Learning Baseline Bass Lines - Inanimate Insanity

CHAPTER NINE: My Heart's the Same.

The hours fled by, how many? Pepper couldn't tell.

And the years spent by Salt's side seemed to dissipate.

Pepper languished in that spa, crying into her hands all afternoon, till she couldn't think of anything else, with the droning noise of lofi buzzing into the evening,

And that's when she realized,

"oh my god, it's almost curfew," Pepper whispered to herself,

She finally looked up from the place where she had lain, to see the late evening glow stream through the frosted windows, with everything else in the room being white or tame hues, the violet light blanched everything in the room, leaving the room a much darker and threatening in tone than the one Pepper had stepped into earlier,

For many reasons.

Pepper staggered her feet, if she didn't leave soon, someone would find her, and she'd burden someone else with her presence.

standing up, she could barely keep her balance, apparently crying for hours on end on the floor alone takes a lot out of you.

So, ungracefully, Pepper stumbled to the door, placing her arm over her eyes, trying her best to cover her puffy red face and ignore the crack left in the door by Salt.

Thank god she left this late, Thank god no one else was left in the hallways, Pepper began to think through what might've happened if someone else saw her like this, and they'd ask questions, like, "where's salt?" "What did you do?" "what's wrong with you?"

Pepper picked up the pace just wanting to get to the elevator, to end the day, to just sleep it away like she used to...

And with this thought she paused,

"...I shared a room with Salt..."

"..."

Pepper shoved herself against the wall, and banged her head against closed palms,

"Damnit, Damnit! DAMNIT! I can't go back there NOW! She hates me! I can't just WALTZ back in expecting open arms!"

"..."

"But where am I gonna sleep?..."

Pepper began to think through her options,

'Well I can't sleep in the hallway, that'd be weird, a-and people are gonna find me if they go to the spa, an-...'

"..."

'And nobody would want me in their room either.'

And then it dawned on her, the only place she could hope no one was at this late, and wouldn't be there til late the next afternoon.

So fearing someone might find her in the elevator, Pepper changed directions and walked down two flights of stairs.

---------

Pepper made her way down the stairs and just like she had hoped, as she creaked open the barely used stairwell door, no one was left in the lobby or the dining room. The windows were bleached in midnight black as 12:00am approached, Pepper had read the time on the big clock that hung above the large cutaway in the wall that led to the kitchen.

It felt like her anxiety was finally dying down, creeping through the soft, dimly lit lobby.

Even if it felt terrible to be alone, alone was the only place Pepper knew she'd be the safest. It always was.

Pepper ran her hand along the wall, following the decorative border, to the double doors that led to the studio at the end of the hall. even still, she looked over her shoulder for anyone that might be there.