The next couple of days that rolled into weeks after the day Darlene lost both her job and her conciousness of what is right or wrong, were what Darlene likes to call "blurry" in her feint subconscious. She drunk more alcohol than what she has consumed for the twenty eight years of her being alive, she fed on alot of canned foods, in that, an onlooker would be tempted to perceive that, the prior motive of such a habit was to use her stomach as a canned food shelve and not to satisfy hunger. She drunk and ate in bed, and for most of her limited sober moments, she blarred extremely loud music that filled the condo with a sense of being at a noisy club absorbed in a sea of people, because for most of those times, the voices in her head got so loud that, she needed the sound of music to counter those voices. The messages in her phone were a mixture of transactions with food delivery services, and the scarce sweet good morning and goodnight notes, from Jemmy.
Today though, she woke up with the sound of her neglected phone ringing, and that was quite a surprise for her, as she doesn't have any close friends to call or to have them call her. "WHAT!" She said into the phone not caring to check the name on her phone screen, because it's even a miracle that her iPhoneX is charged.
"Darlene, it's Pete, please don't shoot the messenger" the voice on the other side of the phone said, "I have been trying to get a hold of you for days, are you okay?" The same voice said again.
"The last time I saw you, we were not buddies, and the last time I heard from you, you were using getting-me-a-job to blackmail me from getting vengeance on your company....." Darlene said and a took a sip of her red wine, which was being drunk straight from the bottle. "But don't worry Pete, I am a really nice person, I won't deprive you the chance of, putting food on the table for your family neither will I deprive you of the chance to keep being the loyal employee of Realism magazine, so you can quit the pretense and go back to work, before Mr. Parker yells at you for being on the phone during working hours" she said, and this time, she not only took a sip of her red wine, but also titled the bottle to make ninety degrees with the floor so she can have a proper fill from the poisonous liquid.
" Look, Darlene I think that....." Pete started to say over the phone that Darlene had already ditched on the far end of bed to pay attention to her wine bottle, but she cut him short "Pete, I learnt my lesson, and I don't blame any of you for the way my job got taken away from me, I rather blame myself for not making any real and loyal friends while I had the chance. Look at you Pete, you would do anything to clear up Mr Parker's name despite knowing how devious he is, that's because, to the rest of us, Mr paker is a villain, but to you, he is a friend who requires your loyaali...ty." Darlene finished shakily, and downed all of the remaining contents of her wine bottle.
"When you change your mind about my so called pretese, there is a job waiting for you at GUTE GESUNDTHIET, I have assured them of how good you are at your job, so there will be no interview if you decide to take up the offer. The terms at which you will work are more fair than they were at Realism, the pay is thrice more than what you were getting here, and you can have the position of Edit manager for their edition of the magazine this summer if you go early, and if you do a tremendous job like I assured them you are capable of, then you will never have another job taken away from you again." Pete said in his most convincing voice he could ever master.
Darlene looked at the empty wine bottle next to her, so she decided to throw some pieced crackers in her mouth just to keep it busy while she tells Pete the source of agony " you don't get it Pete, do you?" She said "it's not getting sucked from my job and getting paid less than what i deserved that angered me to considering vengeance, it's the injustice of being treated like a naive and incompetent employee who has no sense of perception what so ever, even if I have given Realism Magazine every reason to treat me above the basic worth of a good employee, so by now, you should already know by now that it's not a new job that I want, it's my sincerity I want honoured"
"I honestly give up on trying, but if it makes anything better, GUTE GESUNDTHIET, is a German word meaning GOOD HEALTH, maybe working in a healthy environment will help you figure out how the dynamics of Justice and injustice work, without being so hard on yourself" Pete finally said in resignation.
"Maybe" Darlene said simply, but didn't make any promises about whether she will consider taking the job or not. "And Pete...." Darlene called out before he could hang up.
"Thank you" she whispered, because being grateful to someone who just let your job get taken away from you, is not exactly nice, and Pete sighed in acknowledgement before finally hanging up the call. She might not say it out loud, but talking to someone other than the guys from delivery services, felt good and put her mind to rest, maybe it will help her try and do some cleaning up before dusk. Afew more half-sober hours in bed, and it was clear to Darlene that, talking with Pete was like getting a vaccine that doesn't work for more than half a day.
After the day that Pete almost became Darlene's guidian angel, the number of emptied wine bottles increased from many to awhole-lot, and the trash bun started to overflow even if most of the trash was still littered around the house. The difference between day and night became non-existent to Darlene, and she barely put any clothes on all day and all night, she ate at irregular intervals, and barely drunk any water except for when she is brushing her teeth because she has always gotten thirsty when brushing her teeth. By the clock of two weeks, she was a complete mess that needed saving.
Jemmy walked into the condo after her said two weeks of doing medical work away from Chicago, and the sight that greeted her, made her make so many mental notes that she will have a hard time keeping track of. The living room was in a state that made her wonder whether it's the all-so-neat Darlene she left home who did this, or, the condo was broken into and now Darlene is being held captive by the people who did the mess.
"Honey, am hoommee"Jemmy announced her presence in the typical 'jemmy' kind of way, just to be sure that her wife is actually in the condo, but the response she got was complete silence. she then checked all the other rooms, and found either a well organized room with a thick layer of dust , or a sea of undone dishes with half eaten greasy food and empty wine bottles, except for the dinning that had perfectly set plates with already dried up rose petals and completely used up jasmine scented candles, she immediately felt guilty for having left abruptly, and the already moulded lasagna in the microwave didn't make her guilt anyless, but she just couldn't stop responding to her duties, because they are completely beyond her will power.
After she had done the heartbreaking tour of the condo, she asscended to their bedroom and found a dead asleep Darlene passed out across the bed, she reasoned that since it's just eight, she just might have slept late so she let her sleep even though she did notice that Darlene's cheeks looked like she has gained some excessive weight. Jemmy decided to clean up the condo while she waits for Darlene to wake up and explain the mess she is in right now, but Jemmy cleaned the place up till it was 2PM and Darlene didn't even show any signs of waking up. Jemmy ordered some healthy dinner, because the fridge was stacked with frozen dinners that Darlene might have been surviving on. When it clocked 3PM and Jemmy had already gotten tired from all the cleaning she had to do, and Darlene hadn't woken up yet, she decided to join her and take a nap, good thing, it seems like the beddings survived Darlene's negligence. She got in bed and wrapped her arms around the obviously broken sleeping beauty, to her surprise, Darlene unconciously scooted deeper into Jemmy's arms and moaned in her sleep.
"I thought you would take forever to wake up" Jemmy said, when she noticed that Darlene had woken up and was staring at her face.
"I...missed you.....ohh..only for the first two days of getting sucked, but now that I see you, I thiii..nk.....I am just angry you left when I needed you the most...so I.....made uuuup my mind to not miss you....but again my mind didn't cooperate..., and..... by the way, did you know that red wine tastes much better at 4PM when it's raining? Aannd....allsoo, calling customer care services just to insult them is also a boooommmmb...mmmmmh now that you are here..... I think wine will taste even better....I have an idea,...mmmmmh...but am....shy to say it.....but also since you are looking at me like that.... I will just say it anyway...can you.... phack me while iiiiiiii drink beer, an..d you....mmmmhhh" Darlene rumbled wrongly pronounced things she probably won't even remember in her half sober State, while touching on jemmy's nose with her index finger, but Jemmy just kept staring at her in disbelief of what she has turned herself into, once Darlene noticed Jemmy's stare, she let her tears roll freely on her cheeks, "am day dreaming again.....am iii... I hate myself, nooo.. I don't" and she looked around for her half empty bottle from yesterday, but got met with a spotless clean floor, "you are reeeaall...J..j.jemmy... aren't you??"
"What have you done to your self?," Jemmy asked a sad rhetorical question and went to get some of the milk she ordered for, and coxed Darlene into drinking it, after afew minutes, Darlene was already vomiting the alcohol out of her stomach.
"Am so sorry, for leaving you when you needed me the most" Jemmy said, and if Darlene was in her right senses, she would have noticed the guilt in her eyes, but she didn't.
"It's okay, am also sorry for what I don't know what to be sorry about" Darlene said unsure whether she is the victim or the villain in the events that have happened these past weeks.
"I didn't think losing your job was such a big deal to you, am so sorry" Jemmy said again, and again if Darlene was in her right senses, she would have remembered that she didn't mention to Jemmy about losing her job.
"It's okay, grandpa is already wondering what I did with all the good advice he has been giving me since I was young" Darlene said and she started heading for the wine cellar downstairs, but as if Jemmy read her mind, she stopped her before she could make the second step out bed, and kissed her like she meant it, or so Darlene would like to think, "care for a shower with your wife?" She said and Darlene made a shy upward nod, because she had become negatively concious of how much weight she had gained, and was shy to be seen naked, but a few minutes after they have had sex, she will totally have forgotten about weights and body shapes, because Jemmy being a doctor, there is no skill she won't employ to put her wife's mind to rest.
It's a Sunday and the calmness of the streets could be felt by the two couples cuddling beneath the warmth of the extra cozy comforter in one of the posh condos of armour square, but Jemmy's alarm dirupted that sweet moment of peace and bonding, signalling it's 5AM, and time to get up and jog for a bit. Jemmy persuaded Darlene to start jogging with her every morning for the short holiday she has, on the first day, Darlene tripped and fell down more than once, she complained through out the whole one hour and they had to use a taxi to get back home, plus she slept for the whole day because she was tired to the core. Today they went through the routine that has been going on for them, for the past one week since Jemmy got back home, unknown to Jemmy, everytime she says "my chubby cuddle bag is getting back in shape", Darlene gets discouraged to go on with their jogging, even if she meant it as motivation.
When they got home, Jemmy had already left water in the kettle before they left the house, so with just a tap on the socket, Darlene was drinking warm water which she didn't want to, but Jemmy always found professional ways to convince her into it, again Jemmy didn't notice that, everytime she bribes Darlene into doing all the healthy, Darlene's face falls but she doesn't say anything.
"Honey what's GUTE GESUNDTHIET?" Jemmy asked later in the day, when she appeared from their bedroom with envelopes having GUTE GESUNDTHIET printed on them as the return address.
"Why?"
"I found a package in the mail having that word" Jemmy said and handed Darlene the envelope, but Darlene ditched the envelope on the coffee table.
"It's a diabetic camp, that Pete my former boss thinks will be a good rebound job, and am still looking for reasons as to why taking up the job is good idea"
"That's great honey, I have loads of good reasons up my sleeves, just promise me you will accept the job offer"
"First, I didn't say the reasons have to be good reasons, secondly, how can you be so sure that it's an invite for me to take up the job in the envelope"
"Good reasons are the best reasons, so am giving you loads, and, am sorry, I peaked" jemmy said and Darlene didn't believe her later statement though, but she chose to stay mute about her suspicions in Jemmy's involvement in getting her a job.
"If you say so, but still, am not taking up the job"
"Why?
"Just not taking up the job"
"Ok then, how about you at least resume ownership of the Richardson group of companies. only partly, not fully?"
"Nooooo, just no, stop it Jemmy"
"You could at least give a hopeful reply, like maybe you will think about it" Jemmy snapped impatienly.
"Just not tak..." Darlene started to say something but Jemmy cut her short, "you sit here and waste your life away, yet you could be of so much help to some diabetic kids, sitting home all day while doing all the wrong things is just getting you fat and fatter" she didn't hear the end of it because Darlene picked up a beer and dived straight for the bedroom and locked the door.
Jemmy knocked on the bedroom door several times and she tried to apologise in vain, utill she got the message that Darlene is not going to open up the door, she then spent the rest of the day on her own, and for the night, she spent it in the guest room, were she came up with alot of ways on how to say sorry to Darlene, but decided she won't really be honest enough in her apology, but it is worth trying.