Love Next Door

Chapter Thirteen- Life continues, but he's not living

Weeks passed. Jay grew from desperate and sad to blank and emotionless. Work was a blur. His nights at home were a blur. Weekends went by in seconds with nothing significant happening to keep him engaged in his own life. All he had the energy to do was watch sad movies and listen to music so loud that it blocked out his thoughts. He went to bed each night at midnight and didn't get to sleep until one. He wasn't himself, but he didn't know who 'he' was.

His unfinished paintings and art supplies were relegated to a corner of his room that wouldn't be touched. The paintings that were commissioned he finished quickly and sold, most at a lower price because they were finished so roughly. Before, with the commissions he was making enough, along with his main job, to pay the rent, bills, food and a tiny bit extra to save. Now, without the regular commissions he was left once again struggling to make ends meet.

He at least had enough motivation and anxiety to find a second job, selling magazines on the street on weekends. It was measly pay, but enough.

After the first week, he went back to Ash's apartment. The woman was still there, living pretty with Ash's furniture and fixings. It made him angry, but what could he do? Thankfully, she let him in.

"D-do you mind if I... go into his bedroom?" he asked sheepishly.

She was lying on the couch, smoking a strange blue coloured cigarette that gave off a blue tinged smoke which smelled of sickly sweet fruit. He had gagged when it first hit him. He wondered if she was a warlock or something too, but he didn't care enough to ask.

"Sure, knock yourself out."

He walked slowly down the dark hallway and into the bedroom. The lights flickered on automatically. The bed was made, immaculate as Ash always left it. He was relieved then that the mysterious woman was not sleeping in it. He sat down on the bed and cried. He had known it was a bad idea to even step foot in Ash's place again, but it was a necessary evil. After ten minutes lying on the bed in tears, he sniffled pathetically and got up to inspect the large mahogany wardrobe which stood opposite. He had never seen inside, Ash had always 'magicked' his clothes and things from it without opening it.

He opened it and his eyes widened. There wasn't much inside. Much less than what Ash owned, which meant that he had taken stuff when he left. He hadn't noticed anything missing in the rest of the apartment. Jay had wondered why all his furniture and materials had stayed here when he himself had gone. What did it mean? Did he really leave for a long time, if he took his clothes with him? But it couldn't be that long if he didn't take anything else. He didn't know anything and it frustrated him to the point where he found himself kicking the door in anger.

Tahlia continued being incredibly concerned for him, visiting him each week sometimes twice, and calling him pretty much every other day. Her (now) fiancé David couldn't quite understand the situation, and why she needed to be with Jay so much. He heard them argue on the phone sometimes, they tried to be subtle but it was quite obvious that David was not happy with her. 

He didn't visit Jay with her and when she did visit him, she often had red-tinged eyes and bags beneath them. His guilt strengthened tenfold, but in his depressed state, he couldn't bring himself to form apologies or words of support back to her. He didn't know why it caused friction, but maybe David was jealous of the attention she was giving him.

It was getting close to Jay's least favourite time of year: Christmas. He wasn't religious, nor did he have a family to return to on the 'celebratory' day. It was another day in the year for him, except it was overly crowded and he had to work long hours at work to keep up with the rush. When Ash had been around he had been slightly less dismissive of Christmas. He had even planned to ask Tahlia and David if Ash could spend it with them as well.