Stardom

Moving On

I threw another pile of clothes into the box then taped it shut, moving to the dresser to empty out the drawers next. A knock on the door sounded, pulling my attention away from packing.

"It's open!" I shouted.

I heard footsteps in the kitchen, then the cheerful voice of Crystal as she popped into view.

"Came to offer some help," She smiled, tugging on a pair of what looked like gardening gloves, making me laugh.

"Not sure that they're necessary."

"I wasn't sure how bad the damage would be," She shrugged, peering around me to the cordoned off bathroom, "A burst pipe is no fun."

"Neither is the hole in the floorboards over there," I added, gesturing to the sizeable hole by the bedroom window, or the crumbling wall in the living room."

"Damn," She breathed, "I'm surprised it even survived the quake if this is the result."

"You and me both," I sighed, finishing sealing another box and adding it to the growing pile in the doorway, just in time for the burly guy from the moving company to appear and load them up on his trolley.

Once we were alone again, Crystal began helping me load what was left in the room into more boxes.

"Charlie offered to help," She said after a little while. "I told him that I didn't think it was a good idea, but he wanted me to tell you that he's only a call away if you need anyone else."

I smiled sadly, I had missed him since we departed that day two weeks ago. Missed the laughs we had and how easy he was to talk to. But my mind was made up, and I wasn't going to allow myself to fall into old habits.

"I appreciate that, but I've got it covered," I assured her. "I've known this day was coming now for almost a fortnight.

Arriving home from the hospital the night that Ross had been hurt, I'd come back to a disaster zone. Upon walking through the front door, I'd come face to face with a half-flooded kitchen, and bathroom, both from burst pipes that had been ruptured as the quake ripped through the foundations. After some help from the building's attendant, we stopped the flow of water, cleared up the mess as best as we could, and threw out what was beyond rescuing. When I finally managed to clear the floor of what remained of my things, I'd found worsening cracks moving through the apartment, the ones in the walls widening and crumbling each time I passed. It got to the point where I was terrified to even breathe too much, fearing that I was about to fall through the floor or have the entire building collapse on top of me. Not daring to stay in there, I packed up a few of my precious belongings and had headed to Crystals for a few days whilst the damage was inspected. Since then, the entire building had been checked and deemed unsafe. Leading me to this, moving again.

"How far is it to the new place?" She asked, taping the box at her feet and handing it straight to the movers who'd just reappeared again in the doorway.

"About a ten-minute drive, not far," I shrugged, adding my own finished box to the pile and looking around at the last few things which remained to be packed. "We can bring the rest down," I smiled at the men.

They nodded cheerfully, and continued on their way, leaving me to pass a box to Crystal and gesture to the final shelf which needed clearing.

"I don't know if I'm happy that I'm moving, or sad," I sighed.

"Maybe a little of both?" She suggested.

"Probably. I've got some good memories here," I paused, looking around and remembering the mornings that I woke in Ross's arms, the laughs we'd had and how happy I was to finally have him here. "But then there's been the bad times," I finished, recalling the tears, the fights, the sight that still hadn't left my mind, the one of Ross walking out the door.