Bette awoke to the sound of her cell phone vibrating on the bedside table beside her. Her fingers twitched but she didn’t move to answer it. Knowing that the person on the other end was a blonde woman desperately trying to get a hold of her would usually be enough to make her jump for the chance at pressing that little green button and saying hello but now… the last thing she wanted was to hear that voice.

The mornings were the worst part of the day. Waking up to see a cold empty space, expecting to smell coffee or hear the brushing of teeth mere feet away, not ever remembering a morning when no sound was heard but there it was a moment of unshaken silence when you open your eyes and realize you are in fact alone. The brunette woman held the covers closer to her face like a child and for a long while peered around at the ruins of her bedroom. Everything was in its designated space, it looked untouched and well organized but felt not at all what it should have. The space of comfort had turned into a space of disgust.

The woman lifted herself from her bed and began the morning routine of shower, dress, eat (or at least try to) and then leave for work. Shane waved while walking up the steps of the house next door, the brunette returned the gesture; an unknown bond between the two which was often rekindled while the sun beat down shortly after rising. After the events there was only one who knocked on her door, invited herself in and gave a few moments of normalcy at a time when normal had shattered. Shane became the breath of old air that Bette needed to stay sane. These thoughts bloomed and passed through Bette’s mind before she heard her phone buzz in what almost sounded like irritation. She shoved her hand in her purse and felt around not taking her eyes off the road until she found it.

“Bette Porter.” Was the plain and matter of fact greeting she muttered. A few moments and what sounded like a breath passed on the other end.

“Seriously, call Tina already this is getting like… stupid.” The blond sat cross legged on her brightly coloured comforter in her equally colourful bedroom, fiddling with the long cord attached to her phone. An agitated sigh met her ear.

“Honestly I feel sick thinking about even the idea of calling Tina right now,” Bette said as she pulled into her parking space at the C.A.C.. “I think that right now the best thing for me to do is to just not talk to her for a while.”

“Yeah well maybe that is the best thing but what if it isn’t?” The dirty blond girl asked. She heard breathing on the other end and looked around the room with an absent mind. Before a reply could be uttered she heard what faintly sounded like a surprised gasp and a very loud undistinguishable noise before the clatter of the opposing phone hitting cement. Fading fleeting footsteps and cries of pain filled her ears before the shock of something just happening it.

“Bette? Are you there? Bette?” Alice heard the faintest of replies as she stood at the end of her bed nervously clutching her phone.

“911.”

 TBC