Before us...

Chapter Five

The rest of the week had passed by in more or less the same fashion as it always did for the two of them, each seemingly stuck in an uncompromising battle with their own minds. Having barely left their homes in the past seven days they had hardly felt the chill of the month of October roll in, bringing with it, dark nights and greying days that would provide a comforting chill each morning that would attack and demolish any remanence of their seemingly endless nights. The cold air would act as an invisible ally that would bring a brief pause to their suffering.

Lila sat on the back porch, in the pitch-black Sunday morning air allowing it to do just that. Plagued once again by the attacks of her dreams, she sat with Zar taking in the seemingly endless sky that was just barely brightening as the minutes ticked on. She had found herself at the same spot every morning this past week, finding safety in the open space whilst her companion shifted next to her begging for attention.

This past week, the pair had gotten accustomed to the nocturnal ways of life, only venturing out of the safe-haven of home when the sun had lowered to allow the pair a brief interaction with the outside world, all the while avoiding any and all communication with any of its inhabitants. It was not a surprise then, that the loneliness had settled on Lila once again after uttering not a single word to another person in a week. Zar of course was privy to a few words of love and encouragement from time to time but his lack of response was beginning to weigh on the troubled woman who sat absentmindedly tracing her fingers through his fur as he snoozed alongside her.

She sat there, in the same spot until the brightest star in the sky diminished her inadequate counter-parts and brought a white, grim clouded sky to life in their absence. However, the downpour intended for the day could not alter the brewing excitement she felt as she sprung to her feet, Zar following, as she rushed in side to get ready for her impending weekly trip to Grace's Grocery.

It could be considered sad how anxious she was to leave and perform such a mundane task such as shopping, but the excitement that embodied Lila now was something that had been severely lacking in the woman in recent months and something she was keen to take advantage of.

Quickly, she filled the gracious puppy's bowl with his breakfast, accepting the deep whine that escaped him as gratitude and dismissed herself from the kitchen to continue with her morning routine, eager to move on with her day. She left him behind in the kitchen, as she moved into the small bathroom to shower, consciously taking her time as she was aware that although the sky was brighter than it had been three hours ago, the rest of the town, including Grace, were most likely still dead to the world in bed.

For what felt like hours, she stood in that shower robotically going through the motions of wash, rinse and repeat before vacating the glass entrapment and wrapping a long towel around her body whilst she rushed a brush through her still damp hair, before hurrying another over her teeth. She would pick up a new tooth-brush in the shopping today, she thought.

After she had dealt with her skin care routine of cleanser and moisturiser, she moved swiftly from the bathroom and into her, still dark bedroom, blindly making her way to the chest of drawers that lay against the left wall, which was still plastered with the same awful green paint that the previous owner had ruined the room with. Lila rummaged through the various drawers, picking out black jeans and a soft dark lilac hooded sweatshirt that her mother had often said complimented her skin tone. Lila thought that she would call her later, see how she was. It had been a while since she had spoken to anyone in her family and far too long since she had seen them but the idea of going to the city to visit them scared her and they were too busy with work to make the trip to Saratoga Springs themselves.

Shaking her head, she picked up her choice of outfit and dressed at a more distilled pace before setting herself down on the unmade bed, lost in her own thoughts. Maybe she could convince them to visit for Christmas? After all there were plenty of nice and cosy hotels in town and they could spend Christmas in her home. She decided she would talk her mother about it later. Walking over to the window that sat at the head of her bed with the impending conversation settling heavily on her mind, she threw the short black-out curtains wide open, forcing the darkness that haunted her room to vacate and find sanctuary under her bed ready to pounce later that night.