Hazelle

"Shoot, I knew I should've just gone home with Adeline! Now where the hell am I supposed to stay?" I say angrily. "I guess I'll try calling some other hotels to see if their open."

"Hello?"

"Ciao, this is customer service, how may I assist you?"

"Well, I was wondering if you all are open, ya know for customers to stay at?"

"Oh no my apologies miss, we are not open due to the isolation period. I am only here because some people are still packing their things."

"Oh it's alright, thank you for your time. Bye bye."

"My apologies again miss, addio."

Then, the phone cuts out and that happens around ten more times, "why is no one open?!"

As I sit on the curb people pass me, they all look worried. One particular woman is wearing a fur coat, but it seems to be covering her dress underneath. A white dress, that looks like a red liquid was splotched on her. 'Oh crap! What the hell happened to her?' Well, at least I got a good laugh out of this whole isolation thing!

I almost fall asleep because of how quiet this road is. My eyes become wide open though when I hear faint screams coming from inside the hotel. "What the- CRAP!" A small gust of wind blows by my legs as a tiny child sprints out of the automatic doors. His arms flail in the air as he screams at the top of his lungs, "I want CANDYYYYY!" 'I am so glad that I don't have a kid.' I laugh to myself internally as the kid drops to his knees and starts to scream "MY KNEE HURTS! MOMMYYY!"

After everyone has left the hotel and there's no more people to watch I decide, "I have to do something. Maybe I'll go ask some store owners if they know of anybody is open. Alright, this sounds like a plan."

I head over to the nearest shop that I see it's called, cibi integrali, 'I'm not sure what that means, but it seems promising.' I shrug my shoulders and walk in that direction. It's just a little corner store and it doesn't look like much, but I'll try.

When I get up to the store, once again there's a little piece of white paper that says, 'Notice, this store is closed due to pandemic, will reopen as soon as possible.' "Really? Come on!"

My next idea is probably not going to work either, but a girl's gotta try. "I guess I can try knocking at someone's door and see if they'll let me stay with them for a week. Ugh this is going to be so weird."

"There's like no houses anywhere! Oh- wait a second. Yes!" I see a large house off in the distance and begin to jog in that direction. Their lawn is large, not kept well though, and a stray cat prances through the tall grass. "Crap! Ugh get away you little devil!" I shout at the monstrous beast that meows at me from the weeds. The door is a plain shade of brown and there's a large cobweb in the corner. "Bleh" After I knock on the door an old man opens it with a creek.

"Ciao come posso aiutarti, ragazza?" The man says with a grumble 'Of course he only speaks Italian, what was I thinking!'

"Oh um, I, me speak no Italian. Sorry!" I start heading down the stairs hurriedly, as my hand waves a small goodbye.

"Oh my god, that was so embarrassing and now I'm going to have to do it all over again." I see a lawn that seems very welcoming. It has flower pots under the windows, which have white and red roses, and the grass is nicely cut and well kept. 'Oooo! This person has a fairy garden, so cute!' As I walked up to the door I spotted a cute little red sign that said, 'benvenuta.' I'm not sure what that means, but it's cool.

'Knock, knock, knock.' I hear a grumble and something soft land on the floor. I can see the gold handle turning slowly, 'I hope they let me stay with them.' My hands start to sweat nervously, 'if this doesn't work out I don't know what I'm going to do, live on the streets?'

When the red door does open a tall, red-haired young woman, who looks tired and a little crumby, stands in the arch way.

She doesn't say anything so I decide to speak first. "Hello! Umm ciao, I am from America, do you understand? Amer-ica?" Everything I say comes out awkwardly. Then, I realize that the girl most likely understands English m.

"Yeah, America, I can speak and understand English ya know?" 'Excuse me is that sarcasm? I didn't expect her to be rude.'

"Oh, okay, sorry. I'm visiting and I've been staying in a hotel, a really fancy one I'm pretty rich, sorry besides the point, since this whole isolation thingy happened this morning they kicked everyone out. And I was hoping that I could stay with you. You're door was the first one I saw and your lawn looked very welcoming." My voice is shaky and I'm just hoping, hoping that she'll let me stay.

"Oh um, wow sorry about that whole ordeal. I'm not sure, my home is very small I'm the only one who lives here." She mumbles and rubs the back of her neck, she kind of looks confused.

"Please! I have no where else to stay and I can't get any flights out. Everything is shut down, please." I start begging, 'god, I'm so desperate.'

"Okay, what was your name again?" 'Omg, omg! She letting me stay yes!' I have a tiny dance party in my head, I'm so ecstatic!

"Hazelle, thank you so much! I promise I won't be too much of a bother to you." All of my stress and challenges seem to leave my brain and I almost start to cry.

"Alright, welcome to my casa, my name is Genevieve." 'Wow that's really pretty.' She continues inside her house and shows me around, going from room to room.

"...and here's where you'll be staying." This catches me off guard and I stumble back a little. It doesn't look fancy like my hotel room, but it'll do. I say thanks and the day loves on.
________

As we eat some peaches, that are so fresh and so juicy, another grey, monstrous beast lightly steps across the hard wood floor. It stares me directly in the eyes, right into my soul, its gaze is deep and strong. "Eeek! Where the hell did that come from? Please get it away from here!" I scream while stumbling back in shock, dropping that perfectly delicious peach. 'Dangit.'

"Oh, that's just Ruben my cat. He's really friendly, here pet him." She says, while trying to clam me down, like it's not going to kill both of us. Genevieve then continues to pick up Ruben and stroke his fur, 'he's probably had blood on that fur at one point!' She holds him out away from her chest and towards me! 'What the hell is she thinking?'

"Oh my god! Please! Get it away from me! I'm deathly scared cats with their long claws and razor sharp teeth. They're like death animals!" I exclaim while sort of hissing and clawing at Ruben, 'he deserves this!'

We continue back and forth about how cats are killers and cats are adorable, 'I'm not changing my mind!' The argument goes on and on, it feels like it won't stop. 'I bet this is just the first fight to come during this week.'