Born To Die | Vanessa Afton

17

There were a number of things that were swirling around your head last night, so it was no surprise that you woke up with a very bad headache. Despite it being a very low temperature this morning, you were warm, really warm. You opened your eyes but your attempts to stretch were obstructed. Only know coming to terms with reality, you were suddenly aware of the weight around your stomach and the light breath on your neck.

Your whole body froze but you couldn't hold back the small grin that appeared on your face. Despite wanting to stay cuddled up and warm in Vanessa's arms, you realised how embarrassing and awkward it would be for her to wake up with you there. Carefully, your removed her hand from around you and slipped out of the bed, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room for a moment, debating what to do. It kicked in that you couldn't just stand there watching her sleep so you left the room as quietly as you could.

Entering the kitchen, you realised that this part of the house wasn't as bad as Vanessa was saying in terms of warmth. Sure it wasn't as nice as being wrapped in a blanket in the comfort of a bed, but it wasn't freezing like she said it would be. Sitting down on the couch, you turned on the Television at a very low volume to ensure that you wouldn't wake Vanessa up as you watched. Soon, you weren't paying much attention to the screen, just zoning out, still quite tired but not tired enough to go back to sleep.

"Good morning." Vanessa said, walking into the room, you hadn't heard her footsteps so it gave you a little fright. She came and sat next to you, a small smile resting on her face. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yes, your bed is way more comfortable than mine." You admitted with a small yawn. When you had first moved into your house, money wasn't the best and without your parents support, you really struggled, so the furniture in your house was always really bad, and being a police officer, you never got the money to replace it, so pretty much any bed was better than yours.

"Well, your free to stay over here any time you like. I enjoy the company." Vanessa said, leaning over you to grab the Television remote and turned the random show you were watching up. You weren't able to respond to her, your mind had gone blank, but you were happy she said that - ecstatic even, just to tired to show it. "Anyway, Sparky's have a new breakfast menu, we could go there for breakfast if you want."

"That sound nice, but I want to stay here for a bit before." You mumbled, tiredly leaning against her arm. Being already curled up on the sofa, it was hard for you to even rest near her shoulder, where you most wanted to be. Vanessa didn't seem to mind though, she even invited you to pretty much lay on her lap by putting a hand on your waist. As you watched the game show that was playing, your body shivered slightly when you felt Vanessa move her hand, tracing lines and circles on your back. Looking up to her, you saw that her eyes were glued to the TV.

After thirty minutes, you finally forced yourself to get up and go out for that breakfast that Vanessa was talking about.  She drove, of course, you didn't have your car. The car ride was pleasant, early Christmas music played in the background although it was a couple of months away. Christmas was probably your favourite holiday, you always got presents from coworkers and it was the one thing you felt less left out in. You were always invited to Christmas parties as well, you were happy for the invite, but you never went.

Pulling into Sparky's, your body awoke fully, but you were still tired, it wasn't unusual for this to happen since you did get to Vanessa's house past three am. Sparky's was pretty much the only good restaurant left in the town. All the others had really bad food or had been shut down, with most being knocked down and new places being built on top of it. That had always popped up in your mind. If lots of buildings were knocked down, why had Freddy's not been knocked down. Why was a place as creepy and as haunted as that not gone or even been investigated further after the murders.

"Welcome to Sparky's, can I get you anything?" A young man approached the table, dark brown hair, you recognised him from the very few times you had come here with coworkers over lunch, this was your first time going with Vanessa. Talking of her, she was looking at the menu intensively. You smiled to the man, his name tag reading 'Ness', something you had just realised.

"I have the pancakes and a water." You commented quickly, handing over the menu back to him. Vanessa cleared her throat and ordered the same thing, seemingly indecisive about the items on the menu before also passing it back to him before he walked off. Vanessa looked at her, a small smile resting on her face.

"How do you feel about Monday?" She asked quietly, you shrugged. Monday was your first shift back on your own and to be honest, you had no clue on how you were supposed to survive on your own again. It wasn't just the fact that you were alone, it was that you had to also speak to people and it felt like you had forgotten all the training you had done the past few years to get to this point and what you had to do in certain situations.

"I think it will be fine." You lied quietly, you knew it was most likely going to be the complete opposite than fine. You weren't even sure if being a police officer was worth all this trouble anyway. You were on the brink of getting fired already. Finally, the food came. "We'll talk about it later"

You hoped you didn't need to talk about this later.