Chester Bennington - Unusual Neighbor

Loneliness

Good morning, darling!" Janice greeted me with her natural good mood and a wide smile on her lips. "You're here early."

"Yes, I wanted to be here to help you with the order. This one is huge, I didn't want you to be alone." I said, putting down my bag and tightening an apron around my waist.

Janice just smiled but didn't say anything else, so I got to work immediately, preparing the showcase for the day. I took out some red roses and white daisies outside, along with some cactus pots. I cleaned the floor outside for a cleaner and fresher image of the store and then organized the flowers in storage to make room for the order that was certainly arriving.

My phone rang several times during the morning, but I had no time to pick up after receiving the flowers. I had to check every flower to make sure they were in good conditions, count them and separate them according to the different flower arrangements ordered, by colors, and by types. Luckily, all this work made me take my mind away from Chester's interaction this morning. I wondered if he was going to show up at our breakfast. I was really hoping he would, and I have no idea why. I mean, I met the guy once and talked to him over notes.

Something I have to change, I thought to myself.

After lunchtime, Janice had a medical appointment and I took over the store all evening until it was time to close. When the store was calm and no clients were there, I took my phone out and checked who tried to call all morning.

It was Rachel. And my heart skipped a beat. My family stopped trying to talk to me after my grandmother telling them that I would talk to them when I'm ready.

Even though I was not ready to face them after almost a month away, I thought it might be something important, so I returned her call.

"Ana? Thank God, I thought you were ignoring me!" She said.

"Nonsense. I was working, Rachel. Is everything alright?"

She sighed.

"Define alright."

"So, what's going on?" I asked, leaning against the wall at the entry of the store.

She told me she was worried about me and wanted to make sure I was really alright. Then she told me that our grandmother and our mother are always fighting over me, her and Monica. Grandmother says my mother doesn't look at us like daughters or at least doesn't have time to do so. My mother says she has nothing to do with it and that's when the discussions are harder.

"I never saw Nanna so pissed off about anything, and mother is so sad because of that. She's sad since you went away."

"She should have thought about that before raising us this way."

"What is wrong with you? They did the best they could!" She yelled and I gritted my teeth.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you and our family? Do you wanna know what made me flip the table??? Mother wanted to make me date Grantt's son so they could fuse companies. She basically wanted to sell her own daughter so she could make more money and keep ignoring us like they have been doing all our life!" I heard Rachel gasp. I never talked to them about what really happened that day, and I knew mother would never tell her herself, obviously. "You need to get out of that stupid bubble mother put you in and explore what life can offer you besides money! I wanted my freedom from that prison and I fought for it. What are you going to do when you realize your hands and feet are tied?"

She didn't answer for a while. I even thought I lost her, or she just hung up on me. But I was wrong.

"Can I visit you there? Wherever you are?"