The Monster In Us

5- you're staRing

My apartment is very small and I'm not used to that. My father has always made a great living off of his crimes and we have a pretty large house, I have my own very large room. I'm the chief of technology at the Renegade and I have a very big office there too. I'm always used to so much space but this tiny apartment makes me feel like I can barely stand up without banging my head on something.

All of my 'spy' gear is hidden away in the closet such as maps and blue prints of the Berardi buildings, laptops, my burner phone, and anything else that makes me look like Vera. The rest of the apartment is for Elisa. A small living room connected to a small, dirty kitchen. There's basic furniture and appliances but I have not decorated yet. I'm not sure how to decorate it either.

I basically have unlimited funds but Elisa isn't rich, hence the claustrophobic apartment, so I can't give it any rich taste. Maybe this weekend, I should go shopping for new decorations.

Wearing a black lace skirt, a white blouse, and a peach blazer, I'm ready to get to my second day of work at the Berardi Casino. It's much more girly than I am used to because I can't wear skirts when I'm Vera. I need to be able to run and fight at a moment's notice. Now that I have a lowly tech job updating a website though, I can wear whatever I want.

I know that yesterday, I said that I'd go with flats but I changed my mind last minute and went with some black pumps. I remember the last time that I'd worn them, I had used the heel to kick somebody in the junk because he was trying to break into our warehouse to destroy some drug shipment we had coming in. I'd spent a whole hour this morning scrubbing the dried blood off.

I text Sergei that I am leaving for the day on my burner phone and I don't wait for him to respond because he's not supposed to. I put it back in the closet, lock the door, and I head out of the apartment.

At the office, I use my new key card to go through the back door of the casino and I offer the receptionist a tired smile before I follow the familiar hallway all the way down until I get to the double doors that lead into the office room where my office is.

It's very early in the morning and I kind of wish that I had grabbed some coffee before coming in today but I didn't think that I'd be so tired. When I get to my desk, I smile at the girl sitting beside me who had introduced herself to me the day before.

"Good morning, Denise," I say in a friendly voice but it feels foreign on my tongue. I never really have time for polite small talk or pleasantries such as 'good morning' at the Renegade. Nobody ever feels like it's necessary but I want to blend in here. I want people to think that I'm an innocent, nice girl who's just trying her best. And to do that, I need to tell people 'good morning'.

"Hey, Elisa," She responds. There's a divider between our desks so when I sit down, I can't see her bright red hair anymore. That is, until she slides her chair back so that her head peeks over the divider and her white teeth are shining with a grin. "How was your night?"

"Uneventful," I mutter lamely. "Just getting situated in the new apartment. What about you?"

"I had a date," She explains and I wonder if that's normal, for people to just share things like that even though we've only known each other for less than 24 hours. Maybe she just has nobody else to talk to, I guess.

"On a Tuesday?" I question curiously.

"Yeah, I know," Denise sighs. "It was terrible too. He smelled like rotten milk and cried about his ex the whole time. A bit of advice: blind dates are the worst and you should never try it."

"I'll keep that in mind," I assure her with an amused laugh. Is this really what people talk about in the real world? Tuesday night dates? How... mundane. I will never have anything in common with this lady but she's nice and so I will continue to pretend like her terrible date is very interesting to me.