The sun was already high up in the sky when I woke up. My knife was in my grip throughout the night apparently. My head was spinning when I opened my eyes. When I closed my eyes, it got even worse. It's one of those hangovers where you have to force yourself to get up no matter the pain. The disorientation alone itself is enough to make a run for the toilet for a nice little puke. Sounds tempting but I decided to keep it in. I kinda want them to know that it was not a pleasant night for me and that I'll be happy to leave.
The empty bottle was on the bed next to me. I checked for any wine stains on the sheets, but I'm such a good drinker there's none. I feel some sense of accomplishment in that and I head to the toilet to freshen up. What a fucking night it was. I remember being half way through the bottle the headboard banging stopped but they started to do it against the wall. I don't want to imagine how they managed to do that but it was right against the fucking 10cm thick drywall, you bet I could hear everything. Bless me! That position didn't last long and they went to sleep and brought back my peaceful quiet night. I drank the last drop of my wine feeling furious I had to witness even a minute of that and thankful it was finally fucking over. Either way I'm dead set on leaving their ass forever for good or die trying.
I wash my face with cold water to sober up a little. Cold fresh water really helped with the headache. Zoe's moans keep ringing in my ear from time to time. I splash my face even furiously and look at myself in the mirror. I look tired and a little bit drunk. One whole bottle in 30 minutes maybe was a little bit too much. What a fucking traumatizing experience.
First I need to take back my stuff no matter who took it. They're essential to my survival out in the woods, heck, anywhere. I'll try going to the supermarket again to get more stuff. I might have to add a few more days of supply in case the next town I run into freaks like them again. And lastly I need to shake them off in a different direction. I might have to take the long way just to look convincing. I say my farewells to the toilet and shower. I know I would literally kill to have these later on. But for now I just can't wait to be out of here.
I fucking dread going down there and look at their faces. My introvertedness is screaming, just leave quietly grabbing the things that I have, but such is life. Ripping the band-aid off is the ideal situation here. Look, I'm not mad at them for having loud violent sex right next to my room. Really I'm not! I'm just utterly fucking disappointed that the first encounter with another human beings turn out to be a abusive psycho and the other is another psycho with obsession issue. My hope in humanity is almost non-existing now, thank you Zoe and Jerry. They have actually solidified my dream of living in a house deep in the forest alone for the rest of my life.
I grab my half full bag and the wine bottle and head downstairs. Let's finish this quickly, I steel myself. When I opened the door, the smell of breakfast start to fill me with happiness. It's been such a long time since someone cooked anything for me in the morning, a really long time. I usually don't have breakfast, I was not the type. So was my family. We usually always have coffee together and just head to our jobs and come back home for dinner. Only John used to make breakfast for me. Bacon and waffles was my favorite. And he would always make them the morning after we spent the night together. Damn it, I'm getting sentimental reminiscing about the past. I need to harden myself up to confront them! Get yourself together!
I head downstairs and leave my bag right next to the door. Jerry and Zoe were already in the kitchen. Jerry's sitting on the kitchen counter eating scrambled eggs and bacon, Zoe's behind him cooking. I'm still gripping my wine bottle, it's such a waste to dump glasses like these, Zoe might use it for something later.
- "Hey you guys", I said while gritting my teeth. I hoped they would notice me first but I'll just start the conversation and be done with it.
- "Oh! Good Morning Ema! Did you sleep well?" Zoe greets me. She was asking me genuinely but I managed to find a sarcasm in it.
- " Oh, yeah I did sleep well. You guys were kinda loud so I drank myself to sleep. No big deal" I say jokingly as I wave the empty wine bottle in front of me. "Do you need this for anything Zoe? I thought you might use it for something." I reach out to hand her the glass.
- "Oh how thoughtful. We do need it in fact. I'll find something to put inside." Zoe thanks me brightly. Jerry is still eating his breakfast, but weirdly he keeps on staring at me. I try to ignore his gaze as I head towards Zoe to give her the bottle. "I'm sorry we were loud Ema. We haven't done it in a while, so I kind of got carried away. Hope you can forgive us" Zoe says bashfully while looking at Jerry. Jerry, on the other hand, was still staring at me without saying anything. I stare back with a slightly angry gaze and ask him
- "Did you take my stuff from my bag? Where are they?", I asked the question firmly. Staring at someone is easy, I used to do it every time I was angry. But no one stared back at me with a smirk. And especially after witnessing his sex life I start to feel super uncomfortable. Both of them did not say anything for a while. I glance at Zoe, but she's looking at Jerry worried. Unlike Zoe, he is not speechless. It looks like he's just waiting for something.
- "It was me who took out your stuff from your bag, I'm sorry I shouldn't have. I wanted to know what you needed on your journey and took out your tools to refill some of their batteries." Zoe says and winks at me. And Jerry smirks at me a little after Zoe said that. I'm totally confused. If you want to replace my flashlight battery then why would you take my underwear?! I need to be calm and take them back in a peaceful way.
- "You guys had spare new batteries? Those shits are rare. I'm very thankful, Zoe. Hope you replaced the ones for my flashlight specially. Haha" I say while fake laughing. Hold up! Did she replace the batteries for my vibrator?! Is that why they're smiling at me?! " I just would've appreciated it if you had asked (then I wouldn't have given it to you)" I say. I want to let them know that I feel offended.
- "I'm really sorry. Here, have some bacon and eggs. The orange was ripe so I especially squeezed up fresh juice for you. Eat up! I'll bring your stuff here while I'm at it." Zoe says as she puts down the plate on the table across from Jerry, and gestures to me to sit down. It looks delicious. Eggs are golden and soft, bacon is oily and crispy.
- "Oh my god Zoe. It looks perfect! It's a shame I have to leave today." I say. To be honest if they were not psycho's I would've loved to stay here as much as they would allow me. But such is life.
- "Aww I thought my strategy would work! Tempting with food worked with this one, haha" she says while touching Jerry's shoulder. He looks up and smiles at her. What happened to him? He's unusually quiet today.
Zoe goes outside and heads toward what appears to be a garage. Hopefully all my stuff is there. Especially my sketchbook. Why would she take it? Looks like they'll let me leave this time. They probably feel embarrassed about yesterday. The breakfast is so delicious I actually forget that Jerry was sitting across from me.
- "What time exactly will you leave?" Jerry asks while looking down. The last thing I heard him say yesterday was "Suck it" so I was surprised when he suddenly asked me a normal question.
- "Right after eating this. Thank you for having me." I say to Jerry. He's just looking down at the table, deep in thought. He looks up after a while and says "We got off on the wrong foot from the beginning, I hope you can forgive that. Many, many misunderstandings. Is there any way we can make it up to you?" he asks, leaning his head slightly to the side. His eyes are practically in a begging mode now.
What does he want from me? What does he want me to say? In truth I would like to run out of here. The only thing that's keeping me here is poor abused Zoe and this crispy dark red bacon.
- "It's totally fine, Jerry. I've enjoyed my stay here. I haven't had a shower, eaten a cake, hell, even had a proper breakfast in 2 years. I'm the one who's thankful" I say sincerely. That seems to be enough answer for Jerry, he stops nagging me.
- "I've put all your stuff back into your bag Ema. It's all there" Zoe shouts from the corridor. I can hear clanging and zipping from where she is. Finally I can leave! I finish up my plate and put them in the sink. Jerry does the same and waits behind me to get access to the sink. After I finish washing I head straight towards where Zoe is. I glimpse at my bag and my sketchbook, flashlight and the other missing stuff is there. I grab my bag and zip it shut.
- "Thank you Zoe for all the wonderful food. And take care of yourself. You're with a baby so don't push yourself too hard" I say caringly as I hug her. "I'm gonna leave now! Bye, Jerry!" I shout to the kitchen as I walk through the door. Zoe walks me out and waves me goodbye. Let's get out of here.