3:02am

Chapter Six - 47 E DIVISION ST

Chapter Six – 47 E Division St

They'd parted on even terms, Abby had slipped a business card into Raven's hands and asked her to call her when it was a good time to come collect her car. Their hands had brushed, fingertip to fingertip and it made Abby flush, all the heat in her body rushing to her face in the crisp morning air. Raven smiled that stunning smile that killed it and made Abby want to spend more time with this incredibly vibrant woman she had only just met that morning. One single morning? Christ it felt like a lifetime already, Abby had pulled her coat tighter round her body and walked in the direction of the metro station hazarding a glance over her shoulder at the same time Raven had looked her way when crossing the road; their last glimpse of each-other was just that, a glimpse but it was enough to fuel every absent minded thought that Abby had for that subsequent couple of days thereafter. Working a double back to back shift she barely had time to eat let alone check her cell for missed calls. A kind colleague finishing at the same time as her had dropped her off on the corner of West Elm and North State, leaving her to pick up a few groceries before the short walk home.

She'd been lucky with Jake's inheritance from his father, the money left over from his own will had primarily gone into Clarke's medical school fund. When her late husbands parents had passed, their abode, a stunning Gothic row house built in the 1880's in the heart of Chicago had been left to him, his wife and their daughter. Clarke was only 4 at the time, they had died younger than Abby's parents had, it damn near destroyed Jake. Her heart thudded, his death still so raw in her mind despite the time passed. This was going back a few years now, he had come up here once a month to do it up for a couple of days at a time, turning it into a family home again. He'd never finished it in time. Abby never had the heart to sell it on, it contained too many memories and she supposed that one day, if Clarke found she could return to this country, she would remember the address and turn up, one day.

One day.

47 E Division St loomed up into her view, stunning second floor bay windows framed in black wood, it's gorgeous red brick arches that welcomed visitors to the front door and wrought iron railings urged you up the stairs to the porch. She checked her mailbox, nothing, and scooted up the stone steps and into the chilly house closing the door into the latch behind her. Shirking her coat she hung it on a peg by the door and gratefully slipped off her shoes, dropping her bag at the foot of the stairs and disappearing into the living area collapsed in a heap of green scrubs and mousey brown hair on the leather couch, grabbing a pillow she pulled it under her head and sighed deeply, breathing in the musty leather smell of the sofa beneath her. Dinner, she mused, would have to wait, resting her heavy body was far more important right now.

She'd not been down for long before her cell was buzzing in her pocket, a quick glance told her that she was late to take her pills and groaning she rolled to the side, slid off the side of the couch and walked to the kitchen, groceries in her arms. Setting them down on the counter top, Abby popped the pills from their little packet and swallowed them without water, it was just one of those daily routines that was becoming a boring reminder of real life. She found herself wondering how much longer she could go on like this, work, sleep, work, sleep, finding time or even the joy in eating after a back to back double shift of over 24hrs was difficult, her stomach didn't want to play the game today.

She'd feel better after a shower, she told herself reassuringly, making her way up the stairs wearily undressing as she went, leaving socks on the stairs, scrub trousers on the landing, her scrub shirt at the doorway to her bedroom, her panties at the foot of her bed and bra just outside the bathroom door, letting her hair out of it's tight ponytail her long tresses cascaded down her bare back, kissing her shoulders as she leant forwards and turned the dials on the shower till the water was painfully hot, enough to burn a hole in the tub – perfect for her achy body. Pulling a soft white towel from the cupboard, she popped it on the side and dipped under the water. It's burning feeling soothingly pressuring each point that hurt till she was a floppy mess of tiredness. So engrossed, she did not hear the first ring on the doorbell.