Apart

Empty

The sky above London was still tainted with shades of light blu, soft pinks and yellows. He hadn't left work this early - 8 pm - in weeks.

The past nights had been grueling. Even longer hours than usual spent at the office, sitting behind the sturdy wooden desk, his father had so graciously accommodated him with. Of course he had liked it in the beginning, it had been fun and a new experience, nothing like school. But with every passing day the workload had increased and his fathers words and silent expectations had gotten harder and harder to follow.

The muscles in his back ached and the briefcase felt as heavy as a led weight in his left hand. He hadn't slept in his own bed for two nights, or maybe thee, he couldn't really remember. In fact, he hadn't seen the inside of the apartment, located in a quiet Kensington street, for multiple days, hadn't seen her for days.

As so often he swore himself to talk to his father, ease his current workload and return home when the gloomy autumn sun was still up. He sighed, as his free hand dug through his pocket for the set of keys - he could already see the distain in his fathers eyes, the disappointment in his pinched together eyebrows.

The lock clicked open and he slipped through the half opened door.

Probably as a result of the lack of sleep he had accumulated over the past week, or month, it took him several moments to realize that something was different.

Darkness, he was greeted by complete and udder darkness.

„I'm home." nothing but silence.

„Noora" nothing.

He swallowed, not sure what to make of this. Maybe she had already gone to sleep and more yelling would only wake her.

After slipping off his shoes and loosening the deep blue tie looped around his neck he quietly opened their bedroom door.

Again, it took his eyes a minute to adjust to the mute darkness hovering in the room. The outlines of the unnecessarily big bed loomed beside the window, but the sheets were smoothed perfectly over the edges and the pillows looked untouched.

The chair and dressing table were empty as well. The two or three lip sticks she normally kept their and her brush tangled with light blond here were gone. His eyes desperately scanned the room for any trace of her, for just the smallest piece of her presence; to prove that what he feared most was just a trick played by his sleep deprived mind.

She wasn't there, and he felt his mouth go dry. His right hand curled around the door handle and he was about to force it closed as if to delete the image of their empty bed from his mind. He half heartedly expected to wake up any moment and find himself still at his desk several underground stops away in the city.

„Noora" he tried again not sure if he expected an answer only certain that he needed one.

Her voice, even a mocking Willhelm, he had heard neither in too long. She had been absent and cold and he hadn't been home to notice.

„Please, Noora." his hand were reaching for the untouched sheets, drawing deep wrinkles into the soft fabric.

Only the perfume she always wore, a sweet mixture of rose and orange blossom, still lingered on the pillows and sheets. He drew them closer, desperate to catch every last breath of her, to somehow keep her close.

How pathetic he must look, nothing like the cliche boyfriend she used to mock him as. The strain of long hours set at a desk and the pain in his heart at the sight of their empty apartment had made his back crooked and his body relished the soft mattress underneath.

Somehow he didn't need to look at the rest of their appartment, he knew that she had taken everything and as there was nothing left to hold onto he clung to one of the pillows neatly propped against the head of the bed. Still dressed in his suit, it made it difficult to bend his legs comfortably but he remained on the bed, unable to accept what undoubtedly was her finally leaving him.