Melodies of a stranger

Chapter 18

Riftan slowly disentangled his arms from around the sleeping figure next to him and eased himself out of bed, taking care not to disturb her. He slid out of the door, closing it gently behind him.

Riftan's head was swimming as he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, processing all that Maxi had told him.

He made himself a mug of tea and sat at the kitchen table, staring out the window attempting to organise his thoughts.

A short time later he heard voices approaching and the sound of keys opening the front door. Idcilla and Sidina entered the kitchen carrying several bags filled with groceries between them.

"Hello lover boy, what are you doing here alone? Where's Maxi?"

"She's upstairs asleep."

The girls glanced at each other, deep concern evident on both their faces.

"Why? What's happened?"

"Um..."

Riftan scratched his neck as he wondered how much to say.

"We ran into her ex."

Both of their faces dropped immediately.

"Oh God no... what happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure, when I got there, Maxi was crying and Miriam said a bunch of shit about how Maxi sucked the life out of her and I had better run if I knew what was good for me."

"Oh no... no, no, no..."

The girls looked at each other frantically.

"What do we do? What should we say?"

They both moved towards the stairs before Riftan called out to them.

"She's not long drifted off to sleep. Please let her rest. She's exhausted."

Idcilla and Sidina hesitated for a moment, sharing a look before nodding in resignation and sitting themselves down at the table. Riftan made them both a cup of tea before they sat in silence, nursing their drinks. Finally, he spoke.

"Was Miriam abusive towards Maxi?"

After a few moments of silence Sidina cautiously muttered

"We don't know that much for certain. Maxi didn't really talk about her. We only found out they were together when we came home early one day and found them on the sofa, in the middle of... well, you can guess. But from what we saw, Miriam held all the power in the relationship. Everything was always on her terms. The only reason Maxi found out about the cheating was that the affair partner had a massive argument with Miriam and sent Maxi evidence to get back at her."

"Miriam didn't try to deny it. She just turned it around on Maxi and said that she had driven her to it by being too needy. I'll admit, Maxi had been a bit down because she had been struggling to adapt to being in a new city. But all she needed was a little support. Turns out asking Miriam to give her the time of day was too big an ask for her. Afterwards Maxi went downhill."

Riftan nodded as he absorbed all this information.

"How ill was she?"

"She... she was in a very dark place. She didn't eat, didn't talk, all she did was sleep. We would sit with her and nag for hours just to get a little food down her."

Riftan's heart ached for her. He knew what it felt like to be torn apart by someone you were with.

"It's only really been in the last 6-7 months that we've seen a major improvement in her."