Taste That Your Lips Allow ~ Ed Sheeran Fanfic

Chapter 12: Flat Number 4

Annies POV

(Flashback)

"Annie wakey wakey. Come on back to college today. “My mum cooed throwing open my curtains. I stared at the date of my clock 3/09/13. My mum was right. I buried my head deeper into my pillow but a cold chill suddenly whipped around me as my mum ripped the duvet off from around me. Muttering curses I shuffled into the bathroom and began getting ready for school. 

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I stared at my watch again as I peered around the corner waiting for Ed too appear. He said he would meet me on my way into school today but I had 10 minutes before registration and he still wasn't here. 

I sighed as I set off on my way without Ed and sent him another text, asking where he was and whether everything was ok

---

"Annie why do you keep starring at your phone?" Jess asked me as we sat round the lunch table. "No reason" I said pressing send on my phone and sending another text to Ed. Maybe his phones dead I thought as I wondered down the corridor and into my final lesson of the day. 

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I tapped my pen as I wondered where he could be. Now that I thought of it he hadn't texted me yesterday either. I wrote down my final answer to my homework before grabbing my bag and heading out side. "I'm just heading out mum" I called as I slammed the door shut behind me. 

---

I jumped of the bus after a short journey and walked down the familiar road. The clouds darkened above me as I pushed open the gate to the pathway to the flats. I buzzed number 4, Ed's apartment, and stood back waiting for a response. Nothing happened. 

The sky rumbled a deep and loud groan and heavy drops of rain began to fall. Desperate now as the rain began to soak my skin, I buzzed number 3, Ed’s neighbour who I had bumped into several times. A quiet voice called through the intercom "who is it?" 

"Mrs Allen, it's me Annie. Would you mind letting me in?" There was a buzz followed by the click indicating the door to the block had been opened. 

I climbed the steps to the top floor and knocked on the door with the golden 4 written on it. I knocked again louder this time. Maybe he's not at home I thought. But he was always home on a Monday. Always. I lifted up the door mat but the usual key wasn't there. 

 I walked down to number 3 and knocked on the door there. Soon an elderly lady opened the door. "Hello my dear" she said. "Hello Mrs Allen. Do you have a spare key to Ed’s apartment?" I asked smiley politely back at her. "Yes hang on sweetie" she said and soon returned with a small key. Thanking her I turned and walked back to number 4. 

Turning the key in the lock I pushed open the door and felt my jaw drop open. The key slipped out of my hand and clattered to the floor. I stared around at the bare apartment. Not bothering to shut the door I walked round the small rooms, trailing my hands over the now empty spaces where the furniture used to be. 

A few items still remained. There was still the old crème sofa in the middle. I stared down at it remembering how barely a week ago Ed and I had fallen asleep watching telly together and I had awoken a few hours later in his bed to the sounds of him singing in the kitchen as he cooked us dinner. 

I walked through to his bedroom and saw that the wardrobe door was left open but no clothes hung inside; no clothes were folded in the drawers. The floor was bare, usually laden in Ed’s clothes were he hadn't bothered to put them away.

I staggered back into the main room and fell to heap on the floor as my head began swimming. It was as if he hasn't even lived here. Hadn't even existed. As if we had never been together.

I spent the next few hours refusing to believe it was true. I did everything: pinched myself, looked for hidden cameras and expecting Ed to jump out at any second saying it 

Was all a joke. A sick, twisted joke. 

But soon the reality hit me hard. He wasn't here and he wasn't coming back. I sat on the old sofa, inhaling deeply as I clutched one of the pillows to my chest. The smell of Ed’s cologne still lingered on the cushion and after the tears had begun to mix with the rain that still soaked my hair I lay down on the sofa and clutched the pillow to me, as if it was the only thing I had left in the world. 

I woke up several hours later as a cold draft wrapped around my body from the still open door. I couldn't bare to be in that room for a second longer and, picking the key off the floor and taking the cushion with me, I walked out of the flat and got the bus home. 

(End of flashback)