What's wrong with an open window? (For Chanel ^^ )

[mysterysneeze]

“I can’t believe her. Who does she think she is?” That single question over five years ago was what made Aminta Solis climb out of her shell. Before that fateful press conference which was her beginning of her political career, Miss Solis was a fairly young, talented, and determined woman who didn’t know what she wanted but had the drive to do anything. With that one single question, her whole life changed from that moment on. Being an Italian immigrant that moved into the US when she was in middle school, she never seemed to fit in quite right. Her ideas were unusual to her fellow American students, her accent was very potent even back then, and she had flawless skin that girls could only dream of.

If it weren’t for her close friends back in those days, her confidence would’ve been completely shattered that first year of middle school. Jealous girls from all of her classes liked to tease her of her accent and her beautiful looks. They tore her composure down like wallpaper and most of the time she would sit alone whenever she could. It wasn’t until she met Megan Felix, an extremely shy Mormon ‘goody goody’, another immigrant named Alfredo Boliva who was of Mexican descendant, and a friendly popular cheerleader named Valery Morris that her life stabilized socially. It was the first time while in the US she had ever met friends who were outside her family. It was back in these days where Aminta learned that there were different kinds of people within American society. It became the first step in her life to become what she is today.

That question was thrown at her almost every day in middle school, but she didn’t yet realize what that meant exactly. Years later in that press conference, those words bore into her soul once again and enflamed it, making her desires grow deep and passionate. Turning to the man who asked her the question, she gave a false compassionate smile. “You know who I am? I will tell you. I am the woman who is going to change. I am the one who will make lives altered and I swear by my life that I will do everything in my power to make certain that my points will never again be muddled in confusion or uncertainty. I am one woman, but you better believe that I will not let anyone persuade or tell me I can’t do something. That is who I think I am.”

With fire in her deep brown eyes she began her reign as an astonishing politician. Within that first year she made so many small changes that actually worked she was known as the miracle worker. Those successful changes, however, boosted her confidence. She began to take on bolder tasks, made changes that gradually increased in importance. It wasn’t long before she had involved herself into some of the country’s most powerful businesses and government offices. Her long beautiful chestnut brown hair that was naturally wavy and beautiful became too much of a distraction for her. She studied the most famous influential women in the world and discovered a pattern that beauty was a distraction to those who watched them. It took a few months, but Aminta made it so her hair was arranged into a way where it didn’t appear so long.

This did not mask her attractiveness one bit. With expensive suits worn whenever she was in public, she had the outfit of a pure no-nonsense politician. With flawless skin, eyes that could make anyone melt with desire, and the feeling of a leader, this was one lady that never seemed to go down for any reason.

Her confidence peaked into arrogance when she was invited to go into the White House. There she learned the ways of national politicians and how powerful their influence can really be. There were some people that didn’t trust her, questioned her motives and her loyalty to Americans because of her Italian blood. This was made known when several cocky reporters angrily made their points in a simple interview for a newspaper just under two years ago. She used as much persuasive power as she could, while at the same time not pushing hard enough. The reporters pushed hard, relentlessly trying to get her to make a mistake. This severe interview got so heated that the recorded information was never made public. Multiple heated arguments with all kinds of language were thrown back and forth at one another until finally Aminta was through being nice. In a rage she used her hidden emotions that had combined with her arrogance and power and truthfully answered every questioned the perplexed reporters threw at her. Those same reporters quit their jobs just a week later.

…

Why does this happen to me now? So early in the morning and I have to deal with these fools already. Couldn’t this have waited until next week? No matter. Dealing with them will be like swatting pests…no no. Flicking pests. Swatting would take more energy and effort to deal with more troublesome things.

Her thoughts were hidden with that alluring smile she had at the start of each meeting. Every Tuesday and Saturday the local politicians would meet with their higher superiors. Aminta was glaring as she smiled, letting the lower insignificant thinkers know just who was in charge here. “Before we begin, does anyone have anything to take care of?” One feeble man in the back raised his hand shakily. One of the newest politicians no doubt. He obviously has heard of me. He should relax. I don’t bite…I only hunt the ones who get in my way. He won’t become nearly as important as I am until years from now. Who knows? Maybe he will stand a chance…

“E-e-excuse me Mrs. Soulless…I mean Mrs. Solis!!…you are a Mrs. aren’t you?” Then again…I’ve been wrong before. Shame on me for judging for the better too quickly. Ami you fool. You shouldn’t treat others with kindness. Look where that could’ve got you!

“You think a lady like me is married Mr. Jones?” She said this with such authority and hidden power she noticed a few of the members she knew well flinch. I’ll deal with those who flinched later. No weaknesses are allowed under my supervision. Mr. Jones froze dead in his place and knew he was in serious trouble. Aminta purposely began to tap her desk repeatedly, making heads instinctively look to the noise she was making. People were so easy to attract. All it took was either the right words or the right action and everyone you needed to pay attention to you would instantly become pawns. She smiled more cruelly and she made it well clear that not only was she not married, she would never take lightly to being called soulless.

“Speak on the thing you want Mr. Jones. Time is something precious that I hate wasting. I know every politician that comes into my office.”

With a gulp the nervous man said, “I wish to open the window in here. It’s such a beautiful day outside and a nice breeze could really calm my nerves.” He quickly sits back down in his chair and waits for her reply. For a split second, Aminta’s body flinched and her nostrils flared slightly as she silently fumed within herself.

If it was one thing Aminta hated more than anything besides disloyalty, it was irony. Her name literally means defender. She liked to think that her parents unknowingly cursed her at birth with a curse of an immune system that defended too well. She rarely got sick…matter of fact, she couldn’t even remember the last time she fell ill to a simple cold let alone a serious bug like the flu. The problem was that her immune system defended her body from things that weren’t a threat to her. During the Spring months, Aminta was very hesitant to even walk outside in public without medication with her at all times. If she was inside, no problem. As long as she avoided dusty places, she could stay inside as long as she desired. Opening a window, letting in pollen of all things, was unacceptable to her.

Still, she had to keep up her image. Denying a simple request to open the window might make the other politicians think she was becoming paranoid and therefore disrupting her plans to increase her power even more. She was the top dog here in this city, but even she had her superiors. If she played her cards right, she would become equal status to her superiors by the end of the upcoming speech. As much as she hated…no…loathed the idea that Mr. Jones had purposed, she had to have everyone’s support for the speech scheduled next week.

“You are right Mr. Jones. Go ahead and open it as much as you desire.” If he DARES to open it up fully I swear I’m going to kick him across the city and have him fired from every possible job that I influence. Fortunately for the beautiful Italian-born politician, he only opened it partly, and she had to admit, the breeze did feel very nice inside the stale room. She remembered the last time the window was open…all the way back to the middle of winter.

Very well played Mr. Jones. You survived today, but don’t think I’ve forgotten what you said about me. I’ll show you who’s soulless around here. “Alright. Now that everything is in order, let us begin.” She was tempted to say something about how pointless this all was. None of the lower politician ideas ever got through to the higher ups, and even when the rare special cases happened, the legislature and the executive powers would normally rip apart any hope of having new laws and ideas in place.

Soon the discussion turned into pitiful little topics like how much water should be paid for in drinking fountains, grabbing too many supplies from the store should become illegal, and how lenient policemen should be in letting drivers get away with breaking the rules of the road. Miss Solis’s attention skyrocketed at the last little topic. She was furious that a policeman had given her a ticket from pulling a ‘California stop’ at a traffic light a month ago. That fool had no idea how terrible that single ticket could be to her image! All of her persuasive methods in the world couldn’t be used against the brick wall of a policeman. She was about to use her ruthless tactics but she remembered just in time that doing this to a police officer might reach to the press somehow.

Mr. Jones was sweating profoundly. Who knew that this lady from hell was his boss? It was destroying his nerves just on his first day here! Surely the boss lady wouldn’t mind if he opened the window a bit more. The incoming breeze stopped momentarily as he opened the window a little more, almost as if it was holding its breath and taunting Mr. Jones to open the window farther to get the relief he needed. He ended up opening the window all the way, and just as he did, a heavenly sweet breeze blew towards him, washing away his worries as the wind cooled him down.

Mr. Jones leaned back in his normal position just in time. Aminta’s sharp eyes perked up and scanned the room, her instincts telling her something had changed. Staring at everyone around the table, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The pleasant breeze that had blown in earlier was dancing around the bottom part of her tied up hair, almost seemingly begging her hair to become released. It didn’t take long, however, for her sharp senses to figure out why her instincts were going nuts.

The first thing that told her something was wrong was that her eyes were blinking more than usual. Direct eye contact was a must in this profession, and if you couldn’t keep your eyes open and prove your point by staring your targets straight into their souls, you already lost half the battle of persuading them to think your way. She then felt the horrible tingling feeling in her right nostril. Why was it always the right that was the first to cause that feeling?

Her mind automatically floated back to the first miserable year when she moved into the US. She had no allergies whatsoever back in Italy, but when she moved here into the US, the native trees and the grasses wrecked havoc on her immune system. She spent most of that year begging her mother to stay home, for the fear of mockery and ridicule at her sneezing fits were almost overwhelming.

Her past thoughts evaporated as her nostrils gently were starting to get strained with the effort that she was unknowingly using to keep from sniffing. Unfortunately she must’ve had a far away look in her eyes. One of the politicians next to her tapped his foot against her heel. Angrily her nostrils flared and she took a deep breath and was just about to turn to face the poor unfortunate soul who dared to tap his foot against her expensive heel when she felt her nostrils stay flared. Her nose gave a large twitch in agony as the pollen from outside invaded her flared nostrils. She could feel the tingling sensation travel deeper and deeper up her slender nose, the nostrils were flaring in and out quietly but they were obviously very irritated. The embarrassing pink color started to spread around her angry flared nostrils and her nose was now giving several twitches in rapid succession.

If I sniff again I’m the fool. Focus…I can easily beat this. It’s just a simple tickle. It isn’t even powerful yet! I’ve handled allergic attacks much more potent than this no problem! All what I need to do is give my nose a nice good rub. Not very professional looking, but if a sn…no. It will NOT happen so I won’t even think of the word.

Returning her death stare at the politician who was now giving his idea to the group, Miss Solis followed her plan to the letter. Giving her nose a good rubbing in the most irritated places, she felt the tingling sensation now deep in her nose slightly recede. Unfortunately her own arrogance was her downfall here. “Miss Solis are you alright?” That forbidden tone of voice called concern was nearly undetectable to everyone in the room…nearly. Aminta easily detected the concern hidden in his voice from years of studying voices and how to use them to do things.

“I’m fine Mr. Davies. Proceed with your proposal.” Aminta took a sniff of annoyance and sighed, just as she always did in the morning when these meetings took too long for her liking. Again her downfall came to her once again. She finally noticed that the breeze, which should’ve stopped long ago, was still blowing around her office. The reason was logical now that she felt it. I’M GOING TO KILL THAT…oh no…

Her inner fury at Mr. Jones was very short lived. Panic rose within her as she could now literally see the tiny specks of cedar pollen from outside sweeping into the room. Three huge cedar trees were outside her office. Normally these trees were harmless, but in the hay fever season they turned into torturing monsters. As soon as Aminta’s mind processed the knowledge that cedar pollen was so close to her, her nose began to not just tingle but also run slightly. One of her worst allergens was in the same room! Her nose began to fight her will, battling her need to remain perfectly in control and more powerful than the others in the room. Aminta visibly flinched as she heard a poor young woman outside give a polite sneeze into a tissue. Another suffering person with allergies…but Aminta wasn’t just another person. She would fight this and she would not sneeze! No matter how much her nose screamed at her in protest.

She couldn’t focus anymore on the droning words of the politician with the pointless proposal he was making. Her pink color around her nostrils had spread to cover the whole front part of her nose, but luckily that front part of the nose could easily be hidden if she kept her head in a specific position. As she did this, she felt the cedar pollen inside her irritated nose shift, making a whole new wall of itchiness slam into her consciousness and the new feeling caused an allergic tear to form inside each eye. Her eyes blinked quickly to cover up the tear, and her mind was screaming at her nose to stop twitching. If I sneeze now, I’m going to show weakness. WEAKNESS! Someone like me can’t show this. It’s bad enough that I was made fun of in my teen years with my allergies, but letting these people hear my allergy attack? I would lose respect! Control! These two things are critical for a politician to have. I got it! I just need to get up like nothing was wrong and simply close the window. Problem solved! I ju…oh…oh my…

Her nose erupted right then and there with desire. Her built-up pressure that the pollen had caused couldn’t be contained with just a few dainty twitches and flared nostrils. Her head leaned back slightly and her eyes fluttered and threatened to close entirely. NOT NOW! I will not allow my image to be ruined by something as pathetic and insignificant as…

Her mind shut down as more tiny specks of pollen landed on the irritated rims of her pink nostrils, causing her nose to give one last tiny twitch before her face scrunched up and her nose took complete control over her body.

“Huh…ha…ahh…haaASHEW!! A…AHSHEW! H’TSHEEW!”

“Miss Solis! What on Earth are you…”

“Neh…never mi…miinDKSHO! MIND! CLOSE The…theeh…hEEkSHEW! Ah…haah…haaATSsH! ISshew!” Rubbing frantically, Aminta knew that when her sneeze changed like that, it meant the allergen had finally exited out of her passages. Relief was short lived as she knew that if the window was kept open, she would just explode again into another fit of sneezes.

She went herself to close the window as all the other politicians were too stunned to move. This woman, who demanded absolute perfection and gave every image herself to live up to her own demands, was doing something imperfect. No one had ever seen her even give so much as an emotion to erase the image of control she had over everything and everybody.

As soon as Aminta Solis got up out of her chair and headed to the window, another breeze blew into the room, scattering a small pollen cloud over most of the room. Again the itchiness inside her nose blossomed into a flower that reminded her of a venus flytrap, biting her most sensitive parts of her nose and causing it to twitch wherever the invading pollen made contact with an already pink area of her nose. Sniffling and sounding more helpless than she had in years, Aminta reached for the open window and stuck her head out. The itch had grown so much that she knew she wouldn’t be able to even hold in any sneeze this time.

“HA’TSHO! I’KSHEW! HASSHEEW! IsschOO! Why me…meeh…ME’TSHOO! Gnh...WHY ME??” Loosing her cool and slamming the window shut, she turned around and faced the horrified politicians. She looked like a mess. Her eyes were red and almost puffy, her whole nose, even almost halfway up the bridge of it, was a beet bright pink color and her nostrils were still flaring in and out, showing a dark irritated red color around her rims of the nostrils. Her head tilted back again and she had a frozen pre-sneeze expression on her face, nostrils tilted into the air and flaring helplessly as the stuck allergic sneeze wasn’t coming out. With nothing to tease her nose anymore and the invading itch still inside her nose, there was just no relief for her. Her emotions boiling to the point she felt like she was going to explode, her head turned slightly towards Mr. Jones, who had opened the window in the first place. The smell of pollen was all over his suit and her nose awakened to a heightened tickle that settled deeper into her nose and caused so much desire to sneeze that her eyes were not just tearing up but it almost seemed like she was starting to cry.

“Ah…haah…aaaah…HA…HAA…HA’TSSHEEEW!” With that one powerful sneeze her head jerked forward and her hair became undone, her true long hair revealing itself as she continued to sneeze one right after another. Each sneeze that came just seemed to tickle her nostrils as the light spray from each one triggered another sneeze. After the 9^th sneeze in a row she started to rub her nose with a fingernail between each sneeze, just trying to make it tickle enough for a bigger and more relieving sneeze to come out. Most of her sneezes she attempted to cover up with the only thing available for her to use, the back of her hand, but she gave up as her massive sneezing fit continued on.

By the time that she finished sneezing, she had lost count after the 30^th sneeze in a row. That was a long time ago. She literally felt like she had been hit by a bus and flattened with a steam roller. Slumping to the floor, her eyes were now very irritated and red. Her nose still had a lingering light tickle, but it was just the same as any time she walked outside without medication. There was no way…NO WAY she could do this press conference now. Not with her fellow politicians knowing just how NOT in control of things she really was. Her arrogance was bickering with her and her ruthlessness had completely run dry. She no longer felt attractive, persuasive, or powerful. All it took was one little thing and her whole perception of complete dominance was shattered. She felt so…so helpless.

“M…Miss Solis?” Rubbing her eyes and instantly regretting the decision, she felt her eyes water in protest to the rubbing. Probably one politician was left, to mock her just like the kids used to do in the past. With as much of a defeated look as she’d ever had before, she meekly looked at who was talking to her. She gasped as she saw every single politician was still in the same room, most of them were standing around her and was waiting for an order to help her up.

“You…you guys…Mr. Jason. I…” She tried to sound just as powerful as before but every few words or so she had to pause to sniff in a very vain attempt to clear up her nose. Finally she gave up trying to sound clear. “Misber Jason, I’b not going to fire you from aby job. All of you habe showed me thad you are loyal to be…me. Where’s a tisdue?”

One politician ran out of the room and hurried back with clean tissues that were not covered in pollen. Handing her the glorious tissue, she blew her nose long and hard. The tissue basically disentigrated in her hand, and she mumbled a word that somewhat resembled disgusting, and then reached for three more tissues and blew her nose into them all at once.

About ten tissues later, Aminta finally felt her nose unclog enough so she could speak. “This meeting will be cut short until a later date. No excuses for not coming to the make up date. If you guys ever tell a reporter or a newspaper about this, you will be mine. You understand? Not a word of my allergy to anyone. I mean that with full intention to ruin your lives if this gets out. For now…………….thank you.” She actually gave a legitimate small blush, but everyone didn’t notice since her red eyes and irritated nose overtook anything else visible on her face. “Now, if you don’t mind…WHY are you still here? Americans don’t get anywhere by being lazy and not doing anything. Move it!”

Things went back to the way they were before. The fellow politicians remained supportive of Aminta Solis and no matter how ruthless she got and how arrogant she became, they knew she had a human side. She wasn’t completely a soulless person. She just acts like it most of the time.

Epilogue-

The ding of a pharmacy told the woman behind the counter that there was a visitor. Who could’ve come here at this time of day? It was three hours till midnight! The beautiful politician, with her long hair not tied up in its usual way, showed herself to the woman behind the counter. “It’s been a long time Megan.”

“Aminta!! Oh it’s so good to see you! What have you become? You look like a pol…”

“Politician. Yes that is what I’ve become, but listen. You are the only person I can trust to not spill anything. You, Alfredo, and Valery are the only people besides what happen recently that I know won’t ruin my image because of my allergies. Look, I need more medication. I’ve managed to take all the meds I have to keep from having any more allergy attacks, but the Press Conference is tomorrow and I can’t afford any mistakes or screw ups to happen. Here’s the prescription Meg.”

As she handed her the doctor’s slip, she realized that this was the first time she’d called anyone by a nickname in years. She’d discipline herself later. It wasn’t every day you meet with one of your oldest friends. Megan Felix read the slip carefully, scanned through the available medicines she had in the store, and managed to find one last bottle of the stuff.

“You are so lucky Ami! …Or Aminta…I guess I can’t really call you that nickname anymore since you’re so formal now. The power of the medication is some of the strongest we have, but you must listen to me. If you don’t take a tablet every four hours with this stuff, the effect wears off. Just be careful with things ok?”

Aminta grinned and grabbed the medication, waved goodbye to her friend, and headed to her home. When I use this powerful medication tomorrow, there’s no way my allergies can ruin the moment of me getting closer to the top! Nothing could possibly go wrong…and I’ll make sure of it.

[Chanel_no5]

Again the itchiness inside her nose blossomed into a flower that reminded her of a venus flytrap, biting her most sensitive parts of her nose

And that, is just delicious!!

Soulless!! I love it!!

Actually, this story reminded me of a scene but I can’t recall if it was something I read or wrote myself, years ago (if I wrote it myself it’s gone with my old computer), about someone powerful having tables turned on her, and was certain she was being abandoned but it turned out the people around her were loyal despite how she had treated them. I really liked how you worked in her earlier experiences; it made me feel sympathy for her even in her bitchy moments.

This was great, thank you so, so much!!

[sauce]

I honestly don't care about the gender being female at all - that doesn't matter to me, what matters is how frakkin' good this fic is. *//u//*

I mean...holy craaaaap. The whole control/vulnerability thing is just...fffffff

I feel weird all over....in a good way >////<

[mysterysneeze]

@Chanel- Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed this story . It was very enjoyable to write! Soulless indeed .

@Pirka-Thank you so much for the complement! Vulnerability ^^

[megacycle]

A good story written by a good internet buddy.