When Hate Ends

Michelle Calloway

Sloane woke up with the unpleasant feeling that someone had spent the entire night hammering nails inside her skull. She groaned and immediately pulled the pillow over her head.

“Too bright…” The room was barely lit, but even the thin strip of morning sunlight slipping through the curtains felt too bright.

She squeezed her eyes shut. And there was this heaviness in her body that made moving seem like an unnecessary chore.

Sloane slowly opened one eye and the ceiling stared back at her. It was her bedroom. She rested her body on both elbows to confirm. It was indeed her room, meaning nothing happened. A sharp wave of dizziness hit her, forcing her back against the mattress.

“Fuck.” She pressed both palms against her temples. Something definitely happened. Then, she remembered the club. Elliot. The drinks. The table.

“Oh, God.” She groaned again. Fragments of the night began returning. Her argument with Elliot. His annoying lecture. She had climbed onto a table.

Why wasn't she even surprised?

She slowly sat up and just immediately, the bedroom door opened. Sloane lifted her head.

“Serena?”

“Hey, girl.”

Serena Laurent walked into the room carrying a steaming mug. She kicked the door shut behind her before approaching the bed.

“Take this. It'll help with the hangover.”

Sloane stared suspiciously at the mug before reluctantly reaching for it.

“Thanks.”

“Elliot told you, right?” Serena gave her a look.

“He told me a lot of things, Sloane.” Sloane took a cautious sip of the drink and immediately grimaced.

“What the hell is this?”

“Something that'll keep you alive long enough to regret everything you did last night.”

Sloane rolled her eyes.

“Not now, Serena. My head is killing me.”

“You seriously need to stop this, Sloane.”

Sloane lowered the mug. There it was. The lecture. She should have known.

Serena wasn't perfect. She was kind and caring beyond measure, but she was one of the few people Sloane allowed close to her. Serena had seen every ugly side of her and somehow remained.

She saw beyond Sloane's attitude.Which was precisely why Sloane didn't want to hear what she had to say.

“I have a headache, Serena please not now” Sloane waved her hand dismissively wanting to end the whole conversation.

“You f*****g lost your job, oh wait, you quit.”

“Serena, please,” Sloane closed her eyes and brought the mug down from her lips.

“Sloane, Elliot told me eveything, why? What happened to not letting anyone crumble what you've built.”

“Sloane, you finally had your dreams accomplished and now, everything is down the gutter…just because of your ‘don't step over me’ attitude” Serena demonstrated with her hands as she continued talking. Sloane on the other hand, wanted to hear nothing about that topic.

“Why are you talking like you don't know I gave up on begging people for what was mine?” Slaone said, scarily calm. Serena looked at Sloane with searching eyes.

“For f**k's sake, you told everyone your name, announced that you'd ruined your life, complained about your fiancé and then encouraged a complete room of strangers to agree with you right after you literally lost everything.” Serena continued and Sloane still kept her demeanor.

“Elliot did tell you a lot of things, didn't he?...and then you both go talking behind my back.”

“Sloane, is that really the only thing you can take out of everything I just said?” Serena got up to her feet in disappointment.

“Elliot sure tells you a lot for someone who is supposed to be his girlfriend's best friend.” Sloane retorted and Serena palmed her forehead.

“That's the reason why he gotta tell me. I. AM. YOUR. BEST. FRIEND.” Serena's voice grew louder by the second, frustrated at Sloane's mindset at the moment.

“Then understand your position and don't f*****g say anything that doesn't involve a solution.”

“I'm only trying to correct you, Sloane. I mean tell you your mistakes.”

“Serena, understand that it f*****g does not change any f*****g thing.”Slaone said and Serena looked at her with questioning eyes.

“Fine then, what does telling me I've f****d up do. What difference does it make?”... “I lost my job means I f*****g lost my job, nothing is changing the f*****g fact that I screwed up everything I've tried to protect for my goddamn self…I hate this…I f*****g hate this” Sloane's voice cracked. The anger she had felt from the previous day came out as soft sobs.

“Come here” Serena reached for Sloane with her arms open. She had softened at the moment. She always did.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything” Serena patted Sloane's back.

“It's alright” Slaone, as if realizing herself, retreated from Serena's arms and wiped her tears. They both exchanged glances and as if planned, they burst into laughter.

“I hate you,” Sloane said, smiling. Serena smiled back and playfully hit Sloane's shoulders.

“I love you more, Sloane” After a few minutes of them reuniting, Slaone's ringtone broke the silence. It was an unknown number.

She picked the call and put it close to his ear. After a moment, the smile Sloane once had on her face disappeared and was replaced with a deep frown.

“What do you mean by its been transferred?. Who authorized it?”

“Slaone, what's wrong?” Serena asked, surprised about Sloane's change in demeanor. A few seconds after, Sloane dropped the phone off her ear.

“It’s gone, everything's gone” Sloane quietly said.

“Michelle f*****g Calloway” She continued. Sloane looked at Serena.

“What's up with Michelle Calloway?”

“Everything's gone, Serena, everything's gone.” Slaone lowered her head in her hands.

“You're scaring me, Sloane” Serena looked even more panicked than Sloane was.

“Call Calloway Empire.” Serena blinked.

“What?”

“Book an appointment.”

Sloane threw the blankets aside and stood. Her head immediately spun, but she steadied herself against the bedpost.

“We're going there.”

“Right now?” Serena asked, still confused.

Sloane grabbed her robe from the chair.

“Right f*****g now.” She had spent years building her life.

She let her job slip. She would at least try to hold on to the rest.