It had been a while since she had last visited the apartment on her own, weeks maybe. Mostly, she kept to her various safe houses, or places where there were always a good number of people. Like bars, and all night diners.
The lock clicked, and she let the door swing open. A silent room greeted her... messy, but in a purposeful way. The pile of knives was still sitting beside the door, some still stuck in the wall. The sight brought a small smirk to her lips. With everything changing... it felt good to know that a few select things never would.
Gently pushing the door shut behind her, she moved inside and set her purse down on the kitchen table. Everything still looked the same, if a little different... but the feeling was gone. She missed living with him terribly, even if all he ever did was give her headaches. For some reason he had grown on her, a dangerous thing, she knew... but she couldn't help it. A small part of her heart cared fro the over grown bug. Even if she would never admit to it.
Marching past the kitchen, down the hall and into her bedroom. There was something she needed, and she intended to get it and leave.
Stepping into the doorway of her room, however, changed her mind.
The bedroom was dark, with only the light from a street lamp outside her window illuminating the various objects in her room. She reached out and flicked the light switch up. A lone oak dresser, a blue desk, and her bed greeted her in the sudden bath of light. She eyed the floor, seeing the tell-tale signs of cockroach travel, and smiled.
"...How many times...?" Roach had always been always been terrible at keeping his bugs out of her room. Stepping inside, she looked around. Her walls and ceiling were still covered in cobweb. She sighed, feeling an odd sense of comfort wash over her.
Striding across her carpet, she went to the desk and opened a small drawer near the top. Inside was a small velvet pouch, which after she opened it, revealed a little golden heart locket. The twenty five year old swept her bleached hair out of the way, and clasped it around her neck, discarding the pouch back into its drawer.
The necklace had been a gift from her mother, many years ago. Before... before she had left home. Her eyes, almost against her will, turned and glanced at the ruffles of her bed skirts. She stood for a few quiet moments staring, before giving into the temptation. Kneeling beside her bed, she reached under and pulled lengthy box. Untying the blue ribbon holding it shut, she set the lid aside and looked solemnly upon it's contents.
Inside was an
old lace wedding dress, passed down from her grandmother, and a small ring box. She picked up the white dress, feeling the chiffon and lace under her fingers. Spreading the dress out on her bed, her fingers lingered on the collar. Finger nails dragging across the tiny pearls that had been sewn into the fabric.
Then, her eyes dropped to the box.
Picking it up, she popped the lid open and stared at the small silver ring inside. She could remember everything about it. The day he had given it to her, and the way she had reacted. She could remember telling him that she loved it, and how she had asked for something without a diamond.
The tears came then, taking her by surprise and burning her eyes with wet mascara and eyeliner. A sob hiccuped its way out from her throat, and she curled in on herself, draping her arms over the white dress sprawled out on her bed.
If she had just stayed... none of this would have happened. One quick wedding, and a lifetime of adapting... she could have gotten used to it. They would have had a billion kids, with little mutant powers of their own, and they would have lived in a little white house with a little white fence. The American dream, right?
... but it wasn't her dream. She didn't want a bunch of kids... she didn't want a little house, and a wish-wash predictable life.
She wanted to travel the world. She wanted to be a movie star, a singer, a magician! Anything... anything but a mom. Anything but a stay at home wife. Why didn't he understand that? She had left him all those years ago to escape exactly that fate, because she didn't want to give up her freedom so soon, and... because she was afraid. She was afraid of commitment. Of being being with one person for the rest of her life. And the fact that Trent had been so absolutely sure that he was ready for that kind of life? Terrifying.
But.... what had running gotten her? She wasn't free... She wasn't even herself anymore. When she looked into the mirror in the morning, she saw a stranger looking back at her.
Her sobs quieted into sniffles, and she lifted her head from the folds of her bed. Her mascara had run down onto her cheeks. Her eyes were red and watery, and her eyebrows were drawn down into a tight furrow.
Who the hell was he to ruin her happiness? So what if she had wronged him?! Suddenly, the white fabric and pearls of her grandmothers dress infuriated her. The ring box clutched in her hand made her want to break things. The spiders hiding within the darkness of her hood, and in her hair sank in further, earful of their mothers anger. Megan forced herself to her feet, gritting her teeth hard enough to hurt, and slammed her bedside window open. Without a word, she snatched up the antique dress and the silver band, and hurled them out into the dark night.
She stood there a long while after they had vanished beyond the sight of her window, probably into the street below, or some dumpster. She didn't care. She had held onto those things
for so long.. letting them disrupt her from the inside out.
She was done with it. With Trent.... with the past. Turning, she didn't even bother to close the window. She simply stormed through the apartment, grabbed her purse and slammed the door as she left.
[End]
