Bleeding Hearts

A storm to start the day

7 years later

I woke to a loud thunderstorm making the branches of the tree outside my window bash against the glass and the siding of her apartment. I rolled over and grabbed my phone to check the time, 3:45am “well f**k" I groaned as I sat up and stretched. After loudly cracking what sounded like every bone in my body I walked to the window to peer out at the massive storm outside. It was still dark but the flashes of lightning made it look like a strobe lite was on in the room. “its goanna be a fun day today angel” I said as I reached over to pet the head of my beautiful Rottweiler watching from a chair next to the window.

Several more minutes passed and we just watched the rain and wind whip the tree across the side of the apartment building before I decided to just stay up and get some work done instead of trying to get some more sleep. The storm was so loud it would just be a waist of time at this point to attempt to sleep.

Grabbing the phone and a blanket from the bed I headed into the living room where my laptop sat on the coffee table. Sitting down I wrapped my shoulders in the blanket, turned on the laptop, plugged my headphones in and waited patiently for the computer to boot up so I could get to work. Angel soon joined at the opposite end of the couch and quickly fell back to sleep.

“I’m glad this massive storm isn’t bothering you any girl” after the computer turn on I got to work. I liked to stay as busy as possible. The less free time I have the happier I was. Soon after moving to California I got a part time job as a court transcriptionist for the local police department, best way to pay the bills around here with no experience, plus I can do it from anywhere at anytime I wanted and that leaves me time to volunteer at the local hospital, and do my photography which is my real passion in life.

Time ticked by slowly as I sat there listening to the audio from an interview, my finger slid across the keyboard quickly and accurately, barely missing a beat. My fast typing is a gift I got from my mother, she thought me piano when I was younger and she also thought me how to type on the keyboard, she loved writing stories in her free time and watching her type so fast got me interested so she thought me which came in handy later on when I needed to write essays, and when I applied for this job.

My phone starts singing the annoying sound of my alarm so I pause the audio on my laptop and shut the alarm off (6am) wow finally my real day can start. After looking at the time left on the audio I decide to just go ahead and finish it, only five minutes remaining so it was quickly finished. I save my files and send off the completed work via email then shut down the computer.

“Angel want to go potty?” Angel hops up and stretches before trotting off to the door. I grab my jacket and keys then head out into the hall with her close at my heels, lucky me everyone here loves her so I never bother with a leash. We head to the stairwell and go down 3 flights to the main level. Outside I see the storm as subsided at last so we both stay mostly dry as we go out to the small green patch next to our building. Angel sniffs around a bit before doing her business then back inside we go.

After a quick shower I get dressed and ready for the day, packing my laptop, headphones, chargers, and all my other work essentials into my backpack Angel and I head out to the Art shop where I do my photography work. During college Amy and I met a couple other students who we soon befriended and one of them was a boy named Max, he has his own rental space where he set up a studio and shop with all sorts of cool equipment, lucky for him he comes from a family with money so he went to school for fun more than to start a money making career. Max and Amy soon hit it off and became more than just friends. They dated most of college and we both started working with Max at the studio, I do photography for weddings, graduations and basic family photography plus whatever else people wanted. Max does photography, filming and even some painting as well. Amy was more into painting and sculptures but did some film work, unfortunately just about 6 months ago a drunk driver took her life, Max and I will never heal. Amy was everything to us.

The studio is only a 15 minute walk from my apartment, along the way Angel and I hit up our favorite coffee shop for a pick me up. The barista George loves us, he knows I want a medium vanilla Latté and gives Angel a peanut butter biscuit every morning. We stay and chat if he isn’t busy, he loves to sit and pet Angel while she eats her treat and it just makes his day. Angel is a therapy dog and she does her job well, always makes people smile and loves kids, this is why we visit the children’s wing of the hospital several times a month when we can. After our coffee we head into the shop.