Blue

Chapter 2: Silly thoughts

Ellie walks up the stairs towards her apartment. Her keychain loosely wrapped around her finger, making the keys tingle with every step. As she reaches the third floor, exhausted, she opens a door, exiting the staircase. She walks all the way through the empty greyish hallway, towards the end, where her apartment is located. Her echoing steps slowly reaching her destination. As she stands in front of her apartment door, Ellie fidgets with her keys. The bouncing of her step caused her keychain to get a bit tangled around her finger. This happens every time she tries to enter her home, yet she still does it.

As she manages to untangle her keychain, thereby freeing her finger, she grabs the key she needs and unlocks the door. It's not a big apartment. No, it's a lovely 2 bedroom apartment and everything she has ever hoped for to live in. Not too much work to clean and she doesn't have to keep a well-kept garden, as she has none. A nice and easy place.

She pushes the door open and it slams loudly against the wall in the little corridor of her apartment, making Ellie cringe as the loud noise continues to echo down the hallway of the flat. She carefully closes the door, making as little sound as possible as if she's trying to make it up to her neighbours and everyone else who heard the noise. After locking the door again and putting her keys in a jar full of other keys and coins, Ellie carefully drops her backpack on the ground, trying not to break her expensive pencils. She takes off her coat and scarf, hanging them on the coat rack. She unties her shoes and places them next to her backpack.

A yawn escapes Ellie as she enters the small living room. She heads straight for the dark grey sofa, which is filled with pillows, letting herself fall on it, face first. After the little bounce her body made on impact Ellie reaches for her favourite green, fluffy pillow. She hugs it tight and lifts her head only to let it drop again on the soft pillow. Ellie closes her eyes, finally able to sleep.

*****

When Ellie wakes up she wonders if her eyes are actually open; it's pitch black in her apartment. She looks outside the window and sees the streetlights alit and the sky sprinkled with stars and a moon. 'Is it that late already?' she wonders as she tries to reach for the light switch of the lamp above her. As she still can't reach it after her third attempt, Ellie lifts herself up with her arms and moves to sit on her knees as she feels around for the light switch. As she finally finds the switch, she turns the little button to turn the lamp on to a dimmed light, allowing her eyes to get used to it a bit. She looks around, towards the antique clock that stands on a big black cabinet. It's 11 pm. She's been asleep for over six hours.

"So far for napping." Ellie mumbles to herself. She stretches, letting a few bones pop, before she slowly stands up from the sofa. After closing the green curtains in the living room, Ellie grabs her lighter out of a drawer of the cabinet and turns on all the candles in the room, making it look a lot warmer and cosier. She heads to the kitchen and boils some water, wanting a nice cup of blackberry tea. Reaching for a glass and putting it on the countertop she puts in the teabag and some sugar. As the water's still not boiled, Ellie decides to look in the fridge for something to eat. As she did so, she looked at an empty inside of a fridge. She totally forgot that she had to get some groceries! But she was so tired... and that thing...

When Ellie reminds herself of the strange black figure, she freezes and totally zones out. Her mind fills itself with so many questions. What is it? Is it real? Was it my imagination? Why did she see it? The click of the kettle snaps Ellie out of her trance and brings her back to reality, which makes her realise she still stands in front of the open fridge. Oops. She quickly closes the door and makes her tea. She opens a cupboard and finds a pack of biscuits. 'This will do for now' she reasons, 'I'll go get some groceries in the morning'. She walks back to the sofa and drinks her tea and eats her biscuits in silence, thinking. Once she is finished she blows out all the candles. She put the remaining biscuits back in the cupboard and her empty glass in the sink. She shakes her hands through her hair as she walks towards her bedroom.

As Ellie puts on her pyjamas she, for some reason, feels a bit wary of the dark empty corner in her room. She keeps eyeing it with the corner of her eyes. Sneaky, but still aware. But of course nothing happens, it's a silly thought. The empty corner is exactly as it is: empty. There's nothing there. No strange black entity, no monster, nothing. Just inconveniently placed shadow... right? Ellie groans, lightly slapping her cheeks a few times. These thoughts annoy her. She turns to fully face the dark corner and steps towards it, standing straight in front of it. It looks just like shadow. 'That's because it is!' her sanity exclaims. Ellie slowly reaches her hand in the darkness, towards the wall. Nothing happens. She just touches the wall with her fingertips. Her fingers let go of the wall and slap the emptiness. Still nothing. Ellie scoffs, curse her creative and over active mind!

She slowly walks back towards her bed, still glaring at the shadowy corner. She doesn't need her eyes to find her way in her room, she knows this place like the back of her hand, and sooner or later she stands next to her boxspring bed. In one swift movement Ellie throws away her covers, still glaring at the wall. She sits down on the soft mattress, her weight making a slight dent as she brings her legs on the mattress and under the covers. She now sits up straight in her bed, still eyeing the wall. Squinting her eyes, focusing extra hard and giving it a dirty look, she observes it even closer. She doesn't believe one bit of all her silly thoughts, yet she does. That's it. Ellie puts her hands on her eyes and dramatically lets her head fall on her pillow while groaning loudly in annoyance. She angrily puts her covers over her body, tucking herself in. She's so incredibly done with her own thoughts. She's not going to make herself paranoid and scared of something so silly and stupid.

Looking up and giving the wall one last dirty look, she slams her light off with her fist and turns to sleep, which, even though she has already slept for six hours, happens fairly quick.