Shacking up with my Convict

"Yes Bre, I'm sure it's safe here" I turn the key in the lock before pushing the door open. One more glance behind me and I pull my suitcase inside and locked the door. Cigarette butts laid in the ashtray on a center table along with empty drink bottles. I sigh glancing around the small apartment wondering how I'd really be able to stay here knowing I'll never see her walk through those doors again. Two doors laid on my left and I choose the first, placing my suitcase at the end of the bed before heading for the drawers. Jeans, leggings and way too large for a girl tees laid in each along with studded and naked belts. The moment however, I saw underpants I gave up. Morgan really was living the high life having her boyfriend living permanently like this. The asshat hadn't even bother to turn up to remove his clothes. "Vi!" Oh s**t, I forgot Bre was on the line. "Hey sorry Bre, I.....I totally forgot about you there" "Seriously? I thought something happened to you. Maybe you got mugged, kidnapped, something" "This isn't a bad neighbourhood Bre" "I wouldn't call it the suburbs either" she shuffles in the background before everything went still again. "I can't believe you still moved away, in the height of everything" I roll my eyes taking a seat on the made bed glancing around the room wondering where to begin. "You know the reason I had to leave" "Yes, Watson is absolutely devious for making you leave at this point" I smile. "You want me alive or dead Bre?" "Of course I want you alive. Have you ever heard of an undead maid of honor?" "Who knows I can probably scare Jon into staying on the straight and narrow" We share a laugh and I tied my hair heading over to the bed to open the panel windows. The fresh air made a wide grin spread against my face as I took in the warm summer air. For the first time I could breathe without having to wonder if I'll ever have a peaceful night. "Ugh!" "What's wrong now Bre?" I ask tossing the clothes from the drawers onto the ground, emptying them before hooking up my phone to my ear buds to work and talk. "I'm all alone with the stress of getting married and my best friend is on the other side of the world enjoying her life" Oh my God, she was so dramatic. "I'm not on the other side of the world Bre, just like fourteen miles out from Charleston" "That's literally like being at the north pole. you know everything has to be perfect. It can't not be perfect. How is it gonna be perfect when you're so far away?" I keep telling her to get diagnosed for that obsessive behavior she has that everything had to the perfect. "You're being dramatic" "I'm getting married so technically I have every right" "Yes, yes. You can always face time me and we'll work through everything, plus I've gone like a dozen of your rehearsals. Oh and Bre?" "Yeah?" I glance around the room deciding that I might rearrange everything. Maybe change the color of the walls to grey. I form a box with my thumbs and pointer fingers, creating my own little zoom camera gaging the room like I always do before taking a shot. Yeah definitely grey, I decide "Please don't give the planner a headache, I'm not there to pull you away to take a breather" "If she suggests daffodils for the centerpiece one more time, I'm gonna lose it" "I'm getting Kasey on the case okay. Just chill. If you keep overthinking, it might just fall apart" The line went dead and I tap my pods thinking maybe something was wrong with our connection. "Bre?" "Bre?" My phone rings on the dresser startling me and I jump momentarily stunned, calming my heart rate before tapping for my pod to answer. "What the hell just happened?!" Bare yelled in my ear. "I think we had a bad connection" "That is what happens when you move into the slums" "I didn't move into the slums Brean, calm down. No one gets robbed here" I paused thinking. At least I hope not. "But back to what I was saying" "Yes, don't forget she suggested balloons too" "That was for after the father-daughter dance Bre" "I will not have a tacky wedding" she counters. I swear Jon has no idea what he's marrying into, but atlas that was a worry for another day. If they dated for a year, he should be alright for the next ten years of his life right? "Like I said babe, just relax. You don't want to not fit into your dress with all that stressing do you?" "You think I won't fit into my dress?!" Bre asked appalled. Great now she's having a dress melt down. I face palmed myself thinking I should've known better. "No. No. I know you're going to be a beautiful bride and you're gonna have a wedding that we'll fawn about for weeks to come" Brean sighs happily, her voice going soft. "It's really going to be a memorable one won't it?" "Only the best for my best friend" I glance online attempting the find the nearest Ikea store to do some shopping, since I planned to replace a few furniture, and get a few other things to make this place at least a little hospitable. Can't have Bre going totally ballistic when she finally gets here- whenever I managed to convince her that is. Gonna be a super fixer upper though with all this junk lying around. "Hmm. So I know you said you're okay and all" Not again "Again, I'm fine Bre" "Yes I know. I'm not an ogre. Morgan was the closest family you've got and with her sudden death and you moving back all on your own. Just, be honest are you really okay?" This mom intuition that Bre has makes my head hurts sometimes, especially when she knows she's right. I admit, having the one family I could count on kick the bucket suddenly sucked the f**k but that else could I do? Mentally I wasn't fine. I wanted someone to vent all my s**t with Watson to, but there was no one, hence keeping my thoughts to myself. At the least, I was thankful that she had invited me over before she left the realm. This reminds me that I needed to find the landlord to let them know I'd be paying from now on and whether she had any outstanding bills. "I'm fine" I respond. "Sometimes it's hard because I miss her and I can't, I want to hate the man that killed her, but it wouldn't....it wouldn't be fair. But at least I'm not worried about Watson anymore so that cancels everything " "Right that douche bag. You should've pressed charges, took out a restraining order" "Brean, you know I can't" I counter. If she only knew how much he threatened me about doing it. Running away from that ass was my only option and as long as we were worlds apart and he didn't know where to find me, we could live our lives separately and happily. Him and his whores And me and my camera. "I have to go," I say as memories of his mental abuse flood my mind. "Yeah. I'll just go enjoy my spa day. Alone" I couldn't love this crazy chick enough. "Goodbye Brean" I sing kicking at a tin can that laid outside the door as I made my way back to the living area. I do my best to distract myself with the ransacked apartment that was now my home. Thank goodness for separate accounts or I wouldn't have had a dollar to my name. A refrigerator is missing, mold claiming the half eaten Chinese food left on the counter. Dust covered the counter and cupboard. Sighing I decided maybe it was better I got some sleep or a bath and then a nap before attempting to rectify the mess of this place. *** I kicked the door in a quarter past six as I lumbered in with my two bags of groceries, laying them on the floor next to the worn couch that's probably infested with roaches. My arms hurt like hell and my temples pulsed foretelling at an impending headache if I didn't relax the f**k down. Roaches we're the least of my problems. There was no tv either thus my entertainment laid within my phone on i********:, checking my notifications for work. My eyes kept going back and forth across the room wondering how in hell Morgan managed to live like this or whether probably they got robbed. Or worst, that she might have hit hard times. Though knowing Morgan her pride wouldn't let her ask for help, even if I was the closest thing to family. With limbs heavy and consciousness slipping I rested my head against an old cushion berating my mind to stop critiquing everything and just shut down for a moment. The rooms spins and I feel my body being pulled under the bliss tide of sleep. Something beeps incessantly stirring me from my sleep at an hour I know not. The entire apartment is covered under the garb of darkness, the ringing phone the only illumination against the black. Without checking the I.d, still half asleep and groggy, figuring it's probably Kasey or Bre checking up on me again I answer. "Yes? I'm sleeping guys" "Hello Vivi, now where have you ran off to?" The phone fell from my hands immediately, heart racing. Watson?!