Even without popping any kind of pills into her mouth, Roberta was seeing the very walls of her life come crashing down around her. The room was spinning, things were fading in and out of focus, light was flickering in and out of darkness. The very thing that made her life worth living was now gone. Without a trace. And she was devastated. She made her way to the door, wobbling her way around the gelatin-like walls, and into the livingroom where she nearly tumbled to the floor. She needed to know what had happened, and she needed to know what was going on. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her minidress, trying to scroll through her contacts to find Jeanette's number, but her hands and fingers were trembling so bad, one may have assumed she was suffering from Parkinson's Disease, or possibly even having a stroke. She fumbled with her phone in her hands, nearly dropping it at least two times, before she finally managed to scroll to Jeanette's contact. The incredibly shaky finger made it more challenging, but she eventually managed to hit the dial button, as she brought the shaky phone to her ear. Meanwhile, back at Eleanor's apartment, the two sisters were sitting in the livingroom, across the room from one another.
"Really, sis, it's no trouble," Eleanor said, "I can sleep on the sofa for now."
"Don't do that, Ellie," Jeanette insisted, "I don't mind sharing, I've very much gotten used to sharing a bed. As long as I..."
The two were interrupted when Jeanette's phone began ringing, prompting the two to eyeball each other.
"That's not her, is it?" Eleanor asked.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling..." Jeanette removed her phone from her pocket, seeing Roberta's picture, name, and number on the screen, "it is. It's Roberta..."
"Don't answer it." Eleanor said.
Jeanette hesitantly hovered her finger over the screen, unsure of what to do.
"Don't answer it!" Eleanor insisted once more.
Jeanette's finger trembled from anxiety, but after exchanging another look with Eleanor, she swiped the screen of her phone to accept the call, much to Eleanor's dismay.
"No!" Eleanor said. "Don't do this, Jeanette!"
"I can't not give her any kind of closure, Ellie!" Jeanette explained, as she hesitantly brough the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Where are you?!" Roberta wailed on the other end.
"I'm over at my sister's house..." Jeanette explained.
Eleanor shook her head violently, shout-whispering, "she doesn't know where I live, does she?"
"I don't think so." Jeanette shout-whispered back.
"You're gone, aren't you?" Roberta demanded to know. "You left, didn't you? That's why none of your stuff is here. You left me! You left me!"
"No!" Jeanette insisted. "No, I didn't leave you..."
Eleanor did a facepalm, listening to Jeanette's side of the conversation.
"Yes you did!" Roberta wailed. "You wouldn't have taken your stuff with you if you didn't leave me!"
Jeanette sighed. "I just need some space, Roberta."
"That's an old line..." Roberta said, as she stumbled over to the sofa, "that's an old line that people say when they don't want to be with their lover anymore..."
"Things aren't improving between us, Robbie," Jeanette explained, "they're getting worse... and you tying me up and nearly strangling me was the final straw..."
"Who tied you up and nearly strangled you?!" Roberta demanded to know, forgetting about the event that unfolded earlier that afternoon.
"You did!" Jeanette told her. "You tied me to a kitchen chair, and your hands were this close away from my neck, and I could feel your grip growing tighter and tighter, as if you were about to strangle me."
Roberta didn't like hearing that. "I didn't know what I was doing," she said, defending herself, "I wasn't in my right frame of mind, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry..."
"I know you are, Roberta," Jeanette said, "but we can't keep going on like this. This relationship is endangering both of our lives right now. I had to do something..."
Roberta couldn't handle the conversation. She nervously rocked herself back and forth on the sofa. Her box began thumping, so as she continued the conversation with Jeanette, she grabbed her pulsating vagina, clamping a firm grip on it in her hand. "You'll come back though, right?"
Jeanette didn't respond. She simply looked over at Eleanor, unsure of where their conversation currently was, and not knowing what sort of advice to offer.
"Hello?!" Roberta practically screamed into the phone.
"I'm still here." Jeanette said.
Roberta scoffed into the phone, as she squeezed her vagina tighter and tighter. "You're not coming back are you?"
"Not for now, at least, no," Jeanette struggled to say.
Eleanor could sense what that meant, as she winced her eyes shut, burying her face into her hands.
"But you will come back?" Roberta asked.
"Look, Robbie..." Jeanette began, "I think the best thing for us at this point is... is... that we just give each other space..."
"That's all you been doing is creating space between us!" Roberta insisted.
"Robbie..." Jeanette continued, "you clearly need help... I think maybe if you had therapy, you could..."
"Therapy?!" Roberta screamed, interrupting Jeanette. "You say I need therapy?!"
"Your not in your right frame of mind," Jeanette said, "I think if you had some professional help, your life could probably improve drastically... otherwise, things are just really toxic right now, and that's what's really driving a wedge between the two of us more than anything..."
By this time, Roberta was squeezing her vagina like a rubber stress ball. "If I do this... will you come back?"
Again, Jeanette didn't respond.
"You're not coming back, are you?" Roberta asked. "Don't you understand I need you? I can't live without Jeanette! I can't live without you! You're all I got!"
"I'm sorry, Robbie," Jeanette said, as Roberta scoffed at the response, "but it's become clear that any sort of a romantic and sexual relationship between us isn't going to work out in the long run. I really hate to say this, but I probably should have earlier... I just don't love you the same way you love me."
Roberta's brain snapped by this point. She finally heard the one thing she never wanted to hear from Jeanette.
"We can still be friends, can't we?" Jeanette asked, while Eleanor grimmaced and cringed.
Roberta sat in silence.
"I mean, that's how I love you, Roberta, as a friend," Jeanette said, "I'm still your friend, Robbie. I'll always be your friend... you're the best friend I ever had, and I still care about you..."
Roberta still sat in silence.
"Robbie?" Jeanette asked.
"No you don't..." Roberta said, "you don't care about me..."
"Of course I do, Robbie," Jeanette said, "that's why I'm doing this. I want you to seek the help you need so you can improve your life. I don't want to see you destroy yourself, and I don't want to live in fear that you may possibly harm me as well."
"Bullshit!" Roberta said.
"Can't you see I'm trying to support you?" Jeanette said.
"You know what?" Roberta asked. "Don't bother. Don't even bother. You think I need you to heart bleed over me? I don't need you... I don't need anyone! So just don't even bother!"
"Robbie..." Jeanette said.
Roberta ended the call, and through her phone across the room, smashing it against the wall. When Jeanette heard everything go quiet, she too ended her call, before looking over at Eleanor with more tears misting in her eyes.
"I have a really bad feeling about this..." Jeanette whispered.
Eleanor arose from the coffee table, sat next to Jeanette on the sofa, and embraced her. Roberta also arose from her sofa. By this time, she was experiencing another high. But instead of being a drug-induced high, this one was a high brought on by the feelings of a broken heart, a broken spirit, and her very world crumbling down. She couldn't walk straight, and she couldn't see straight. She fell to the floor, and began crawling like a baby down the hallway, pausing briefly when she reached the kitchen. When she looked up, the only thing that came into focus was the oven. That was when she finally made her mind up.