11 Days

BURNER PHONES ARE NO REAL PHONES

After leaving the store with what each one of us went to find, we said goodbye and each one went their own way. I felt the need many times to look over my shoulder to see if he did, however I did not dare to do it and continued on my way until I reached the small apartment complex. Only five of us lived here and the other four were old enough to be my grandparents. Margaret Wilson lived in number one, she had two fat cats that sometimes visited me at night to feed them. Pedro Herrera, a man of few words lived at number two. Suzy Mitchell, she was a bit arrogant and conceited, she lived at number three. My favorite person, Lola Jenkins lived at number four. An extremely sweet woman who had a special talent for making people happy just by giving them a cookie. She baked all the time and since she had no one to share her delicious food with, she gave me half of it. Every Sunday she invited me for breakfast at her apartment and there was always something different. Besides Joey and his sister, I considered Lola part of my family. I hurried up the steps until I reached my door. When I entered the smell of lavender greeted me graciously. I loved the smell of lavender; it was relaxing for me.

My apartment was small but nice. I had small works of art decorating the walls and shelves with books of all kinds. Lately I had filled them with romance titles and some erotica. Luckily for me nobody visited me so there was no one who knew that side of me. I went to my room and threw the plastic bag on the bed; I bent down and lifted the mattress to get the burner phone out of there. I sighed at the sight of it, it was all scratched and ugly now, but it only served one purpose. Flipping it open I went through the very short list of contacts and called the first number, after two rings I hared his voice.

“Sup?”

“Good evening! This is Domino’s pizza and I’m calling to let you know we have two extra large with extra cheese with four ingredients for only 9.99.” I covered my mouth as I was trying hard not to laugh at such a silly thing.

“I don’t know, last week Pizza Hut offered me two for free.”

“The offer is going, sir!”

“Good,” Matt chuckled on the other end, “I don’t want it! Your offers suck!”

“That’s quite rude thing to say I’m hurt. I will have to tell my boss a costumer made me cry.”  I did my best to sound offended as I emptied the contents of the bag. "What are you doing, booger? Do you have any plans for tonight?"

“I was going to hang out with Tyler tonight, but I don’t feel like doing it.”

“Why not?” I knew perfectly well why not. In a few hours it would be five years since I received the first letter. My parents did not take significance from this day, but Matt and I did. He supported me unconditionally during my crisis, after Aaron's murder. Even when I decided to leave home, he gave me all of his life savings and that helped me start from scratch. I owed him this new carefree life. “Go out, have fun. Be a kid while you still can.”

“I think I’ll pass. Maybe in a couple of days. Who knows.”

“How are mom and dad?” I asked nonchalantly as I made the dye mix. It reeked.

“They’re alright, they miss you.” Here we go again. “You should call them from time to time instead of sending them emails from random accounts.”

“You know I can’t…”

He sighed heavily. I understood his frustration, but he had no right to feel that way. I had to be careful. “It’s been five years. Look, I get it if you don’t ever want to come back but at least call them, they haven’t heard your voice or seen your face in so long. Why don’t you get a tablet or a decent phone?”

“Hey! This phone is decent!” Kinda.

“A burner phone is anything but decent.”

“I’ll think about it. I have to go, I’m in the middle of killing my hair once again.”

“Red started showing?”

“Mhm.”

“Buy a freaking wig, Aviana.”

I ended the call and focused on covering my hair with the dye. When I finished, I covered my head with a plastic bag and busied myself cleaning the kitchen and my bedroom. I waited forty minutes and rushed into the shower to rinse my hair. As I watched traces of the dye drip off near my feet, I began to think of Six. How did you find this town? He may well have googled it but the special thing about this place is its significance. The Quiet Gate population was made up of people who came to forget about their problems and to escape whatever was tormenting them. For example, I found this place thanks to Joey. After running away from home, I found myself in a bus station without knowing where to go and there was Joey saying goodbye to his sister -who had something to do in the city. He saw me and approached me. Naturally, I feared him when I saw him for the first time. But I soon discovered that his appearance was nothing more than a mask to ward off others. To keep the wrong people away. Perhaps those of us who have been broken only fit in with the pieces of other broken people.

He sat down with me and told me that there was a place for people who wanted to feel safe. Joey asked me if something was chasing me, if something terrified me. Without understanding why, I left my soul exposed before him. He understood and made it known, if I wanted it, there was a place for me. Five years later I still have that place and I am extremely happy.

When I got out of the shower, I was quick to dry my hair and tie it into a ponytail again. I dressed as fast as I could, sports underwear for extreme comfort, old but cozy jeans, a shirt two sizes larger and my distinctive leather jacket that made me look like a biker ... except for my pink converse. I left the apartment after making sure to lock the door right and grabbed one of the bikes leaning against the far right of the building. Normally I would walk but Joey was waiting for me and I didn't want to look bad on him.

I rode with ease, letting errant raindrops fall upon my clean face. It was an awesome feeling.

"Welcome back." I heard Maven say when I entered the diner, she was carrying a tray of drinks. "Now why don't you move your beautiful ass and help me a bit?" She winked at me and left.

Before I went to the kitchen to put down my jacket, I heard Carla chattering loudly, "I found out a while ago that someone made a donation to the dog shelter anonymously! An angel fallen from heaven for those poor animals." I couldn't help but smile and wonder at the same time if that angel was coming for dinner tonight.