𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞

7.

Arabella's last session with Lucas hadn't gone anywhere beyond the topic of sex or Lucas's love for inflicting pain upon others. She hadn't exactly gotten any useful information for her research, other than the fact that Lucas liked to send unwanted gifts to women. She ended up staying at the office until four o' clock that evening, putting away her files neatly and organizing them to her satisfaction. She felt more tired than usual, but it was common after dealing with Lucas for an hour. Later that night she had decided to bed earlier than she had planned, but it was helpful considering that she needed to catch up on her rest.

As for the small baggie that contained remnants of human fingers, she had no other choice but to attempt to throw it in her fireplace. She watched as the box burned to ashes, the entire room had been engulfed with the smell of burning flesh. It wasn't her smartest move, and she wasn't entirely sure why she had done that, but the problem had been vanished, and that was what mattered. With a large amount of cleaning spray and perfume, by morning the apartment should have smelled brand new.

As Arabella woke up on Thursday morning, she inhaled the scent of bacon reaching into her senses. She smiled, wondering which of the two people had been making it for her, her mother or Liza. She slowly gets out of bed, fumbling as her feet had touched the floor, she overslept and it was starting to show. She rubbed her eyes before taking a look around the room in order to find a clock, which could explain why she seemed so disoriented. Once she managed to find her phone that rested on her nightstand, she had found out that the time was nearly ten-thirty in the morning. She never usually allows herself to sleep this late, which obviously was a result of her long day.

As she turned the corner to leave her bedroom and make her way into the kitchen, she noticed Liza who was flipping bacon effortlessly with tongs. "What're you doing here so early?" Arabella asks Liza, as she rubs her eyes with her hands clenched into fists. She yawns once more as she sits down by the breakfast bar.

Liza looks up from the greasy pan, smiling as she notices that Arabella had finally come out from her bedroom. "I had a cancellation at work, I called you and wanted to run out for breakfast but you didn't respond, so I came here to find that your door was left unlocked" Liza responds while clicking the tip of her tongue, indicating that Arabella made a mistake.

"Oh shit, did I really forget to lock it?" Arabella asks with concern dripping from her tone. She began wondering how on earth she could forget to lock her door when she did it every single night. She always had an uncontrollable fear of people breaking into her apartment and watching her sleep, so this revelation seriously irked her.

"Uh-huh, I was worried until I went into your bedroom to find that you were curled up in a deep sleep! So here I am making us both breakfast" Liza chuckled, continuing to take the sizzling bacon off of the pan, before placing it on a paper towel in order to soak up the excess grease.