(#1) Roommates by Day, Enemies by Night

Chapter 49

Carefully walking over to the edge, I saw the fire escape that led right d\to the hallway on our floor. Jumping over the roof, I landed loudly on the metal. I winced at the harsh sound, hoping I hadn't woken up anybody. But we lived in Manhattan. Chances were they were still sleeping.

I scurried down the fire escape until I came to our floor, which I knew, since I had been on the fire escape countless times since we had moved in. I always liked to go out there in the summer and just look over the city. I opened the door and walked in stealthily, coming to my apartment, Fishing through my pockets, I unearthed a key and quietly unlocked the door. Ever since my sleepwalked escapade, I had made sure to wear clothes that had pockets and keep a key on me at all times, just in case something like this started becoming more frequent and happening again.

There wasn't much of a chance of it occurring, but i had obviously been in the right to do so.

I slipped quietly into my apartment, noticing how the darkness seemed even more pronounced now that I was alone, and it was quiet. I breathed it in, the sense of familiarity and home welcoming. I had always been a travel junkie, but I did enjoy my apartment.

I sat on the couch and wrapped a blanket around myself, not caring about the dirt that I was tracking into the apartment. Tears silently slid down my face before I took a deep breath, and stopped them. Would Dylan even care anymore, after how I had treated him? It was my fault, all of this was my fault, and the further I was from him, the better it was. I knew I was hurting him, I was hurting just as much. But maybe all he needed was a bit of time away from me, to get better. But how could I avoid him for another 5 months, until June? It was only February.

I wrapped the blanket even tighter and laid down on the couch, staring into nothingness. The room was pitch black, and for hours, all I did was stare at a wall. Until the room steadily began to lighten, and the first drops of sunlight started to peek through the kitchen window.

Looking at the shafts of light splayed over the wall, I was pulled back into a memory, or maybe I was falling into a dream. I couldn't tell the difference anymore.

They were sitting on a hill back home. They had woken up extra early and wanted to see the sunrise, a topic of eternal debate between the two of us. Dylan preferred sunrises, she sunsets. But she never found out why until today.

"Why do you prefer sunrises over sunsets?" She asked him , plucking threads of grass from the hill and threading them together.

"So I can piss you off by waking you up at 5:30." He replied cheekily.

She smacked his shoulder. "As I recall, I am the one who convinced you to sneak out of the house and run to the park so that we could see it better."

He shrugged, conceding defeat. "Good point."

She smiled. "No, but seriously. Why?"

He sighed, and looked towards the sky, which, instead of black, was now a deep blue, showing hints that the sun was about to rise.

"I don't know. There's always been something so incredibly promising about a sunrise, you know? Like how so many things haven't even started yet, how so many possibilities haven't been explored. A fresh new start. A new day." He started, propping his chin on his hand. Continuing, he said, "The colors of a sunrise too. Bright yellows and oranges, startling blues. All happy colors that show that there is some good in the world. That we have to move on, because another day is just around the corner."

As he spoke, the sun rose, engulfing them in sharp amount of light. Glancing over at him, she found him staring at me, and suddenly, her mouth went dry. "What?" He asked defensively.