Astro-Zombies

 



It has been a week since "The Great Move" as Shae had liked to call it. Her apartment still bare but she was adjusting. The neighbors haven't been making so much noise and the sirens were starting to become soothing. The overwhelming amount of crime didn't phase her as much as it used too. Hell, even the dirty streets were slowly becoming a welcoming and appeasing site. Shit was starting to mess with her head. Jersey was starting to become okay.

In the week, Shae had currently spent in New Jersey, she'd manage to change her number, get her license updated and not run into the big man who may just tow her car away. She canceled her credit card and changed her checking card. She became part of the 15%( approximately 44 million people) with no insurance what-so-ever. It was just too bad she couldn't change her name or her past but then those goddamn student loan collectors.   

Six card board boxes filled to the brim still remained unopened and scattered across her one bedroom home. Each labeled with a mundane vague description of what wasn't inside. 

Her shower consisted of one towel, one bottle of eighty-nine cent shampoo with a matching conditioner. A travel size toothpaste and toothbrush along with a travel sized deodorant. A teeny bottle of warm vanilla sugar body spray (The only thing from her past she could find in her hand bag.) and a matching bottle of lotion (The three dollars she splurged on herself on Tuesday.) Her closet now filled with an assortment of colors; black, black more black and red reminded her that yes, someone in fact actually lives here. 

Her fridge consisted of one case of Mike's Hard Lemonade (two bottles missing), a pint of milk(which is probably expired) and a cucumber(nearly rotten). Her pantry looked better and more appealing shut. On the breakfast bar that overlooked her empty living room sat a fishbowl with a small handful of coins. 

Shae stood in the kitchen over the sink looking at the fish bowl filled with three dollars and twenty-six cents in coins. Next to the bowl was a pad of paper and pen. Inside, it was filled with things her naked home needed, what she wanted and what was essentially for her to not starve, not contract an illness or begin to smell and look so terrible her entry-level position into her career would fire her on the spot. 

Her bare apartment left a warm fuzzy feeling inside of her. It was drafty, the floor boards creaked and the idea of carpet was nonexistent. There was a permanent silence about it, no screaming or shouting apart from whatever was occurring outside her walls. Shae could only smile to herself, this all belonged to her. This small place she now called home, this paradise, belonged to her and only her. The thoughts of her old home could not burden her now. Not yet. They were not going to win. 

Shae opened the fridge door, frowning to herself as she examined the assortment of food she didn't have. She chewed her lip, and paced the kitchenette before giving in. Pulling her untamed brown hair back into a ponytail, she slipped on her shoes. Shae picked up the necessities she'd need on her small errand. She pulled at the door that stuck to the frame with great force, the pollinated air sweeping through the empty apartment. Shae let the door slam behind her, turning the key into two of the three locks on her door. 

Shae began her descent through the paved corridor, her eyes locking with brown ones hidden behind a mop of hair and black thick rimmed glasses. A shy smile and wave slipped itself by her as she did the same back. That's how she'd like to keep all interactions that would be made in Jersey, a smile and a wave but even then a smile was too much energy for her to share.

&&

Shae's back pressed against the wooden door. Her black flats hugged her feet as she smacked the curves of her feet together. The noise echoing through the corridor. She chewed her lip in annoyance with herself, her front teeth pressing hard and down on her bottom lip. 

The optimism that shared it's presence with her that morning, gone, shattered. Shae's head banged in annoyance against the thin wooden door. 

"I'm a fuckin' idiot" she mumbled, the black flip phone. Her black handbag and two shopping bags laid in a heap. Regret. Just regret. 

It had been a week in Newark; a week in some crime ridden city that made Shae scared to leave the confinements of the corridor despite it being only seven in the evening; the sun slipping it's way down casting long shadows on the cement walls. 

A week in Newark, NJ and no friends were being made, no exciting social outings and only the sense of unwelcome followed by outcast dominated her work place; yet who wanted to be bossed around by a barely twenty-three year old fresh out of school. One being sought out by estranged family members and loan collectors because that six month grace period vanished. 

Fuck being a damsel in distress and fuck everything about Dirty Jersey. There was no reason to stay in a city Shae could quite possibly die in, no reason to unpack those six mundane boxes when all Shae wanted to do was run. 

"Did you lock yourself out?" That teasing voice asked.