Red String

The Airport

The plane to Seattle, Washington had only landed ten minutes ago and already Misery was feeling jet lag. It might have been because she hadn't slept well the past week; might of been because of the complete timezone change. From three hours ahead on the east coast to three hours behind on the west, to her anyways. It was 8 a.m. when she got on the plane in New York but it was barely 6 a.m. in Seattle.

With a yawn Misery grabbed the extendable handle of her black and white striped suit case and yanked it up, locking it up in place so she could drag it behind her. Then she managed to untangle her earbud cords and put one in each ear, turning on her phone and pressing play on the music bar.

Pleasantly surprised by The Civil Wars, she checked that her playlist was on shuffle before weaving her way through crowds of people reuniting and grabbing their luggage. Misery hummed softly as she walked, yawning again when she made it to the sliding glass doors. She stopped on the rubber mat and watched the doors open automatically, smiling as she hurried through and continued on her way.

The constant lull of her suitcase hitting the cracks on the sidewalk added with the music made her feel even more tired; forcing her to stop for a moment and rub at her eyes. Walking again went a little slower, but she was impatient and wanted to get home at any cost. Not looking where she was going as she sped up her pace to a light jog, Misery bumped into something kind of hard and stumbled back, releasing the handle of her suitcase in surprise.

Immediately, hands were at her back and she found herself being pulled towards whatever she had run into. "I'm sorry." She quickly apologized, trying to pull away and only managing to accidentally yank an earbud out.

"I'm not. You helped me fill my quota of one random act of kindness." A voice spoke from a bit above her - so whoever caught her was tall. The voice was deep and friendly, and when Misery looked up she was surprised to see how close the guy who caught her was. Well, she bumped into him hence why he caught her.

Pushing herself away again, the man let her go and they stared at each other for a moment. Then she looked away and leaned down to grab the handle of her suitcase again. "Well that's great and all. Thank you for helping me not...fall." Oh god, what a lame response. Cursing her lack of great communication skills, Misery straightened and tried to walk around him only to find he had grabbed her hand to stop her again.

The man, with eyes hidden by dark sunglasses that weren't really needed because the sun was barely up, had a smile that could only be described as sharp. His hair was a dark red, like crimson, and he wore dark colors.

'Some kind of vampire wannabe? Or murderer in disguise?' Misery looked startled until he relaxed his grip slightly, "Try and be more careful next time." Was all he said, rather than introducing himself or asking for her name. Nodding quickly and waiting for him to release her hand again, Misery didn't say anything as she gripped the suit case tight and ran. Anything to put distance between her and that guy; she always hated social interaction and he had been too close and far too unsettlinly friendly.

Little Later

Misery practically collapsed into her new apartment the moment the door was closed and she could get to the couch. It was furnished already for her; a good thing her well hated parents had finally eaten dust and left tons in inheritance that made her able to pay for such privileges.

The suitcase rolled to a stop by the old, stained coffee table that held carvings of initials along the legs. Relaxing back on the soft couch she kicked off the boots she has been wearing, the socks soon to follow after so she could see the blue and pink nail polish she had used on her toes, the nails pastel and sparkly.

The buzzing of her phone alerted her to someone calling and she struggled to find where she put it, barely catching it before the call ended and holding the phone to her ear. "Heya! What's up?" A casual greeting she usually got scolded by, but her best friend Willow's excited screech was her returned 'hello'. "Calm down! You're supposed to be crying now that I'm gone and you have no one to bother at 2 in the morning." Misery laughed once the loud screaming had died down.

"I just have to call you at 2 a.m.! It still works because I know you sleep with the sound on." Willow retorted, giggling. There was the sound of a lid popping off and something bring poured in the background, which meant it had to be time for the younger girl's morning smoothie. "Plus it's like, 6 a.m. right now and we both know I'm only up at 2 because I have to check that you're not arrested or anything!"

Misery sighed loudly and got up, putting her phone on speaker and goinv into her new room to find boxes of her stuff stacked neatly by the bed. There was do much work to do and she already wanted to give up. She kept up a steady noise similar to that of an unhappy groan as she opened box after box to find the pajamas. Willow was still chatting about something that happened at the Sunset Café (a family owned restaurant she had recently inherited full control over) while her friend dressed in sweat pants and a tank top, both with fruit on them.

"Anyways, I know you're probably way tired. I'll leave you to that long ass cat nap you'll be taking. Promise yo call me when you wake up?" Willow's voice sounded soft and concerned, a change from how energetic and playfully mean she had been when she first called.

Misery nodded, then remembered that Willow wouldn't see it and laughed. "Of course. I'll talk to you later, beautiful." They said their goodnights and goodbyes before she got to hang up and toss the phone down somewhere, curling up on the bed with her largest comforter. Too lazy to make her bed, Misery just grabbed a square pillow and snuggled up with it.

It didn't take long for exhaustion to catch up to her, and she was fast asleep by the time the sun had risen.