The Woman In The Red Dress

10- Be Independent

I stared at my phone for a long time. The dreadful name stared right back at me. I'm now starting to think that this is possibly a bad idea. The last time I tried to call him resulted in him ignoring me. Twice. And well... I did call him out of the blue. Maybe he didn't have time to answer or would have prefered a text instead.

Taking a deep breath in, I started to type out a message. I re-read it many times to make sure I don't sound desperate and have no spelling mistakes. When I thought it was fine, I hit send and then waited for a reply. Several minutes went by. I now began to think that this was a waste of time. I still had some hope left though. Maybe he's busy at the moment and will answer this when he has time.

Before I was able to do some chores around the house, my phone buzzed. It's a notification. Not just any old notification. A text...a response. He finally responded to me. I read his response with an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

'What sort of help ?'

He's willing to help. I think. I hope.

'On my appearance- well to work on my strength to put it.'

A long wait for another reply again. This suspense is gonna kill me before he could even reply back. After a minute, he just sends "okay." At first I thought that was all until he soon sent a date and time for us to meet up at the gym. So this is really happening. It's been such a long time since I saw him. I wonder what he looks like now.

.+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+ .+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+

And so the day came. It was very early in the morning. It was about 6 AM. Multiple alarms were set to fully get me awake. I even splashed cold water on my face when I awoke. The shocking coldness that hit me fully woke my mind and body up.

I then went to the kitchen to grab a quick snack. Decided to eat something simple such as cereal along with a granola bar. Soon I had to pack up my things. I had this duffle bag that I haven't used in quite a long time, so now seems like the good time to finally use it. Stuffed it with simple things that are needed when going to the gym.

I felt ready. Let's go, me.

I arrived at the local gym and waited outside. My eyes searched around the place. The sun was bright and warm, so I chilled beneath some shade as I stood in place. Began to think if he would even show up. My back pressed against the somewhat cold wall. Eventually I zoned out for a while until a heard voice that brought me back.

My head turns to the voice and there I see a tall blonde man. Krauser. He looks so much different from the last time we saw each other. His muscles have gotten bigger and I wonder if he has gotten taller. The thing about him that stood out to me the most was that large scar across the left side of his face, along with a smaller scar on the right side above his lip. I felt like asking about it, but didn't feel appropriate. Would be a weird conversation starter for a person you haven't met in so long. Instead I stood up properly and said, "Hey, long time no see. You look very different. What's up ?" I extend my hand out to his.

His cold blue eyes stared at my empty hand. Almost like he didn't want to shake it. Made me sweat nervously. After a moment, he shook mine. His grip was strong. Strong to nearly break my hand.

"Yes, it's been a while," agreed Krauser. "Life's been pretty busy with me. Had no time to play around."

"Explains why we barely talked.." I mumbled.

His hand fell back to his side. He looked upwards then told me that we should head inside to get this started. I slightly nod. Feels great to finally hang out with him again. I'd like to owe him something for putting his time aside to help me.