Getting back to "Normal" | Rhekker

Chapter 49- Matilda

"Connor?"
"Connor?"
"Huh?" Connor looked up.
"T6?" She waved the tablet in front of him.
"Of course, sorry" he ran a hand through his hair.
"You okey?" She asked after him.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine"
"Connor, you've worked doubles nearly every day this week"
"I'm fine Maggie" he told her.
"Okey" she nodded and he walked away.

"He's missing a certain South African" will came up beside her to the computer.
"Since when were you one for gossip?"
"It's true, he's love sick"
"Did Ava leave him?" Maggie asked, "they seemed like they were getting on so well"
"She's visiting family, he just misses her. This is the first time they've been apart since everything"
Maggie shook her head, "poor guy, at lest he can talk to her on the phone"
"Yeah, that's something"

Connor finished his shift early and went home. He sat on the edge of his bed, placing his hand softly on Ava's side of the duvet. Connor pushed himself up front he bed and went to his wardrobe to change. He put on a plain pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt. Connor left his sports car at home and went to the nearest bar he could find. There was a game on from a team he'd never heard of before and place was packed, Connor considered turning home but he needed a drink. He managed to get a seat and a bar and a drink, and then another, and another. By his fourth he was cheering along to the game with the rest of the bar.

Connor cheered along with others in the bar, his arms around their shoulders. He stumbled off to one side of the bar and a women found his side, she said something to him but he couldn't hear. She hand blonde hair simler to Ava's but it was dyed, and she wore a sickly sweet perfume. She stood in front of him touching his face she kissed his lips, touching his chest. Connor pushed her back suddenly, "oh, no, no no. I'm taken"
"So am I" she smiled, trying to get closer to him.
Connor pushed her back again and slipped out of her grasp, the women scoffed behind him as he walked away.

Connor stepped into the cold Chicago air, instantly sobering him up. He walked home, stopping at a food truck to get a bottle of water to get the taste of another women off him. He stumbled into his apartment, it was still early in the evening. He sat down at the breakfast and ate some left overs from his fridge. He put his takeaway container in the bin, noting it was empty. Connor looked up and found a card on the table.

Housekeeping
18.30-19.30

Connor reads the words and looks up, cautiously, as if afraid of what he might find he walked into his room. Connor spots his side of the bed first, the neat covers, the crisp bedsheets. Knowing what lies ahead he pushes the door all the way open. Ava's side of the bed is neat, freshly changed. He hurries over to it, throwing himself at the side of the bed, burying his face int he covers. The sheets are all fresh, he smells nothing of familiarity.

He clutches the sheets in a frenzy and weeps into them. He stood up suddenly, stumbling slightly he finds Avas dressers. He hurriedly rummages through it, moving hair brushes and nails polishes around until he finds what he's looking for. The bottle, in a drawer with some other creams and tubes. He takes the cap off and smells it, frantically spraying the clear liquid over the bed. Connor leaves the bottle on his bedside cabinet, burying himself in the covers. Connor held them to his nose, deeply inhaling the vanilla scent. But there was something else, something sour. The women's perfume from the bar, Connor pulled of his shirt before diving under the covers once again, trying to find some remnants of Ava. But it wasn't the same.

Connor pulled himself out of bed and went to their shared wardrobe instead. Connor ran his hands along the hangers of Ava's clothes, studying the fabrics and outfits as he'd done before. Connor knelt down at the door of the wardrobe, running his hand along one of her skirts. Connor could smell her perfume, but it was more then that, he could smell her shampoo, and body wash and a hint of hand sanitiser from work. His eyes closed as he drifted off.

Connor nestled into his parents walk in closet, he buried himself in his mother's furs, smelling her perfume, still dressed head to toe in black. Connor heard heavy feet coming up the stairs and tried to quite his whimpers. "Connor, Connor you in there!" He stormed into the room and flung the door open. "What are you doing on here. Are you crying, stop that!" He scolded him.
Connor kept crying, "it was a funeral Connor, you'll go to plenty of them, now get out" he pointed to the wall. "I want mom!" Connor curled into the furs more.
"Fine!" He shouted, "stay in there!"
He flung the door shut, locking it from the outside.
"No, no, no" Connor crawled to the door, banging on it.
Mr. Rhodes left the room with a slam and Connor crawled to the open slates in the door to try get some air. The room was dark other them a few streams of light on the floor.
Connor curled into a ball next to the door, crying into his knees.

After Connor doesn't even know how long the bedroom door quietly opened it.
"Carlota? Carlota I'm in here!" He knocked on the door.
"It's me Conny" Claire tip toed into the room.
"Claire can you get me out?"
"I'll try" Claire stood on her tippy toes, "I can't reach the lock"
Claire kneeled on the carpet and pulled the doors open slightly.
"Here" she reached her small hand in.
"I'm here Conny", he took her hand.
"I'm here"