My Gray, Your Neon

Chapter One

Lily drags a French fry across the ketchup, lifting it up and twisting its body, watching the sauce drip down her fingers.

"I still can't believe he left just like that," Susan starts talking again.

She nods and continues to watch the ketchup drip.

"What are you planning to do with the baby?" Susan asks after a brief pause.

A drop of ketchup drips to the white table and slowly stretches out, invading the white space.

"I am planning to have it," she says without looking up.

Susan seems to be nodding, "Lily, just know you can always come to me if you need anything."

She smiles, shifting her eyes away from the ketchup for the first time, "Thanks."

They part ways outside the restaurant. Susan gives Lily a hug that seems to last forever. Lily smiles and reassures Susan once again that she will be fine.

"Call me any time!" Susan shouts out as she gets into her car.

Lily smiles, nodding and waving goodbye to Susan.

The sky seems extra blue today, people walk past her bustling with their own lives. She catches the sight of her face in the restaurant window and smiles again.

"I will be fine," she murmurs to herself.

The feeling of loneliness only seems to settle in the moment she opens the door to her apartment. The gray walls close in on her and the electromagnetic waves scream throughout the room, giving her a headache. She closes the door behind her.

She doesn't feel like crying, more like she knows seeing her own tears will make this all too real, and she still wants to pretend a little longer, pretend she's completely fine.

Lily slides down to the floor, leaning against the door. She doesn't know when she dozed off. A knock on the door wakes her up. She peeks into the peephole. A man is standing outside the door. She's never seen him before.

She opens the door a little keeping the door chained, her face appears in the crack, "Hi."

"Hi!" the man responds with a bright smile. "I just moved in down the hall." He turns to gesture where his room is. "Wanted to come and say hi. Sorry if this is a bad time," he adds after realizing the frown on Lily's face.

Lily relaxes her eyebrows and unchains the door, "No, no, you are fine. Welcome to the 'Castle'!" she says, putting on her friendly smile and reaching out her hand.

He shakes it and laughs a little, "Is that what you guys call it here?"

She nods, "I am Lily by the way."

"Andrew."

She nods again, "Well Andrew, I would love to invite you in for tea but my apartment is a mess right now," she says, unconsciously grimacing at the chaos in her room.

"No worries, appreciate the thought," he pauses a bit, "I will see you around then?"

She nods, giving her polite smile. Andrew walks away to a room down the hall.

Lily closes her door. She scans the room, clothing turning into carpets covering every inch of the floor. She sighs, turns on the lights and starts cleaning.

Lily turns on her laptop as the washing machine tumbles in the background. She stares at the screen for a couple minutes not sure why she turned on the laptop in the first place and turns it off again. There's a mild ache in her lower stomach. She rubs it with her hand.

"Hi Lily, it's Andrew," a voice comes in from the crack below her door, accompanied by a knock.

A little startled, Lily gets up to open the door.

"Hi Andrew," she answers and lets out a shriek. Andrew's face has transformed into a face of a zombie. Strong scents of paint rush through Lily's senses, she unconsciously covers her nose.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry to startle you. But I'm in desperate need of some help and was wondering if you would be free to come over for a few minutes?"

Lily nods unconsciously, still a little startled from everything that's happening. She grabs her key and follows Andrew to his room.

Andrew's room is full of boxes, he navigates her across his box forest and reaches a corner near the window.

"So, I'm actually an aspiring makeup artist and was trying out this zombie look for my friend's film project," he explains while handing her a camera. "Could you help me take a photo from this angle?" He gestures while pushing his face against the window, growling like a zombie.

Lily captures a few shots and brings it over to show him.

"These are great, Lily!" He breaks into a smile, cracking his zombie look a little. "Thank you so much! Let me get you something to drink." He rushes away with his camera towards the kitchen, knocking over a few boxes along the way.

"Don't worry about it," Lily shouts back, grimacing a little watching Andrew crashing into boxes.

"Sparkling water sounds good?"

"Sure," Lily answers, grabbing on to her sleeves. She looks around the room, the layout seems just like hers but something about it feels extra vibrant.

Must be the wall colors, she thinks to herself looking at the neon green and yellow walls.

"Here's your water."

A cup takes her focus off the walls. She smiles and takes it over.

"You living here by yourself?" Lily asks.

"All by myself!" Andrew says, pushing away some boxes to clear a place for sitting. "I got permission to paint the walls too. What do you think?"

"Very vibrant." Lily sips her water.

"Haha, yeah. Maybe a little too much, but I hated the gray walls. They were suffocating in a way, don't you think?"

Lily nods. They sure are.

That night, Lily lay in her bed staring at her gray ceiling and the only thought that came across her mind was, maybe I should get my walls painted too.