Izzy sat in the back of the truck bed. Her head rested upon the rough plastic that lined the interior. There wasn’t much room between the rough floor and the weatherproof cover. She was smooshed down at an awkward angle. Izzy lay hunched in a way that reminded her of a video gamer in a perpetual slouch.
Izzy lay in between an assortment of boxes and bags. Some contained food while others contained clothes. The corner of one of the dried food boxes was sticking into her hip painfully. Any movement to remedy the situation only seemed to increase the discomfort.
A thick layer of darkness descended over Izzy as the weatherproof cover snapped into place. The pitch black was a blanket of security that protected her from prying eyes. She was unconcerned with the idea that her fondness for dark hidden places may be her past of trauma manifesting. All she could say to that was, darkness was no guarantee of safety. The man hadn’t been scared of the dark when he came for her. He had relied on it.
The engine of the truck rumbled to life as the sound of grating filled Izzy’s ears. At first, she thought there was something wrong with the vehicle until she noted the sound was coming from above her. It had to be the sound of a garage door. The truck shifted into gear and slowly backed out of the garage and down the driveway. Izzy noted a feint ripple of anxiety shoot up her spine. She was once again out in the open where anything could happen. It was best to be on guard.
Izzy wasn’t alone. The body of the girl she loved bounced up and down next to her as they passed over the heavily degraded roads. The two were crammed in like sardines. They wriggled and writhed in an attempt to obtain a comfy position on the uncomfortable plastic flooring. The floor of the bed with filled with thy groves that were perfect for setting down boxes and letting water run underneath them. It was far less comfortable for a person to sit on even with a blanket underneath them.
Izzy could hear Ella’s breathing rapidly increase even over the sound of the engine. The once-cold interior of the truck bed ignited like a furnace as Ella’s body began to produce an ungodly amount of heat. Izzy could tell, even without seeing, that Ella was close to losing it. Izzy without thinking grasped a hold of her ex’s hand and gave a reassuring squeeze. The intense breathing caught before calming slightly. A squeeze of thanks sent Izzy’s heart racing.
Izzy’s conversation with Ella that morning hadn’t gone well. Instead of playing into Sam’s faults as Ella had on their walk to the protest as Izzy had expected. Ella did a one-eighty and began to gush about how great her relationship with Sam was. It had hurt to hear Ella talk well about her fiancé. Her mood only worsened as she recalled Ella’s tone. It conveyed a boast rather than a simple statement of fact.
Izzy decided to avoid conversations about Sam for the time being. Ella had made it clear that her current relationship was not up for any form of negative discussion. Izzy would have to find a different way of breaking them up. It was that or live as a third wheel to this couple for the next three weeks at least. She had no intention of giving up. She was certain that the blonde woman at her side was her soul mate. A few terrible dates following their break had only confirmed it in her mind. Sorry Sam she thought all is fair in love and war. She had her goal, she just had to make sure she didn’t push away the wrong person.
Izzy didn’t have anything against Sam in particular, other than the fact that he was engaged to the woman she loved. He seemed like a decent person even if he was a man. He was weird, of that Izzy had no doubt, but he did seem to be intelligent, charismatic, and driven. She had to admit she had only known him for a day, and her read was only surface level. Even so, she could sense a danger lurking in him. She got that feeling from most men, but this degree of intensity was different. It kept her wary and on edge around him.
Though Sam had some glaring faults in Izzy’s eyes, she ground her teeth having to admit to his plethora of redeemable qualities. Why couldn’t he have been some loser that she could have swept Ella away from? He was just good enough to make him a formidable contender for Ella’s love.
The sound of air rushing by the bed of the truck penetrated Izzy’s skull making it hard to keep a steady train of thought. The sound seemed to amplify within the dark and tight space. It washed into her skull like the waves of the ocean. Receding and then returning with greater force. A loud siren cut through the vicious cycle. Izzy received no comfort from the noise. Her stomach dropped. She could feel the truck slowing down, as Sam pulled over on the side of the road.
What are you doing you idiot drive? She screamed the thought into the void hoping their driver would hear it. He didn’t as the truck came to a complete stop as did the siren. Izzy could hear Ella’s breathing increase again, but there was little she could do for her. Izzy’s levels of stress were catching up to her near-panicked friend.
The clinking of keys echoed across the busy side street. Their jingle gave Izzy the feeling of doom as it approached the side of the car. Izzy gripped Ella’s hand with a strength she didn’t know she possessed. Both girl’s hands were like vices trying to keep each other in place and perfectly still.
“Good morning officer.” Sam sounded calm. He might be the only one of the three not currently in a panic.
“What can I help you with?” Sam asked. What was he thinking? Talking to a pig was the quickest way to land in prison. Izzy had long known that to be an inarguable truth. The police were a corrupt and useless institution. They never arrived on time to help a situation, and if they did, they almost always made it worse.
A burning hatred lit in Izzy’s stomach. She thought back to all the injustices she had faced from people like the pig outside. Her rage was only tempered by the icy touch of fear. Izzy was in no position to fight the pig even if she had wanted to. She was outgunned and in a vulnerable position with a person she cared about in the potential crossfire. Though the thought of gutting that fist of injustice did play through her mind more than once.
There was a short pause before the pig spoke. When it did speak its voice came out in a high-pitched squeal. Izzy blood chilled. Her mind broke upon hearing the pig speak. The voice is so familiar in its tone and pitch. It was a perfect replica of her uncles. She could have sworn it was him had he not been talking in a midwestern accent.
Izzy’s gut lurched. She felt her whole body tense as her mind reverted to a decade in her past. Visions of countless nights of hiding and waiting flashed through her mind. She was back. The truck bed was a closet. The darkness was a temporary ally against the monster that sought her. He was so close. If he looked inside, he would find her and then the nightmare would only grow. The only thing different from then was the missing stench of stale beer and body odor.
It had started when Izzy and her mom had been forced to move back to her grandparent’s home due to the housing crisis of the late twenty-forties. Her uncle had often come to her in the night. He would find her in the bed Izzy and her mother would share. Her mom often worked late at the hospital and she wouldn’t get off until long after the sun had set. That was when her uncle made his move. The first time he had visited her she was excited. He had always been so friendly, and kind to her. He reeked of alcohol as he pulled back the covers. He slurred a funny line as he slid between the sheets next to her.
What happened next could never be washed from her mind. Izzy was certain that even if her mind was wiped, that memory would forever haunt her. The way he had touched her, moved her and caressed her made her stomach groan in a mix of terror and anxiety. She had cried, but it had not dissuaded him. She almost felt like he enjoyed it more when she was scared.
It hadn’t lasted long but had felt like an age. She had been so scared she wasn’t sure when he had left her in the bed, shaking as she sobbed. Only her mother’s snuggle stopped the shaking. Sleep did eventually take her but it came rough and with the ever-present nightmares.
She had never told her mother what her uncle did night after night. His words of warning always played through her mind whenever she got the courage to try. Deep down she wanted to speak up. She wanted to tell the whole world what he did. But that voice always died in her throat seconds before it manifested from her clogged vocal cords.
Her mother soon caught on to what was happening. She had clung to Izzy like a tick. When she wasn’t home, she taught Izzy to hide. Money was the only thing stopping them from leaving and her mother was so close to extricating them from the ever-increasing nightmare of living there. Six months of torture was what it cost to escape.
As time passed the wounds began to scab and then scar. Her uncle was killed in a drug-related shooting and neither Izzy nor her mom attended the funeral. The nights of torture at the hands of that man were the first in an ever-increasing series of nightmares that often plagued her fractured sleep.
Izzy had been ignoring the conversation that had passed between Sam and the pig who sounded like her uncle. She had been so lost in thought that she failed to notice the retreating of the key jingle or the screaming that followed as the pig attempted to pull over another random citizen.
The sound of a gunshot pulled her back to reality. Its sound slammed into her ears like a cannon. Her ears began to ring as her body naturally dampened the noise of the shot. Izzy instinctively clamped a hand over Ella’s mouth as her friend only managed the start of a scream. The muffled squeal released by her friend gave Izzy pause. Ella sounded as if she was being suffocated.
Izzy barely had time to wonder if she being too rough when a second gunshot rang out. In that instant, the truck's tires began to squeal as it sped away. It seemed Sam had snapped out of whatever stupor held him in place. A series of further shots followed. Izzy had no idea if they were all from the pig or if a gun battle had erupted where they were so recently stopped. She didn’t much care as every instinct in her body told her to flee.
The panic which had threatened her before began to erupt from its barely contained cage. Izzy’s throat tightened and her senses heightened to the point that she was absorbing too much external information. Izzy’s head became dizzy as a lack of oxygen began to take its toll. Her stomach churned as a wave of nausea almost overtook her. She gaged as she kept herself from hurling that morning’s coffee onto the bed of Sam’s truck.
She noticed Ella’s whole body shaking. She felt to Izzy like a scared kitten. Ella had curled into the fetal position her head resting in Izzy’s lap. Ella’s breaths were ragged and poorly timed. Izzy could almost hear her heartbeat even over the sound of the truck's running engine. All fear and nausea ceased as if a power breaker had been switched.
Izzy’s nursing instincts kicked into high gear and all worries and feelings of panic vanished. Izzy began to slowly rub circles onto Ella’s back. The soothing gesture was meant to calm her down. She also made exasperated breathing noises. That mixed with telling Ella to breathe deeply aided in calming her friend if only slightly.
Only then did Izzy realize she still had her hand clasped around Ella’s mouth. She released her. Ella exhaled loudly as Izzy released her seal over her mouth. A series of coughs along with sharp inhalations followed as Ella fought to regulate her breathing. Izzy felt slightly guilty about holding her friend's mouth that long, but keeping her from screaming far outweighed any temporary discomfort her friend may have felt.
Having someone else’s needs to focus on hardened Izzy to what had just occurred. She had always been stronger for other people than herself. Others suffering killed any fear, anxiety, and apprehension. When situations occurred, there was only one choice for Izzy. Help whether it is easy or difficult.
Izzy had no idea what had occurred to make the shooting start. Her first thought was that it was unjustified. But it faded into the milieu of background thoughts as she fought with Ella to bring her panic under control. Her normal methods weren’t working to bring her friend down to a normal state of functioning.
Ella continued to cough and spurt. Her whole body was shaking. Izzy could feel Ella’s body temperature shooting out of control. Ella had to calm down before she did something that neither of them expected. Jumping out the back of the truck was a worst-case scenario but one that looked more likely by the second.
Izzy grabbed a hold of Ella and pulled her fidgeting from into her own. Holding Ella tight with every limb wrapped around her. She held on like nothing else mattered. A few seconds passed with no improvement. Both women were silent, the only noise was the sounds of the truck’s engine and the steady whistle of passing air.
Ella came down from her panic slowly. Izzy’s full attention was on her. She could feel the rhythm of Ella’s breathing, the shaking of her body, and the temperature that exuded from every pore. Izzy was working without one of her most important senses, sight. It made an astonishingly small amount of difference. It surprised people how much Izzy could focus on tiny details especially when it came to the way others were reacting or feeling.
She always thought she had been born with it, and while it was likely partially true. She became more certain by the day that it came more from her mother’s training and the experiences she had in her life. Her mother had been a natural at reading body language. She had been able to predict sickness often before the person ever had an inkling something was wrong.
Ella’s breathing began to mellow as she returned to a sense of normalcy. The shaking did not cease. A sob broke out in the trunk. Izzy could feel a wet spot begin to spread from the center of her bosom. Ella had buried her face in Izzy’s chest.
The overwhelming emotions suddenly hit Izzy. The shock of the gunshots, the flooding of the horrific memories, and the fear she had felt as Ella lost control, all rolled through her like a long building storm. Tears streamed from Izzy’s eyes like a downpour of rain. Ella wrapped her arms around Izzy. The sensation removed any inhibition she had left. The two girls began to sob onto one another. A cathartic release of built of emotion.
The rest of the ride was uneventfully not that either girl noticed. They were far too busy crying and holding each other. When the truck finally stopped and the engine turned off both girls ceased their crying with a few final sniffs. There was no sound of the truck door opening for a long while. Both girls sat in silence. Izzy wondered what was keeping Sam from letting them out.
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Seconds turned to minutes as a defining silence filled the back of the truck. What was happening? A new wave of dread passed through Izzy like a cold bucket of ice water. Was he turning them in? It would explain why he was waiting. Her deepening anxiety screamed at her to make a run for it. She felt like a wild animal trapped in a cage. Soon to be displayed as a terrorist in front of her home city if not the whole nation. Izzy’s mind whirled as she tried to conceive a plan of escape.
Getting out of the truck bed was no easy task. They couldn’t just rip their way out of the weatherproof cover. It was also impossible to see with such a low level of light. Finding the latch to remove the covering, even if she knew what it looked like, was almost impossible. Sam had set them up perfectly to be caught. Izzy had known his chiasmatic side was all an act. Why hadn’t she done anything to stop him?
The truth donned on her as another agonizing minute of silence passed in the trunk. She had been fooled by him. Izzy had always prided herself on being able to sniff out bad men. She should have trusted her initial gut reaction, and for that failure, she and Ella would pay the ultimate price.
A sudden knocking spooked Izzy. If she had room to jump in fright she would have. Izzy quickly realized the knocking was coming from Ella. Her best friend was rasping her knuckles on the partition between cab and trunk.
“Sam,” Ella said softly. “Could you let us out of here?” Her voice was somber and gentle. Izzy could picture Ella’s face of concern even in the dark. No noise occurred for another few seconds. Then as if Ella had broken Sam from a stupor, the truck door opened. In less than a second light filled the once cramped and pitch-black trunk.
Izzy closed her eyes while covering her face with an arm to protect her reeling retentates. The sudden change in lighting left her blinded. The golden rays of the early morning sun warmed her skin as they caressed her. The feeling provided a sense of relief for her still anxious mind. As her eyes adjusted, she looked up into a bright blue sky. It was nearly cloudless, and what clouds there were moved like cows grazing grass. Slow and methodical.
Her eyes dropped down to a series of large barn-like buildings that towered above other smaller shed-like houses. Their exteriors made from a thick sheet metal crinkled to create a series of ridges. Why it was designed like that Izzy had no idea. The sheet metal was a light gray and showed little reflective properties even in the early morning sun.
A large door extended from the ground to a few feet below the roof. Its orange paint scheme must have been vibrant at one time but had faded over countless years under the sun. The orange and the gray looked horrible together. Whoever had come up with the color scheme seemed to have no sense of style. A bleached white would have suited the door much better.
Sam helped Ella out of the trunk. As she dropped to the ground the two embraced in a hug. Izzy noted much to her chagrin that Ella’s shaking which had persisted throughout the rest of the ride vanished in the arms of her fiancé.
Izzy did however notice an almost imperceptible look in Sam’s eyes. Any sort of animosity died when she saw them. They looked haggard, and a little scared. To anyone else, he would have just appeared tired. Likely warn out from a lack of sleep or a hard day’s work. But to Izzy, she could see the fear and sadness almost as plain as day.
Sam had seen something in the aftermath of his talk with the pig that had shaken him. His smile which was broad across had all the hallmarks of being genuine. However, it was painfully clear to Izzy the differences between the pathetic imitation of smile Sam wore now and the one she had seen last night.
Izzy looked at Ella and wondered if she had noticed too. She doubted Ella could see Sam's true emotions through his body language. Izzy did get the distinct impression that Ella knew how Sam was feeling. From the way she lightly tapped on the back of the trunk to break him from the trance. To the way she clung to him so tightly, Izzy thought she might break him. Izzy wondered if Ella did those things to reassure Sam everything was all right rather than for her benefit.
Izzy looked away as both Sam’s face and the romance between the couple left her feeling ill. She studied the ground with a feigned interest in the hopes that something more stimulating would steal her attention.
The cracking tar, which had pieces of itself dotted across the open space, held no appeal. The lack of any vegetation left the complex feeling like an abandoned industrial waste sight. The only soothing thing about the place was the unfettered view of the sky. So, Izzy allowed herself a moment to absorb some rays of sunlight and take in the rich blue of mid-morning.
Her eyes eventually wandered back down to the still-embraced couple. They held each other as if tied together by a tightly wound rope. They were whispering in each other ears. Izzy’s heart started to ache and the tightness in her gut only worsened. She couldn’t take it anymore.
“So, what happened back when the pig fired his gun?” Izzy asked fighting to keep her feelings of rising disgust from her voice.
Izzy saw Sam tense and his fictitious smile falter. Sam continued to embrace Ella as his silence dragged on. He opened his mouth a few times to speak before shutting it again. Izzy waited in anticipation for the answer that could leave such an outwardly calm man with such extreme hesitation.
“The policeman pulled his gun on a family car,” Sam finally stated quietly. “The driver, who I assume was the father would not stop at the officer’s command. So, the officer fired his gun at him. He must have closed his eyes because he hit the wife square in the face. I think she died quickly.”
Sam seemed about to add to the statement before deciding better of it and shutting his mouth. Izzy hadn’t noticed her hand sliding in front of her mouth until she felt her breath catching on her palm. Ella had clung tighter to Sam while he explained.
“And the other gunshots?” Izzy asked unable to stop herself. She had to know the whole truth. No matter how gruesome or unpleasant. She would be one to bear witness and remember. Someone had to.
Sam’s calm demeanor, which he had maintained all through the trying admissions of yesterday, was shaken. Sam’s mask was slipping. Anybody with a pair of eyes could tell what he had seen after the first shot had affected him profoundly.
He looked a little pale as he swallowed hard. His eyes clicked back and forth and Izzy could almost see the gears turn as Sam tried to decide what to share. Izzy knew he wasn’t being coy for her sake but for Ella’s. Sam seemed to conclude the same as Izzy. The whole truth needed to be shared no matter how bad.
“The officer seemed stunned for a few seconds before realizing his mistake. In what I assume was a panic he unloaded the rest of his clip into the van. There were at least two kids in the back. Maybe more.” Sam's voice almost cracked when he mentioned the children.
“Do you know if…” Izzy trailed off. She was unable to finish the question. Maybe she didn’t need to know everything. Those kids defiantly made it through unharmed. That baseless thought was little comfort. Even if they had made it through physically unscathed, they would be mentally wounded for life. Not to mention likely orphaned.
No matter what way Izzy looked at their situation it left a bad taste in her mouth. Sam seemed to ignore the start of Izzy’s question having realized what she was asking. He closed his mouth and looked determined not to say another word about it.
Ella who had buried her face into Sam’s chest, as if that would somehow drown out the horrible truth uttering from his mouth. She pulled back from him as he finished, fresh tears streaming down her face. Her beautiful face looked exhausted and worn. Sam craned his neck to kiss her before the two broke their embrace. Izzy once again looked away while adding an audible tongue click in protest.
Sam gave her a funny look and a small smirk as he noticed the tongue click and her displeasure. She wondered what that was about before turning completely toward the shed door. The door had no handle. It also had no visible locking mechanism. Izzy scanned around the outer edge of the door frame. No button or passcode was visible. She stared in bewilderment at the door when her eyes wandered to a small antenna sticking from underneath the door on the right side.
“How the hell do you open this thing?” Izzy asked the door itself while giving it a light tap with her knuckle. Sam, much to her amusement, answered.
“You open it by electronic key.”
Izzy gave Sam a look of complete disinterest. He smiled at that. He continued with an explanation that quickly scrunched her face from mild boredom to complete irritation. When the two-minute rant was over all she had learned is that the door opened by sending a signal to the wire so long as the operator was within a reasonable proximity.
Ella had left Sam’s side a minute into the rant to stand beside Izzy. The look she gave Sam after the explanation detailed her lack of interest as well. Sam’s smile only expanded further.
“Well, big talker, open it then.” Ella’s tone left no room for negotiation, but a slight smile did creep across her lips.
“As my lady commands.” With that the door opened without another word. Izzy hadn’t seen Sam press anything but that didn’t mean the button wasn’t in his pocket. The door shuffled open, the sounds of grinding gears and rusty metal scrapping left Izzy more irritated than listening to Sam’s stupid mansplination.
About halfway up the old door began to slow before it eventually came to a grinding stop. Izzy and Ella looked at each other in confusion, before both turned to look at Sam. His face held a look of dejected embarrassment.
“Is that a feature of the remotely activated system?’ Izzy asked a wry smile spreading on her face. Ella answered before Sam could.
“I think it’s a bug.” She said a smile also spreading on her face as she ducked underneath the half-open orange door.
Izzy followed suit. As she slid under the door, she could hear Sam mumbling how that was indeed a bug and there was no way he intended for it to do that. Her fading smile grew wider before she consciously wiped it from her admittedly smug face. She straightened to see an impressively furnished room. The dim lighting made the room feel bigger than it was.
In the center was a car lift on which sat a burgundy red van. To the right was a large black leather sofa facing a wide-screen television. Tucked just behind the black sofa was an equally black fridge. The two shades of black matched perfectly.
To the left stood a wall of accomplishments. Izzy’s eyes scanned the wall. She noticed a degree from the state university in political science and business management. A series of medals stood pinned to a felt bored. It looked to be medals for each year of sobriety. The intricately made medals shone brightly in the case. Each design was unique and well crafted.
Izzy wondered if Sam had been an alcoholic. It was not the first impression she would have had. Her eyes locked on to a plaque in which resided a white paper. The GED graduation paper stood proudly in the center of the conglomeration of articles, medals, and other plaques. The name written on the GED read as Martha Grau.
“That was my mothers,” Sam said pride sweeping from his deep voice. Izzy turned to see him smiling widely. His eyes were fixed on the tiny paper. His smile seemed infectious and Izzy couldn’t help but follow his lead. Izzy pointed toward the series of AA medals.
“And those,” she asked. “They belong to you?”
“No,” Sam replied. “They were my mother’s as well. A habit picked up from my father.”
Ella chimed in upon hearing that. “You told the policeman that your father was a police officer. Was that true? Why do you never talk about him?”
Izzy couldn’t remember Sam talking about his father to the pig, but she hadn’t been paying any attention to the conversation. Sam’s face darkened. The smile and light on his face vanished into a cold indifference.
“It was true, and I don’t talk about him because I don’t want to remember anything about him. He was a terrible person.” Sam managed to say behind gritted teeth. When it was clear he would not divulge more Ella dropped the conversation with a look of concern.
Izzy continued to reflect on the wall of mementos. As Sam and Ella began to unpack the truck. Creating a few towers of boxes over in a free corner. By the time Izzy turned to help both had completed the task. Both had their arms folded and looked slightly annoyed. Izzy just gave a shrug and a quick laugh.
All three moved toward the couch. They sat with Ella in the middle. Sam pulled a small key remote out of his pocket. He gently placed it on the table without an explanation of what it was. Izzy already knew, she reached forward and snatched it. Sam gave her a concerned look before extending a gentle nod. It seemed he would have preferred Ella hold onto the key, but the early bird gets the worm.
“Keep it closed as much as you can, Sam said. “I will knock three times if I’m seeking entry. Open the door for nothing else.” Both girls nodded their heads in acknowledgment.
With that out of the way, Sam went over the plan one more time. He described it in excruciating detail. His memory was perfect. He didn’t forget a thing they had talked about the day previously. Izzy followed along in perfect sync. Not once was she surprised by any of Sam’s amendments to the plan, nor did she need to ask any questions. It all seemed purely logical.
Ella smiled through the whole breakup plan. It was rather ingenious. Sam would fake a breakup so brutal that no man, woman, or romance genre lover could imagine them still planning to be together. Izzy glossed over the details. It wasn’t important to her how the two inseparable love birds planned their breakup.
What she cared about was how the next three weeks would unfold for her and Ella. Sam warned them against frequent trips outside. They agreed it was best to avoid interacting with anyone at all costs. The girls had enough food to last them five weeks if they rationed to two meals a day.
It was a simple plan of hunker down and wait. Izzy was rather excited even if she noticed a worried look from Ella. Three weeks alone with Ella would work well with her plan to split her and Sam from each other. She wasn’t yet certain how to achieve such a miraculous feat but she was determined.
Ella began to raise her voice suddenly. Izzy had been ignoring their conversation for the most part but now that there was disagreement between the two her mind refocused.
“I can’t just sit here for three weeks while you’re out there risking everything for us,” Ella said. Sam gave her a look that said he understood. His understanding only seemed to make Ella more upset.
“How are you always able to handle these terrible situations so well?” Her question resonated with bewilderment but also a slight hint of admiration. He frowned the way a concerned parent would. His eyes looked up as he seemed to recall something rather unpleasant.
“I wasn’t always as calm as I am now,” he said. His eyes seemed to glaze over and his voice became hollow and emotionless.
“I’ve endured some things in this life, Things that left me scared and broken by indecision. When you live with that long enough you learn it gets you nowhere but exactly where you started. I fought that feeling with every ounce of my psyche until I had mastered it enough to act calm even if I’m not.”
Izzy watched as the anger drained from Ella’s face only to be replaced by a look of sorrow. Izzy could not agree more with Sam. Wild emotions left a person on the back foot when it came to decision-making. Often making them struggle to come up with effective solutions to whatever ailed them. leading to indecision or poor decision-making.
It was all born from a fear of making mistakes. Mistakes were inevitable and a person could only do the best they could with the information they had at the time. That thought alone often helped Izzy to calm her racing mind. Though Izzy could easily admit she was no master of her emotions.
Sam gave Ella a quick kiss on her cheek before he stood and made his way toward the door. He was halted by the sound of Ella’s cry. Both Sam and Izzy turned to look at her. Tears were once again streaking down her face.
“I’m sorry,” was all she could mumble as she looked toward Sam. “I’m sorry for all of it. It’s my fault that our futures are over and everything you dreamed of is gone.”
Sam opened his arms for a hug and Ella ran into him. He whispered something in her ear that made her pull back and look up at him.
Izzy let the wave of anger wash across her body and out her feet. She fought the increasingly intense feelings of despair that she would ever be able to pull her love away from that man. Her face began to redden and her breathing picked up as emotions too strong to contain started to flood through her.
An unbearable question hit her like a semi-truck. Had she thought that because Ella had been afraid of committing to her, she would be the same Sam? She was a fool. A fool to be in love and hurt to observe the situation calmly.
Instead of screaming as every part of her soul demanded, her body remained rigidly still. Frozen in time she was forced to watch her dream of love be played out by a person who wasn’t her. She watched the two embrace. She watched as they kissed deep and long. She watched as they pulled away and looked longingly into each other’s eyes.
Izzy had never been good at reading lips but she was good enough to make out the wordless I Love You. Ella only hugged Sam tighter. Unwilling to let him go and face the world alone.
“Please stay a little longer. I’m not ready to lose this yet.” Ella said muffled into Sam’s shirt. Sam kissed her head before removing her arms from his back. He strained to pull her arms from him.
“Indecision has plagued us for long enough,” Sam said a determined look crossing his tired face. “It's time for some decisive action.”
With that Sam ducked under the still half-open door and Izzy closed it behind him with the press of a button.
The two girls watched the orange door shut. It inched slowly and methodically towards its close. It reminded Izzy of their current situation. The orange door was their previous lives. They were both weathered, mundane, and peaceful. Unfortunately for all three of them, it was coming to an inevitable and abrupt end.