Infected Affections

"Flight 182 prepared for take off."

Once in the air, Vanessa watched the United States grow smaller and smaller until it almost disappeared. Maybe one day she'll be able to return and be Vanessa Torrance.

Many hours later, Vanessa stood in the London airport with her mother while a british accented lady spoke over the loudspeaker. Two F.B.I. agents escorted them out to there car and took them to their new home.
It was a pretty nice house. Way better than the ones they had before.
The closet in Vanessa's room was filled with all of london's newest fashion. Vanessa couldn't have been happier.

As she unpacked the little stuff she's had since she was seventeen, she came across the pictures of her and Ray. They were still in almost perfect shape.

She stared at the pictures for a few minutes and then sat them on her bed
when she had everything unpacked. She placed the pictures back in the box and stored the boxes in a hallway closet. It had been awhile since she had even thought of Ray. It was hard on her to even think about him.
she vowed to herself that when she returns to the U.S. she would return to Belleville and visit his tombstone.

But for now she has to live her life in London and pretend that everything is alright.

Samantha Steinbeck made friends easily in London. She went to a private college that the F.B.I. was paying for. The last time she was in a school, a guy from the mob had approached her and asked where the office was. That guy had been sent to quietly kill her. And she knew immediately he had no intentions of ever going to the office. Thank god people had been around when he asked. or she might have been dead by now.

Samantha had alittle more freedom in London. The F.B.I. allowed her to run around with her new friends but they were always near by.

She had made four friends;

Branden, Leah, Cassie, and Jonathan. She loved being around them.
She finally felt that she could have some fun and move on from her past life.

Her friends introduced her to all the latest music, fashion, etc. Her two girl friends went shopping with her and went to the mall alot. When she was with her guy friends they played video games. And when all 5 of them went out together, they would go have a few social drinks and go back to Branden's house to have a snack and watch movies or talk.

One night when Vanessa was allowed to stay at Branden's house with all of her friends, Leah had popped in a C.D. that she had never heard of.

"They're gonna clean up your looks
with all the lies in the books
to make a citizen out of you
because they sleep with a gun
and keep an eye on you,son
so they can watch all the things you do."

"Who's this?" Samantha asked.

All four of her friends looked at her like she was completely crazy.

"My Chemical Romance, I'm sure you've heard them before." Cassie said.

"No, actually I haven't." Samantha said.

"You're kidding right?" Leah said.

"Sadly I'm not."

Branden and Jonathan just stared at her in shock. Leah stood up and went over to Branden's pile of C.D's and pulled out three more cds.
She opened the C.D. player and put two of the three C.D.'s into Branden's five disc player and closed it. She then switched it to play a different C.D.

An insturmental song came on and all her friends told her she was about to listen to the greatest band that could ever be known. She just smiled and listened to every lyric, every guitar riff, every drum beat, every bass line.

By the end of the week, they had bought her her own C.D.'s and Vanessa was listening to them at night. The next time she was over, she was singing along with them.

"We told ya they were the best, did we not?" Branden said.

"You did, I can't believe I went this long without every even hearing about them!" Samantha said.

"I can't believe it either and I think it's time you watch the D.V.D!" Leah said.

"D.V.D.?" Samantha questioned.

"it's the D.V.D. Life On The Murder Scene, sweetheart." Cassie said.

"Oh," Samantha said.

"I can't wait to hear Bob talk!" Leah said.

"Bob?" Samantha questioned.

"Ya know...we had her listen to the music and didn't even tell her the band members names or show her what they look like." Jonathan observed.

"You're right." Branden said.

Leah put in the D.V.D. and said we should watch the music videos before watching the video diary.

"I vote for I'm not Okay!" Cassie exclaimed.

"Aww, I wanted to watch Helena!" Jonathan whined.

"How 'bout we just watch them all..starting from the begining?" Samantha asked.

"Agreed." Jonathan said.

So Leah pressed the play button and a green screen came on, almost like a movie. Someone was saying stuff and when it showed to guys sitting there, one talking and the other just sitting there, I gasped. Everyone turned to look at me. I kept my eyes on the screen as I stared at that face.