On the Other Side of Town…
"Thanks for coming with me, Hanna."
"Of course." She responded, her voice implicating that Katie should never have thought she would do otherwise.
"I know that Angela was found in the basement, but I'm still kinda creeped out by the idea of going to my apartment alone." Katie explained. Her voice was tinged with sadness and fear. The gray winter sky only made her already pale skin seem even paler.
"Maybe you should move out. Find a new place." She suggested.
"Maybe," Katie's sentence was interrupted by her third yawn that morning, "I will."
"Did you even sleep at all last night?"
"No." she answered morosely.
The two young woman had finally arrived at the apartment complex, and walked up to the second floor. Even though it hadn't been a crime scene yesterday, the police hadn't allowed her to enter the apartment due to the investigation, but her dad had assured her that today would be fine, so long as she didn't touch anything of her roommates.
Katie's eyes prickled with tears as she opened the door. She and Angela had only just met when they moved in together, but the realization that she would never see her again hit her with renewed energy at that moment. The senselessness of the whole affair overwhelmed the young woman, she had to close her eyes for a moment in order to compose herself before finally entering the living room. Everything looked exactly the same, even Angela's half-done laundry sitting on the couch. Katie almost wished that she hadn't even returned, but she needed her clothes and some of her art supplies to finish an assignment for one of her classes.
"You go into your room and grab what you need, and I will clean out the fridge, ok?" Hanna asked softly as she placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. She only nodded in reply, her throat still feeling tight with held back tears, as she turned to the left and went into her room. She would have to move, she decided. Katie was certain she would never again feel safe in this place.
Hanna carefully walked through the living room to avoid disturbing anything, until she reached the kitchen on the other side. The sink held two little coffee cups and a matching set of spoons that she decided to wash. Once that task was completed, she turned to the refrigerator. Anything that could spoil would need thrown out.
Hanna stopped sharply, her hand held still in midair only inches from the handle, and her eyes widening with horror. Take to the center of the fridge door was a photo of Katie sitting on a bench outside of the art building at Columbia, beside her sat Angela. This wouldn't have phased Hanna at all if it had been a copy of a selfie- Angela had been a photography major and loved to take selfies. But, this particular photo looked to have been taken from a distance and was slightly grainy with greenery obscuring a corner of the photo. Angela's face had been X-ed out with vicious strokes of a red pen, and Katie's was circled.