Heartache sat by the large chair by the side of the door, his eyes unblinking. His gray hood was ruffled as he sat. His gaze was fixed on Lea, who was sitting by the window. Lea was staring into the deep, gray skies of Los Angeles. Neither said anything, and Heartache waited.
The spring rains had started to fall onto the wet pavements. It had been raining for days and days. It seemed like, the skies were also crying for Lea's loss.
"Why won't you give up?" Heartache's voice whispered. His voice was hollow, devoid of life, for he is nothing but feeling and emotion and not life at all. "There's no point in trying to heal when you know you can't."
"You're still here," Lea said, unsurprised. She did not even turn around to see Heartache's face. She could see it clearly as it was reflected on the window glass.
The dusk was closing in on the city skyline, and the traffic on the streets were growing heavier by the minute. The apartment was growing dark, but Lea did not make an effort to turn the lights on. The only light that streamed inside the room was the light from the congested streets below.
"Why won't you leave?" Lea asked. "I've wanted you to leave. Stay away from me."
Heartache strode towards the girl, and stood beside her seat by the window. He leaned near her right ear and whispered very, very softly. "Because it's my job to stay here. Stay with you until you succumb to me."
Lea did not flinch, her eyes still focused to the gray skies. Heartache straightened up and followed Lea's trail of gaze. "I've been waiting for you to accept me."
"Leave me alone," Lea declared. "Why do you bother me so much?"
"It's what I am here for," Heartache said. He was standing behind Lea. "It's my duty to stay in the lonely hearts of men and women. Hearts that lost something or someone. It's my job. You can't blame me for that."
Lea's eyes darkened. She has lost someone. She met Heartache's gaze in the window glass. She could see that he was staring at her eyes too. His face was expressionless, his gray eyes cold and unforgiving.
"You see, you could have moved on," Heartache said. "It's easy. But you wanted to hold on to him so much. That's why I am here with you. I am here to remind you of him, every single day," he finished with a sigh. His pale right hand landed on Lea's right shoulder gently.
"You always do this," Heartache motioned across the room. Photographs were strewn across the floor, tear-stained pillows upturned, the sheets she held when she was crying last night was still unkempt. She looked at Heartache.
"This is pointless," he concluded with another sigh, a bit louder than that of the first.
Lea did not answer. Instead, she turned her back against Heartache again and stared into the dark sky. She let her eyes wander on the opposite building, only to see a couple by the window fighting. The woman was making wild gestures, exclaiming in a shrill note, and the man was yelling in a gruff voice.
Below her apartment, Lea could hear a scream, and then the clang of the dumpster. Two gunshots echoed with a hollow sound across the street. The dark shadows behind Heartache's eyes glinted. He moved towards the window and saw a man lying face-down on the muddy street. Red liquid poured out from his body and mixed with the muddy water. His face pulled into a thin smile and he looked at Lea.
"There's nothing but pain and sadness in this world, Lea."
"Leave me alone!" Lea growled. Her voice was raspy, a bit scathed at the edges and she was surprised as to how guttural her growl was.
"Must I?" Heartache countered, as if he was searching for the answer in Lea's eyes. "I don't think so."
Lea's gaze dropped. She stood up, and walked towards her bed. She sat herself down and looked up to the ceiling. Slowly, she closed her eyes, willing the tears to stop. But she couldn't and like water breaching a dam, her tears fell from her closed eyes one by one.
"Why don't you end this mess? Why don't you end your life?" Heartache asked quietly.
"Why would I?" Lea asked, a bit disturbed at the thought. There was a sharp bite to her voice that made Heartache flinch for a moment, but he had quickly recovered and his face was the same as it was again.
"Because he is waiting for you on the other side," Heartache said.
"What do you know about him?"
"He loves you," he said simply. "And now, he's dead. He's waiting for you on the other side."
Lea drew her breath in and she waited. Heartache was standing by the foot of her bed and she heard him move farther from her. It quieted for a while and she heard Heartache's footfalls nearing again. Lea opened her eyes. Heartache was standing by the side of her bed, looking down on her. He sat down next to Lea.
For a few minutes, the girl and Heartache sat opposite each other, not doing anything, not even moving. Finally, his left hand moved and he retrieved something from the folds of his pocket. He opened his left palm to Lea.
"Here, open your palm," he held the bottle of sleeping pills. He poured at least fifty pills on Lea's palm. "He's waiting for you on the other side."
A siren blared off into the distance, and Heartache's eyes seemed to show keen interest at Lea. The girl stared at the pills and then to Heartache. A thin, encouraging smile flashed across Heartache's face.
Lea noticed that he was no longer wearing his gray hood. Instead, his gray hood seemed to change into a darker shade of gray. It was the color of pale Death, for Heartache was now no longer Heartache alone. He was also Death.
"Go on," Death said. "He's waiting for you on the other side," he repeated.
Lea put her palm on her mouth, and she had swallowed all the pills. Death looked on, waiting patiently. Lea tried to stand up to the bathroom.
"Water," she said, her voice slurred. She could feel her legs weakening, but she prodded on to the bathroom. She switched the light, and she turned the faucet on. She took a handful of water and gulped. The thirst hasn't abated yet. Lea decided she would drink again. She leaned on to the faucet and gulped the water as it ran.
When she straightened up, she could feel a pang of pain beside her temple, and then the room started to sway. Lea could feel her legs give way and she felt the cold tile floor of the room. Her vision grew dark and all seemed quiet.
Death looked at the lifeless body by the doorway. His cold eyes were trained to see things like this, lifeless bodies. Death decided his time was due. He had done his job. His hood turned once more into a paler gray. He became Heartache again.
Heartache sat on the chair by the window for a moment. He had stayed in Lea's room for months, and finally he had succeeded. He heard knocks on the door, and his gray eyes sparked up with interest. The knock was repeated...once, twice.
Finally, the door was opened from the outside. A tan girl, with olive skin peeked inside the messy room. Her face etched with worry, and Heartache's pursed smile flashed across his face again.
"Oh my God!" the tan girl screamed as she neared the bathroom. "No, no, no!" she shook her head violently as she cried. "This can't be happening! Lea! Please...oh God!"
The tan woman fumbled for her phone and dialed a number. Heartache stood by the bathroom door, listening.
"This is 911, what's your emergency?" the woman from the other line said with such coolness that Heartache found so amusing.
The tan girl breathed in panic. "I need an ambulance."
"Okay, we've tracked your call, an ambulance will be there in two minutes. Please stay calm, miss. We will be there," the call disconnected and the tan girl gathered Lea's body into her arms. She tried to dial another number.
"Dianna," she said as the call was picked up. The tan girl had started to cry on the line.
"What's the matter?" Dianna said from the other line. "Are you okay?"
"It's Lea," the tan girl chocked between sobs. The call immediately disconnected and Heartache saw the tan woman bawl out so hard. He waited.
A security officer from the building came up the door, and he carried Lea's body outside the bathroom. Two women sat by the couch in the living room, one was blonde with hazel eyes, the other was the tan woman who first found Lea's body. They were questioned by two cops. One of the cops was asking questions and the other was taking down notes.
"So you found her on the bathroom floor?" the cop asked.
"Yes," the tan woman said, voice cracking. Heartache sat next to the tan woman, his eyes cold and expressionless.
Another cop showed up from the bathroom. "I found this, Chief! I think you've gotta see this!"
The questioning cop stood up and briefly thanked the women, the cop taking down notes following him. But he turned around and looked at the tan woman.
"Excuse me, I did not get your names and your signatures," he said and he handed the blonde woman a slip of paper.
"Thank you," the man accepted the slips of paper and he read off their names. "Miss Dianna Elise Agron," he looked at the blonde woman. His face scrunched up when he only saw the other woman's signature, but not her name.
"Can you just write it for her?" the woman named Dianna asked. The officer just nodded. "Rivera," Dianna said simply. "Her name is Naya Marie Rivera."
Heartache's eyes flashed as Dianna said Naya's name. He stared long and hard at the tan woman, and he knew Naya saw him in his pale gray hood. Another job offer, he thought.