Well, this past week has been one hell of an emotional roller coaster. It's over now, finally, but I am absolutely drained. I bet others have just gone through finals week as well, so I hope you got through it relatively unscathed. Anyway, what better way to come back than with a bit of a fluff chapter?

25;

It was in the middle of night and their room was completely pitch black with the exception of the small strips of light that beamed in through the slits of the blinds on the window. They projected a striped pattern of light and dark throughout the space like that of a jail cell's bars. The girls were tightly huddled together under the blanket, hoping that somehow they could sink into the mattress itself. The sounds of yelling from a room nearby had woken them and its intensity prevented them from falling back to sleep.

The raised voices were blurred and muffled by the thin walls, a job they've done sufficiently enough for the past month, but the fervor of the argument proved to be too much this night. The girls could only make out a few words here and there but it was clear money and drugs were involved and that neither party was happy.

The volume quieted and intensified like a wave up until their words stopped and the fighting began. They could hear grunting and quick shouts while objects in the apartment were being knocked down, one being the unmistakable sound of glass shattering. After a particularly hard hit against a wall the room immediately fell silent again.

The girls' hearts were pulsing rapidly from envisioning all the possible outcomes that could have happened. Their imaginations were abruptly cut off when a gunshot rang throughout the building. Ellie let out a quick scream and threw her hand over her mouth simultaneously.

Prompted by the complete silence and cease in action Riley quietly slid out of bed and snuck towards the bedroom door.

"What are you doing?" Ellie spoke with a frustrated mixture of whispering and yelling.

Riley simply gave her a signal to keep quiet, cracked open the door, and slipped out into the main room. She inched closer toward the door but stopped when she spotted the older man sitting upright in a chair already facing it. It was dark, but she could see the distinct outline of a gun being aimed towards it. Something long like a rifle or shotgun.

Joel noticed movement off to the side of his vision and turned his head to leer at her. He ticked his head to the side, instructing her to get back inside her room. She took a second to absorb the situation then nodded and backed up, quietly closing the door after she was fully inside. She snuck back into bed and covered herself in the blankets.

Ellie shoved her and whispered angrily. "Why the hell did you go out there?"

"I wanted to see if-."

"Don't do that again."

"Alright, I'm sorry."

"I just…" Ellie took a moment to breathe. "I just don't want you to-"

"I know."

Only five or so minutes later the black and white striped pattern of lights in their room gave way to, familiar to Riley, an oscillating red and blue one. Sirens were rushing in from both directions of the street and stopped in front of their building, all of which produced little black outlines that dashed in through the main entrance. They listened as a perhaps a dozen sets of footsteps carefully made their way through the hallways, stopping and going as they checked each room.

A knock on their apartment door prompted Joel to stash his gun out of sight and then open it. He instructed them onwards farther down the hall where the shot came from. They gave a quick look inside and followed his lead. A minute later the sound of a door's deadbolt being kicked through its frame came from just a few doors down, followed by a dozen yelling voices.

A few minutes later the footsteps retreated back out of the hallway and down the stairs, one noticeably more staggered compared to the others. Then silence again. Joel peaked through their door, announced it was over, and then closed it. Neither of the girls spoke about it that night, Ellie instead choosing to wrap herself around Riley and mutely stare out the window for the next hour until her adrenaline crash forced her asleep.

The next morning was relieving. The building was quiet again and the apartment itself was back to normal. They joined their other roommates already out in the living room, Marlene and Aiden at the only two spots at the table eating breakfast, and Joel back on his chair in front of the TV. They grabbed some cereal and milk and stood at one of the counters to eat.

Marlene initiated almost every conversation in the apartment as she was the only talkative between the five of them. "Good morning, girls. Did you hear all that last night?"

"Couldn't not hear it."

"Terrifying. I hate living in a place where I have to worry about me and my son's life. It's rare something like this happens, but that it even can is bad enough."

"At least they arrested the guy."

"Who killed the other. Not sorry saying this, but the world is better off without those two morons free to roam the streets."

The man on the chair didn't talk much, but when he did it was usually an opinion. "Should've just killed the other bastard too. Now I gotta pay for his damn stay in prison, ridiculous."

Marlene shot Aiden a glare after he started chuckling. "I don't agree, but thanks for watching the door."

Ellie finished her bowl and looked over at Marlene and spoke rather timidly. "Hey, so, we've been in the city for a couple of months now and I don't think we've ever done anything fun."

"Want to distract yourself from last night?" Ellie nodded. "Well, movie theaters or the mall are the obvious choices. There's a park nearby. Some bowling and restaurants are within walking distance. I think there's a small museum somewhere on Lemon."

Ellie nodded, dropped her bowl in the sink, and wasted no time to change out her clothes in the bedroom and wait for Riley to do the same. They said their goodbyes and walked out of the apartment and into the dim hallway which was now scattered with new scuff marks along the length of the floor from the staircase to the apartment three doors down. The staircase sported a few new holes from the events of last night, though they blended in with the others already there and were difficult to notice. They passed by the smoke filled den on the bottom floor and waited for people to stop walking by outside before pushing the door open and letting in the frigid air.

It wasn't much above freezing during the days, dropping below that threshold at night. They dressed as warmly as they could with heavy jackets and scarfs, but the wind would often pierce their clothing and reach their skin regardless of how many layers they wore. They both immediately crossed their arms as they exited the building.

Riley jabbed Ellie with an elbow to speed along the decision process. "I assume we're going somewhere 'fun'."

"Yeah…" She looked up and down the street, pointlessly trying to catch a glimpse of something they could do. She perked up quickly with an idea. "What about a movie?"

"Whatever you want, Ellie."

"A movie it is then. There's gotta be a theater in the mall."

"Lead on."

She grabbed Riley's hand and began walking briskly through the downtown sidewalks. They made it about a mile across town, pushing against the wind most of the way, until a short but long building nestled between two others came into view.

The mall had a generic frontage, like most buildings in the city, with a large 'Goodsprings Mall' painted on the front of it. They cut their way across the parking lot weaving through an abnormally large amount of cars.

A wave of warm comfortable air flowed over them the moment they pushed open the glass front doors. They pulled off their scarves, unzipped their jackets, and looked around at the bustling mall. What lay before them was a frenzy of people shuffling back and forth, bags in hand, the noise level reaching that of a loud ocean wave and just as coherent.

Riley spotted a large decorated pine tree in the center of large intersection between several wings of the mall. "Totally forgot that's coming up."

"Really? Marlene talks about it all the time."

"Guess I just kind of zone her out when she does."

"Nice."

"Guess that explains the crazy amount of people here too."

Ellie stared expectantly at her. "So…"

"…what?"

"What are you getting me for Christmas?"

Riley's eyes widened. "Oh, I uh..."

Ellie scrunched her brows. "You better not forget."

"Relax. I won't."

"And you need to do it soon too if you're gonna get me something good." A grin spread across her face. "I already got you something, but you'll have to wait."

"Well now I want to know."

"Nope. Oh and don't get me anything expensive."

"Pretty sure I'm supposed to be picking out your gift, not you."

"Fine… but you don't have long."

"Yeah, yeah, you've made yourself clear."

Ellie pointed to a sign near the tree itself. "Theaters are to the right, come on."

They hesitantly used a small chunk of their begging money for tickets and spent the next couple of hours sitting through an average big budget action film. How is was didn't matter as they were finally enjoying themselves for the first time in months, potentially years. It also provided a desperately needed distraction from their daily lives.

Ellie stretched her back after the movie finished and let out a loud groan. "What'd you think?"

"It was okay. The plot was lame, but the action was good. You?"

"Well, I thought it was pretty kickass. Yeah the story was stupid, but who goes and sees an action flick for the plot?"

Riley laughed. "That's true. Glad we did it anyway though. Wanna walk around the mall for a bit?"

"Of course."

The mall had three different wings, two that split left and right at the entrance and looped around the meet at the back, the third ran straight down the center from the back to the front. It was only one level, but the ceilings were high and the windows that coated the upper edge let in an abundant amount of light. The sun however was blocked by a blanket of clouds that had lasted the entire day, causing the city and mall to be enveloped in a bland gray color. The green and red decorations along the interior helped colorize the atmosphere.

They walked through the first wing with Riley stopping to check nearly every clothing and accessory store possible, which Ellie had little interest in.

"Would you rather…"

"What?"

"It's a game. Would you rather… be deaf or mute?"

"Oh god. Uh, I guess I'd rather be mute."

"Yeah?"

"I'd hate to never hear music again. That and I could always just write what I want to say. Or I guess learn sign language."

"But then you could never socialize easily."

"I'd deal with it." Riley stopped at another store and peered through the window at some jewelry. They walked inside and browsed a bit before finding nothing of interest. "You know we should probably get some better coats, it's going to be freezing soon."

"We should. I'll keep an eye out for any good ones." Ellie nudged her with a shoulder. "Your turn."

"Fine. Would you rather… um, I don't know... be able to run a hundred miles an hour, or fly at ten?"

"Easy. Fly at ten. Running that fast would be cool, but being able to just fly around like superman or something? Awesome."

"But you'd be so slow! Like a damn turtle through the air."

Ellie cracked up next to a group of people which garnered her some looks. "That's hilarious. With a little red 'S' on him and everything. Maybe a little cape too."

They finished walking the other two wings of the mall while checking out every store and asking each other questions in between. They bought two heavy coats at one of the thrift store outlets for cheap. They ended up back at the tree near the entryway where the mall Santa was sitting in his red throne surrounded by his elf entourage.

Riley eyed the food court just off to the side. "We should get some food before we head back."

Ellie raised an eyebrow. "Splurging are we?"

"Just a bit. I haven't had mall food in such a long time though. It's so good."

"Alright, but you better pick the most amazing food you can." Ellie scanned the food joints lining the far wall of the building. "Chinese! I'm getting Chinese."

Riley started getting fidgety from her options. "That does sound good, but so do the others. I'm sick of soup and pasta… Uh, there, cheesesteak place."

"Cool, go grab it and meet me at one of the tables."

They split up and retrieved their own food and joined again at an open table near the tree that provided an open view of the sea of people. Riley wasted no time digging into her sandwich which left Ellie staring on in amazement.

"Wow."

"…what?"

"Oh nothing. It's just I never knew you ate like a pig."

Riley shot back without a pause. "At least I don't snort like one when I'm sleeping."

Ellie's mouth fell open in a crooked smile. "Fuck you!" Riley full-on laughed but then choked almost immediately on her food. "Good. Serves you right."

Riley recovered from her coughing fit by drinking down half of her soda. "Fuck you too, asshole."

"Girls, please!" A woman from the table over quietly yelled at them. "My kids here don't need to hear that kind of filth."

Riley just laughed again, holding it back the best she could with her hand.

Ellie managed better by grinning through the woman's request. "Sorry."

Ellie waited until the woman turned back before punching Riley in the arm while she was still laughing. "Stop it!" Riley laughed even harder before eventually complying.

They both soon after finished off their food and stretched against their chairs from the satisfying feeling of being full.

"Hate to say it, but we should probably head back."

Ellie agreed and they weaved their way through the crowd of people that were funneling into the mall and headed toward the exit, stopping just before. They zipped up their new coats, layered on top of their old ones as they had no way of stashing them, and pushed their way outside into the windy afternoon.

They walked no more than a few feet outside the entrance before Ellie wrapped her arms around Riley. She dropped back and held onto her hand as they started their walk back to the apartments.

"Thanks for coming with… and you're the asshole by the way."

"Happy to- wait, what? How am I the asshole?"

"Because you straight up laughed in that woman's face when she told you to shut up."

"Oh come on, she was just uptight. It was funny."

They navigated their way out of the maze of cars and made their way back through the snaking streets of downtown and across the city. The wind was pushing hard against them again, seemingly reversing direction from that morning, making the trek colder and longer. They turned west on the street with the sign marked 'Setter Rd' and followed it until they reached the dark red brick building again.

They ignored the lady in her den on the way in and traversed the stairs to the third floor and down the dank hallway. They knocked on the door of room 301 and waited, knowing that the door chain would make using the key pointless.

After a moment a slit in the door appeared with Aiden's eye peering through it. It closed again and swung open completely.

The girls crashed on their bed and stared at the ceiling and let the prickly feeling of exertion flow through their legs after the long walk across the city. They weren't sure if they should enjoy the moment after a mostly worry free day or concern themselves about replenishing what they had spent enjoying their trip. Their choice was made when they both passed out to the sounds of road noise echoing through their room.