His Bella

SIX

Two weeks had passed and I had gotten used to being away from work. I spent my time at home watching cartoons with Stacy and eating. When she wasn't working from home and had to go out, I tried my hand at yoga and meditation because I read online that it could help me clear my head.

It didn't.

The nightmares were so frequent that I got scared of sleeping. I saw Danny on my way to the elevator and everything went exactly the way it had that night. He hit me, I crawled under desks to hide and when eventually, he backed me up against the wall- I would have the sudden realization that nobody was going to save me and I would wake up, finding it difficult to breathe.

Sometimes, I screamed and cried in my sleep as well so Stacy spent most nights in my room- making sure she was there if I had panic attacks. After the fifth night she suggested going to see a therapist but I refused to do that. Eventually, we stopped talking about the incident. I felt better when she wasn't constantly treating me like I would break down at any second and watching my every move. I never heard from the police about the case or knew if they found Danny's killer and although, it scared me to know that the murderer was still out there- a part of me was thankful for that bullet coming through the window.

As sick as that may sound.

I didn't call my mom until Wednesday because I didn't know how exactly to tell her everything without putting too much pressure on her. When I did call to explain what happened, she panicked and would have gotten on the next bus from Grand Rapids to Ann Arbor if I didn't talk her out of it and convince her that it wasn't necessary. She spent close to an hour on the phone with Stacy after that and I wasn't entirely sure what they spoke about, though I had a pretty good guess. I didn't want her to worry much, it seemed like everyone was worrying too much which wasn't a bad thing. I just didn't want them to.

Noah spent as much time as he could in the apartment. His work as an engineer at Rosedale Inc. made sure he was away most of the time but I could see he was trying. With Noah around, I felt safe and for him, I tried my best to act like I was really okay so he won't feel too guilty about not being around a lot.

I decided I had been away from digital socialization for too long and it was time to get a new phone since Danny broke mine. I picked an evening to go out with Noah and buy one. He offered to buy it for me and drop it off after work the next day but not only was I tired of staying indoors, I also preferred to buy my own things.

After putting on a white shirt and blue jeans, I grabbed my pair of sneakers and a small bag before stepped out of my room, walking towards the living room with a small smile on my face. Stacy looked up at me once I was in view. She sat on the couch, holding the tv remote in one hand. Her eyes scanned my appearance and then she stuffed a handful of chips in her mouth.

"Hey, where are you going?', she asked after swallowing.

"I need a new phone", I said, sitting next to her and bending to wear the sneakers.

"Oh, bored of the real world already, are we?", she asked amusingly.

I chuckled, "I can't take it anymore", I said, looking up at her.

"Noah going with you?", she asked, looking away from me and switching through channels on the tv.

"Yeah", I tied the second shoelace.

"He's been around a lot", she said softly, "a whole lot", she added with emphasis.

"Really?", I asked, "I feel like he hasn't been around enough"

She stared at me with a blank expression on her face.

"He's just worried about me", I shrugged, "you know, like boyfriends are about their girlfriends".