Before dawn | Dark romance

Chapter 1- Renaissance

25th of april, 2024
Thursday
Dear diary,

Let me tell you about my day.
————————————————————————

[1/4]
"Maddie, can you hurry up? What the hell is taking you so long?". My best friend, Emily yells at me through the other side of the door. A deep sigh leaves my mouth as I stare at myself in the mirror of the bathroom at our shared apartment in Islington, London.

It is currently 07:55 on a Thursday morning. That means, it is time for work. Since Emily and I work at the same store, it is always a struggle who can do their business in the bathroom first. Most days its me, since I am an early riser, much to the displeasure of my best friend.

I look around the rather small but functional bathroom. Emily and I have been here for around 5 months. When my boyfriend, William, moved back to London after spending a year studying in Amsterdam, where I am originally from, I decided it was time for a change.
So, when the opportunity raised, I rallied my best friend to join me while I followed my boyfriend to his hometown. William is finishing up his last year at the university of Bedfordshire. We do not see each other as often as we used to while both living in Amsterdam, but that is because he has a lot of obligations for his study's. Which makes sense, since it is his last year, after all. Luckily for me, there is never a dull moment when my best friend is around.

Multiple hard knocks echoes through the small bathroom, making the noise intolerable. I quickly unlock the door, before this lunatic knocks down the door.

My eyes meet the impatient ones of my best friend, Emily Hill. What is the best way to describe this unique creature? Well, let's start with her physical characteristics. She has long, flowing blonde hair and big greenish eyes that she frequently make men drown in. Her face is angelic and slightly chubby, but still toned at the same time. Her lips are pouty, her nose is regal, her chin is perfect, and her skin is flawless.

It has always amazed me, how we ended up being best friends. She is the bubbly one. The life of the party. She doesn't have one insecure bone in her body, and she never let an opportunity slip by to go on an adventure. And then there is me.. a girl who is often a little too awkward for her own good. A real homebody who loves to get lost in a good book. But I am also very loyal, determined and easily convinced... especially when concerning Emily. She brings out 'my fun' side, as she puts it.

"You always take forever in there." She rolls her eyes while she has her hip tilted to one side.

I shake my head slightly as I brush past her. "It takes a little more time to make myself presentable than you." Emily can roll out of bed, 15 minutes before it is time to leave, and still look better than I ever will. She has this natural grace over her.

"For the 500th time, stop talking shit about yourself. You are absolutely breathtaking." The annoyance is clearly noticeable in her voice.

"Yeah yeah." I mumbled softly to brush off this topic. We do not have time to start one of Emily's lecture. "Go get ready. We have to leave in 15 minutes."

The lock on the bathroom is heard as I walk into my modest bedroom. Since the rental prices in London are absolutely ridiculous, we have settled in a simple 2-bedroom apartment. It was all we could afford. Well, it is all I can afford. Emily is a trust fund baby, as they call it. So, if it was up to her, we would have never chosen this apartment, but since I wanted to equally contribute to the monthly costs, such as rent and other utilities, this was the best we could do.

And in all honesty, the apartment is not so bad at all. When you walk into the apartment, you are immediately in a cozy size living/dining room. There's a 3-seater, 2 small, round shaped coffee tables, a little flat-screen. Behind the couch there is a small dining table, that can fit 4 people. Well, in theory, because most of the time Emily uses the table as her personal vanity table. On the left, there's a small kitchen. It's a bit outdated, but it's not like we use it that often. We usually go out for our meals. If you walk further down the apartment, there is a hallway with 4 doors. The two, on the left side, led you to the bathroom and Emily's room. On the right, there is a small closet where we store our bigger size clothing items, such as coats etc. Oh, and the closet holds the impressive collection of Emily's shoes. Mostly her heels. For a clumsy person as myself, any shoe with a slight elevated heel is my worst nightmare. I seriously do not understand how she can walk in those without breaking her ankles.