A Place To Call My Home

Chapter 8

I wear my shades so our eyes don't meet

I'm scared every fucking day

I wear my headphones so I can't hear what you say

Diane moved through the kitchen and lounge room, the lights were on but she couldn't see Piper. Then she heard what sounded like crying coming from Alex's bedroom. She walked slowly towards the room, with the sounds getting louder and louder. She stopped when she got to the door and knocked lightly, "Piper, it's Diane, is everything okay?" All Diane heard was more crying, so she slowly opened the bedroom door to see what was happening. It was dark, but there was just enough sunlight shining through the blinds to see a figure lying on the bed. As Diane walked closer to the bed she could see it was Piper. The young girl had her face buried in Alex's pillow as she tried to control her crying. Diane sat on the edge of the bed and spoke softly, "What's going on Piper? You can tell me." Diane reached out and put her hand on Piper's shoulder, trying to calm her down.

Diane kept rubbing Piper's arm and let her cry. Eventually, the sobs got quieter and Piper sat up on the bed next to Diane. Piper finally spoke, and Diane struggled to understand her, "He locked me out."

Diane brushed the blonde hair from Piper's face, trying to understand what was going on, "Who locked you out Piper?"

Piper kept talking quietly between sobs, "My boyfriend, Jack. I went to the house today to pick up some clothes, and I wanted to talk to him. We haven't spoken since that night that Alex...." Piper's voice drifted off and silent tears kept rolling down her cheeks. Diane put an arm around her, encouraging her to keep talking.

"When I got to the house I couldn't get in, he changed the fucking locks. It's like he doesn't even fucking care!" Piper's sobs got louder again as she spoke. Even though she didn't know the young girl very well, she was obviously in pain. Unfortunately it was a pain Diane understood all too well. Diane pulled Piper into a hug in an attempt to calm her down.

"You can't think like that Piper, trust me on this. You don't have to say anything else to me, but I do want you to listen." Diane felt Piper nod in agreement against her shoulder, she seemed to be calming down again.

"Make sure you don't go back there on your own, bring someone with you. Alex will be back next week, have you spoken to her much?"

Piper pulled back from the hug to look Diane in the face, "Just a couple of times, she seems pretty busy. I.....this probably sounds ridiculous, but I really miss her."

Diane smiled, "It doesn't sound ridiculous at all, I know you two are close."

The two women sat in silence for a few moments as Piper slowly regained her composure. It was starting to get dark, and Piper was dreading spending another night alone without Alex.

*********

Piper finally managed to calm herself down and stop crying, she didn't even have the energy to feel self-conscious about the fact that Diane had just seen her in the middle of a break down. The older woman reminded her so much of Alex, her presence had a certain comfort to it. Diane started speaking again while Piper was still lost in her own mind, "Have you eaten anything today?"

Piper started shaking her head, "No."

"What if we go grab some dinner, it might make you feel better."

Piper was starting to feel hungry but she couldn't bring herself to leave the apartment, "Can we just eat here?"

Diane gave her a small smile, "Of course, what do you feel like?"

"Anything is fine, thanks Diane."

Diane left Piper in Alex's bedroom and went to get dinner for them both. Once she was out of the apartment building and walking down the street, she immediately pulled out her phone.