Bone Shattering: NaNoWriMo Day 2

On the same day that Bonny had been sitting in her apartment and watching baseball, across the city, Celia Ward has just moved into her apartment. Not a single piece of furniture was there yet. Celia was glad that she had remembered to bring an air mattress, and air pump, and a blanket with her. She would not be sleeping comfortably that night, but she would at least be able to sleep more comfortably than if she had to sleep on the floor.

Celia’s story and Bonny’s story had no similarities other than living in apartments in the same city. Celia was short and while she was not fat, she was not thin, either. Her skin was peanut butter toned and her hair was a mousy blonde.

Celia wore either plain browns and grays or vibrant colors. It depended on her mood and what she was doing.

Celia checked her watch and sighed. Most likely the moving truck company would not arrive until the next day. This is not what she wanted, but it seemed to be true.

Celia decided to look around her neighborhood. She wrapped herself up in her dark leather trench coat and headed out to the hall. The bright red carpeting seemed to blind her at first sight and she winced. However, it did not take long for her eyes to adjust and she headed out to the elevator.

Celia lived on the third floor and the elevator took a long time to arrive. Surprisingly, not another person crossed her path as she stood waiting for the elevator. Celia was not used to this. Just last week she was living in Olympia, Washington. Her apartment building there was always bustling with activity. This one seemed to be so calm.

Celia began wondering if she had made the right choice. She could have stayed in Washington. She did not have to accept the transfer to Centerville, Indiana. However, the housing was cheaper and the pay was better. Because of this, she had broken up with her long time boyfriend. He was not much to behold to most women, but Celia loved him. She adored his large nose and his funny grin. He was studying to be a pharmacist and she was ready to support him through school if they were to get married. The real problem was that Celia did not feel like the relationship was moving forward. She wanted it to move forward, but Antonio did not seem to want it to budge. He would always take her out once a week and would call her daily, but that was it. The conversations never became more serious than what they did that day and where they were going to go when they next went on a date.

In fact, Celia could not even get Antonio interested in asking her about her interests. She loved to read crime novels and murder mysteries. She had no problem that Antonio did not like these things, but she at least wanted to talk to him about them. This never happened. The closest things ever got were, “So, is that a good book?”

Remembering this, Celia decided that she had made a good decision. She could never forget the feel of Antonio’s hugs or kisses, but she knew deep down that it was not going to work, no matter how hard she hoped that the relationship would move forward. She needed the fresh start and the higher pay would not be bad, either.

The elevator finally reached the third floor and Celia walked into it and pushed the ground floor button. The elevator did not seem to take all that long to reach the ground floor. When she exited, she saw the electricians packing up their tools and she nodded to them as she walked out the front doors of her apartment building.

Celia stared up at the high tower. It was the first time she had realized that her apartment building was an old hotel building. She enjoyed the cold wind on her face. This was one thing she found familiar from Washington. She knew how it felt to have the cold wind whip at her face. She did not mind the runny nose and red cheeks from it.

She walked around the block surveying all the small businesses and restaurants. Celia figured that she needed to eat some dinner and without a range or a microwave, she might as well go out to a restaurant. She knew she could always use her cell phone to order pizza, but she did not feel like eating pizza.

She found a small brick restaurant with a green roof. It claimed to have real southern cooking. Celia had never eaten anything like that before, so she stopped and entered the restaurant. The name on the outside had fallen into disrepair, so she was not sure where she was.

When she walked into the place, she saw the black marker board with the specials of the day scribbled on them. Some of the things were noticeably misspelled. This made Celia want to go up to the board and change them, but if she erased them, she would have do use her hand as the eraser. There were also no markers to correct the misspellings.

Celia sat down at one of the old wobbly tables. Her chair had an odd square green cushion wrapped in green Saran Wrap for a seat. The back of the chair matched. Her trench coat made an odd crinkling sound against the chair, but nobody seemed to mind.

In just a few minutes, a waiter had arrived at Celia’s table. She stared at the specials, not sure what she wanted to eat. “Just a drink right now, please, and come back in a few minutes.” The waiter nodded and then he spoke. Celia tried not to laugh at his high voice, but it was hard. It did not match the tall, slim man standing in front of her.

He said, “That’s how we usually do it, ma’am.” Being called “ma’am” boggled Celia’s mind. This was an extremely rare occurence.

“Well, I’d like an iced tea,” Celia ordered.

“I’ll be right back with it,” the waiter smiled and abruptly turned away from Celia. She glanced at his thin body, admiring it all the more. She loved how he looked with the white apron tied around his waist and the black clothes. Celia felt that the black clothes probably made him look thinner than he really was. She smiled, happy to find this small hole in the wall.

The waiter returned with Celia’s iced tea. “Are you ready to order, ma’am?”

“Yes, I’m ready to order.” Celia decided that she’d have the “Potatoe Sallad.” She ordered her food and since it did not need time to cook, it was delivered to her table quickly. As Celia finished her food, the waiter brought her receipt and laid it face down on the table. She picked it up and quickly read the last bit of the receipt: “Your server today was Aaron.”

Even though she was not thirsty, Celia decided she’d order another iced tea. She waved her hand in the air and Aaron came back to her table.

“How may I help you, ma’am?”

“I’d like another ice tea, and oh, Aaron.” At this point, Aaron stopped and turned towards Celia. “Where are you from originally. It is not common to be called ‘ma’am’ in the north.”

Aaron answered, “I was born and raised in Georgia. I moved here to be with my girlfriend.” Celia’s hope faded at that statement. She knew that she needed a fresh start, but at least a new man to date even just one time would have helped her feel better.

Celia finished her iced tea and slowly walked out of the restaurant. As she did, she saw the name printed on some take home menus: Papa’s.

Celia walked in the dark, her eyes always on the sidewalk. She knew that she would be able to find her apartment building when she saw the golden poles that framed the doorway. As she walked, she picked up some of the fall leaves that had blown onto the sidewalk. She figured that as long as she had no furniture, she might as well have a bit of decoration in her apartment.

When Celia reached her apartments, she opened the door. She imagined what it must have been like when it was a hotel. There was probably a doorman who wore a bright red suit the match the carpeting. He probably had a red hat with gold stripes and the buttons down his red jacket would have been a brilliant gold as well.

Yet, that was not the reality. The reality was that the apartment building seemed extremely lonely and so did Celia. She has hoped that going back at night may have allowed her to see some nightlife, but that was not the case.

The slow elevator was already at the ground floor. Celia pushed the up button and the doors opened. She walked into the elevator and the doors squeaked as they closed. She pushed the button to go to the third floor and laid her head against the wall. Depression was kicking in quickly.

When the doors opened on the third floor, Celia had hoped to see some of her neighbors, but that did not happen. It was starting to feel as if she was the only person who lived in this hotel building. However, she knew that could not be true as the place would not stay in business without renters.

She went into her apartment and got her air mattress and the air pump. Celia kneeled down and worked on inflating the mattress. She lined it with a blanket and then she looked around the room. It was definitely time for her to put the leaves around the room. Perhaps a cheerier fall decoration could help.

Celia did not have any tape or putty to put the leaves on the walls, so she spread them on the floor where she would see them when she slept on her air mattress. However, this activity did not help her feel any better.

Since she was feeling so badly, she decided that she would just lay down on the air mattress. She started to think about the reason she moved to Centerville. She figured that things would be better tomorrow. She would meet her new boss. The police department had specified that they needed a great detective and investigator. Celia was so skilled in these areas that she was certain she would be loved. She knew that she would not have to work any harder than her normal hard work and that the officers and chief would love her.

She imagined what the police building would look like. She had no idea since she had not yet gone ona tour of the city. Celia knew it was not too smart to move to a city, but she had even discussed this with her long time friend who she had known since middle school. It was the right decision and deep down she knew it.

The night grew dark and Celia tried to count the stars. While doing this, she fell asleep, gently humming herself some old lullabies her mother used to sing.