The Box

Chapter II

When she arrived at her apartment she promptly started putting her groceries away. She maneuvered around boxes of her stuff that she never had the motivation to unpack. Some were big and some were small and yet they seemed to take up most of the apartment's space. A few boxes were open here and there with clothes thrown haphazardly around the small space. The only large items that had been fully unpacked was a couch, a tv, and her fridge. Her cabinets had four to five bowls and plates that she ate off of. She finished putting her stuff away and walked to her couch and sat down. She simply sat there for a moment, no motivation to do anything. After a few minutes she turned her tv on and flipped through channels until something caught her interest. On the news it seemed a man had been caught trying to smuggle drugs into a prison for his buddies. This made Rachel laugh a bit as this was amusing but upon further thoughts of drugs more memories flooded back to her, each one like a knife to her heart. She changed the channel and simply watched boredly. She had dozed off for a while until her hunger awoke her. She got up and made herself a sandwich and sat back down. She got a text from her job to come into work early the next morning and she sighed and said she would. With that she turned the tv off and got ready for bed. She stared at the bland, white wall for what felt like hours. Eventually sleep overpowered her and she slept for the night.

The next mourning

Rachel awoke early the next mourning, startled awake by a nightmare. She sighed and stretched. It took her a good amount of motivation to actually get out of bed but eventually she managed it. She got dressed and did her daily routine. She headed to her car to find the temperature had dropped significantly overnight. She went back in, grabbed a coat out of the nearest box to the door and headed back out. She went on autopilot while she drove, listening to the trash radio music. Something about its static and poor song selection was oddly comforting to her though. She liked the way it would fade in and out and she would often smile a bit at the next bad song. The way some of the buttons got stuck or jammed annoyed her but she wouldn't get a new radio. She didn't want to clearly hear how bad each song was. She arrived at her job close to an hour later. She prepared herself and headed inside. The lights were dark when she entered. It seemed like she had an opening shift. She flipped the lights on to people shouting surprise. This both startled and confused her. “What's the surprise for” Rachel asked. One of her co-workers piped up “It's olympic game time!” he said. “That's not for another month,” Rachel said, still confused. Her boss walked up “You have paid leave for the month, we all want to help you win this one this year”. “We know you'll do great but preparation never hurts anybody” he continued. She nodded agreeing with that statement. “So am I working today or leaving”? “Up to you but we would want to see you get a head start and absolutely smoke the competition”. “Alright, I'll begin getting ready for it then”. Her co-workers cheered and clapped. She smiled a bit at the support and turned to leave. She got back out to her car feeling her spirit rise a miniscule amount but still rising, nonetheless. She drove back to her apartment slightly jamming out to Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue by Toby Keith, the radio's worst song on air. She knew how bad it was but was in a better mood then she usually is so it felt right. When she got home she felt a bit more motivated and started to unpack some boxes lying around her apartment. She unpacked clothes, dishes,blankets,tools,fake plants but would avoid the small banged up box sitting in the corner, looming over her like death itself. She didn't need the pain to come back when she was in a better mood than usual. She looked at the time as it read 12:32pm. She figured she had better re-sign up for her gym membership so she could begin getting ready. She hopped on her phone and began to set everything up. The voice on the other line was cheery and happy but not as if it was fake, the woman on the line seemed genuinely happy to hear another voice. “Welcome to the Jim’s Gym hotline, how can I assist you today”? “Hello, I’d like to sign up for a temporary gym membership”. “Wonderful news, for how long”? “Only for a few months, Im training for the olympics in a month”. “Ooo how exciting, so a month's training then”? “Yes ma’am”. “Alrighty, name”? “Rachel, Rachel Williamson”. “Wonderful well see you here tomorrow then okay”? “That works very well”. She hung up after a few back and forth comments and decided to take a much needed nap. The night before was filled with nightmares and she hoped that wouldn't happen again as she slept. She slept soundly for a few hours and woke up groggy and unaware of the current time. She checked her phone to find the time. It read 7:54pm. “Damn I slept for quite awhile”. She stretches and orders food off of Doordash. She turns on the tv and unpacks more boxes with it in the background. Her apartment goes from bland to somewhat lively. She unpacks and gets down to one final box. The photos of her childhood and other random pictures. She stares at it for a moment, her eyes shaking. She shakes her head and throws a small blanket over the box. “Out of sight out of mind…I hope”. She shakes and goes back to the tv playing Mick and Rorty. “I remember this show” she chuckles a bit. “Heard one of the creators got charged for some…not so nice things, but that's besides the point”. She sits down after her food arrives and eats watching the show with interest she hadn’t shown in a long while. She finishes eating and steps out on the balcony. The door was previously covered by stacks of boxes. It was a brisk night but the clouds had passed overhead only leaving the moon to be visible. She breathes in the brisk night air and exhales after a moment. She rubs her temples and observes the few passing cars. After a while she heads back in for sleep. Before she decides to lay down she gets her workout clothes for the next day so she could get a jumpstart on the day. She sits down on her bed and observes how much better it looks now that she's unpacked. “Dang shoulda done that a while ago…maybe when I moved in” she laughed a bit to herself but it was more of a regret filled laugh. She gets under the covers and falls asleep quickly despite having taken such a long nap previously.