-1was evicted. Can you believe it? Me. Evicted. I guess in all the chaos of your funeral and phoning everyone to tell them there would be no wedding I forgot to pay the rent. Along with a few other things. George and Preston said I could live them. Move into your old room. It's not going to be easy, you know? Living in your house, sleeping in your bed. I don't really have a choice though. Where else am I going to go? Your mother's? I suppose I could, but she didn't offer and I'm not going to ask.
We're going to put all my stuff in storage. Except for a few of the wedding gifts. Not sure what George wants with a blender or a waffle iron. At this point, I don't really care. There really isn't much for me to care about. I have to take pills to sleep. I have to remind myself to eat. If I didn't smell myself growing rank, I'm not sure I would remember to bathe.
Take one an hour before bedtime. Guaranteed a good night sleep. Liars. For the last three weeks she had taken one an hour before bedtime, yet her guaranteed night of rest had yet to come. Night after night, she lay awake, staring up at the ceiling, sinking further into the abyss that had become her life. What was left for her? Nothing. Her parents had both died years ago, leaving her to be raised by an aging aunt who had passed on as well. Death was the story of her life.
I've thought about it, you know. Taking pill after pill, until my eye lids are so heavy I can't keep them open. So heavy they never open again. I'm to scared though. I'm to much of a coward.
A high pitched ring, the flash of a yellow light. Sitting up, she stares in the direction they had come from. Nothing. A figment of her imagination. No. Wait. There. Again. Throwing the bed covers back, Izzie slips her legs over the side of the bed. The wooden floor was cold beneath her bare feet as she padded toward what she referred to as the junk wall. It had been intended as a built in entertainment center, a complexity of shelves, cubbies, and drawers covering one whole wall.
After rummaging through some papers she located the source of noise and light. A cell phone. Anger heated her blood. Closing her fist around the slender phone, she shoves the doors open. Drawing back the fist that held the phone she chunked it at the man sleeping on the sofa's pull out. "You forgot something," she hissed. Bastard. He refused to leave. Why couldn't he just leave? Nobody wanted him here. Preston was as open with his hostility as she was. Only George treated the unwanted guest with some form of respect. "He was Denny's friend to," was his quiet response to why.
Alex peeked one eye open, wrinkling his brow. "Not my phone," he mumbled, turning toward the other side. The pullout groaned and creaked with protest.
Not his phone. It had to be. If not his then whose? Denny. "There were missed calls," she whispered. Hurrying across the room, she reached for the phone the moment Alex turned over.
"You know what, I think it might be my phone." Their hands brush as they both grab for the phone at the same time. Another tingle. Damn. Wrapping her fingers around the slender phone once more, she jerks her hand back. "I'm serious. I think it's my phone."
Pressing several buttons she finds the missed call log. All from the same number. A small icon in the right hand upper corner blinks. "There's messages," she breaths. Pandora's box. She was holding Pandora's box in the palm of her hand.
"Just give me the phone, Izzie," Alex held his hand out. He was standing next to her. She hadn't even realized he had climbed from the bed. The scent of sandalwood and something else assaulted her nostrils as he leaned closer, trying to pry the phone from her fingers.
"No. It isn't your phone. You said that. It isn't your phone. So it has to be…it isn't your phone. And I have a right to know. I was going to marry him, Alex. So, whatever it is he's hiding, I have a right to know."
Alex shook his head. "Did you ever think that maybe something's should just stay secret?"
Ignoring him, Izzie presses the various buttons to retrieve the missed messages.
"It's the third and the money isn't in the account. My landlord is starting to bug me about rent." "What's going? You haven't called. You haven't answered the phone. And the money still isn't showing up. You know how much we need that money." "What the heck is your problem Denny! You're the one who decided to be a part of our life! I didn't make you!" "F you Denny! F you! Not calling back. Not keeping your promises! You suck, you know that? So…just…F you!"
The woman's voice had been slightly husky, a sultry quality to it. She hadn't given any indication as to who she was, as to who the other person she was referring to was. Tears rolled down her cheeks. This time, when Alex pried the phone from her fingers Izzie didn't stop him.
