Lazarus

1

Lily sets down the last moving box in the small apartment; she huffs, looking around the endless piles of boxes that littered the one-room apartment. It was a fresh start, and there wasn't that lingering smell of cigarettes or the empty liquor bottles scattered around. The next few hours, she took the time to unpack and make the place her own, the snowglobes she collected from when her mom went on business trips, the stuffed brown bear that she has had all of her life sitting on the freshly made bed. Lily puts up various pictures from the attic back home to give the place more of a home look, rather than the bare white walls showcasing her new home.

"What do you think, Walter?" she asks the stuffed bear as if he would respond. She sits on the bed next to him while opening her laptop, going to the college website logging in to recheck her schedule. She was studying to become a nurse to help people; it came down to eight classes, her mouse clicked on the schedule tab.

Monday/Tuesday

English/Language Arts 7 - 8:30 am

Biology 11-12:30 am

Wednesday

Speech 8:30-10:30 am

Anatomy 11:30-1 pm

Thursday

Chemistry 9-11 am

Advanced Algebra 12-2 pm

Friday

Physics 11-1 pm

Foreign Language 1:30-3:30 pm

Two classes a day was not a bad thing, and she could get a job working part-time somewhere near the campus. She closed her laptop, checking the time on her watch, it was close to three, and she still needed to go grocery shopping. She put her computer on the charger and slid her boots back on; she looked in the mirror and retucked the maroon sweater into her smooth brown skirt. With a singular move, she picks up her keys and purse and heads out the door, locking the door behind her heading down the four flights of steps and out to the parking lot where her dark green ford mercury sat; it was her grandfathers who passed it down to her on her eighteenth birthday.

Lily pulls the list from her purse while pushing the cart down the aisles, grabbing things that she could make meals out of; she promised herself that she wouldn't turn into the average college student that lives off junk food. She started towards the checkout line with everything she needed and put it on the conveyor belt while the worker began to scan and bag her items. Isabella helps by taking the bags from the bagging area and placing them in the cart. She swipes her card, then proceeds to take her receipt leaving the building and unloading the bags into the bed of her truck.

When taking her cart back, a black car comes to a screeching halt, nearly hitting her; she looks at the two men in the car, and the look of fear is eminent on her face but is quickly replaced when the driver honks at her.

"You're the one that almost hit me, you jerk!" she yells, her left hand going up in a middle finger, and she moves out of the way while the car speeds off.

Shaking it off, she heads back to her truck, getting in and heading back to her apartment. When pulling up to the apartment, there was one issue with living on the fourth floor, and she would have to make trips to get all of the bags upstairs.

There was a sound of someone clearing their throat behind her, she turned, and a middle-aged man was looking at her with kind eyes. "Would you like some help carrying those in?"

She had seen him when she moved her boxes in, but he must have been heading to work because he didn't help her then. But she gives him a small smile and nods. "That would be nice."

The two of them were able to get all of the bags in one trip, and he was respectful and waited outside the door with the bags while she put the other bags on the counter. When collecting the last few bags, she thanks him before he lingers for a couple of seconds.

"Yes?" she asks, her hand on the door, and he turns away from the gaze he held before looking back.

"Sorry, have a good night," he says before leaving and disappearing to his own house. She stands there for a moment before closing the door and putting away her groceries but leaves out some things to make dinner.

Once Lily cleaned everything up and put the last dish away, she headed to the bathroom to go and shower; the thoughts of back home surfaced in the back of her mind as the hot water ran down her back. Isabella just let the thoughts fade as the soap washed off her body; the shower was short-lived as her tiredness grew. She skips drying her hair as she throws on her sweats and a random tee shirt and crawls under the covers, and pulls Walter close. The only light in the room was the tiny blades of moonlight coming from the two big windows in the living room. Her thoughts begin to fade; she snuggles close to her bear, and her eyes close, and she falls into a deep slumber.