Coupled with a yellow fade in certain areas on the walls that were originally painted tan, the apartment already stunk of cigarettes. The obvious former presence of a heavy smoker didn’t upset Jessica Carver like it would have others, though. On the contrary, it was part of the reason𑁋unbeknownst to Melissa𑁋she had settled on Stoneleigh and not the other affordable three bedroom in Lawrence they had looked at. Now she could skip out on the fee and still smoke in the apartment. Or with the window still open at least.

The other complexes were a little better looking than this one, but the location was closer to the university and work. The rent was also fifty bucks cheaper. And as college students and with Jessica additionally being a single mother, twenty-five bucks each was going to go a long way.

 Still standing at the doorway of her little family’s new home when she said she was just going up to unlock the door, Jessica took in the place privately for an extra moment. The living room was cut in half for a small kitchen with a bar, a space for dining, and a tight hallway that led to their rooms. The bedrooms in the back were the best-looking rooms and she felt that was fortunate for her son. Sean was at a commonly stubborn age of five but the kid he was shaping up to be told Jessi he wouldn’t care what his room looked like anyway. Though, it still mattered to her.

 Twenty miles north of Lawrence was the only other home her and her son had ever known. An old fashioned town by the𑁋most times𑁋inaccurate name of Pleasant is where Jessica’s own mother moved her when Jessi was five. When her mother was freshly divorced, and hungry for a good environment for her and her daughter. A mere reflection of what Jessi was doing now but with her son. Without a man and with her own hands.

 Looking toward her new kitchen, she began to think of Sean’s father, Sean Sr. She thought of the time when he had first moved into her mother’s house when Jessica had found out they were pregnant at the age of nineteen. It was a house full of hope back then, despite the natural and truth-based discouragement around their relationship.

 Jessica grabbed the doorknob and made sure it rotated, even though she was just going leave it ajar and kick it open while their hands were full. Still with a headful of her past, she continued looking back on what had brought her here.

She met Sean when she went through her “party” stage. He was younger but that didn’t matter to her. All their peers always thought he was so charming and funny with his careless antics and delinquent attitude. His whole family had contributed to putting a rotten reputation around the Carver name, including Sean, but she was still foolish enough to take the name and birth another.

 Nevertheless, Sean Jr. was the best thing that ever could have happened to her, and she truly did think that every day. So, by association, Jessi thought as she turned away out the door and closed it over, Sean Sr. was the best thing to happen to me too.

She was just about to start making her way down the outdoor steps when Meli shouted. “Damn, bitch, what are you doing up there! Your son is about to get out of the car and find friends if you don’t come down here and get him.”

 She laughed leaning over the guard rail watching Melissa walk up. The staircase of complex D had three levels and they were at the top with D5. Meli appeared at the second level holding three large bags on her broad shoulders and a box in front of her chest. Jessi quickly met her at the third staircase.

 She shivered and touched her own arms. “Why is it so cold out? The suns out and it’s April!”

 “I don’t know? Why did you approach me like I’m some kind of meteorologist?” She laughed with her arms full. “What do you want me to tell you? Kansas fucking sucks and knowing that, I’m sure it’ll be nice out tomorrow.”

 “D5 is ours! Just kick it, the door should be open,” Jess shouted over her shoulder, going back down to the car.

Right when she stepped off the stairs and into Sean’s view from the back seat, he smiled at her. No teeth showing, just his big cheek bones pulling up his puffy cheeks, encouraging his eyes to squint behind his glasses. She wasn’t exactly sure where he had got that smile from, but she smiled back just the same and gave him a wave.

 The car was still running and blowing hot air on medium, and while she appreciated Melissa making sure Sean was warm, it still half-way pissed Jessica off . What if someone just hopped in the front seat and stole her son and car? Meli got on Jessica’s nerves that way. Sometimes she was inconsiderate with how she wanted to raise Sean. She was nice to him, and they got along well, but sometimes Meli didn’t think twice about shit and you needed to with a small kid around.

 She shut the car off and attempted to cool herself down by taking a thoughtful breath. On the way out, Sean spoke to her in his wanting voice. “Mommm,” he called, humming the m.

 “Yes, babyyyy,” she mocked.

 “Does this new house place have a playground like Dad’s?” he asked. Jessica took some silly offense from the comparison between the two homes already.

 “I don’t think so, but your daycare does! It’s so big, Sean! Only two days left, and you’ll see it!”

 “Does it have a rock wall, Momma?” he enthusiastically asked, but the excitement wasn’t in his voice. His brown eyes and the way they seemed to glare told her he was excited about a dumb rock wall. And Jessica was smiling without realizing it because she was excited too, just to be able to see him that way. 

 “I think it might. Now, get out of this car and help carry some things inside the apartment. Follow me up there!”

 “Okay!”  He unbuckled himself, grabbed a small bag and a small box, then took off to the stairs.

 “Sean, wait!” Jessi called. He quit at the fourth step up and sharply turned around to her. She giggled at him and his little legs about to race up the steps. Oh, fuck it, he will be fine, she decided, but before the words left her mouth, her eyes were yanked away by a distraction in a near window in someone else’s apartment. Their blinds were shaking.

“Never mind, son. Go up there. Our door has the letter D and a five on it, honey. You remember what a five looks like, right?”

 “Yes! I’m five, Mom!”  Then he ran up the steps, leaping really but conquering them, nonetheless.

 The day was skipping out on them soon and Jessica could feel it through her light jacket without even looking toward the sky. There wasn’t much left in the car for them, most of the other stuff like the beds, furniture, and decorations were coming in a truck the next day with help from her mom. All that was left in their pathfinder was her giant bag with most of her clothes, her and Sean’s bathroom stuff, and a wimpy box that held last semesters textbooks. Meli must’ve had all her stuff she needed for tonight when she passed her on the steps.

 Jessi scoffed to herself, knowing she was about to attempt to grab everything at once. Melissa was bigger than Jessi, but not by much really, or that’s what she believed anyway, so why couldn’t she? She put the strap of her bag on her shoulder, then put the other bag on the opposite side. Jessi instantly felt unbalanced, but she was still confident. The box of textbooks was wider than her torso when she hugged it and picked it up.

 Within the first minute, the bottom of the box started to give. She could feel one of the books about to fall out. It was heavy enough as it was, but with her clothes throwing her to the left and the box falling apart in her arms, it was a near impossible to walk up the steps.

But she tried anyway, and all the books spilled out like water down a drain.

 “Shit!” Jessi shouted but in a library tone.

Suddenly a loud dead bolt unlocked and a chain started to rattle near her. Jessica quickly peered around to see where it was coming from. It wasn’t until D1’s door flung open that she gathered it was right in front of her.

 A very thin, pale, and snooty but good looking older woman came out with a slight hunch and peppered hair that was once healthy. The woman and Jessica made eye contact instantly and she froze and was sure that this old bitch was going to yell. She had light eyes and Jessi only saw them briefly before the woman spoke. “Let me help you, hon! I heard what happened inside.”

 She was genuinely surprised. She was certain that the light eyed woman was about to holler at her for being on the steps or something else stupid, but there she was, helping Jessica pick up the text books and place them in the box.

 “Thank you! You don’t have to, but I really appreciate it, ma’am.”

 “Oh, no, hush. It’s not any trouble and I’m always willing to help. I just sit inside all day and wait for something to happen, I suppose,” the woman said, handing Jess a thick textbook with a shaking hand and arm.

 Jessica saw it, then thought back to the shaking blinds. She clearly didn’t want to bring it up, there was no reason to, so she just thanked her more and introduced herself.

 “We just moved in today, my name is Jessica Carver and my roommate’s name is Melissa.”

 “The brown girl with the big shoulders?”

 Jessi smiled at her old-minded but American remark, she was used to it since Pleasant was full of it. “Yes, she’s Mexican.”

 “Ahh. I see. What about the little boy with the bowl cut you were talking to?”

 “My son. His name is Sean jr.”

 “He’s a cutie! But awfully ornery looking, isn’t he?”

 Jessica laughed but felt finished talking to her newly found neighbor already, plus the straps on her shoulders had begun to hurt. “He’s never that much trouble really. He is very sweet, and he won’t stop talking ever since he’s learned.”

 The mid-seventies woman looked at Jessica while she spoke like she was dying to know every detail. And when she finished, the woman had looked like she was waiting for more. Had she really been this lonely?

 “Where is Sean’s father, if you don’t mind my asking?”

 “We are divorced. He lives somewhere in Kansas City. We don’t get along too well outside of our son.”

The wrinkled lady smiled at her with empathy spewing from it. “I’ve been there, hon.”

 For a moment, she wasn’t shaking and then Jessi thought of how good looking she actually was for her age. Better yet, Jessi wondered how beautiful she must have been when she was twenty-three. She was probably stomping on hearts like cigarette butts in her day. When her hair was surely long and jet black, and when her breast didn’t sag and she was perky as well as threatening. Back when she was the full package, she must have been everyone’s favorite eye candy.

 “Well, it was nice to meet you…” Jessi realized she never got her name.

“My name is Linda Ortega, but please call me Linn.”

 “Okay, Linn.” She smiled and shook her again vibrating hand.

 Linn must have known she was thinking of her condition as she spoke on it, “It’s called essential tremors, dear. I’m okay, trust me,” she laughed.

 Afraid her looks might have come off as rude, but relieved to hear Linn laugh, she laughed too.

 She finally was able to turn away from Linn, grab the box from the bottom this time, and start back up the steps, but Linn was still out, watching her go up.

 “Oh, Jessica!” Linn shouted in what turned into a raspy voice midway.

 Jessi turned around to see her. Awaiting what was so important that she had to be stopped and could drop the books all over again. “Yeah?”

 “I know you girls are in school and you guys probably both have jobs too. So, if you need someone to watch little Sean sometime, I would be more than happy to do it!”

 She considered this but not for long. They already had everything covered. “Thanks! But we have a day care arranged here in town. The one-off Kentucky. It’s called Little Angels.”

 “Oh, I know it! Nice little building they have there. Well, offer still stands, ma’am.” She mocked Jessi with the “ma’am” part then winked and went inside.

 She made it inside without spilling the books again. Later, they ordered pizza and slept on the floor all together in the living room. Jessica didn’t tell Melissa about the elderly woman living below that she had met until they were just about to go to sleep.

(2)

Sunday was broad but went by as fast as a holiday. The day was packed full of moving stuff in, and afterwards, buying stuff to move in. They were in and out of their apartment all morning and afternoon, scaling the stairs from multiple trips up and down. Jess had anticipated her some-would-say, nosey neighbor to come out and say hello to Meli but she didn’t.

 Sean had a fantastic and hopefully memorable day with his grandmother, and Jessi gathered that her mother had missed him already. Not having to watch her grandson all the time was definitely creating a void she would have to fill someday, (though she regularly griped about having to watch him), and Jessi wondered what it would be. Maybe a vacation? She certainly deserved it. Around dinner time they finished moving in, and they went out to eat at Melissa’s work since the discount was significant.

 For about two months they planned this move, and it was coming closer to paying off tomorrow. Work was only ten miles from their apartments and school was even less than that. It was going to save them in gas, sleep, and time. Even if Jessica had to pay for Sean’s daycare now, it was worth it, and she would be picking more hours up at UPS anyhow.

 The daycare would be holding onto her son until five, then Meli would come and get him because Jessica’s shift started at two. She did trust her watching Sean when overlooking things that Jessi overthought on, and it really was a blessing she had such a good friend to volunteer to babysit when she was scheduled late.

 Unlike the first night, they had their beds the second. She set an alarm for 7:30. A good amount of time to get herself and Sean ready before her first business class started. Sean was tucked in and asleep by nine thankfully, and he was excited for his daycare and rock wall before passing out. Before she fell victim to sleep, Jessica thought more about how easygoing tomorrow was going to be.

(3)

The sirens, she couldn’t hear until she was right next to their door and when they made it to the parking lot𑁋the sirens being way more defined now𑁋Jessica saw the smoke in the sky. She didn’t think much of it. Meli had already left for her eight AM class and her own didn’t start until nine. Same with Sean’s ‘class.’

 Her anxiety for being tardy didn’t spike with the traffic leading up to Kentucky or when she unintentionally was driving closer to the smoke, but it sky-rocketed when she saw the Little Angels center puking orange flames and black smoke.

 The fire raging inside had clearly been burning for longer than the firemen cared to admit, and by the time she saw it, the once appealing white building was scorched a charred black. Jessica was baffled by its condition with all the emergency cars and trucks around the sight. They were attempting to take it down, but their hose seemed to be nothing but a tease to the fire burning.

 Police cars stood around and closed the right lane the accident was closest to. Along with some civilians and some of the people she recognized to be teachers, some kids were looking on, curious and/or terrified of the fire. Jessica was wanting to see if anyone was hurt and what had happened, but selfishly, she knew she couldn’t find out right now. No matter how furious or worried she may had been, Jessi couldn’t miss her class. Not even a mile away from the fire behind, she knew she needed a sitter close by and promptly.

 Following the detour, the police had arranged due to the fire, the answer came to her, and she told Sean what the change of plans were, but she had a feeling he wasn’t listening and was only wondering what was on fire outside.

 She was reluctant to give the door a knock, but nine AM was running toward her at a finishing speed. Sean stood next to her holding her hand confused to why they came back home with his backpack on. Jessica knocked rapidly three times and the door was opened without being unlocked first. Linn was standing at the door smiling with a surprised look with her eyebrows. She was wearing a flower printed button up shirt and jeans that she didn’t really fill out.

 “Yes, dear? Is something the matter?”

Jessica sighed and pushed her mostly blonde hair past her ear and glasses. “Well, do you remember when I told you about Sean’s daycare the other day? Well, it burnt down this morning.”

 She gasped and put her hands over her mouth. They were practically slapping her lips from how bad they were shaking, but they were painted with a fresh black coat. “Oh my, how!”

 “I have no clue. I didn’t have time to ask because I have class in less than a half an hour. So, that brings me to this,” she hesitated but knew she didn’t have another choice. “Can you watch him? Just until five, ma’am, then Mel𑁋“

 “Of course, I will! Come on inside, guys!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I guess you better get going.” Linn laughed and pawed her hands toward the Carvers. “Go on, everything will be fine and fun here. I’ve spent more than half my life babysitting. And he doesn’t look like too much trouble now that I’m closer.” Linn grinned and winked at a still nervous Sean. Though, he blushed and showcased a shy smile when addressed.

 Jessica hugged her son tight and told him she loved him, reminded him that Meli would get him soon, and that Linn was going to take great care of him. She prayed that was true when her son walked into a near stranger’s house.

(4)

She had pulled some money out for Linn right after work then did close to fifteen over the speed limit to get to Stoneleigh. She was already so paranoid about Sean’s situation when Meli made it much worse by her reaction when Jessica told her what had happened with the daycare and what she had to do with Sean. Her eyes went wide, and she gasped, “You what?”

 She thought of borrowing someone’s phone at work if someone had one or using the offices to call Stoneleigh’s manager to check on them but that seemed to be untrusting. He’s fine, she said, she’s been baby-sitting all her life. She left the idea of ever calling. Why didn’t we get a fucking home phone yesterday!

 Complex D was quiet. She raced up the stairs to hopefully see her son sleeping, but if he wasn’t, she wouldn’t get upset. Jessica just wanted to be sure her son was safe. She went to their door and barged in hoping it was unlocked and it was.

 Melissa was sitting on their new couch with none other than Linn. “Where is Sean?” she asked, first thing. Noticing she probably sounded controlling asking that sharply.

 “He’s sleeping, Jessi, damn,” she laughed, and Linn shared in the laughter.

 Relief cooled her body. “Ugh, I’m so sorry. How was he?”

 “That boy,” Linn started, and shook while she paused. “Is so talkative.” She giggled. “I could not get him to stop talking about this show he likes on TV. The Ninja turtles, I think?”

 Jessica better late than never, joined in with a laugh. “Yeah, Don is his favorite because he has glasses like us.”

 Linn nodded and Meli scoffed.

 “Well, I better get back to my own place. I just wanted to let you know with my own words that everything was perfect today and any time you need me to do it again, I’m downstairs.”

 “Oh, here I pulled out some ca𑁋 “Jessica started.

“Please, don’t worry about it. I’m just happy to help.”  Then Linn exited out the door and when the door closed and latched, Jessica ran to Sean’s room to see him tucked in his bed like he was last night. His lips looked puffy when he slept, his cheeks colored red.

 “She’s a pretty chill lady, Jess.” Meli snuck up on her and startled Jessica. “I think you have a sweet setup with Linn watching him even if the daycare didn’t burn down. By the way, did you ever find out if anyone was caught in the fire?”

(5)

Toward the end of April, the weather heated up and finally got to its expected spring feel that most Kansans were only tickled with since mid-march. With School coming to an end within the next month, finals were only giving Melissa and Jessica very little air to breathe at a time and that was with work included. Jessica𑁋more so than Meli𑁋would go to school tired, then go to work right after exhausted, get off, go home and be able to see her son sleeping already, and then repeat it all over again.

 Her motherly duties, she felt, were unachievable with how hectic things have been lately but she was becoming more confident that her son was in good hands over the last month. They hadn’t had a day to their selves since they moved in, but Jessi was sure that once summer hit, she would be able to spend a great amount of time with him and Linn wouldn’t have to watch him. She had done good living up to her offer to watch Sean as much as needed though. In time, the four of them had developed a routine every weekday that consisted of Jessica dropping off Sean before class and Meli picking up him from Linn’s around five if she didn’t have to work.

 Every morning Sean would wake up excited to go to Linn’s as if she had her own rock wall in the living room. Sean and Linn had become an adoring duo. Whenever Jessi did get to speak to her son𑁋not often𑁋he would mostly talk about Linn. Never about starting school soon, about his dad, or even the ninja turtles. He would just go on and on about Linn, and what she made him for lunch, her apartment, or things they crafted together. Every once in a while, Jessi would actually feel quite jealous of their relationship. Not long after the feeling, she would laugh at it but that didn’t mean it wasn’t legitimate.

Things became regular by a late point in the month, and with school tightening around their throats, it was making things as comfortable as possible. But, around the same time, on a non-particular ordinary night, things got a little more uncomfortable.

 She came home around 11:20ish; Jessica knew that because she glanced at her Pathfinders clock right before she turned the engine off. Stoneleigh was pretty dark, and nobody’s lights seemed to be on, which was fair for a Tuesday night.

 Meli didn’t have work tonight so she told Jessi that she would get Sean right after class. Being use to the routine, she thought she would come home and they’d both be fast asleep with the apartment would be utterly silent.

But as she finished the second level of steps, Jessica saw a troubling sight.

 Her front door was wide open.

 Numerous explanations ran through her head, most of them mistake oriented but it still didn’t calm her. She creeped carefully up the third rack of stairs and peeked into her apartment.

The lamp in the living room was on like usual𑁋Jessi had told Meli to leave it on so she could see when getting home so late. She peered around the corner, behind the door, in the kitchen and all around. She closed it soon after, not completely sure what she was looking for. Sean! she internally screamed. In a short sprint, she ran down the hall and pushed open his bedroom door. Asleep like every other night with red cheeks and fat lips, he lay there glowing in the moonlight. She smiled, closed the door, and thought about how she was going to ask Meli about incident in the morning.

(6)

The following morning, Melissa apparently left earlier than usual. Jessica got out of bed about the time Meli would leave the house to catch her before she left. Although, with a night’s sleep behind her, she had cooled down from the open-door incident but still felt the need to address it.

 After dropping Sean off at Linn’s, she had already planned to talk to Meli the next morning. Most Wednesdays, Meli worked later than Jessica and those were the days Linn had Sean the longest. Trying to find her on campus during the day wouldn’t be a promising effort with Easter leave coming in and delayed classes before the actual finals.

 While she drove and sought out why Melissa might have left the door open, Jessi wasn’t surprised. Her best friend and roommate had become interested and invested in a classmate lately. A liberal arts major, who was obviously liberal in more ways than just the arts. The two seemed to be spending a lot of time together over the last week or so. Jessica was excited for her, thrilled actually, but sometimes when Meli found another girl that actually liked her back, everything else in her life became of less value, making life outside of the liberal art student white noise. So, it made sense if she did mistakenly leave the door open.

 If?

What else? Or who else would it have been?

 Ms. Carver shook off that thought right before getting out of her car to get to class.

(7)

Her alarm clock still beeped and buzzed annoyingly at 7:30 with no class to attend. Jessica felt relief of not having to get up, so she hit the off button on the clock and let her eyes stay shut for a little longer. Meli was off class today as well, but Jessica had expected her to leave at any moment, if she hadn’t already. They both had work tonight, therefore Sean had to go with Linn at two and Meli was probably set to leave and hang out with her girl before then.

 Throwing off her comforter, she swung herself out of bed and got to her feet. The room had a golden, sweet, and warm tone of lighting in it from the rising sun peeking through her blinds. Picking up a pull over jacket out of the dirty hamper, she left her room with a cool and level head about the other night.

 That was until she took two more steps around the corner of her utility closet and saw sunlight blasting through the living room door frame. Inside smelt like outside, there were a few moths above kitchen bar, and the front room felt dewy and cold. 

 All fucking night, she marveled.

 Livid, she clenched her fist then looked at anything quick to hit. Only finding the wall, she resisted throwing a punch and put her fist to her forehead. Jessica took a moment to collect herself. She opened her eyes and saw that Meli’s door was closed. She imagined charging in with a mighty boom, scaring Melissa awake.

 For some reason, likely to spare Sean the trauma or experience of them fighting𑁋God knows he saw enough with Sean sr.𑁋 she didn’t act on her vision. Attempting to cool down, she unclenched her fist and continue to the living room, shut the door tight, and make breakfast.

Melissa came out fully dressed and ready to go by the time the last pancake was ready to take off the skillet. She was walking at swift pace and turned to wave Jessi goodbye when Jessi stopped her at the door.

 “Hey!”

 Jessica instantly snagged her attention. Meli looked obedient, but happy and prepped. Her outfit was a clean white zip up jacket with dark jeans and white adidas. She stood there waiting, genuinely curious to what her best friend had to say right before she went out the door. And suddenly, Jessica didn’t feel so paranoid or as angry. Most importantly, she wasn’t so sure it was Meli who left the door open now.

 Then what? Or wh 𑁋

 The thought was short lived as Meli looked at her.

 “I made some breakfast.”

 Meli scoffed, and then let it roll into a full-on laugh.

 “Bro, you straight scared the shit out of me. Ha-ha you used that voice you use when Sean gets into something.”

 “Yeah, I guess I did sound kind of bitchy,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m just a little on edge.” Then she just decided to ask. “Hey, um, did you maybe leave the door open two nights ago? I know you wouldn’t have on purpose, but it just worried me.”

 “The door was open at night? When you got off?”

“Yes. Wide open.”

 Meli thought back, Jessica could see it on her face. “Hm.”

 “That’s fucked. I even remember shutting and locking the door after Linn stopped by.”

 Jessica lifted her brow slightly in small confusion.  “Linn stopped by?”

 “Yep. She knocked on the door and asked if Sean was awake. She had baked some peanut butter cookies. He was asleep. They were fucking great, though.”

 Jessica’s confusion was stroked but not scratched. Although her mind went back to the door. “Well, I, um.” She stepped on her own words trying to find something to say that would put her worries of the door to rest. “Just make sure you close the door tight, I guess. Lock it too, both of them.”

 “Will do,” Meli finished, made her eyes big and went outside.

 Meli closed the door behind her and left Jessica in their subtly smokey kitchen. Jessica thought more smoke wouldn’t hurt, she then lit one of her cigarettes, and wondered if she had offended Melissa somehow.

(8)

A crash that was not only loud, but powerful sounding, made Jessica open her eyes. At first, she assured herself it was merely part of the dream that came with her sleep that night. However, she couldn’t recall a whiff of a dream if there was one. The more and more she delt with the crash in her head, Jessica became certain there was no dream at all, and that crash was real. She then felt fresh fear from the noise in the night. She looked at her alarm clock. The time was a quarter after three A.M.

 Puzzled, and hardly awake, she still was aware that Meli sometimes came home this late in the past. It calmed her down just a notch.

 She never woke me up coming in before, though, Jessi critically thought.

 With a blanket hanging over her shoulders, she got off her bed and ventured to her bedroom door. She stood still and tried to listen for any movement on the other side, good or bad.

Quiet as a moment of prayer.

 A sudden dose of courage struck her, and swiftly, she opened her door, then walked out in the living room.

It was just as black as her room; all the lights were off. She could only see what she knew was there, like her furnitue. On the wall by the ulitity closest there was a back up switch for the top light in the living room, she found it with her hand and flipped it.

She woke up quickly when the lights exposed the front door as open as it could be.

 She was at a loss for words. Though, she didn’t care much for words anymore, now it had to be delt with swift action.

 Jessica, without taking a breath, stomped to Meli’s room and uselessly twisted the knob then shoved the door open with a painful shove of her palms. She simultaneously turned on the light as the back of the door slammed into the wall it was attached to.

 Meli jolted and shot up in defense mode and panic. Her eyes grew large but not in a annoyed or playful way. Her eyes now told Jessica she was shocked and scared, but also that Meli had been in a heavy sleep before she came in. 

 Jessica felt like the biggest bitch in the mid-west at that second, but then she stomped out the thought and returned to the door issue.

 “What the fuck, dude?” Meli said, aggrivated and not at all in a kidding manner.

“Why is the front door wide open, Melissa? What the fuck is with that? This is the third time I’ve seen it like that and it’s fucking three A.M!” Jessica shouted, not as loud as she could since Sean was still asleep.

 “Yeah, it is three A.M! So, why are you in my room screaming at me about the fucking door, Jessi?”

 “Because you keep leaving it open for some dumbass reason.”

 “I didn’t leave it open, bitch!” she snapped.

 Strangely, in the heat of the argument she believed Meli when she said that but felt she couldn’t back down. She was in too deep, and Meli really was the likely reason it was open.

She fought back. “If not you then who, Meli? The fucking wind? Just shut and lock the fucking door when you come in and out!”

(9)

The only thing that Melissa said to Jessica the next day was that she wasn’t going to be home all weekend. She also felt she needed to add, “So, don’t worry about the fucking door,” before she left in the morning. Jessica wasn’t upset for her leaving, or the comment about the door, she was quite the opposite really.

 She had the whole day off work, school, or anything that would take her away from time with her son. Which is exactly what she intended to do with her time; spend it with the boy of her dreams. They had plans to go rent two movies from Blockbuster, get something to cook together𑁋whatever he wanted, of course𑁋and she was going to surprise him later on in the night with a brand-new Game Cube. Jessica couldn’t wait to see her son’s reaction when he saw his game and be contagiously happy all night.

 The best part about it was that it didn’t just end with the first night. With Easter on Sunday, she had the whole weekend off as well. Her mom was hosting a dinner that day and Sean was already beyond ready to see his grandmother again. Lucky for Jessi, her mom was currently on vacation prior to the holiday and was coming back late on Saturday. Therefore, that meant she had Sean all to herself. It’s what she needed. No schoolbooks, no work, no Meli, no Linn and no grandmother to steal her son away.

(10)

Sean’s reaction to the whole night had flown by her expectations. He cuddled his momma all day, told her he loved her more than once𑁋especially when he got his new game𑁋and also ate all of his hamburger helper she cooked up.

 She was beat tired now. Sean had crashed out around ten and she put him in his bed right when his controller fell out of his hand. Jessica was on the couch now, smoking a cigarette and watching one of the movies they rented again. As she lay her head down on one of the sofa pillows, she tried to think of what they could do tomorrow. She did have plenty of money right now with all the work she had been doing. Work but hardly any sleep, she thought, and yawned.

 Her cigarette had only been burning for a couple of minutes but Jessi felt she couldn’t finish it. She grabbed her glass ash tray off the coffee table and smashed it out, then put the tray at the edge of the table.

 Jessica told herself she should turn all the living room lights off and go to her own bed, but she couldn’t. Well, she could, but she didn’t want to. The couch had been keeping her warm and felt good on her back. She closed her eyes with her head toward the celling. In her last thoughts of being conscious, Jessica had her ex-husband in mind. She wondered how things would have turned out if they just stopped fighting over their son, and then, she was out like the moon was.

She woke up but not as tired as she would have felt waking up in her bed. Jessi had to recall how she ended up on the couch from just being asleep for about an hour or two. With some groans that were fitting for a woman much older, she stepped to her feet and went to the kitchen. The oven had a clock and it read 3:33. Longer than I thought, she saw.

 From the living room, she heard a klink. It didn’t startle her nor frighten her, but it did get her attention. She exited the kitchen and saw her ash tray had fallen off the table somehow.

“Fuck me!” she exclaimed, as she saw the ashes in the carpet. After grabbing a rag that she had dampened, Jessica went to the mess, knelt down, and tried to clean it.

 The title screen of the movie was on loop and playing it’s score at a modest volume. Still, Jessica found it obnoxious and dropped the rag to turn it off with the remote. It was now eerily silent. Though, only lasting a few moments, the quiet was disturbed by the clashing of small metal and a dragged-out screech that followed.

 The front door was opening slowly.

She felt frozen with horror and Jessi’s sinuses cleared up while she didn’t even know they were blocked. Her heart was pounding in her head as she watched the door open.

 “Melissa?” she guessed, hoping it was her with any spirituality she had.

 She stood to her feet from the floor. Against her will, her brain started to think of the horrible things that could be on the other side waiting. A lunatic with a cheap, thin mask but thick blade, a robber or rapist who had been stalking her apartment, or a starving, murderous beast that had more eyes than fangs.

 Grinding her teeth together, from a teeming of suspense pacing in her head, she began to rapidly plot her next move. Was she supposed to just wait and watch? Call out and hope it’s a joke? Or slam the door before the sight behind it could be seen? The latter seemed the safest. Slam the door fast, then lock it and back away. Maybe call the police as well? But what would she say? The door opened?

 Jessica took a step to the door and in the two steps, she was intending to kick the door shut. She took her next step and lifted her knee to her midsection to shoot her foot forward.

 However, she froze with her foot in the air when door-opening culprit revealed themselves.

It was her son.

 Sean was still dressed in his Disney Pjs she put him in while he was sleeping. She saw him but he didn’t see her, his head was straight ahead while he crept to the hallway. The way he walked with wide steps and mute footing looked like he was sneaking in. But why would a five year old sneak out? she asked herself as she analyzed the scene.

 “Sean?” she eventually choked, untrusting of her own eyes. The momentarily loss of words faded, it was like she had been watching a TV show or movie but then remembered she could interfere.

 He stayed quiet and remained on path.

“Sean!”

No good, still walking. She caught up with him, then cut him off, and squatted to his height. And That’s when Jessica Carver felt as if she could vomit her own heart out.

 She hadn’t noticed that his pajamas had been tugged and torn moments ago but if she would have, Jessica knew she would have reacted faster. He had a stunned, dumb look on his face that was colored with blood, bites, and burns. His cheeks looked like a hot fork had been pressed on him, maybe some lighters too. On his neck and right ear there had been teeth indentures. Dripping down his chin, his lips had been lathered in blood from a cut right down the middle.

 “Oh my god,” she cried. Her eyes were shot with water in a second. “Sean! Baby! Tell me what happened? Are you okay? Who did this to you!”

 He kept quiet and looked through her. It then hit Jessica that for the first time in her son’s life, he had been sleepwalking.

 But sleepwalking and attacked? She put her hands on his head and touched his hair while she hyperventilated. Examining him further, she pulled up his long sleeves and saw other burns that were destined to turn into blisters, scratches that looked like they could be from a mean house cat, and full-on bite marks that were no doubt from a person.

She wanted to scream, and nothing was going to stop her from doing so.

(11)

The police officer called to the scene arrived in under ten minutes, and in the meantime, Jessica tried and tried again to wake her son.

 He had a doped look on his face that indicated laughing gas or some kind of pain medication. She was starting to think he might have been drugged, until the cop’s knock at the door spooked him awake. He awoke with high energy and consciousness but with questions all around him and new lasting pain within. He wouldn’t stop crying and spazzing for a while. Jessica tried to tell the policeman what had happened, but she knew little herself.

 She spoke of the open door on more than one night, her roommate, Linn and the loud noise she heard the other night. Of course, not all the information given seemed useful or relevant to the officer but Jessica insisted on telling him. The door being wide open repeatedly seemed far too significant.

 Officer Hawkins called an ambulance for the boy and he was evaluated all night. Once the doctors told her everything they knew, she felt a little better.

 They assured her that there was no trace of molestation on Sean, and that the worst to come out of this was scarring, both physically and𑁋the part they feared more𑁋mentally. But since he didn’t seem to remember anything, doc was willing to bet Sean may just forget about the entire thing with being so young, and especially, since he was technically sleeping when it happened.

 By ten A.M, she was ready to take Sean home and it took an hour to convince some of the personel at the hostpital to let her.

 Sean fell asleep (again) in the car on the way home. She carried him up when they got to stoneleigh. On the way up, she saw Linn’s door closed over.

Jessica had already called whoever she needed to call to let know about Sean. She called her mom first, she cried hideously, and it made Jessica cry the exact same. Jessia’s mother said she would be right over as soon as her plane landed. Next, she called Sean sr., and he didn’t answer but she was certain he would call back later and blame her for everything. Meli answered on the third ring and her voice still echoed of anger regarding Jessi but went speechless when she heard and surpringly sounded like she was about to cry.

 Once Sean was back in his bed, Jessi had the urge to tell Linn what had happened. Although, she was uneasy with the idea of leaving her son alone now—and probably for the rest of his life, she thought, looking down at her son’s burnt and bit face sleeping.

 Going against her natural insticts just for a minute, she went out of the room and then quickly outside to the stairs and down to Linn’s door. It was still falsely closed, so, she put her fingertips to it and shoved lightly.

 She stuck her head in and called out. “Linn?”

 She chose to step in, and Jessica instantly felt naïve, for this was the first time she had seen Linn’s apartment. It was nice and very cozy. Filled with delicious and nostalgic smells and artwork. The crafts and paintings had mostly to do with night or nature. Above her wooden entertainment center with a bulky TV, Linn had a framed poster of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.

  The symbol on top of that, she didn’t recognize from anywhere. It was a piece the size of a kitchen plate and was assumingly made of black material. It was mysterious to say the least. She could see it being an animal or a plant, or maybe something to do with a different country. She had one more idea of what it could be, but she wasn’t able to finalize her thought. There was a commotion in one of the bedrooms.

 It sounded like the opening of a dresser. Jessi called out again, “Linn!”

Feeling like she had already been here for too long, she wandered speedily to Linn’s Hall where the noise came from. She heard the roar of the drawer once more standing at the end of the hall. Two of Linn’s doors were closed completely, but the third was merely closed over like the front door was.

 She knocked on the door three times gently.

“Linn?”

 The door opened a little more but not all the way from her soft knock. She could now see opened and empty drawers with a suitcase on the bed. Also, Jessica heard a pleasant and experienced humming of a woman inside. Jessica put her hand on the door and was just about to push it open. Though, beating her to it, the door ripped open, but the person looking back at her wasn’t very familiar.

 A woman opened up, about her height and size, dressed in dark Jeans and a flower shirt and she was, as a side note, agelessly gorgeous.

 “Hello, there! That’s funny, I thought I heard someone at the door, but I guess I’m just getting old ha-ha,” she said and smiled wide after. Her teeth were the kind that could be accused of being fake, but Jessica could feel this woman’s confidence radiating off her like a strong perfume. They had to be real, this woman was legitimate and someone could look at her for seconds and know that.

 Her hair, black as coal and her eyes were as bright as spring grass. She was much more attractive than Jessi believed herself to be, but strangely, she had a hunch that she was younger than the woman before her. She projected this woman to be in her early forties but that guess wasn’t from any age showing in her body or face. She just carried herself differently than any younger woman she had ever seen. This woman spoke and looked like she had been through it all and knew every single trick.

 “You all right, doll?” the woman asked.

 Jessica, collecting that she was just staring after she spoke to her, shook her hair and refocused. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m just looking for my neighbor, Linn. I ha𑁋”

 “Oh,” the woman said quietly. She looked to the carpet, bit her bottom lip, and then her engaging eyes flooded. “She actually passed last night…”

 Jessica’s jaw, heart, and eyes seemed to fall. “What? How? What happened?” 

“A heart attack I think, but I don’t know. They just got her body out of here not too long ago,” she said, rubbing her own arm and not looking at Jessi.

 She then went back to the dresser and put more clothes in the suitcase.

 “Oh my god… this morning… I just can’t even…”

 “Yeah.”

 “My son was attacked in the middle of the night.”

 The stranger in Linn’s apartment cupped her mouth. “My god!” Her nails were painted black and sharp. Much like Linn’s were. Actually, seeing the lady do that in that fashion, revealed an uncanny resemblance between the two. She figured she must have been related. Jessica felt like she wanted to cry for Linn. It upset her that she would never be able to tell Linn thank you for watching Sean all those times. 

 “I know, but I think he will be fine, I hope.”

  They nodded together and kept eye contact for the longest they had so far. Then, as if she were hearing a joke, she thought she knew before, Jessica caught on to the punchline before it was delivered.

 This woman had the same exact eye color, eye shape, and eye everything as Linn. And even the mole next to her mouth. Everything was the same as Linn. The fucking clothes she’s wore were Linn’s.

 “Who are you?”

 The woman smiled at Jessi and it far from warmed her this time.

 “My name is Veronica. Linda was my aunt.”  She stuck out her delicate and smooth hand for the introduction.

 Jessica mindfully looked at it and stuck her own hand out to shake Veronica’s. Her hand was firm and steady when she shook it, but she couldn’t extinguish the feeling she had shook this same hand once before.

 She felt so suspicious, it made her nauseous to keep digging into the idea.  But suspicious of what? What exactly was she going to say or accuse her of? 

 Veronica saw the look of loss, or of being lost on Jessi, and spoke again. “I’m sorry if you and my mom were close. But I promise you, she is in a far better place now,” she finished with her hands in praying style. 

 “I thought you said Linn was your aunt?”

 Veronica stood motionless and looked to her right shortly. “She was. She just raised me the whole time. I’m sorry, I’m just a big ole mess right now.”

 Jessica only looked at her, questionably.

 “Well, I better get all of her things packed up.”

 “Yeah. I guess I should leave.”

 “Yeah.”

 Veronica and Jessi looked at each other one last time. Jessica turned her back first and walked out the way she came. Before heading out under the sun, she looked behind her again. The beautiful and chilling woman was watching her walk out with the bedroom door in hand. She said, “I’m truly sorry to hear about your son. Take care.” Then she closed the door and so did Jessica on her way out.

 She put her back to the door and started to sob. Nothing had made any sense to her in the last seven hours, yet it happened so fast like it was planned. The young mother didn’t know how to deal with the trauma that had been left for her son and her family. She prayed she wouldn’t have to, and Sean would just forget. Then they would all forget. She never wanted any of this shitshow to resurface again. This was the first time and what she hoped to be the last time, that she was unable to keep her son safe. 

 Lifting her glasses to her forehead to wipe her wet eyes, Jessica then looked at how bad her own hands were shaking now.