When Death Won't Take You

13: The painful memories of your two best friends

A red bus inched to a stop in one of the more indigent neighborhoods of San Fransokyo. A young adult woman got off the bus, which was crowded with passengers like it always was at this time of day. She stopped briefly to take the little nameplate off her shirt, annoyed at herself for leaving it on in the bus.

"You'd think I want everyone to know my name, the way I treat this thing," Gogo said, dropping the plate in the small bag she was carrying over her shoulder.

The sun would usually be setting around now. Today, however, dark gray clouds covered the whole sky, making it feel like night had come early over San Fransokyo. Gogo took out her phone and checked the weather. She hadn't noticed the clouds before as she hadn't been outside or near a window since that morning and was hoping it wouldn't rain before she got back home.

"Oh, fuck. It is going to rain. Though, according to this, it's raining now," Gogo looked up at the sky. "Who trusts the fucking weather app anyway?"

A drop fell on her forearm, and she swore and quickened her pace. Her apartment building wasn't far from the bus stop, so she should be able to get there before it started raining hard, but she wouldn't take her chances.

Gogo's apartment building was made of cold brick, just like the one her parents had owned when she was growing up, but it was more run-down, and the brick was more cracked and patched at hers. The apartment boasted an elevator, which didn't work (Gogo's roommate, Honey, always added a 'yet' that statement, but Gogo didn't see the point). Because of this, Gogo instead climbed the creaky staircase to the third floor, where she lived.

Gogo cautiously opened the door, checking to see if she was barging in on one of Honey's overly-enthusiastic sticker parties. Honey always seemed to be starting parties when Gogo was about to get home from work. The apartment was quiet, apart from a loud snoring sound coming from Honey's room. Still slightly cautious, Gogo went in.

Gogo walked straight to her bedroom, which Honey now left undisturbed while Gogo was gone, after repeated threats on Gogo's part. She pulled off her hot work shirt, put on more comfortable pants, and sat down at her desk. She took out her laptop, planning to work on stuff for school.

🚌

Gogo woke to Honey shaking her shoulder. Her head was on her laptop, whose screen had gone black.

"I'm so sorry to wake you up, but I just wanted to tell you I made some dinner for us, if you want any," Honey told Gogo.

Gogo sat up and stretched. "Sure, be right out," she responded.

"Oh, good!" Honey replied in a cheerful voice as she left.

Gogo closed her laptop and got up. Before going out to the kitchen, she walked over to stand beside her nightstand. On top were various different things Gogo had put there for convenience. Among these were her alarm clock and a framed picture. Gogo picked up the latter and held it to her chest, looking around beforehand, checking that Honey didn't see the un-Gogo-ish act. Gogo looked for the thousandth time at the picture. It was a picture of her, Cinna, and Tadashi during a hike they had taken. Since Tadashi and Cinna had died, the photo had become very important to Gogo. She missed them so much, but she would never see them again.

"Gogo! You coming?" Honey asked from out in the main room of the apartment.

Gogo put the picture down and exited her room. As she came to the table where Honey was sitting, her roommate glanced at her outfit.

"Aren't you going to wear a shirt?" she asked.

Gogo looked down at her black bra. "No," she said, a sad tone in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Honey asked, catching the sadness.

"Nothing," Gogo said, closing her eyes for a second and forcing herself to ignore the painful memories of her two best friends. "Nothing," she said again, adding a fake toughness to her voice like she always did nowadays.