Stolen Freedom

The Stranger

"Tony!?" I unlocked the door to my apartment, covered in dirt. Hiking to the falls after a week of rain wasn't the best idea I ever had. 

I plopped my backpack on the floor and made my way to the kitchen. 

"Tony?" No answer. 

Gone to Nick's. See ya tonight.xx

I smiled at the note on our fridge. My roommate and best friend Tony and I always left messages that way instead of texting. We were both old-fashioned like that. 

I walked to my room and was greeted by our cat coming out the door of Tony's room. 

"Hey beautiful. How's it going?" the grey fluffy body rubbed against my legs and purred. I smiled as I picked him up. Henry was Tony's but he loved me just as much. 

"Did he not feed you again, the turniphead?" I let go of Henry and put more food in his bowl and very quickly the furry monster's attention was directed to his food. I went to the bathroom and hit the shower, letting the warm water relax my muscles. I felt peaceful. It was the holidays, the first semester of this year at college over and I could finally relax again. I did not wonder at Tony's absence. He and Nikolas basically spent all their free time together. The boys were almost like brothers and we hung out a lot. They tried to get me into sports and it was kinda cute how they basically quizzed me about it every day. I guess they forgot that I was a girl sometimes but that made things so much easier, considering I mostly hang out with boys and sometimes those things could get awkward for some people. Tony and I had been living together for a year now and it went great. We had met at college, both of us taking one that was as far from home as possible. 

His mother had died when he was 15, from cancer and his father wasn't really there for him. Depression.

 I could relate. After my mom left my dad for another guy he lost it, too. He left his job, dated around, but none could make him happy. He killed himself after I moved out. It was hard for me. I blamed myself, but my older sisters told me it wasn't my fault. Easy for them to say, they had moved out before he started drinking. 

My sisters were the two most important people in my life except Tony. But they were far away, Sarah had gotten married to the most amazing brother I could ever wish for and Becca was in Sweden. I missed them, but life goes on, doesn't it? My mother always travelled, too. Our relationship wasn't the best but she did pay for my education so I did not complain.

Life was good, otherwise. I had amazing friends and college was just great. I studied business and international communications and I really loved it. Though it was stressful. But we had been done with our last finals last week, so now we were free. I smiled as I started to sing a new song from Frozen 2, the shower was a patient listener. I only heard Henry complaining through the door. He was a mood-killer, probably needed a good cuddle. I shut off the water and got out of the shower, drying myself off before slipping into some comfy shorts and one of Tony's tank-tops that basically reached to my knees. Tony was a big guy.

Yes, I stole his clothes on a regular basis. He no longer fought me on it. And let us be honest, guys's clothes were just so much more comfy and he would not be needing that top anyway because he was always cold. He used  to say that I must have been switched at birth, I was originally from the North Pole and that's why I walked around in t-shirt and sweatpants while other poeple couldn't find coats thick enough. He was just a little girl when it got to cold weather. Not my fault he spent the year after graduating High School in Israel where it's like 100 degrees every day.. Canada had been a much wiser decision on my part. But we would never stop arguing about that. He was the one laughing at me during  summer when I felt like I would swim away in my own sweat and basically spent all day passed out on the couch.