October 5th 2016

Holly stepped off the bus, a hotel room key and some small change tucked away in her back pocket and an old envelope clutched firmly in her hand. On the back of the envelope was scribbled an address that to her was foreign though the handwriting was unmistakably Gail's. The envelope had once contained a family trinket returned to her a year ago however now its purpose was to guide Holly to the new address (or new to her at least) of her former girlfriend.

The apartment building was tidy albeit not exactly located in the best part of town. Holly theorised that it was probably all Gail could afford on her beat cop wages, if she was still just a beat cop that was. As she reached for the 14 buzzer labelled with a scrawled Peck an old man hustled past her.

"oh are you looking for Gail dear? She won't be back for a couple of hours at least"

She offered her thanks and turned to take a seat on the entrance steps. "Well you can't sit out here for too long, it may not be quite winter yet but it sure does still get cold outside. Say why don't you come up to my apartment, I'm 15, just across the hall from Gail. An old man could use some company you know"

Holly quietly followed behind the man to his apartment noticing a certain charm in the way he rambled on about the weather and his distinct dislike for the winter. "You know hypothermia is a big killer in us old folk" he had rumbled. She had chuckled at that, the man looked quite healthy for his obviously advanced years, she was certain the cold wouldn't catch up with him just yet.

"I'm Frank by the way" he remarked as he stepped through the door marked with a silver fifteen, "probably should have made the introduction before I invited you back to my place, what with stranger danger and all. Take a seat on the sofa over there dear, I'll go make us some cocoa, warm us up a bit."

She took a seat on the ratty sofa, the thing looked like it could have almost been as old as its owner. Her eyes peered around the apartment, it was small inside but emanated a kind of homeliness the way most older generation homes did. Old photographs were littered over the walls at random points and the cabinets contained antique records and books mixed in with some new cd's and a kindle placed haphazardly on one surface. Oh how times change.

"Sorry dear I didn't catch you name earlier?" Frank questioned as he placed down her Cocoa on the coffee table in front of her.

Holly nodded her thanks and replied with an apprehensive "Holly". She was unsure if the man would know who she was and she was sure that if he did his easy friendliness would soon disappear.

"Right Holly, a friend of Gail's are you?"

Holly relaxed, "Um yeah, yes, we sort of we haven't exactly seen each other in a while"

"Ah yes the fickle nature of friendship" Frank chuckled. "She's a lovely girl is Gail, always helps me out with a few bits a bobs around the place, I'm getting old you see. Just some months ago she fixed that god damn dripping tap, stupid thing had been keeping me up all night".

The pair proceeded to chat about things, small unimportant things like music and television shows. Perhaps sensing her hesitancy Frank had stuck clear of topics concerning Gail. The mood was light and friendly and Holly could easily see how Gail seemingly got along with this man.

"Oh here she is", Frank remarked as he heard the 5 o'clock bus pull up outside "It has been lovely talking to you Holly, hopefully I will see you again soon"

"Likewise Frank, thanks for the hospitality" Holly had replied as she stepped out into the hallway, her nervousness suddenly increasing tenfold. She hadn't seen Gail in two years, and the way she had left things hadn't exactly been ideal. There had only been very minimal contact after that letter she had left to Gail, and by minimal she meant two pleading phone calls, another one in which Holly had forcefully ended the conversation and had given a finality to the relationship, and then one year later the envelope that was now sticking out of her front pocket.

Holly had no idea what she was going to say, in fact she had agonised for days over whether to come here at all. She had arrived back in Toronto 3 days ago and had since been holed up in her hotel room. She wasn't due to start back at the morgue until a few weeks, and despite the offers to catch up with old friends she couldn't bring herself to leave the room for fear that she may run into Gail.

So now here she was, ready to face her fears, and explain to Gail that she was back, she owed her that much at least. Holly was under no illusions, she was not expecting Gail to take her back at all and truth be told she wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to go back. Yes she loved Gail with all of her heart, a fact that had become blatantly clear during her miserable years in Montreal; however she wasn't sure if she could move past her own betrayal. She would never forgive herself for her own actions, and that wasn't exactly a solid foundation for a relationship to start back up again. No, all she was here to do was to inform Gail that she was back to avoid what would be an extremely awkward and uncomfortable situation if they were to run into each other in the morgue in a few weeks time.

The elevator bell dinged and Holly steeled herself. Her stomach dropped and she felt as if she was going to be sick, but she knew that this conversation had to be held. What washed over her however when the elevator doors opened was a sickness of a different kind, because instead of the seeing a blonde swagger out of the elevator with a unique air of confidence she was confronted with a wheelchair and a Gail she hardly recognised.