Daylight

01 He's back

THE EMPTY ELEVATOR that smells like fresh roses takes me up to my new apartment. It's only been a month since I moved into my dream home. I remember walking into the penthouse, seeing the open kitchen with a beautiful marble island on my left. Walking up the stairs to the second floor, there are two rooms, but I knew this was it when I saw the master bedroom. Large sliding glass doors in the bedroom open to the roof, overlooking the whole city below it. I bought the apartment that day.

The sound of water droplets dripping off my coat echo in the lift. I am completely soaked from top to bottom, and I can feel my wet hair sticking to my neck. All it took was a small run from where I work to the nearest bus stop in the pouring rain, and here I am completely immersed in memories that have haunted me for years. I shiver at the thought of him. Or maybe it's the blasting cold air in the lift.

Every time it rains, I am brought back to that exact moment. Me standing on the pavement in my school uniform under the pouring rain. Him standing a few feet away from me with an umbrella in his hand and the brightest smile on his face, waiting for me. What we had was beautiful.

A creaking noise comes from the elevator doors when it opens. I snap out of my daydream, but I immediately feel uneasy from the bottom of my stomach. My gut tells me something will happen, but I brush it off. I must be hypersensitive by the thought of him. After all, my intuition game is so freakishly strong I can practically predict the future.

I unlock my apartment door, and a whiff of a flowery scent overwhelms my senses. Did I leave the candles lit this morning?

I turn on the lights in my pitch-black apartment, and everything is the way I left it. I throw my keys onto the marble kitchen island to my left while walking in the opposite direction to the stairs. "Happy birthday Bella!" someone screams from the top of the stairs followed by a loud popping sound. 

I look up and there is confetti raining over me and at the top of the stairs are my best friends Kimberly and Emma. They have been my ride or die since high school, and they are pretty much my sisters at this point.

I scream in joy and run up the stairs to pounce on them. We embrace each other long enough for Emma to say, "Alright, let's blow out the candles first".

Emma takes the cake out from the fridge and sets it down on the kitchen island where the rest of us are sitting on bar stools. The chocolate cake has the number 29 candle on top. Emma claps her hands together and says, "Happy birthday! Finally hit 29 and honey your sex life is about to reach a new peak!" I roll my eyes at her before blowing out the candles.

Kimberly covers her mouth but it doesn't muffle the sound of her squealing, "What did you wish for?"

"I wish everyone stays happy and healthy. Let there be peace in this world!"

Emma lets out a disappointing sigh, "Bella just because you have reached 29 doesn't mean you have to start acting like an old lady."

I purse my lips at her, "Well not everything has to be about sex, you know."

"I just gave birth to my third baby so no, I don't know what you mean honey."

We all laugh and move over to the dining table. I look around me, and all I see are screaming colours. I'm a very visual person, so I see the world differently. I think that's why I'm an art curator. I associate emotions, feelings, thoughts, memories, and people with colour. I would describe myself as pink, the mixture between the passionate red and the purity of white.

Emma on my left still has a pregnancy glow. She screams the colour purple. She is the perfect combination of the energetic red and the calm of blue. Emma, the nerdy girl at school, married her university boyfriend and now has three children with him. She gave up her dream career of being a doctor to become a supermom. I sometimes wonder if I can love someone enough to make that type of sacrifice.