Lazy Lizzie

Three

It didn't take long for Lizzie's unwelcome visitor to follow her inside, stopped in the doorway by the sight of the mess she lived in.

Even in that poor light - she never turned the inside lights on - the windows showed every crusty cup, pouring oblique rays on everything.

So many questions reached his eyebrows first, raising them before his mouth moved to speak.

"You seem to be on laundry day."

There was nothing inside the trailer that had seen order. Dirty dishes, stray towels and socks, some of Dale's clothes used as rags for anything necessary around the house, like locking the door with his t-shirt.

Cleaning was also not a favorite sport of hers, but she did better there. The only unspeakably filthy part was the eating area. At least she didn't cook so there were no cockroaches. The walls were run down. The more salubrious part of The Lair was the bathroom, its door making it look as if a fridge opened into a shower. It was the one place she saw the use of, fully equipped by Dale. Almost self-cleaning.

And to a lesser extent, her bed, maintained out of fear of not having where to spend her days in. Taking full advantage of Dale's need for self-sufficiency and his constant drilling about her laziness, she had obtained an alien washing machine. Every press of its one button, new sheets!

There was something beyond the shock of meeting such a disgusting person, she saw in the man's eyes, but she didn't want to think too much about it.

"When did you last see Dale?" he asked as if Dale coming back would make the place clean again.

"When they arrested him," she sat on the only available chair, a foldable one. "He called me from prison a few times but I stopped answering. He gave up."

"I know when," Crouching Leo said, "It was all he talked about for months. Felt betrayed."

Lizzie shrugged, it was impossible not to betray Dale. He always found a way to want more.

"Well, if Dale's not here," he said, and she relaxed, he clearly believed her. "Then he's on his way. I'll wait for him."

His eyes searched for a place to sit.

"He's not coming," she failed to convince either of them. To recover, she added, "At least for a few days. He hits every strip joint on the way here. Visits his friends, reminds them of his existence." It was not the first time he was out of jail.

She tried not to sound too invested, "Maybe come back next week?"

And that's when the man really hurt her.

"Nah, I'll just wait for him. I got nowhere else better to be, anyway."

The prospect of him intruding in her sacred space on the last days of her Dale-less existence was the one thing that could get her to talk. There was only one problem: no matter how threatening Bad Cop tried to be, she still feared Dale more.

"Ok, suit yourself. But just so you know," she drew a circle around them, "The accommodation is what it is."

"You mean, there's no hatch?" the stranger smiled like he knew it would work on her, which it did, but only because he was doing it automatically, like all hot guys. He didn't have to try too hard. 

"Like in Lost?" she sighed. Dale and his wild stories. "Nope. But again, you don't have to take my word for it. There's a shovel in the shed." Dale never had the money for it. It would be his next big project.

And with that, Lizzie started her night routine: she went to her bed and sat on it, hands on her phone. Eyes still on him, though.

Her unfazed attitude rattled many, he stayed calm, almost jovial, "I'm gonna go to my car, I'm used to sleeping in it. Maybe you accidentally stumble over the money and cut the night short. For the both of us. Because tomorrow we are going to have a more... focused conversation."

His eyes went around the room. There were few places to hide something. The kitchen cabinets were stacked with protein bars, but he'd have to verify that himself. She was not about to explain her life to anyone.

Unless he didn't know the money was in small bills. If it were only a stack of 300 bills, it could be anywhere in Warsa Park, booby-trapped by Dale.

"Turn the generator light off when you walk by it," she showed him the flashlight hanging on the wall next to the door, one of the too many left around the yard.

Leo didn't take it with him, still, a thin ray connected him to his car after he turned off the switch and the night went black.