Everywhere they were there. Every street, every corner, in every car, they were there. No where was anywhere if they weren’t there? The pattern, the certainty was a comfort and anything that upset that rhythm was not anything worth knowing about. The unspoken rule was subconsciously a given. Set in stone. Set in BLACK and WHITE.

Ruthann sat nervously in the back seat of the car trying to keep her head out of sight of the window. The car was getting warm and creating a dry and stale atmosphere but Ruthann refused to open her window or even her parents open theirs. They drove slowly trying not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. The old Chevrolet rattled along the suburban streets seeming to blend in quite thankfully. It was a warm summer and the sunshine bet down on the roads making it increasingly difficult to see. There was only two more gruelling blocks until the final moment. The moment that everyone had dreaded, the one in which would break the tension and change the Gueye family lives forever.
Cautiously the adequate, little Chevrolet rolled up a neat, confined, paved driveway. Daring to lift her head above the window line, Ruthann blinked twice as her brown saucer like eyes grew wider in sheer amazement. What seemed like a mansion stood before Ruthann, but it was really just an ordinary suburban house. The most evident of all the features of the typical yet fascinating little building was the glass. Glass windows, coloured glass panes and the glass ‘picture window’ made the house far more interesting than it ought to be. The Greek like pillars that stood so boldly supporting the ginger bread coloured house made the building seem even grander to Ruthann.
Ruthann’s mother; a small, elegant woman, turned round in the stiff leather seats making the rather unpleasant noise of rubbing leather resembling that of an old, door creaking in a silent night. As she half turned her petite figure round the blinding sun reflection made her brown, braided bun look even more sophisticated. Her floral scent of the unmistakable ‘Madame Rocha’, her only bottle which she savoured, filled the car.
‘Ruthann, are you ready?’ asked Ruthann’s mother, Faaria, trying to keep the mounting unease out of her voice.
Ruthann turned her head slowly making her short ponytail hit in her the face. ‘I never will be.’ She muttered coldly under her heavy breath.
Faaria reached out her arm and held her daughters hand reassuringly. That one grasp said everything; it will be fine, I’m here for you, everything that the Gueye family needed if they were ever going to get through this.
The deafening click of the door handle, the creak of the swinging door, the sound of a hesitant footstep taking a leap of unnerving faith. The almost left unbearable gasps there bodies knowing that the unspoken rule was beginning to break before their very eyes.
Faaria Gueye now hurriedly opened the door of the red Chevrolet hastening her daughter to get out of the haven of the car. Ruthann would not move she closed her eyes as tight as they would go so that she now resembled a little pig, and buried her head in her jacket. Faaria attempted to pull the jacket away form her daughters grasp but it was too strong. Striving not to make any scene, she pleaded softly with her daughter to let go.
Whispering faintly Faaria begged to Ruthann. ‘Ruthann darling, please. You are making a scene. Let go of the jacket and come out of the car.’
A crowd of them had now gathered and some were beginning to shout. ‘Beat it!’ ‘Yeah, what are you here for anyway?’ ‘Get lost!’
Faaria’s husband, Numair, who was a tall and well built man, walked over to the other side of the car and opened the door. Bending down so that his suede shoes could now be seen, Numair carefully lifted Ruthann’s chin up by his index finger and smiled into her eyes, which were now wide open. Ruthann didn’t smile but she cried softly and reluctantly hauled herself out of the car.

The crowd had increased largely as Ruthann scurried into the house with her dad right at her side.
Nothing would ever be the same again for the Gueye family and they, themselves knew that.