Broken Glass In The Morning Light

Chapter 36

Bringing Poison into his old apartment was probably one of the most surreal moments Frank had ever had. He'd never intended to ever go back there himself, let alone bring someone else with him. Yet there the two of them stood, Poison closing the door behind them as Frank rocked back and forth on his heels awkwardly as he waited for their reaction to it all.

"Humble abode?", Poison repeated as they gazed around the place, taking it all in, before their eyes widened and they looked straight at him. "Wait, is this your..."

Frank nodded. "Yeah, this is my old apartment", he said, taking a look around himself. It was the exact same as how he'd left it, bed still unmade from him getting up on his final morning there. Well, "bed" was a very generous word for the old mattress he'd thrown onto the floor in the corner of the room. He walked over to it and pulled the sheet back over it to fix it up a little, as if that would make up for the state of the place. That being said, it wasn't exactly messy in there, it was just barren. It had the one mattress, a wooden dresser in the opposite corner where he had kept his clothes, no oven or any other kitchen amenities (which hadn't really affected him given that most of what he ate had come from cans) and then a door leading to a small and nicely hidden balcony outside. Then there was a bathroom with just a sink and a toilet right next to the dresser. He'd used the sink for his drinking water as well as using it as a glorified shower. The place smelled heavily of mildew, something Poison had clearly noticed by the way they scrunched their nose, leaving Frank feeling a little embarrassed by it all.

Poison let out a low whistle. "Wow", they said, "five years in here then? That's mad".

"Eh, closer to three and a half", Frank corrected, "I had another place for the first while but it wasn't in the safest of areas. Before I knew it I had to run, and then I happened upon this beauty". Frank patted the wall lovingly. "Completely desolate, free from any patrolling workers, quite the dream location honestly. What more could a man want?".

Poison nodded, now just stood in front of Frank and staring off to the side, most likely looking out the glass door leading onto the balcony. Surveying them reminded Frank of something, so he walked past them and over to the dresser on the opposite side of the room. He squatted down and opened the bottom drawer, smiling a little as he dug through all his old clothes. He then pulled out an old t-shirt and black pants and stood back up again.

"You uh", he said a little awkwardly, "I'm not sure if you remember, but you kind of...got...sick, uh, on yourself earlier today".

Poison glanced down at their pants to where the dark stain had since formed. "Oh yeah". They looked back up, slightly red. "I'd forgotten about that".

Frank grimaced and threw them the clothes. "There's a sink in there", he pointed his thumb towards the door behind him. "Feel free to use it. I don't have a proper shower or anything, so I apologise about that".

Poison laughed. "I think I can forgive you", they said, looking through the clothes he'd tossed to them. Then they stopped suddenly, staring blankly for a moment before reaching up to lightly touch their own face. "Oh", they breathed, "my mask".

It took a second for Frank to understand what they meant, but after studying them again he realised that they weren't wearing their mask.

"They must have taken it off before throwing that hood on me", they mumbled, still not making eye contact with Frank as their hand remained where the mask should have been. However, after a couple of more seconds they shook their head, dropping their hand and locking eyes with Frank. "I guess I wouldn't exactly have been able to wear it around here anyway, would have stuck out like a sore thumb".

Frank smiled sheepishly at them. "Yeah I can't say it would have been ideal in that way. Hard to stay hidden with something bright yellow strapped onto your face". He tapped his fingers on the dresser behind him. "Was that your only one?"