took the churro in my hand and looked it over, then bit into it. The first think I tasted was the sugar. I never was a big fan of sugar, until now. Then I tasted the dough and it was amazing. Who knew New York had so many amazing goodies. First pizza, then Snickers, now a churro. What's next, popcorn that can be made in a microwave? Right, like that will ever happen.

"So, how is it?" Aila asked looking at me with a grin. I looked down and noticed that I finished the whole thing already. She followed my gaze and started laughing. "I guess you really liked it."

Aila ordered a churro for herself then just started walking. I followed her a couple streets down until we came up to a little park. There wasn't a play ground or anything, just a small field of snow and a pier in the distance. On the way into the park there was a small sign that read 'Louis Valentino Jr. Park'. I followed Aila all the way down the pier and sat down next to her on a bench.

"My mom and dad use to take me here everyday after school." She said. To the right of us you could kind of make out the Statue of Liberty in the far distance. "I don't really see them much now."

"Why?" I asked turning to face her. She sat on the bench, crisscross, with her hands in her lap.

"Well 3 years ago my dad's job relocated him to another state, it was all the way in Washington. I begged them to let me stay because I thought I was old enough to take care of myself, I was only 17. Didn't even finish high school yet." She said with a dry laugh. "When we moved I was so miserable I wouldn't even come out of my room. As soon as I graduated, I sent a letter to Columbia University of the Visual Arts and they wrote back saying I got excepted to study. My parents were furious with me, they wanted me to go to collage and study to be a doctor. So when I left, they wouldn't answer my phone calls and pretty much disowned me for leaving them." 

"That's a shitty thing to do." I said looking up at the sky. Aila leaned back with a sigh.

"Yup. My brother's were so mad at my parents that they moved to New York with me, they were the ones you saw yesterday." 

"Oh, I thought they were your friends. I don't think they like me." I said sticking my tongue out, catching a snow flake. Turning to Aila I see she took her pony tail out to cover her ears. The snow covers her hair in a way that makes her look like an angel. She runs her fingers through her bangs to get the snow off and then stands up, brushing it off of her clothes.

"No, they're just really over protective. Once they get to know you, they'll like you." She said with a smile. "Come on let's build a snowman." 

"What's a snowman?" I ask following her back down the pier. 

"Where is it you're from?" She asks giving me a weird look. 

"Um, a very small town. That doesn't have snow, or Snickers, or churros, and hot dogs." I say quickly. She raises her eyebrow then shrugs. Aila waves her hand for me to walk closer to her.

"I'll show you what a snowman is." She says kneeling down, taking a big handful of snow and shaping it into a ball. She places it on the ground, then takes another handful but this one's a little smaller and does the same thing, placing it on top of the one she just made. Finally she grabs the last handful of snow, this one being the smallest, and places it on the top of the stack. "This is a mini version of a snowman. Then you add a carrot for a nose, a scarf, hat, sticks for hands, and coal for the buttons, mouth, and eyes."

All of a sudden, I remember my mom, dad, and me building a snowman together, having snowball fights, and drinking hot chocolate. I think I was 6 around that time. Aila stands up and I follow her. 

"You ready to build a real one." She grins. I grin back and nod my head. While we build the snowman I couldn't help but be glad that I met Aila. She's showed me so many new things and I only met her yesterday. She's kind of like my light at the end of the tunnel, compared to the life I live she's the most innocent refreshing person I've ever met. It's a nice feeling to be normal for once. If Leo found out about this he wouldn't hesitate to kill her. Which is why starting tomorrow I won't be seeing her anymore, I can't put her through danger know matter how much I enjoy spending time with her. I care about her too much for that to happen. I don't want her anywhere near the life I live because she'll either run away in fear, which would probably be the best even if it hurts, or she'll be too stubborn to leave. She does seem like a feisty person. 

"Yay, we're done. Let's name him Arnold." She smiled. Arnold wasn't the best looking snowman in the world, but he hasn't fallen over yet so that must be a good sign. His nose and arms are sticks, we have him Aila's orange scarf, my black beanie, and pebbles for the eyes, mouth, and buttons. "You know, after Arnold Schwarzenegger."

"I have no idea who that is." I said. She rolled her eyes and took my hand. "Now where are we going?"

"You'll see. Our tour isn't even close to being done." She smiled and started running towards the bus stop, leaving Arnold behind. The sucky thing is that I know the more I spend time with her, the harder it will be to leave. Because 1, she'll probably be really mad. And 2, I'll feel really guilty. But it's for the best, I can't drag her into my life, know matter how much I want her in it.

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