Born To Die | Vanessa Afton

11

Why was Vanessa doing this? All for you. Just a random girl that she happened to be 'babysitting'. She hadn't felt like she was babysitting you, it felt like you were her partner and she genuinely loved that. She wished it wouldn't end, but she now thought that you didn't want her. So now, here she was, looking at an array of different different recipes of cookies. Cookies had always made her feel better and you had mentioned liking them before so she decided to make you a batch. 

She mumbled to herself about the option. These weren't ordinary cookies, they couldn't be, they had to be special. She wasn't a baker, hardly a cooker, this was her third time making cookies, so she knew she had to try her hardest for them to at least be decent. She had ended up choosing chocolate chip. Basic, but it was her favourite and she knew it was the safest option.

You had entered your house with lots of worry about what you were going to do. Were you going to keep this job? It seemed very uncertain but it was likely something that was going to come up at least once more. You had gotten right out of your police outfit and shoved it somewhere in the back of the wardrobe, hoping you'd never see it again. Plus you had worn it for less than an hour, so it wasn't like it was dirty. Changing into something comfortable, the doorbell rang.

The sound made you pause as you thought for a moment, why was someone at your door at seven o'clock in the evening? Did you even want to know? You considered not answering it until you realised almost no one had your address and you hadn't ordered anything. Then it hit you, it was most likely Vanessa. You had dramatically sighed, walking up to the door and opening it, there she was. It was the first time you had seen her without her uniform. Her hair was down and she had a soft, sympathetic smile on her face, in her hands, there was a container of cookies.

"I thought I'd come cheer you up." Vanessa had whispered, her voice quiet but she seemed genuine. You managed to smile back, opening the door for her wider to let her into your house. Luckily, you had cleaned the whole house before you had gone to the meeting to try to forget about your stress. It hadn't worked, you were that worried. She entered your house, looking around intently, her smile widened as she placed the container on the side of your small table tucked away in the corner. "Your place is so well decorated."

"Thanks." You had plainly said. You hadn't meant for it to come out like that, like you didn't care. You looked towards her direction, she was opening the container. She took a cookie for herself and handed on to you. Taking a bite, you smiled, it was a really good cookie. Maybe not the best, but you weren't one to put her down, you could tell they were hand made by the shape. "These are amazing."

"I really tried." She had admitted with a small smile. "I'm sorry about the meeting. It clearly didn't go the way you had planned it." You shook your head slowly as if you were trying to stop it, but she noticed. It had gone exactly how you planned, you were just worried that you would just do the same job as before if you went on your own and probably would end up getting fired. It was the last thing you wanted, it had been your dream to become a police officer after all.

"It wasn't that." You admitted, there was no good way to put it. You didn't intend on being horrible to anyone before, it just... happened. As does anyone with any kind of temper when they get set off. You bit into another cookie, Vanessa watched you, stifling a smile as you ate another, she was glad you like them, she did put a lot of work into them after all. "I just don't want to get fired after I go alone, apparently the board wants me gone so once I mess up one thing, I'm gone, it would all be over, my whole childhood dream!"

Vanessa had watched your mini breakdown. She hadn't seen you like this, you were always so quiet around her, it made her jump when you pretty much yelled. You hadn't seen her jump, you had turned around to save yourself the embarrassment, if you would have known, you would have apologised. "I mean, this isn't the only police station in the world." Vanessa had said, sitting at the table since she felt awkward just standing and watching you.

"I can't leave here! I'll have no one." You had said, pausing before realising that if you took Vanessa and Mike out of the equation, you would have no one you could even start to consider a friend. In the whole picture, you had no one anyway and once you leave Vanessa, well, then you'll truly be alone. "I'm sorry. You have a good point."

You had mumbled but Vanessa had heard, coming to sit next to you on the couch, she rubbed your arm in a comforting way. "Everything will work out. Why don't we watch something?" She said, referring to the TV. You had only nodded, passing her the controls to let her put on anything she wanted. Eventually, you grew tires, as would anyone as it starts to approach eleven. Next to you was Vanessa, who you had only just realised, fell asleep on the arm part of the chair. Your eyebrows furrowed at her, knowing she was most likely uncomfortable.

You grabbed a spare pillow and carefully put it under her head and covered her with a blanket. You also wrote that you thought she needed the sleep so you left her on a small pink sticky note and placed it on the wooden coffee table. Locking the door, you decided to go to bed, you needed to sleep this feeling off. You made sure Vanessa was comfortable one more time before leaving the room, whispering a quick, "Goodnight." Even though she couldn't hear you.