Boxed Belongings

Natalie opened her eyes sleepily. For a few seconds she couldn't figure out where exactly she was. She felt an arm around her waist and then she remembered. She focused her gaze on the pale blue curtains, and the light filtering through the crack. She crawled out from under the thick comforter, only glancing behind her for a second at the figure hidden in the sheets. The glimpse suffices, she’s filled with a rush of affection. Her partner, her love, the only one she’s wanted as much as she did right then.

She hummed Emily’s favorite song as she stepped out of the washroom. She pats her face dry with the worn out towel hanging by the door. ‘I really ought to redecorate, now that I've moved in officially,’ she thinks, eyeing her boxes piled by the door, making plans to go shopping later in the day.

She went into their room with steaming mugs of coffee, filling the tiny room with the scent, “Emily, sweetie, wake up.”

“Em. Come on, you've slept enough, love.” Natalie sets the mugs of coffee down on the dresser and pulls apart the curtains. She stands there for a bit, basking in the sunlight. She watched their neighbor cross the street, checking the time on his watch, in a rush to get to work maybe.

She smiled. She felt so calm now. Now that everything was decided, now that they were finally going to begin their life together. 

“So I was thinking we ought to go shopping later? Maybe get a few towels. Do you have milk somewhere else besides the fridge? I threw out the empty cartons.”

She turned around from where she was folding her clothes to find Emily still wrapped up in the sheets. She giggled as she crept up to the foot of the bed, her mind filled with almost childish delight at what she was about to do. She grasped the comforter firmly and with a quick tug pulled it off Emily’s body, expecting to hear a slew of curses and whining. Emily didn't move.

‘Wow she must really be fast asleep.’

All she could see from where she stood was Emily’s long dark hair all over the pillow, it was only when she walked over to the side of the bed that she saw.

Emily’s eyes were frozen wide open, her mouth slack, something that looked like dried spittle all over the edge of her mouth and pillow, and her lips the grey-blue color of death.

Natalie's scream resonated through the apartment, filled with boxed belongings and dreams. She fell back and kicked herself away from the bed, collapsing against the walls, pushing apart a bookcase on her way, with soundless sobs escaping her shaking body.