Blood & Lust [Book Two of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

2.5: Brownies

I'd unwittingly hurried home to avoid the gazes of people I knew, and even people I didn't; either way it felt like there was an undesirable amount of judgement they could target at me. When I'd breached the landing of our small apartment, I realised how desperately I wanted to escape the confines of it; each square inch of the property screaming of Thana.

I'd hurried here expecting a level of comfort and warmth, but instead, I'd received a painful reminder of my own mistakes.

The living room was still covered in items of her clothing; having emptied out her closet to choose an outfit, needing my opinion on each dress and skirt until she finally settled on a deep blue mini just before we needed to leave, abandoning the cleanup duty for the morning after. The morning that never came. For her at least.

The morning that she had planned to bake her infamous brownies for the two elderly ladies that lived in the apartment below us; the chocolate smeared recipe sitting on the kitchen counter with the containers of flour and sugar sat right above it ready to be used. Even now I could picture her dancing around the kitchen listening to old trendy music at seven in the morning and filling the house with the smell of home baking.

For now, though, all I could smell was the slightly putrid scent emanating from the dying roses on the coffee table that we'd planned on getting replacements for today after her visits to others. We had so many plans and she wasn't here to fulfil any of them. It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I'd gone around gathering those items of clothing and matching shoes and couldn't shake the sinking feeling in my stomach that only got worse the more I picked up. It had gotten so bad I had to run into her room, snug in the corner of the apartment and forcefully throw everything onto her bed.

I had turned to run back out and slam the door on all of my current problems, but I'd unexpectedly felt more comfortable basking in her scent; a room that was just reminders of Thana's existence left my soul feeling a little more at ease, each breath I took filling my nostrils with that sweet rose and lemonade perfume she was so fond of; so much so it covered all of her beddings, clothes, and furniture without exception.

I found myself curling up into her bed and hugging the sheets tightly, allowing an entire day to pass me by from staring at the lilac painted wall opposite of me and accidentally drowning in her smell so much it put me to sleep. That intoxication had lasted until mid-afternoon the next day, only being broken by the sound of our letterbox being lifted and dropped down quickly, the sound of rustling paper following shortly after.

They'd sent a response quicker than they usually did; Eloise's added note clearly added a level of urgency that I hadn't quite expected. While that had saved one of the most prominent issues I thought I'd face, it hadn't solved any of my other problems. While the delivery time had been shortened a considerable level, the time slot I had been given hadn't quite gotten the same level of compassionate release.

The date printed in the middle of the page, in between the rambles of information I had ignored for every visit bar the first, was in big block letters and inserted for a week from today. There was something stomach-churning about waiting that long to find my friend - part of me hoped that she'd jump behind me as I read it and save me the troublesome thoughts running through my mind.