EDEN'S KITCHEN - Carmen Berzatto

The Confrontation

MARCH 2ND, 2022 09:23 P.M. - CHICAGO, IL.

Eli's first apartment wasn't as much of a shithole as many others' first apartments are. That's the reason she didn't sell it when she sprinted out of Chicago, well that and sentimentality. She hadn't even rented it out, it had kind of just been sitting there unused for the last six years.

It wasn't located in the best neighborhood but it was close to the Beef and when Eli was working the register while writing her second album it felt like a god's send. Except when Eli had gotten out of the taxi and made the way up her stairs. Standing in front of the entrance to her apartment, she felt like a twelve-year-old again. Only this time, the place didn't just feel like it was haunted. It was plagued with the ghosts and skeletons of Eli's past.

Pushing the key into the lock, she twisted it and the door swung open. Walking in, Eli expected spider webs and dust to be littering every square inch of the place. But instead, it only looked like she had been gone a week not six fucking years.

Sugar must have snuck in to clean it before she arrived, Eli had given her friend a key to it in case she needed a place to stay or she wanted to get away from her husband. She assumed that Sugar wouldn't have used it, because since she had known her, her friend was always too kind to make use of what has been gifted to her. Sugar never wanted to be a burden.

Now Eli had not done a good job with packing up this place when she had left. Books still lined the living room shelves. All her furniture was still there. She kicks off her shoes, dark green Converse, and sticks them on the shoe rack. Hauling her suitcase and duffel bag down the hall. Eli makes it outside of her bedroom. She pulls the handle down and pushes it open.

The curtains are open and the light from the street illuminates the room. Flipping the switch to the right of her, the room comes to life. The bookcase was filled to the brim almost pouring out. The record player is on a side table next to her dresser, surrounded by different vinyls. Her bed was made, the dark blue and green plaid comforter contrasted the off-white sheets.

She dropped her stuff in the middle of the room, right in front of the bookcase. Her eyes drift to the ceiling, with the familiar plastic stars absorbing the artificial light from the bulb. Frames cover the empty spaces on her walls. Concerts, movies, different posters. She didn't have any photos of people. Expect one, the photo of her and Carmy dressed as cowboys on their first Halloween together sat on her bedside table, next to a stack of unread books and a vase of daisies. Another calling card of Sugar's influence.

Eli takes a seat on the end of the bed, tossing her hat on the nearby armchair. Her jeans are a little too long without her shoes, and the cuffs drag against the wood floors. Her blonde hair was still pulled back in the half-attempted bun from the flight. She looks in front of her, there on top of her wooden dresser sits the mirror she thrifted with Sugar, back before she left.

Eli may have been a minimal person as a child. But she loves clutters. She enjoys the way it can fill up a room and hold meaning. Eli had shoved things on the sides of the mirror. Pushing herself off the bed, she spots tickets from the first concert she ever performed, post-it notes that she passed with Carmy in class back in high school. Polraid pictures throughout high school, ripped out pages written hazardly and filled with unfinished song lyrics. The things that caught her eye were photos she had lined up at the bottom. She thought she didn't have any more photos of people.

The first is a family photo from back in Seattle. One of the only photos from a moment that the Ivers had enjoyed. One day, a rainstorm had come unexpectedly when they were at the lake. The photo was taken by their mother, all of the kids and her father can be seen swimming in the water, laughing and messing around as the rain pours down around them. The second photo was of her and her sister, Lottie. Eli pauses for a moment. She had completely forgotten this had ever been taken.