Story warnings: Lots of smut, F/F/F, drinking, mention of drugs, car crash, Ranya
Anya groaned as the afternoon sun poured through the living room blinds and stung sensitive eyes behind closed lids.
The blonde stretched her arms out high overhead as an empty liquor bottle rolled off her chest and crashed on the carpet with a soft thud.
Her head pounded with the familiar ache brought on by an all-night drinking bender. Heavy lids proved difficult to open, eyes uncooperative as she tried to check the wall clock for the time.
Anya had maintained living in a drunken slumber for the past few months. She kept the blinds drawn, the lawn unmowed, and the fridge filled with bottles and bottles of beer.
Except for the odd trip to the liquor store, Anya rarely left the house. She barely ate, and when she did, it was always delivered by some geeky kid with their whole life ahead of them. Unlike Anya, who didn't have anything or anyone left to live for. Not anymore anyways.
Six months earlier, Anya had everything she'd ever wanted. She'd moved into a brand new house near the ocean with her beautiful, witty, quirky girlfriend Raven Reyes whom Anya was madly in love with and planned to marry.
Anya reached for the black velvet ring box on the coffee table and flipped it open for the millionth time. She'd stared at that ring an equal number of times wondering what could have been. How happy they would have been. How happy Anya should have been at that moment.
But instead, the night Anya had planned to propose, was the night some asshole tweaked out of their mind on meth decided to run a red light and crash into Raven's car.
Anya had waited hours for Raven to show at their favourite restaurant, Polis. An upscale establishment that wasn't cheap and the couple only went to on special occasions.
Anya had wanted to celebrate Raven's promotion to becoming a full-fledged space engineer with Arkadia Corp. Her internship had finished and she'd been offered a job immediately after. It was a big deal, and the perfect excuse for Anya to finally pop the question after three years of being with the woman.
She would have asked sooner, wanted to ask sooner, but both had gotten so wrapped in their career paths. Anya became an author of over twenty lesbian erotica novels while Raven climbed the ladder to her own dream job.
She couldn't help but blame herself for the car crash. It was Anya's idea, after all, Anya's timing and suggestion to ask Raven to their favourite restaurant on that night.
And being the impatient woman she was, Anya had insisted Raven drive to the restaurant straight from her doctor's appointment instead of going home first to meet then leave together.
Tears leaked from the corners of the blonde's eyes as she stared at the diamond engagement ring another moment before snapping the lid shut and tossing it back onto the table. Wiping the tears away, Anya sat up and looked around the room.
Beer bottles littered the floor, Raven's red sweater lay carelessly over the La-Z-Boy chair facing the large flat screen television. It was Raven's favourite seat when she wasn't fondling or snuggling with Anya on the couch.
Anya rose unsteadily from the sofa, kicking bottles aside with bare feet as she crossed the room to Raven's chair and picked up the thin coat.
She pressed her face into the softness of it and inhaled deeply; Raven's scent had long since faded from the garment, but Anya always hoped it would come back. Always hoped she'd wake from her nightmare and Raven would walk through the front door with that goofy smirk on her face while laughing she'd forgotten her sweater again.
Raven was always doing that, forgetting things and coming back home to retrieve them, each time never forgetting to press another kiss to Anya's lips no matter how busy the blonde might had been with her writing.
Anya returned the sweater to its rightful place on the back of the chair just where Raven had left it the last day she was alive. Anya let out a breath and rubbed her head as she headed toward the kitchen for a bottle of water and some Tylenol.
The wood creaked with every step in the hallway as she turned into the kitchen and flicked on the light. Squinting against the fluorescents, Anya opened the fridge to come face to face with nothing but beer and a carton of old chinese take-out.
In all those months, she hadn't once gone to the store. Sighing, she slammed the fridge shut and instead headed for the kitchen tap grabbing two pills from behind the sink and shoving them in her mouth while dipping her head under the faucet.
Anya turned and leaned against the counter as she waited for her head to stop throbbing. Her gaze fell to a stack of bills on the center island with the horrid dark red Past Due stamp marked upon each one.
Anya hadn't been able to work since the night of the accident. No matter how many times she sat at her desk and stared at the blank doc in front of her was she able to string even two sentences together.
She was broken. Without Raven, she could barely function. Anya spent her days with her face buried in her hands, unable to write, socialize or do anything a normal living person would do. She was depressed beyond measure.
The only comfort she could find was in holding the garments of a dead girl, staring at photos of a past life, or finding temporary respite in the bottom of a bottle.
Shaking her head and groaning, Anya headed for her office. She really needed to write. She was living off savings, and it was dwindling quick. She had a deadline, and her publisher had been generous with giving her an extension but it was the final straw, and Anya knew it.
Once she was seated behind her desk and booted up the laptop, Anya stared at the desktop background of her computer screen. It was a picture of her and Raven, the brunette's arms laced lovingly around a smiling Anya's neck while Raven kissed the blonde's cheek but still managed to maintain eye contact with the camera.
Anya zoned in on those beautiful chocolate orbs that belonged to the woman she once loved. Being so irrevocably happy seemed such a distant memory now.
Eyes burning with fresh tears, Anya slammed the laptop shut and shot up from the desk chair, storming back toward the kitchen and snatching another beer from the fridge.
She was on the couch just about to uncap the bottle when a knock came at the front door. Anya stopped what she was doing and looked up. It was rare she got visitors, and Anya hadn't ordered any food.
Uncaring but still curious, Anya set the beer down and headed for the door.
"This better be good," Anya muttered under her breath as she reached for the handle.
After swinging the door open, Anya found herself face to face with the impossible; outside standing on the terrace looking alive and well, was the one and only, late Raven Reyes.