Painting

Chapter 53

I receive a text from Victor, the next morning. I try to be as quiet as I can. I retrieved my phone, not long ago. Like I expected, not even a scratch. Teddy is still sleeping next to me. He slept here last night. I see that I have three texts from Tyler. I'll go see those, first.

Tyler: What's going on?

Tyler: June?

Tyler: Please, tell me that you are okay.

June: I'm sorry, I'm alright. I just had a bad moment.

Victor: You sent a message to Tyler, what happened?

June: I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have contacted you. I can deal with this on my own.

He responds almost instantly.

Victor: If you need help you can always contact us. Tell me what happened.

June: It's alright, Don't worry.

Victor: If you say so.

I go put my phone back where it was. I can't have Teddy being suspicious on top of everything else. I think, he thinks they made me sad. I'm sad for Tyler, that's all. Teddy doesn't know and that's perfect. Speaking of the devil, he's waking up.

-Hi. I'm sorry for your phone.

-It's alright.

-When it comes to you, I can't control myself.

-I know.

-What do you want to do today?

-Watch movies. Listen to music. Eat, drink and that's about it.

-Alright, well I'll let you do that on your own.

He kisses me on the cheek, then, gets up and leaves the room. When I hear the front door opening and closing, I take out my laptop. I go fetch my phone once again. No new texts. That's good, it means they aren't worrying about me. I just need to find a way to keep Teddy away. I already tried kicking him out and being angry. That didn't work, so what am I suppose to do? I guess I can text Tyler or Victor about what's going on, it won't hurt to tell them, will it?

I'm just tired, for once in my life, can I have something that isn't complicated.

Life is complicated though, so I can't really expect that.

For now, I can make breakfast and watch a romance movie. Nothing with desperate people though, I already have Teddy for that. Something to cheer me up and give me some hope. Because I clearly need that. After all, with everything that's happening in the world and the... guy, let's just call him a guy, because I find that the definition of psychopath is too vague to attribute it to anyone in my entourage. I definitely need hope. Nothing feels right these days, even my relationship with Victor and Tyler, it's not like everyone is open to that yet. People can be so judgmental. Still in our advanced time, people are judged because of their sexuality, their gender, what they wear, their religion and their skin color, especially their skin color. I am sick of it. We are philosophical, this morning. Is it really my place to talk about that, though? I guess, we'll have to see.

Seriously though, a lock on my door? We're not in a movie. Even in movies they don't do that. On the other hand, every movie about obsessive characters follow the same scenario. The obsessive character always looks the same. The same haircut, same beard, same glasses and it always ends up the same. He gets killed or ends up in jail.

Back on the topic, I need to take off that lock. If there is even one on the door, maybe it's all in my head. Am I going crazy? Maybe I'm all alone, in my apartment since the beginning. Since Victor and Tyler dropped me off after the uncomfortable ride. No... It can't be, I'm not crazy. All this time with Teddy could've affected my sanity. No. That's mad talk.

But you are mad.

I need to get out.

You can't, the door is locked.

No, it's not.

I get up and stumble on the floor. I crawl to the door and open it.

See? It's not locked. I'm not bonkers.

I get back on my feet and look at the back of the door. There is a lock. So that's there. Now, I'll go take a walk. I put my coat on and a hat, then go down the stairs. The cold wind hits my face. Now, stay rational. Don't go anywhere you don't know. It's not going to help your case. I walk around the neighborhood and I'm surprised by the serenity it has. Obviously, it would never be as serene as the cabin, nonetheless it's enough to ease my mind. It's racing, the fact that I'm always tired despite the amount of sleep I get, doesn't help.

 What am I going to do? You need help, beautiful. Beautiful? Yes, beautiful, because you are. I don't want to bother anyone. You won't. You can ask for advice and guidance. That's alright, that's okay.