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QuietNight by Drm4rio

This wooden door that sits at the entrance of a beautiful apartment has been opened thousands of times before. It has seen people move in and out of the apartment, and here it remained. Sterile white accented by golden door knobs and matching hinges. Despite its years of service, they still shine as they did on their first day.
Every time she walked in he made her feel welcomed. His home was always so comfortable in so many ways. The seats sink just enough to wrap you up, but not so much as to smother. The materials they were made of were never stifling. You could practically pick a spot and decide to sleep there. There was a bedroom down the hall at the back of the apartment but he had a second room that was not in the blueprints.
She reaches into her jeans pocket and pull out a keychain with a pair of keys attached. She uses a smaller, more modern key to unlock the front door. There is no comfort to be found today. The apartment was cold and silent. She can only hear the dull rush of traffic in an active weekend night. A thin layer of dust coat everything, yet the apartment has changed hands since he took over. The wall next to the hall extends into the living room by several feet and at that corner sits a bookcase. She closes the door behind her and walks across the living room to the book shelving.
With muscle memory, she reaches out to a selection of books and places her grey furred hand atop of it. With a twist the books all move in unison revealing a door handle with a larger keyhole on it than what was found on the front door. She raises the larger key to the handle and sets it in. Unlocking that, she removes the key, grips the handle, and pushes the "door" open. After she steps inside, the door is released to close, completing the illusion that there is a complete book case against the corner where the hall and the living room meet.
This secret room has an old oak bed, a matching dresser at its foot next to the door, and matching night stands on the sides of the bed. There are small trinkets and bedroom decorations far older than the contents of the apartment, and most likely, older than the building itself. Any one of these antiques could cost a fortune if they were ever appraised but that's not what she's here for. She turns and falls back on the bed, which responds by releasing a cloud of dust. She raises up and swing her right arm to clear the dust away from her face.
With a clear view in front of her, she sees herself in the dresser mirror. As a wolfess, she has a sharp muzzle and steely eyes. Her ears come to a point above her head but start at the sides around eye level. There are some discoloration under her eyes, a dead give away to how much time she has lost. She turns her head, unable to see herself any longer. Down to her left hand she turns the bottle of whiskey and watches the contents slosh a bit. She has already had a few drink, but what's another one? She unscrews the cap and takes a long gulp before puling it away for air.
"Happy anniversary," she mutters bitterly, "Another year has gone with the world safe and sound!" She takes another drink, "And you, the forgotten martyr..." She isn't wrong. As a group, they worked to stop a madman's dream of world domination, but not everyone could escape. A steep price was paid, one that she didn't allow. Now she sits in his abandoned apartment, in his hidden room. She feels that she is only that even mourns his loss anymore. She winces at the emotional pain. Dropping the closed bottle on the bed she raises up to her feet to reach for a pack of cigarettes in her back pocket. There are only a couple left inside, along with the blue lighter inside. Blue. She pauses to look at it and the pain hits her again. It had to be the blue one. She hastily takes one, lights it, and hurls the lighter as hard as she can against the wall behind her. It breaks open but she doesn't see or even care.
With one hand holding on to her smoke, she takes her free hand and brings it to her face. With her eyes closed she can see what she will do next. She can hear her screams, feel her hot tears streaming, and her clenched fists breaking through the mirror. She can see herself tossing what she can against walls, smashing it all to pieces. With a deep breath she exhales a cloud of smoke that slowly fills the room. This pristine room. This untouched, well preserved room. A life is taken yet so much is left behind. Even other lives. Her grief, her anger, her heartache all swirl inside her heart. She wants to die, to kill, to destroy. Anything to take away this misery. Another hard drink, another fiery gulp, and the pain becomes clearer while moving further away.
"You promised me everything was going to be alright," she growls after another gulp, "I didn't think you meant everything else," she blows smoke out her nostrils, "I don't get it. You slipped away from everything else. Or maybe you slipped away from a happy ending? Were you really that much a coward that you'd rather die than, I don't know, be in a committed relationship?" She takes one more drag from her cigarette before leaning back and mashing it down on the surface of the night stand in her drunken state, "Well fuck you. You hear me! Fuck you! I had it made! I didn't need anyone else. Then you came in and made me see! See how alone I was! Now I can't stand it," She begins to sob, "Why didn't you leave me alone?"
She continues to sob in the crushing silence. In this cramped room though, a single clock ticks away. As the streams of tears slow she can clearly hear the clock. It may not have been touched all this time but it was still accurate. It was getting late and she needs to get home before she can't remember where it is. She stands to her feet. Takes a look around herself, then decides to leave once more. She takes her bottle, turns the light off in the room once more, and leaves for what she believes will bill be the last time for a while. An exposed wire behind the night stand will make that impossible. Long after she locks the doors and has left the building a surge brings a spark out of the wire which ignites the lighter fumes.

QuietNight

Drm4rio

I just realized that I have sat on this account without anything to show for it. Here's something to break that streak but more importantly I wanted to release something a bit melancholic tonight. I had this story in mind for nearly a year, but committed it to words tonight.

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Literary / Story

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