Simone Valentino

~~~23~~~

John's car was small but we made due over the two-day drives to one of his mother's homes.

In hopes to avoid paying property taxes she went through the process of buying and selling houses to herself, so none of the homes was under her husband's or her name. This went on for years, and she decided to buy more property under the other names to make them seem real, as well as making an elaborate scheme where they all were her employees. This means there are about 26 houses under John's mother's name. Most of which she never visits so he likes to hide away in them whenever he feels the need. We pull into a driveway, and I step out onto the gravel driveway. The narrow two-story building was covered in vines and ivy. I grabbed our bags out of the trunk, and John hunted for the key in different hiding spots. As he pulled the key out from the mailbox I walked up next to him.

"Home sweet home" He muttered and I laughed a little.

"I'll go dust, can you turn the water back on?" I asked and went to the closet holding the cleaning supplies.

"Yeah yeah." He mumbled and walked away.

We sat down at the table and both grabbed a sandwich off the plate I set down. There was only one bedroom but that was fine. We'd shared a bed before and it's kind of nice sometimes. So that wasn't an issue. What was an issue was work. John had phoned in and explained that he was incredibly ill. But my teacher would know. He read the news and would know I was a part of it. I had finals soon and needed to explain why I couldn't be there. I picked up the phone and waited for the raspy "hello"

"Professor, it's not safe for me to come to school at the moment, so i'm requesting an extension on my finals."

"You don't need to do them.'

"What?"

"You pass, you're done, your years over. You don't need to do your finals." Then he hung up.

Val must have made that arrangement ages ago.

I sighed at the thought of him. It had only been a week but I missed him. Worse, I was worried he hated me honestly. I just killed his mother. I knew I'd never see him again, and while I understood why, I didn't like it. I missed my friend. I was so used to his little jabs and our quiet banter that without it the day feels off.

"Fuck this" I muttered and went upstairs.

I changed into comfortable clothes and went for a run.

Running laps down the road and back around the house, huffing and puffing as I come up next to the house and lean on the dusty red brick. The other houses on the street were small and most weren't lived in. We were too far from Brooklyn for people to really want to be here. Most people bought these houses for vacation or summering out of town. Simone could afford one of these. A house no one lives in? He probably had dozens in the heart of New York. Then again they've probably been in his family for generations.

I sigh, realising that I'm thinking about him, and start running again.

"We've been here for three weeks, I need to go grocery shopping!" I yell at John from across the kitchen.

"Ella, it's not safe! I can't let you put yourself in danger. I can go shopping ." John sat down at the dining table and put his head in his hands. I sighed and jumped up onto the counter.

"It's not about groceries John, it's about leaving my house, about going out, about some kind of normalcy."

"Eleanor. It's too dangerous. I can't lose you."

"I can't live like this! Hiding away from things isn't my style John."

"You aren't dying because of a need for normalcy. You aren't dying a fool Ella."

I took a deep breath, spun around and walked to my room. I must have been on a longer run than I thought because it was dark outside. I looked out the window to see that the car had left, meaning John had gone to get groceries. I sat on the floor and leaned against the wall and let out a shaky breath.

I closed my eyes and felt a tear on my face.

"I'm so tired of this," I whisper into the empty room. In my haste to come inside I left the light off, but it was alright. Maybe I needed the dark for a while. "I miss a normal life, I miss being able to have other friends. I miss grocery shopping and going to class and- and- I miss my mom!" I sobbed, just listing things I couldn't have. "I miss my mom and our dog and I miss being able to stay at grandma's house on weekends. And I miss Simone." I said, crossing my arms and talking into my sleeves. I sat like that, for I'm not sure how long. The light from the window was getting smaller, and I slowly calmed down.
But then I heard the door open, but as I checked the driveway, I saw an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

So naturally, I spun around.