Night Prowler

Chapter 16

The longer she ignored Reece, the worse she felt. She was partially doing it on purpose because she didn't really want to talk to him, but the other reason was simply because she was stressing over everything. She had been applying for jobs like crazy and trying to work out what her backup plan would be. Tracey didn't have a huge amount of work experience, she had bits of hospitality from working in a restaurant and café and some cleaning experience from when she was cleaning in the hospital back home, that was it. So her chances of getting another job didn't seem so promising. Then she had to think about how she was going to continue paying her regular bills - gas, electricity, water, her car finance, her monthly Telstra bill and then her rent. But adding on top of that was day-to-day life expenses. Groceries, fuel, car registration... everything. The weight that had fallen onto her shoulders felt heavy and unbearable and her next move being unknown, it killed her. She was trying though. She applied for jobs left, right and centre. Anything she thought she could handle or have a chance at. Then she made herself a myGov account and started applying for Centrelink in case things really did go south. But even if she was being proactive, it didn't stop the anxiety from taking over her. Tracey was determined to get her life back on track, but at that very minute it felt hard and she refused to call her parents and ask for help. She didn't want them to think that she was a failure, even though that was how she was currently seeing herself. She had to pretend things were fine, even though they were far from it.

Sitting on her lounge and staring at the laptop, paperwork and notepad on the coffee table, she tried to keep herself from tearing up. Since she was so stressed, she was also feeling the way she had been feeling for the last few weeks. Her aches and pains were back and giving her grief and her arm hurt. It was as if the pain she had gave her a small breather, as if it knew she was going to be up shit creek without a paddle within days... so it gave her a break before deciding to wreck havoc once again. It was shit, everything was.

As if on cue, she heard the recognisable rumble coming up her road and within seconds stop outside of her house. She had a mixture of dread and relief just knowing who had come to visit her. She didn't want to see him or talk to him, especially after what happened, but then she felt the relief of being able to see him and talk to him. Reece would take her mind away from her stress and for a little while, might make her feel better. Did she intend on telling him about her job? Not at all. Reaching forward, Tracey closed the screen of her laptop and sat on the lounge for a further minute. She didn't think she needed to hide away the paperwork. It wasn't actually screaming 'I just lost my job and I'm fucked', it just looked like a couple of bills alongside her personal information. And her letter that said she was fired, was underneath a bill, so he couldn't see it anyway.

Hearing the footsteps thump up the stairs to her porch, Tracey slowly got to her feet just as the loud knock sounded. Dragging her feet over to the door, she pulled it open and looked at Reece through the screen door. She wanted to hold a smile to greet him with, but it just wasn't the same. She had too much piled up in her mind and the lack of sleep, and then her thoughts running over the ordeal with Reece... she was just struggling in general.

"Hey." Was the best she could get out.

"Hey Trace," Reece replies as he offers her a nervous smile.

Tracey was lost for words and mentally blank as to what she was supposed to do now. So she continued to stand in her doorway, looking at the biker through her screen door.

"Uh, can I come in?" Asked Reece, resting his hands into his pockets.

Tracey felt silly for not offering him that within seconds, but she tried not to show it. Holding a crooked smile, she nodded her head and gestured for Reece to let himself in. Going back over to her lounge, she took a seat and gazed over to the biker who closed the screen door behind him. He then proceeded to stand awkwardly just in front of the door, not knowing what to do with himself.