Been to Hell

The next morning-well afternoon- we woke to frost on the windows and a loud knocking on the door. Who ever it was, was angry. The first thing that I thought about was that his father found us, so I found that I couldn’t ever muster the courage to take a breath.

Zane had a different set of mind though, he hopped out of bed and answered the door in his boxers. We found that it was our neighbor who looked like he wanted to kill someone.

Zane sighed in anger and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “What do you need?”

“You’re little wife is going to have problems if her dog shows up at my door again.” He growled, tossing a Rat Terrier onto the mattress. It burrowed itself under the blanket tiredly.

“We don’t have a dog, sorry.” Zane informed, turning back around to try and grab it to toss it back out. But for some reason I found myself shaking my hand at him. I felt like this man was abusing it for some reason. Zane sighed again and just kicked the door close in the man’s face. The sound of him stomping away angrily could be heard through the wall. “Emily, I don’t have the money to support a dog.” He flopped back into the bed and tilted his head, watching the dog.

“I know. I just didn’t want the poor thing stuck with him.” The dog stretched a bit and pushed its cold wet nose to my hand. I began to pet it. “It’s cute, though.”

He nodded and pet in a little as well. Studying it a little bit. It had a brown face and a white body, god it was so cute. It also had a collar on, but the only thing it said on it was Molly. So it was a girl, a homeless girl.

“It’s someone else’s dog, Emily. We can’t keep it.” He sighed. “I’ll turn her into the front desk before I leave for work.” He burrowed himself back under the blankets and started falling back asleep again.

“I’ll do it now, I’ll be back in five.” I promised. Grabbing his Carhartt coat and the dog. He nodded as I walked out.

The halls to this apartment complex were creepy to tell the truth. The floor was creaky and the walls looked like they were sweating. But thankfully we lived like two rooms from the front desk. It was just something that made me feel safer for some reason.

When I got there the old man that collected rent was watching a football game behind the counter. He turned and smiled at me, this man was my boss and I felt like I had to smile back. He opened the window and leaned out to talk to me.

“Hey Phil. This little fellow was thrown into our apartment this morning. You know who she belongs to?” I questioned. He nodded and opened the door, she trotted into his office.

“She’s mine.” He informed, leaning back onto the counter. “So Zane told me last night that you are quitting?”

I nodded. Feeling a little bit guilty but I really didn’t have a say in the matter. “Zane wants me to stay home for some reason.” He nodded this time, admitting that he understood.

“Okay, is he going to pick up your stuff tonight then? The stuff in your locker I mean?” He asked, I told him yes then good-bye. Heading back to the bedroom.

Zane was fast asleep when I got back. It was actually quite cute, so I found myself shutting the door and crawling back into the bed. He turned towards me in his sleep and tugged me close to him. I smiled and kissed his throat, this was actually turning out to be a nice day so far.

It wasn’t until 5 o’clock when we finally crawled away from the covers to make our self food. But I’ll admit that it was nice napping and cuddling all day. We talked a little bit about what we are planning to do when we finally get down to Florida, and then we talked about what we needed to get for next weeks food.

He swallowed a bite of his Spanish rice then began talking again. “I was thinking that we could stay another week here and then head out again. If we make it to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee then we will stop for another couple of weeks. Sound good?”

“Sounds fine to me.” I promised, taking a bit of my spicy cuisine was well. He smiled at me agreement and took a glance at the clock. “You’ve got to go don’t you?”

He nodded and leaned in to kiss my forehead. “Don’t answer the door. I’d rather you don’t heat the apartment well I’m gone as well. The TV works now but you’ve got to get the antenna pointing in the right direction. Are you going to be okay on your own?”

“Ya, I’ll be fine.” I promised. Leaning over to kiss him quickly. “Will you come home on you’re break?”

“Ya. I promise to see you then.”

A couple hours later I found myself completely bored. The definition of nothing to do was probably this apartment. The only thing on TV was Sesame Street, and it was the same re-run of two different episodes on every channel. Not only that, but it was freezing in here. Of course tonight had to have a chilling wind that shot directly though the cracks on the window. The best I could do was hang the blanket over it.

But that didn’t do much either. I found myself filling the top with steaming hot water and curling inside of it. Thinking about things that I never really thought to think about now a days.

Matt was the first thing to cross my mind. I found myself wondering if he had found a way to walk again yet, or if he was happy. I also found my mind wandering to my old orphanage room, wondering who was occupying it now. Was it a boy or girl, and were they happy? I remembered being happy only when I was at the orphanage, but that was just because she had been there. It would be hell for me now, of course it seems as though I have already been to hell. This life was just a wild roller coaster ride of scary thoughts that you would never really want to think of. But I guess that’s what happened when you fall in love with your kidnapper.

Zane yanked me out of my thoughts. Scaring me when he walked into the bathroom, shirtless and loosely wearing his work pants. He smiled at me and kneeled at the edge of the tub. Dipping his hands into the hot water.

“You get bored?” He questioned, chuckling when I nodded. “Daisy gave me some books for you to read. Just for something to do.”

“That was nice of her.” I hummed, rolling onto my side so I could see him better. For some reason he looks very well rested tonight, and his hair was groomed nicely still. He looked like he was shaved even, I began wondering what I missed. “Why do you look so good tonight?”

A smile plastered onto his face. “I went on a date with someone.” My face fell. What in the hell was he talking about. He chuckled. “Just kidding, you should’ve seen your face.”

“That was mean.” I whined. His hand drug out of the water to cup my cheek. Smiling in victory when I leaned against it.

“We had one of those inspections days, no work. We got out early.” He smiled bigger, straightening up. He started up the sink, getting ready to brush his teeth. “Another thing is that was interesting about today was we got a bonus. Just a random bonus, it kind of freaked me out.”

“See, maybe I should’ve come to work today.”

I grabbed my towel and began leaving the tub. I found it was freezing outside of that water, and not even the towel was making me somewhat warm. God, I can’t wait until we get a house with at least full windows. A heater would be nice as well, actually spring would be nice. You would think that the snow would be melting by now, the beginning of march should be sunny and wet, not dark and cold. Actually, that blanket that Zane ended up getting me for my birthday is the most used thing I own now.

He pulled me into his arms. “Mh, you are so warm. You have no idea.” He smiled.

“Well, that’s the tubs fault.” I joked, pressing my lips to his throat.