Chapter 1: Leaving

Rhoda stood there. Her eyes adverted from the door that had just closed, both to the apartment and to the part of her life that she had shared with Joe. All he had said was that he had needed a little time off by himself, but if he had truly loved her in the first place, why would he need that time anyways?

"Damn," was all she could get out before the tears started to fall down her cheeks and she slowly allowed herself to slide down to the floor. Hugging her legs to her body, she rested her head on her knees and let herself begin to cry.

There had to be something other than this. It was like it was back in high school. One of them got tired of the relationship so they just left, just like that. The only difference was that this hurt so much more. They were married, that had to mean something to him. There had to be more to this than just watching him leave like that.

She had felt silly not allowing him to take any clothes with him, but it was her only security. He would come back for them. Right now, that was the only reason that she knew he would be back there. She had what he needed.

"I gotta get out of here," she said to herself. Pulling herself up, she looked across the room to the door, as if waiting for him to stop her. Waiting for him to come back and tell her that there's no need for her to leave, but that wasn't about to happen. Instead, she went to the table and stopped to glance at the door before she picked up her phone book. With hesitation, she continued to the phone, where again, she stopped and looked over to the door. It was no use, he wasn't coming back. She had to do this. Shaky hands flipped through the pages and then grabbed the receiver. "Hello?" she choked out after dialing the number. She steadied her voice. "Yes, I would like a ticket to Minneapolis."

Brenda sat on the edge of the bed as Rhoda went through and gathered things to pack. "So you're really leaving?" Brenda asked.

"What else can I do?" Rhoda asked as she pulled a shirt from her closet and carried it over to the open suitcase on her bed.

"You could stay with me you know. You did used to live there," Brenda said. Rhoda was about halfway to the closet when she stopped. Brenda watched her for a second. "That way you'll know when he comes back and you won't have to sit up here by yourself."

"No!" Rhoda snapped as she finally turned around to face Brenda. "I can't okay? I can't be here. I just can't." Pacing to the other side of the room, she quickly grabbed a few random things. "I couldn't handle just sitting here and waiting," she said pacing back and throwing things into her suitcase.

"Calm down Rho, you just threw one of Joe's belts in there," Brenda said. Rhoda stood there and sighed as she stared down at the belt. "You do think he's going to come back don't you?" she asked getting nervous.

"I don't know," Rhoda said.

The two sat there in silence for a moment. "I'll be back in a little while. I'll call you tonight." Rhoda closed her suitcase and looked over to Brenda who stood up. "See you soon Bren," Rhoda said as she hugged her.

"Bye," Brenda said and then let go.

Rhoda grabbed her suitcase off of the bed and left the room. Brenda followed her out to the living room. As soon as Rhoda got the door, she stopped and turned around. "Oh yeah, one obvious favor from you," she started.

"Don't tell mom?" Brenda asked.

"Ding ding ding! We got a winner!" Rhoda said.

"Don't ya think she'll notice the fact that you're gone?"

"Just tell her I was called out of town, Mary needed me to help with something."

"Sure," Brenda said as they both left the apartment.

Let me know whether or not I should continue.