** Date: 07.06.1029 PNT // Friday **
** Time: 18:39 // 6:39 PM **
** Location: Ecosystem Mika // Habitat Melissa // District 6 // Sector 3 // Okomashi Alley 56 **
The room was barely lit by small rays of light crawling through the slits of the window blinds. The dusty shelves, empty whiskey bottles, bags of trash, and overfilled ashtray were only being revealed by the fire of her lighter. “Turn on the lights.” Kelly said. The light revealed the rest of her dirty apartment. A senior German Shepherd slowly walked up to her. “Hey there, girl.” Kelly went onto her knees, hugging and kissing the dog on the head. The collar showed her name, "Lilly." She walked over to the kitchen, well, her kitchen area. It was tiny; she did not have a proper oven. Just a water cooker, a microwave, some shelves, and a small fridge with a freezer compartment. Kelly put some water in the cooker and got a pack of instant cup ramen. Meanwhile, she fixed up some food for Lilly.
She took her food and a glass of whiskey and sat in front of the TV. Lilly followed her onto the couch. Her food got cold while she was drinking and trying to find something to watch. She still ate up but spent the rest of the evening drinking, listening to some jazz music, and cuddling with her dog. It was quite peaceful until…
*Bzzz* *Bzzzz*
“What do you want?” She picked up her phone. It was her ex-husband, Gordon.
“I just wanted to check up on you…” It was silent for a while. “How are you?”
“I am okay.” She said softly. “Well, as okay as it gets.”
“So not okay.” He answered. “Look, I wanted to ask you if you want to go for a coffee tomorrow?”
“Oh, did your new bitch kick you out?”
“What? No, no need to be so toxic.” He hesitated again. “Even if things did not work out between us, I still care for you.”
“Yeah, that’s why you left me.” She stood up. “You cared so little that you left me just because things got a bit shitty.” He was about to say something, but she shouted over him. “It was for better AND for worse…”
“It didn’t just get a bit shitty… Listen, I got hurt, too.” He answered.
“Oh, go fuck yourself!” She hung up and threw the phone on the couch. She poured herself some more to drink. A text message from Gordon appeared.
“Look, I deeply care for you, and I want you to be happy. Please just come for a coffee tomorrow. It will be at our usual spot.”
**Date: 08.06.1029 PNT // Saturday**
**Time: 06:12 // 6:12 AM**
**Location: Ecosystem Mika // Habitat Melissa // District 6 // Sector 3 // Okomashi Alley 56**
With drool on her face and spilled whiskey on her shirt, she woke up to the sound of the neighbors fighting… again. She did not move yet. Kelly was not ready to start the day. Lately she was rarely ever ready. She stared at her ceiling for a while. Lilly slowly approached her and licked her face. “I would have killed myself a long time ago if it weren't for you, you know that?” she said to the German shepherd.
She wiped away the drool and made her way to the bathroom. Which was just as dirty as the rest of her apartment. The laundry basket was overflowing, the mold in the corner of her shower grew by the day, the mirror was broken, and bloodstains covered the bathroom tiles. It was almost like it was a purposefully designed pattern, but she knew better. The scar of the incident was still on her forehead. She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, got herself a glass of whiskey, and sat on the balcony with a cigarette.
The street was full of drunk and homeless people. Everyone was trying to get home. Everyone was coming from a night out with friends, parties, and dates. There she saw a girl, walking barefoot, with her high heels in her hands. The girl looked up and smiled. Kelly smiled back and waved at her. It was her neighbor Marie. A young girl in her early twenties.
“You had a nice date?” Kelly asked.
“It was alright, until it wasn’t.” The girl replied, “Guys are dickheads.”
“Yeah, they usually are.” Kelly waved with her whiskey glass. “You wanna come up and talk?”
She did not hesitate. Before Kelly could finish her cigarette, Marie was at her front door. Kelly poured her a glass and another one for herself, and they both went to the balcony.
“Look, I don’t want to be a dick, but…” Marie started.
“Yeah, I know. My apartment looks like a landfill.” Kelly continued, “And I look like shit.”
“You are going through a rough time.” Marie took a sip. “It’ll get better.”
“Sure it will.” Kelly lit another cigarette. “Now what about you? What happened last night?”
“Oh my god.” She shouted. “Fucking piece of shit asshole.” She kept on cursing before finally starting her story. “I was out with my friends, right? We got really drunk, like really fucking drunk, and we met this group of guys. Three of them, actually. Two of them were straight-up assholes; the other one seemed nice. At first.”
“Yeah, they always seem nice at first.”
“Anyway, so he and I had a great time together. Drinking, dancing, talking, banter, and all that stuff.” She chugged the rest of her whiskey. “So I go to his place, and of course we fuck. Have another joint, and fuck again.” She poured herself a whiskey and also lit a cigarette. “Then we had another joint and sat on his balcony talking, you know, good times. We fucked again before bed. And the next morning, guess what happened?”
“His girlfriend came screaming?”
“His FUCKING girlfriend came screaming. I, of course, apologized to her, and I didn’t know.” She took another sip. “And instead of having a go at her boyfriend or breaking up with him, she kept insulting me. Calling me a dumb slut, stupid whore, and so on. So I was like, 'Okay, fuck this' and left.” She kept drinking. “That fucking bitch, if I had known he had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t have fucked him.”
“Don’t be so harsh,” Kelly intervened. "He is the one who lied. She just reacted to what happened."
Marie smiled while sucking her lips inward. "Okay, I have to admit, I eavesdropped." She swung back and forth. "After I lost her I...kinda doubled back and listened to the fight. And it wasn't even the first time. I was number seven just this month. They've been together for 5 years and married for another 3."
"Of course."
"How can you stay with someone for that long who treats you like this? I just don't understand..." She sighed. "How can you do that to someone who you love, you know? I could never do something like that. Imagine someone who sleeps next to you every day, tells you he loves you, marries you, ..." She sighed again.
"That is something I am going to tell you now; people are capable of the worst things if they think they are the good guys.” Kelly paused. “The best people will always ignore red flags, because they can’t imagine someone doing that to anybody. Because they couldn’t.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Everyone has their own justifications for their actions; everyone writes their own book." Kelly's glance went over the people on the streets. "Some people spent their whole lives corrupting other people's stories. Some people, however, add the most beautiful parts. So it's not all bad."
"You think my book will be cool?" Marie tilted her head. "Would anybody want to read it?"
"I am listening to it right now, ain't I?"
Marie laughed. She pointed at Kelly’s scar. “What the fuck happened to your head?”
Kelly blushed and covered her face with her hands. “I was really drunk, slipped, and hit my head on the sink.” Marie burst out laughing, while Kelly fell deeper into her chair. Then silence for a while. Marie stared at the inside of her glass, tapping on it. “Sometimes I think I should just give up…”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Marie's voice started to tremble. “Honestly, uni isn’t going well. The guys I used to date are just assholes, so I stopped dating altogether…” She turned around, her eyes scanning around the city. “I feel alone. Sometimes I feel like not even my friends… are my friends, you know. I kind of feel lost. And...” Kelly put her cigarette butt into the ashtray and followed Marie's eyes onto the street. “And I don’t know where to go, you know? Like everything I do is just random events. Imagine one of those 90s sitcoms from the old times.” At this point the wind had smoked and finished Marie's cigarette. “No coherent story, just random episodic events. The only difference being, I don’t get a satisfying ending to mine. I either end up alone in my apartment with a hangover…”
“Or with me.” Kelly interrupted her with her smile. “Look, you are in your twenties. It is supposed to feel like that.” She took the bud off Marie's hands and put it in the ashtray. “One day you will miss these random events, the chaos, and the adventures you have, and maybe right now just focus on yourself.” Marie turned towards Kelly. “Everything has its ups and downs. Sometimes you get more downs, but it will get better.” She waited for a second. “You just have to embrace the adventures; not everything, not everyone, and even not every man is an asshole.”
“Do you really believe that?” She smirked. “You are here, in a worse state than I am, drinking with a girl in her twenties.” She grabbed Kelly's hands. “Honestly, I worry for you. You have become one of my closest friends.”
Kelly smiled. “Sometimes you just gotta look into the void for a while.” She gave Marie a little kiss on her hands. “But don’t let it swallow you.”
