Disease

Oliver flicked bits of snow from his hair before jamming his key into the front door to reveal a silent and black living room. As he closed the door behind him, he turned the light on with his tattooed finger and took a quick look around the room for Afton, thinking she may have fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him to come home, so they could talk about things. But, he was neither surprised nor disappointed as he found the room completely empty. Although, when he didn’t see the light shedding from underneath their bedroom door, or her music playing softly against the walls, he panicked and thought of the worst.

There was no way that Afton would have left the apartment, she had nowhere to go, unless she’d gone to his mum’s house, which she would never do, in fear of having to be taken care of. But, Afton never went to sleep with only dark to accompany her, unless Oliver was there, which only scared him even more.

His Vans squeaked and slipped across the linoleum floor in the kitchen as he darted towards the bedroom he shared with Afton. He flew into the door and twisted the knob at the same time, the impact of his body smashing against the light door and sending it flying against the wall behind it, with him still holding onto the door knob like his life depended on it. As he looked towards the bed, he saw Afton sitting in the middle of it, their lap top open and the blue light flickering off her face as she pulled the sleeves to her shirt further down past the tips of her fingers.

“Oi, Af, didn’t yeh ‘ear meh come in?”

She looked up, her eyes wide from sitting so close to the screen of the computer and shrugged, “Wasn’t listenin’.”

He pulled himself away from the door and straightened himself up, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable around her, “What’re yeh doin’?”

“Nothin’.”

“Why are yeh on the computer then?” He pried, doing his best just to make conversation.

She closed the lap top after powering it off and looked up at him again, “I dunno. I was just lookin’ at some stuff.”

Oliver sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling the lap top from her hands and setting it on the night stand, “What kinda stuff?”

“Nothin’!” She suddenly snapped, mixed emotions swirling around her as she thought about how happy her and Oliver looked in the pictures on the lap top, and how she’s managed to ruin it all in the course of only a month. “Shit Ols. Yeh’re the one that left meh ‘ere. I should be askin’ yeh where the ‘ell yeh’ve been!”

“Oh yeah? Where the fuck do yeh think I went?”

“Well, yeh sure as ‘ell weren’t at yeh’re mum’s. So, I dunno.” She said, removing herself from the bed and looking at Oliver with tired eyes for the first time that night, “Yeh coulda been with whoever.”

She walked past him and towards the kitchen where she pulled a glass down from the cabinet and held it under the water faucet, filling it halfway with water. Her cough had managed to die down for the day, as she hadn’t talked much after Tom had left. Oliver followed her out to the kitchen, still a bit shaken by the icy stare she’d given him and persisted to clear the name that her words had already begun to taint.

“An’ what’s that supposed teh mean?”

“’M positive yeh know what it means, Olleh. Yeh and I both know yeh ain’t daft.”

“Yeh’re saying that I was out with SJ again, aren’t yeh?”

Afton’s stature grew tense at the mere mention of SJ. Her hands tightened around the glass she was holding and she swallowed her gulp of water before turning and facing Oliver with a cold stare.

“Wouldn’t fuckin’ surprise meh.”

“Oh, ‘m sure it wouldn’t Af! ‘Cause everythin’ I do is just wrong, ain’t it? I can’t do shit right fer yeh, can I?”

Afton was quite for a few moments after Oliver yelled at her. She ran a finger down the side of her glass, wiping away the condensation starting to form on it, “Were yeh, Olleh?”

“Was I what?”

“Were yeh out with SJ?” She asked calmly at first and then turned fierce, almost screaming, “Were yeh?”

“No! Of course I fuckin’ wasn’t!” He stopped looking at her with hurt eyes, “Jesus Christ Afton! What do yeh think I am, some kinda piece of shit?”

She shook her head, “No, but I think yeh’re a god damn liar.”

“I wasn’t with ‘er!” Oli shouted loudly, throwing his arms in the air.

“Bullshit!” She cried, losing control of her body and hurtling her glass of water at Oliver, watching as the water splashed against the wall. The glass narrowly missed the side of Oli’s face, colliding with the wall behind him.

Afton’s chest was heaving from the breaths she was doing her best to take and her body was trembling with every type of emotion imaginable. She quickly brought her hands to her mouth and darted towards their bedroom, slamming the door shut and locking it behind her. She collapsed in a heap on the floor and let her tears get the best of her as she bawled her eyes out.

Oliver, once recovering from the shock of Afton’s violence, quickly made his way towards the door and hit it roughly, his anger getting the best of him as he screamed, “Open this fuckin’ door Afton! Now!”

But, he was only met with the sad sobs of his girlfriend. They were as clear through the door as if she were sitting right beside him. He dropped to his knees with his back towards the door and leaned backwards, resting his head against it, quiet tears now dripping from his eyes as well. He listened as Afton sobbed and sputtered on the other side of the door, and realized that not only was hearing her cry the second worst thing in the world, but hearing her cry and not being able to do a god damn thing about it was the first.

This went on for the next half an hour, both of them pausing at times, contemplating an apology, saying it through the thin wood of the door, thinking it might be easier than saying it face to face.

But still, neither one of them could say a thing to the other. Even after being together for a majority of their lives, and going through absolutely everything together, they were too embarrassed to admit to one another their own faults.

Afton knew that the way she was treating Oliver wasn’t right and she knew that all she was doing was shoving him further and further away from herself, contributing to the destruction of their once invincible relationship. It was all in her head that maybe if she pushed him hard enough, he would just leave, and she could take care of herself on her own, and lose everything on her own, and die on her own, without taking another person with her. But, she knew in the back of her mind, that no matter how far apart her and Oliver had grown, neither one of them would ever lose feeling for the other. Not even if she wound up dead.

And while everyone encouraged her not to think or talk about this subject, she knew it would come up one way or another that she’d kicked the bucket, it was inevitable. She knew she was going to die and she didn’t have anyone to discuss this with. Afton was well aware of her own actions and words, and she was also well aware that Oliver didn’t want to hear a word about her preconceived death, but she was terrified, and Oli was the only one she trusted enough to talk with about the subject.

And so, it was these things that built up all her anger and she’d never said much about SJ, after their last fight, so it was quite out in the open to just assume things about where Oliver had been, and she let it get the best of her as she hurtled that glass at Oliver. Which, just proved the fact that she was much too immature to be dealing with the situation she was in, which left her in a sobbing heap, alone.

With Oliver on the other side of the door, he knew that the way he’d been handling things lately wasn’t right. He let Afton get away with what ever the hell she wanted to, and while he took into consideration the fact that she was sick, he also knew she was one of using whatever she could to get whatever she wanted.

Which, left him to believe that she was using her sickness and SJ against Oliver, to push him further and further away from her. In turn, this made no sense to him. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he came to the conclusion that if Afton was dying, he would think she’d want to be close to him for their time remaining, not as far away from him as emotionally possible.

And Oliver felt weak, like he was in the grasp of Afton’s hands and he just couldn’t get away. He had to put a stop to her acting like a child. And he had to get her to at least consider believing him about the fact that she was the only person he loved, and that SJ had nothing against her, not even in the slightest bit. There was no way that he would even dream of doing anything further with SJ, even if it just meant showing up at her house for some coffee after seeing how it managed to affect Afton last time.

Which brought him to the further conclusion that maybe she was just terrified to be with him and to trust him, that he would hurt her like he’s proved to her twice already.

The both of them started to feel restless as they closed their eyes. On one side of the door, Afton was curled up on the floor, with her head rested on top of a pile of clothes that smelled much like Oliver. On the other side of the door, Oliver had his body leaned against the wall beside the door, and his legs stretched out, careful to avoid the broken glass that was strewn across the carpet. The door was between them, much like a barrier, blocking out their relationship, and any ties they managed to have together.



The sun poked through the blinds as Oliver opened his eyes and stretched. He reached up and attempted the handle, coming to the realization that it was still locked. His eyes averted towards the pieces of glass that were glistening with sun light on the carpet, the end to another one of his and Afton’s useless arguments. He propped himself up on his knees and hands and proceeded to pick up each piece of glass, holding them in his hand and peering down at them.

There were big fragments of glass and smaller fragments of glass, that much reminded him of the pieces of his and Afton’s relationship. After picking up all the visible pieces and tossing them in the trashcan, he realized that he’d need more than just himself to pick up the other pieces, so he proceeded to knock on the bedroom door and wake up Afton, who he told that he needed to pick up an order for Drop Dead and he would really like it if she would go with him.

Much to his surprise, she agreed.