Cages (2025 edition)

chapter two

I got that there were nice people in the world– I wasn't completely pessimistic–but nobody was that nice all the time. It'd been a week since we started working together and I don't think I saw Lola stop smiling once.

She also hadn't stopped trying to be my friend. Her presence was at the least a disruption and at most, a nuisance.

Lola had spent our last shift talking my ear off, not seeming to care that I didn't engage. She told me all about how she and her parents recently moved to town, coming there for a business opportunity for her dad. The bitter part of me thought, 'Of course she came from a loving, two-parent family.' Meanwhile, I went home to an empty apartment. I knew it wasn't fair to be upset at Lola about it, but it was the easy thing to do. Easier than feeling something else.

"I swear," she said as our shift ended and we prepared to leave. "Before this is all over, me and you are gonna be friends."

I couldn't hide my grimace. Lola just laughed. "I'm serious. They say opposites attract."

I finished gathering things and made my way towards the door. "Yeah, well they lied," I parted her with.

Rain and sunshine were not a good mix.

The apartment building I was staying in was conveniently twenty minutes away from the Wake & Bake Cafe. It wasn't the most luxurious but it was decent and what I could afford. My footsteps softly echoed on the stairs as I made my way up to the second floor.

The quiet was something I'd grown accustomed to. At first it was deafing and drove me insane. Now, I yearned it. Silence was now a comfort. I stopped in front of my apartment number and unlocked the door, stepping inside.

Still, I found that some days the silence hit harder than others.