Just Give Me A Reason

1. "Right From the Start You Were A Thief You Stole My Heart".

It was cold. The kind of cold that seeps into your bones and touches every part of you. The kind of cold that you could feel when you breathed in and still existed when you breathed out despite the fact that it had entered your warm body, refusing to give in. 

Emma was grateful for the cold, it gave her something else to think about other than the deep landscape that was her mind. She had thrown off her uncomfortably hot comforter onto the floor about and hour ago and had stripped down to her undergarments, welcoming the cold in with open arms. She hadn't paid the heating bill in a month and was getting well acquainted with her new guest, i.e. the cold. It wrapped around her like a friend she hadn't seen in years and for that she was appreciative. Other than the routine knocks of the landlord every month she hadn't seen much of people. Not that it surprised her, she tended to block out everyone and everything and preferred to be alone with just her thoughts, as dangerous as that was.

Emma glanced at the clock on her bedroom wall and noted the time, twelve hours of sleep. A new record, she thought to herself as she climbed out of her bed and placed her feet on the scratchy but familiar gray carpet of her floor. She padded to where she kept her clothes and threw on her loosest shirt and shorts and walked to the kitchen. She made herself a cup of coffee, with all of the sugar that she pleased, grabbed the same magazine that she had read about thousand times, went to the only window in her apartment and gazed out. She placed both the coffee and the magazine on the table, looked ten stories down at the ant like figures walking around and settled her gaze on what she assumed to be a mother and son, walking hurriedly down the street.

Emma began to imagine their lives and what they were like. She called the son Brandon and the mother Jean. Brandon was about four and had unfortunately caught a cold at school and now Jean was taking him to the doctor before work. She was a single mother that supported her son and worked hard so that one day she could send him off to college. She is worried that if they don't hurry at the doctors that she is going to be late to work, another tardy that her boss just won't allow. Brandon on the other hand---

Knock

Knock

Knock

Emma's thoughts were interrupted by three swift knocks on her door. She knows that it can't be the landlord, he had already come that month to collect the rent. Emma said her farewell to Brandon and Jean and casually made her way to the door. She was upset she didn't get to finish planning out the day for Brandon and Jean and knew that it would bother her until tomorrow when she got to pick someone new. She glanced through the peep hole and rolled her eyes.

"What do you want Clara, I'm really not in the mood today." Emma said through her thick green apartment door.

"Emma, sweetie, you're never in the mood, now open up before I break the door down and you can no longer stay holed up in this place for weeks at a time."

Emma opened the door, and her sister, Clara, bounded in. Arms full of groceries she headed straight to the kitchen and dropped them all in the middle of the floor, causing a head of lettuce to roll out of a bag and underneath the table.

"Jesus Em, its freezing in here. Did you pay the heating bill this month?" Her sister said as she blew into her hands, as if it was actually colder in Emma's apartment than outside.

"No I didn't, I prefer the cold and the heating bill is way too much, I think if I can live without it, then there is really no point for it in the first place." Emma stated proudly.

"You're telling me that grandma left you a million dollars when she passed away and you say that the heating bill is too much, WOW someone is being way too frugal."