The young woman frowned as soon as she entered the apartment.

  “Daniel, what the hell is this?”

  She was referring to the filled garbage bags strewn on the floor by the door. Or maybe it was his dirty crumb-strewn floor, or the used clothes on the couch.

  “Sorry, I’ve been busy lately.” He said sheepishly, scratching his cheek.

  “Too busy to put the garbage out?”

  The young woman put her bags down by the door, before leaning down and taking two garbage bags in hand.

  Daniel put his own bags onto the kitchen counter, trying to quietly put his used dishes into the sink.

  “I missed collection day.” He said. “It’s the end of the month, you know how it is.”

  She shot him a glare, but quickly turned back to the task at hand, busying herself with the trash. On checking the inside of one of them, however, she seemed disgusted by the amount of empty energy pouches she found.

  “Have you been skipping meals again?” She asked.

  “Too busy,” He repeated.

  She glared at him, and Daniel braced himself.

  “Don’t you know that it’s even worse when you’re busy? You can’t even take care of your own body when you’re already stressed out, you remember that time you were in the hospital over Christmas?”

  He quietly turned the faucet, pouring water into the kitchen sink, cleaning the dishes as he pretended to listen. The occasional reaction of ‘yeah’, and ‘uh-huh’, seemed to make her content enough to keep talking as she collected the garbage bags. After a while, she seemed to run out of words, sinking into angry silence. Letting out a loud sigh, she tucked the garbage bags under her arms.

  “I’m taking these out, ok?”

  “Ok, thanks Sammy.” He said.

  She shot another irritated glare at him before exiting the apartment. Daniel smiled awkwardly as she left, before returning to the dishes. He’d managed to wash plates, throw the clothes into the laundry hamper, and finagle the vacuum cleaner out of the cupboard by the time she returned.

  The young woman slung him a look that somehow said you should have done this a long time ago. Nonetheless, she seemed somewhat satisfied as she took the cloth bags she’d arrived with, placing them onto the kitchen counter.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “Here.” She said, opening the bag to reveal a blue Esky.

  She opened the lid to reveal an assortment of seafood. There were prawns, scallops, fish, and more.

  “Got it from the annual fishing trip.” She explained. “The old man told me to give some to you.”

  “Wow, look at all this!” Daniel said, smiling. “But what’s in the other bag?”

  She hesitated for a moment, but soon opened up the bag to reveal a bottle of wine. Daniel opened his eyes wide in surprise, but involuntarily furrowed his brows when he heard what she said next.

  “It’s from Greg and Sandra.”

  Daniel smoothed out his expression, but not fast enough to avoid notice. For the first time since she’d come, Samantha looked uncomfortable.

  “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Daniel said reassuringly. “Tell them that I said thanks.”

  “...They’d like it if you visited them.”

  “I’ll think about it.” Daniel replied, a tad too quickly.

  She looked reluctant to drop the issue, but ultimately relented with a small sigh. Daniel could only smile awkwardly.

  “Thanks Sammy, I really appreciate what you’ve done for me this past year and a half.” He said, trying to cheer her up. “I know you’re only trying to help.”

  It seemed to work somewhat, though her mood was still down.

  “Well maybe next time, you can be the one to call me first.” She said with a huff.

  Daniel smiled.

  “Maybe.”

  They stood in awkward silence for a few moments.

  “Well,” she coughed. “It’s probably about time I head home.”

  “Say hi to your dad for me.” Daniel said.

  She waved in affirmative as she headed towards the door, but she stopped at the threshold and turned back to Daniel one last time.

  “Take care of yourself, alright?”

  Daniel gave her a thumbs up.

  “I’ll call you if I need anything, don’t worry.” He replied, smiling.

  She shot him one last disbelieving glare before exiting the building.

  Daniel smiled as he began putting away the seafood. It was hard for him to tell what she was thinking at times, but he knew she meant well. She was, after all, the only friend who’d kept in contact with him after all this time.

  Sometimes he wondered why she decided to put up with him, but at this point, he would take whatever friend he could get.

  ----

  Outside of the apartment, the young woman had stayed for a little longer than Daniel thought. She leant against the door and sighed softly. She was clearly less composed than she had appeared. After taking a moment to marshal herself, she left the apartment, choosing to take the stairwell rather than the elevator. Her footsteps echoed heavily as she took the stairs 2 at a time, slowly fading away as she went further down.

  Not long after that, the elevator dinged, and the metal doors opened. A short figure quietly crept through the hall, towards Daniel’s apartment. Stopping in front of the door, the figure glanced up and down the hallway.

  “Are you sure this is the place, Petra?” A youthful voice asked.

  A small floating being behind it giggled mirthfully to itself.

  “Of course. I’m the best tracker in the quadrant” It said playfully. “It’s hidden itself well, though. I can’t sense it right now.”

  The figure scratched its head.

  “It should be fine... We’ll do it like we planned, tomorrow.”

  “Oh, we will have so much fun together.” The floating said, smiling. “It’s time to start this war with a bang.”

  The pair left as suddenly as they came, and all the while, the creature watched silently from the shadows. It reflected their being into every facet of its compound eyes, and then it stood there for some time, as if to think. It stayed huddled in the shadows for a long time.