Set Me Free// L. Staley

1. Wind Chimes

The screeching of her alarm woke her up almost immediately.

Rowan shot out of her bed in a fit of bed-ridden sweat. She looked around bleary-eyed from having just woken up. As she observed her surroundings, she realized that the mysterious stranger was merely a figment of her unconscious slumber.

"Oh...just a dream," she mumbled to herself as she placed her clammy hands against her forehead. The blaring of the alarm on her bedside drawer continued, which added to her growing agitation.

"Damn alarm," she spat with resentment as she checked the time.

'Five AM...' Rowan thought to herself as she pressed the snooze button of her alarm. She grumbled as she got out of the warmth of her bed. As she stood up, she stretched proudly, causing a few cracks of her bones and joints to penetrate the air.

From the small balcony of her bedroom porch, she could hear the obnoxious clanging of her wind chime. She looked over her shoulder and gave it the stink eye, but she didn't care that it was an inanimate object. It was just too damn noisy for her liking.

Eyes half-shut, she stumbled out of her room and into the dinky hallway of her cheap apartment. As she walked, she haphazardly avoided a few moving boxes but wasn't successful whatsoever. She ended up stubbing her toes against the corners of the boxes, causing her to stumble through the hall.

"God damn boxes..." She cursed under her breath once more. 

Rowan wasn't in a particularly great mood considering the alarm woke her up from her dream. It had felt so real, and she remembered the vivid smells and feelings of it. She could hear the beach and feel the sunshine mixed with the wind. But her favorite part of it all had to be when she met the beautiful stranger.

She couldn't explain how real it felt, which freaked her out. His piercing but gentle blue eyes lingered in her mind. It was beyond any other vivid dream she had ever had. She closed her eyes and imagined the smell of the stranger, which provided her with comfort.

For so long, Rowan had attempted to master the comforting scent of her mother. She had begun to smoke, mainly for the fact that she missed her mother dearly and craved any way to reach her. Even if her mother wasn't there physically, the smell of cigarette smoke ingrained into her belongings had soothed her enough to be satisfied. Sadly, not even smoking cigarettes helped Rowan truly encapture the smell of her mother. Nothing had ever come close to her. That is until she dreamed of the stranger.

In a way, he reminded Rowan of her mother.

Rowan made it to her bathroom (without breaking any bones) and did her routine. She knew that she would be sweating most of the time at work, so she figured a shower wasn't necessary.

After she was done in the bathroom, she walked back into her bedroom to get changed in her proper work attire. Once she had completely dressed, she walked into her kitchen, where a few more boxes sat on the floor. She sighed as she looked at one of the boxes.

The box had been labeled, 'anniversary gifts.' She whispered profanities under her breath as she shot the box daggers.

She was still adjusting to the fact that she was freshly single. She had been in a relationship ever since she graduated, which made her a dependent person. She had never been on her own. The bills were always a conjoined effort as well as rent, grocery shopping, and even surviving. Now she had to start over and on her own. 

That terrified Rowan. 

She had no clue she had so many belongings packed away from her relationship. When she moved out, there was more than plenty of belongings that had reached the nooks and crannies of the conjoined apartment. Her ex-girlfriend, Rosie Blanch, insisted she take the anniversary gifts because "She couldn't handle looking at them." Therefore, she was the one that had forced custody of the belongings. The only thing that annoyed Rowan about the predicament was that the box was another one of many she had to haul over to her new apartment. Why her ex-girlfriend couldn't throw it away on her own? She had no clue, but Rowan planned on throwing them out eventually. Or perhaps, she could pawn some of the expensive things they had collected together. Either way, she was completely content with getting rid of the cursed objects.