Separately Together

Chapter One: 2/2

A heavy sigh leaves my lips at the thought of having to get up and get ready. To prolong the inevitable, I glance around my bedroom looking at how homey I had made it in a short amount of time. The theme was nature, mainly mountains and rivers.

Nature was a safety net of mine, growing up if everything just got to be too much, I would sneak to the woods behind my family home and sit there and listen to the birds chirp. It was so peaceful, and nobody was waiting for me to respond to them or looking at me funny for not talking much.

I would say the thing that set it off was the lights I had hung around my headboard; they gave the apartment a little bit of the touch that it needed.

Pushing the laziness out of my bones, I stand up and stretch my arms above my head. My bare feet hit the cold wood floor making goose bumps rise on my skin and a shiver wrack through my body. I should have turned the ac back up before I went to sleep last night because the cold was already making my throat feel scratchy.

The first thing is to brush the morning breath away. Stepping into the view of the mirror makes me want to throw myself back in bed. Dark circles lay under my eyes from not sleeping so well last night, my hair was more frizz than it was curly and my lips looked chapped and cracking.

After I brush my teeth and hair, the next thing was picking out something to wear, it took me getting changed three times before I decided on a navy-blue knee-length dress. It hugged my figure but wasn't skintight. It didn't take nearly half the time to pick out matching shoes and locate my purse. Before leaving the door, I make sure to lock the four deadbolts I had installed the moment I moved it.

As I'm walking out of the apartment complex my phone buzzes from my bag. Clumsily, I fumble around in the bag searching for the hidden device.

After I pull out my deodorant by mistake my fingers finally clasp around the cool, buzzing metal.

Mom: I'm not coming to Finnic's today. Let your brother know for me. Happy Birthday, sweetie.

This was odd, she normally hovers over me and Finnic like we were her lifeline. When we were little, she was a soccer mom, coming to every event and award ceremony.

Even well into our adulthood, she made it her life mission to know nearly everything that went on in our life. We kept very little from her. She must be sick or maybe going through one of her depression spells.

Me: Everything alright?

I reach my car and just wait by the door looking down at my phone to see if she is going to respond right now. Worry forces the corners of my lips down in a frown, as I think about how her phone calls have been gradually getting fewer and fewer. After a few seconds, her message comes through.

Mom: Yes, Sweets. Just a stomach bug.

The frown is replaced with relief, maybe I had just been reading too much into it, maybe she just has been sick. My mother went out of her way growing up to make sure I and my brother had everything we needed and most of what we wanted. I'd hate to see her go through one of her depression spells again. There was nothing that I hated more in the world than seeing her like that.

I put my phone back in my purse and grabbed my keys.

Driving through the parking lot I look down at the dash, reading the time.

2:43 pm

Perfect timing.

Almost turning on the wrong street I then remembered that Finnic had moved in with Liz to a big farm-style house on the other side of the town. That was more than likely the reasoning behind inviting so many people over, sort of like an informal housewarming party. Should I have brought a gift?