House Number 1402

Clair Is My Girlfriend

"Sadie, it's not what you were thinking. Clair is just a friend of mine. She even has a boyfriend! Please stop ignoring me! I know what it looked like but I swear I would never do that to you. You have to believe me. Please understand . . ." 

I pulled my phone away from my ear and hit delete once the message cut off. I scrolled to the next one and hit play.  

"There was a dead animal on your porch and you wouldn't even let me help you? Sadie are you crazy? What is going on with you? Is someone bothering you? I swear what you saw earlier is so easily explained if you would just hear me out. I want to help, please call me back." 

I repeated the same steps as before, moving on to the third message. 

"I'm not going to call or text you anymore, you need to call me when you're ready to talk. I texted you Clair's number, if you won't listen to me then maybe you will listen to her. If something was really going on do you think that I would go to this much trouble to convince you otherwise? I don't care what you are thinking about us right now, as far as I am concerned we are still together until you break up with me face to face." 

The last message was rushed, he already knew that my voicemail would cut him off, so I figured he wanted to make sure he got it all in.  

I deleted the third message and opened up my texts.  

Please call me- Jackson 

Answer your phone, please- Jackson 

I won't be home tonight. Like you even care- Elly 

I'm so sorry, please let me explain- Jackson 

Call Clair, she will tell you everything 555-4125- Jackson 

I let out a long sigh and threw myself onto my bed. I had spent most of my evening painting the porch. I found a can of dark green paint that matched the house and used it. It looked so horrible, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that I couldn't see the stain, and Elly wouldn't see it either.  

I wasn't sure why I was so worried about Elly. She obviously hated me, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to just leave it alone. I didn't want her to see it and I didn't want her to know. I knew that she would somehow turn it around and make it all my fault.  

I was so consumed with my little project that I didn't even realize how long I had been out there or the fact that Elly hadn't come home.  

I didn't make it to my bed till almost midnight, because it turns out that it takes a million and ten coats to paint concrete with house paint. Remember that.  

My phone had apparently died at some point and I never plugged it in. Once I was done with the porch I showered and went to bed. Sleeping wasn't very easy either. Images of that poor animal flooded my brain, along with the man who I figured was responsible. I must have woke up five or six times.  

Despite how bad my dreams were and how many times my phone went off, once it was charged, I remained in bed the next day. Well I stayed there until two thirty, knowing that Elly would be home at three.  

I didn't want her to come home and find me in bed. I had decided that I had mourned the death of that animal long enough. I'm not sure why it had affected me so much, but I felt the loss. 

I had to stop thinking about it, and I needed to get out of bed and make myself presentable. So I did that.  

I took another shower, blow dried my hair, and dressed myself appropriately in jeans and a t-shirt. I didn't want to lead on that I was a mess. I wasn't the girl who became a mess. I was the one that held strong and kept on a brave face. It was perfectly fine for me to break down in private, and that I did, but I was not one to get all mooshy and cry in front of people. It just wasn't my thing.