she didn't even realize she was chewing gum. she just rolled the elastic wad around in her mouth, almost unconsciously. her eyes were hollow. she wasn't now; she was then.
scenes from the last five months were marathon runners, pushing each other aside in a desperate grab for the front spot. it was a tangle of images: his smile as he held out his hand for hers, the sting running up and down her arm when he said he was leaving again, his body pressed against hers when he came back, the white flash after his hand connected with her cheek. she paused from the scenes to note how clearly she could see feelings when she was in this state. abstract things like pain, joy, warmth, and frustration were the runners, and the events were merely the track they ran in her mind.
laura, are you coming?
the bones at the base of her neck popped as she jerked back into reality.
yeah, sorry. i was just trying to remember if there was anything else i'd left upstairs.
her life was taking a new shape, literally. all her clothes, her books, her dvds, her computer, everything - stacked up in front of her in cardboard boxes. cardboard has such a stale, sad smell, she thought. she grabbed a box full of magazines and turned to look up at the apartment window. she sniffed back the remnants of hurt that had collected in her nostrils, and turned back towards the street. joe walked out of the uhaul, took the box from her, and heaved it into the recycle bin on the curb.
just keep them coming, okay? we'll get you out of here and it will be a lot easier soon, i promise.
i know.
