Begin Again (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 13

---Jessica POV

 

 

 

            As I made my way down the hall to the condo door, there was a permanent frown on my face. I didn’t understand, I really couldn’t for the life of me fathom the conversation that Carmen and I had about a day ago. Everything she told me has been in my head like some sort of tumor. I read the sign on the door and my frown deepened. What the hell does she mean by “out of commission”?

I took out my keys and opened the door. The condo was bare, it didn’t look like anyone had been here recently. Usually, dishes would be piled in the sink until Alex got back for work but I knew for a fact she wasn’t here. Her mom called asking if she told me where she was going, Rachel called asking the same thing but I really didn’t know anything. The past two nights, she hasn’t tried calling me so there was something definitely wrong.

I tried calling her earlier today to let her know I’d be swinging by to collect some clothes but her phone was off and I was starting to get worried. It wasn’t like her to just leave and not tell anyone, especially not her brother or Rachel. I shrugged it off and made my way into the closet. Everything in here smelt like Alex and it was enticing. I really wanted to roll around in it for a while but I decided that would be weird. I grabbed the rest of my work uniforms and a few pieces of clothing to last me then shoved them into the bag I had.

Before I could leave, I dived onto the bed and snuggled in. I missed this bed and I missed Alex. Once again my mind drifted off to Carmen and what she told me. I didn’t know how to feel about it; but what I did know was that I was right all along.

Carmen told me that she met Alison a few years back in high school and they quickly became friends. She also told me that her boyfriend was abusive and used to beat her every day. She didn’t know who to go to and she was afraid to take it to the police because he threatened her. One night when she was sleeping over, Alison saw some of her bruises and demanded to know who did it. After she confessed, Alison got rid of him. She never said what she did but after that night she never saw him again.

Because of that, Carmen said she felt like she owed Alison everything. Apparently a few months ago Alison came up to her, she hadn’t seen Alison for a while but she just popped up at her house asking for help. At first she was against it. Carmen said she couldn’t for the life of her understand Alison’s obsession with Alex’s life. She had pictures of Alex all over the place: at work, long distance shots of her in the condo; all sorts of images of her. She said Alison even wanted to dye her hair brown like mine so that getting Alex would be easier.

I was freaked out by everything I was hearing but I had no choice but to believe her. Carmen had been her friend for a while now and I didn’t know anything about the psychopath that had been in my life for two months now. Carmen said she had to beg Alison to get rid of some of the photos because they freaked her out.

Basically the point of the conversation was to tell me that she didn’t want to do any of this to us, and she felt horrible that she ruined our relationship for no reason because Alex was definitely not going back to Alison anytime soon. Carmen felt like she didn’t have a choice since Alison did so much for her but is that really an excuse to fuck up an innocent couple’s life? I wanted to tell Alex everything because this was about her life too but when I finally worked up the nerve to call her, it went straight to voicemail.

I sighed and pulled myself up from the bed and grabbed my bag. I don’t know where the hell she ran off to but she needs to get back here and deal with her crazy stalker ex-girlfriend before I do.  I slipped my shoes on at the door and locked up the condo before heading down to my car. I wasn’t going to work today.  In fact, I requested the rest of the weekend off because Carmen was still working at the restaurant and I didn’t know how to go about dealing with her. I mean should I call the cops? I feel like she’s sort of a victim too, even though she was the one helping she felt like she didn’t have a choice.