golden;

thirty-six;

it's been a while

x

It's a typical Saturday night for me; if I'm not out travelling, then I'm at home by myself for the first time that week, which means I've got to do lots of errands. Those involve paying bills, unpacking my suitcase, washing clothes, to packing my suitcase all over again.

I finished putting the last of my gear in my washing machine before walking back over to my kitchen and opening my refrigerator. I rummaged through the draws, and found the ingredients I needed to make a stir-fry.

I started to chop up all the ingredients and threw them in the pan with the noodles I dumped in there. I added some sweet and sour sauce, stirred it for a while before getting bored and leaving it to cook.

I flopped onto my couch and connected my TV to my Netflix account. I decided to continue binging Stranger Things as it's my favourite show at the moment.

I settled down into my mountain of cushions and snuggled into my blanket, and watched the first 5 minutes of the episode. I looked around my living room, and noticed that the couch felt emptier than usual.

It was then that I realised that I had never been alone in life. I've got my sisters who I have for life, my family; but I knew that people were missing. As much as they ruined my life for a period of time, they brought me endless amounts of happiness. Mercy was like a sister to me, and my connection with Fergal was too good to forget, ever.

My heart sunk as I remembered the happy moments I had shared in this apartment. The countless times Mercy would sleep over, my first night together with Fergal- this memories stayed engraved in my mind, making this past year even worse than it already has been.

I sighed and sat up, stretching my arms before walking back over to the kitchen. The noodles looked about done, so I served them on a small plate and put the remainder in a plastic container and placed it in my fridge to eat another time.

I hopped onto my bar stool and ate my dinner at the counter, twirling my fork around and taking occasional bites, but mostly distracted by the TV. I quickly realised I wasn't hungry, and put my plate into my fridge.

Just as the fridge door shut, the sound of my doorbell rung throughout my apartment. I frowned and looked at the clock;

19:43pm

Surely this couldn't be a delivery at this time of night, I thought. I sighed and checked my messy appearance in the mirror before walking over to my front door. I grabbed my keys off the hook and unlocked my door. Cautiously, I opened it, not sure who to expect at this hour.

I don't think I could of guessed who it was even if I tried. There stood Mercy, wearing sweats and a jumper, her purple hair tied up but strands were hanging loosely down her face. Those stray hairs clung desperately to her tear stained cheeks, and the longer I stood there for, the more tears spilled down her face.

She quickly wiped her tears and sniffled. "Hey Dani," she said weakly. "Is it ok if I come in?"

At first I didn't know how to answer. Mercy is known to be quite an emotional person, but I have never seen her so upset before. I couldn't exactly say no to her question, so instead I simply nodded and moved out the way slightly to let her in.