Red

The sounds of cars hurrying off to work in the morning, mothers scolding their children as they dragged them down the streets and the muttering of teenagers, mindlessly chatting away on their cell phones, never paying attention- this was city life. Leanna couldn’t say she hated it, even amongst the hellish and, down right annoying aspects of the city, she could find beauty. Walking fast through the traffic lights, busy streets and busy lives, all she knew was touch and go.
She clutched the journal to her chest with one arm as she twisted the key into the lock of her apartment building door, shivering from the cold. Finally the lock turned and she pushed hard on the door, falling into the building and away from the winter winds. She rushed through the lobby towards the elevator, only offering the front desk lady, Merrill, a small smile instead of the usual after work chat they usually had.
No, Leanna was on a mission and needed to get to her own apartment. Like a hurricane, she tore into her apartment, nearly flung herself through the living room and took shelter in her own room. Out of breath, she landed sprawled across her bed, limbs flung every which way across the sheets, the journal still safely in her hand. What was supposed to be a quick visit to Cayden, and formerly her, apartment across the city had turned into a scary trip down memory lane.
Cayden had found her journal in the back of Leanna’s old closet and had given it to her, not knowing what was written on those pages. Leanna had freaked out and rushed home. Slowly, she flipped onto her stomach and opened the first page, the first chapter of the treacherous, doomed love story.
I never saw you coming and I’ll never be the same, the first line and the biggest understatement of the year. Leanna laughed at herself, how naïve she was to him. How she had believed that he wouldn’t hurt her even though she knew his past because he had made her believe him. She had been so against it at first.
She flipped a couple pages in her journal, you come around and the armour falls, pierce the room like a cannon ball… Now all we know is don’t let go… This is a worthwhile fight, love is a ruthless game… Something good and right and real.
What a joke, she thought to herself. She flipped a few more pages, shook her head and then skipped to the last couple pages. It wasn’t a spoiler alert, she already knew the ending. She knew where the main characters ended up, on opposite sides of a city avoiding each other at all costs.
You were never a saint and I’ve loved in shades of wrong. I thought we had learned to live with the pain, I guess you never did.
“Dammit, Pat,” she muttered to herself as she closed the book. “You fucked me up good.”