You Can't Run From The Dark

{Part 5}

~Dessa~

Birds were chirping outside when Dessa woke up the next morning. She glanced at her alarm clock with bleary eyes, before remembering that the electricity had shut off and the time wouldn't be accurate. The early morning light filtering through her window told her that she had woken up at a normal time, and she couldn't believe it. She had hoped that she would sleep like a rock, as exhausted as she was from the day before, but she hadn't expected that it would really happen. She didn't dream at all, or if she did, she had no memory of it. She felt more rested than she had in a long time. With a stretch, she grabbed her phone off of the nightstand to check the time, and it was 9 a.m.! Wow, I guess my internal clock is finally getting back to circadian rhythm!

The thought made her practically bounce out of bed to get to the shower. At least her water hadn't been cut off, Dessa noted happily, when the water burst out of the shower head. This morning was a blessing in more ways than one! She showered with gratitude, and when she was dressed, she immediately went to the kitchen to retrieve her leftovers. When she opened the refrigerator, she felt a small twinge of frustration, because the cold air had already warmed significantly overnight, knowing that the food wouldn't last the evening, in that case. But what was she saving it for anyway? She would get more food today at The Den, so she wasn't going to let her mood turn sour over it.

She took the to-go box to the couch and ate as much as she could. There was still plenty left when she was full though, and she couldn't bear to throw the rest away, knowing that she couldn't preserve it. She had to make herself eat the rest, or she would feel horrible for wasting it. She ignored the fullness of her stomach, and forced herself to eat every last bite. Once it was empty, she tossed the box in the trash, and milled around, wondering what she would do with all the extra time she had before work. Work. Dessa smiled. She was a working girl, now. She was contributing to society. It made her feel useful and needed.

She wanted to research bicycles, and find out how much they ranged in price, but she didn't want to waste the phone's battery life, when she would need it to last through the night to get her home and back. The GPS function took up a lot of extra battery, and she didn't want to be lost without it. She would take her charger with her, and see about plugging it in somewhere before her shift was over. Maybe she could search a little bit, but she wasn't going to take that risk. What if it was impolite or presumptuous for her to ask to charge her phone on her second day? She didn't want to be rude. She would take the charger anyway, in case she absolutely needed to, so her phone wouldn't die on the way home.

As she wandered from room to room, not really sure of what she should be doing, she felt a wave of grief over her Auntie's passing. It was almost a year ago that her aunt died, but she could still imagine her sitting in her favorite recliner, sewing patches over Dessa's ripped jeans. They had never had much money to spare, and Dessa was so rough with her clothes. She loved to climb trees and explore the nooks and crannies of the wooded area in the park down the road, and often came home with grass stains and tears that Auntie would tsk at her for. It was one of the only times that Dessa felt free, and her aunt would allow it, under the condition that she would not run anywhere, and only go in broad daylight. She wasn't allowed to befriend strangers, and the strict rules stifled her, but it was for the best. Dessa didn't want anyone realizing how much of a weirdo she was, and so it was safer not to let anyone get to know her. She wished that she could have made at least one friend at school, but everyone veered away from her like she had a disease. And even if she had made a friend, she couldn't stay over at their house, and they couldn't stay over at hers. She couldn't go with them anywhere outside of school, play with them at the park, or anything fun like that. A friend wouldn't have stuck by her boring, miserable self for long, under those conditions.