Etched

Chapter 3

6 Months Later:

I open the door to a place, which I can now call my new apartment. I've moved away from my cozy town to this ginormous city. From the familiar, acquainted surroundings to an unknown locale. Different, and in a way challenging.

It might attract alot of people to stay in a grand city, captivate them to be here and live freely as they say it. Growing out of their light, easy lives to the fast paced ones, finding it glamorous. But to me the confines of my towns are enough to seek peace and freedom in. The place that has been my refuge, soothing and comforting.

I am not a huge fan of change but I don't entirely hate it either. Sometimes change is all you need to get rid of the constant despair or a way to help you see things in a different light. Blinding or vague. A person doesn't realize how important it might be, until they experience the contrast.

I switch the lights on and place the last carton on the wooden floor. The apartment is average sized. Obviously, smaller than the house I had back there but a perfect expanse for me. It has a room with attached washroom and a side by side closet. A living room and a tiny kitchen. In short, the right proportionally distributed architecture that I would require.

There was a time in my life where I wanted to experience life outside my self-made cocoon but for the major portion of my existence of twenty-three years, I'd left it to be decided by fate and its doing. When I realized that living without Jerdy is not an option, I stuck back and decided to look for jobs around me in the town alone.

But when one day, few weeks after my graduation Jerdy practically pushed me out of our house, thrusting a plane ticket in my hand, I knew everything was going to change. It took me hours to ask him why he was so adamant on sending me away, that too without any prior notice but still hadn't gotten the right response that was satisfactory.

He just shook his head and said that I was too much of a introvert and now I'll have to see how the outside fast life goes. There was a myriad of emotions on his face, too many to be even distinguished but a few distinctions of pain made my heart clench. I could tell that he didn't want me to go but he was so persistent and managed to stamp his emotions shut.

I protested, refused, but he took none. As though he'd fallen deaf ear to all my objections. His behavior was contradictory to how it had always been with me. He'd always appreciated my point of view, making sure to provide me whatever made me comfortable or whatever I had wanted to do. I wasn't severely opposed to the idea of shifting but a little heads up might've helped me to make my mind. I know it pained him to leave me as much as the prospect did to me. But why was he so obstinate? I don't know yet.

I undid all my cartons and bags and decorated the apartment decently, not going crazy, DIYing the heck out of it. But just doing the basics to make it look presentable and up to the mark. It wasn't huge enough to bag all day but cleaning and dusting the nooks did take some time. It was hard to put things together but then all in all in looked nice.

By the time I was done I was exhausted, tired and insanely hungry. My apartment did have a kitchen but their wasn't anything to cook from and neither did I have anymore packed stuff left. As in, I ate all chips and candies on the way by the time I reached here. You can't blame me though, the food was taken in to soothe my nerves not my hunger. My hunger deserves food now.

I was too unfamiliar with this city to go hunting for grocery stores yet but there has to be something, I can't sleep hungry. And my stomach is grumbling in absolute horror just at the prospect of being starved.

I google mapped the stores close to where I stayed. Throwing over a jacket on my tee, changing into jeans and getting in my boots, I followed the way.