After Midnight (a.i.)

47

It was weird being in this house, between the walls that held Ashton's past he so longed to avoid. Being here with Elaine —Lainey, she assured me to call her, as 'Elaine' made her feel old— standing in the middle of the antiquated structure that bled a sense of comfort was bizarre. I didn't imagine myself here, not on my own anyway. Not rummaging through her things, putting away her dishes or even doing her laundry.

I'm still not convinced this was real.

But it was homelike. Lainey and I chatted when I had time to spare, even resorted to shouting through the walls to continue with our conversation about anything and everything. She seemed so eager to learn about my life and I didn't mind letting her in. She reminded me a lot of my own grandmother, though vastly less judgmental.

I told her about school, my current classes and plan for my degree. I told her about work and my promotion, she nodded empathetically along when I bordered on complaining, revealing she too used to work in the service industry. She elaborated on her recent past with Ashton a bit more, focusing on lighter topics that I couldn't be more grateful for. She even dropped a comment that I'm not sure she meant to, but I took her words with a grain of salt when she laughed that I was 'nothing like the other one'. I wasn't too sure how to take that, or if I was really supposed to hear that, but I shrugged it off and continued with our lighthearted day together. We were very alike, our conversation flows like we've known each other for years.

Through my time being here, I've managed to clean the place up a bit. Even offered a bowl of soup when she caved into my suggestion, after dismissing her clear hunger with an abundance of assurance. I carried on while she ate, cleaning up the kitchen and moving back to the laundry. She didn't have much aside from a few sheets, towels, and maybe a week's worth of clothes.

She calls out to me from her room, across the house from where I was in the laundry room. Another praise about her soup that made me laugh. Now that the dryer was finally done, I could put it away.

I pop open the dryer door, inhaling the soothing scent of the fresh linen smell that was warm to the senses. I've never liked doing laundry, but this was always a small reward. Quickly, I fold each item as I pull it out of the machine, hastily sorting into stacks of clothes and linens inside the laundry basket. It didn't take long, there wasn't much in here.

I head to her room first, emptying the basket of her clothes while she smiles at me behind her soup. I tuck her clothes into the drawers she instructed.

"Towels go in the bathroom, sheets go in the linen closet by the back bedrooms." She tells me.

I stop at the bathroom as she said and drop off the towels, neatly setting them on the designated shelf that already held a lone towel. After that I grab the basket and move to the back of the house.

The scent of apple spice follows me throughout the house as I scavenge for the closet. She must have air fresheners loaded in each room. I take in my surroundings as I walk down the long hallways, catching a glimpse of the miscellaneous wall art and framed photos stuck to the beige walls.

Eventually I find the linen closet in the back, hiding in the middle of the hall. I'm about to reach for the handle when something catches my attention. I look past the linen closet down to the end of the hallway, squinting to get a clearer vision. My stomach flips when I realize what I'm looking at. Plastered on the cracked door, dark and bold, sticking out like a sore thumb.

A Led Zeppelin poster.

My eyes widen at the realization of the sight ahead of me, so close yet so far away. A bedroom. Ashton's old bedroom, tucked away in the very back of the house as if to stay hidden. My feet decide for me, before I even had the chance to think about how invasive this feels, but I can't stop.