- III -

Her keys clattered loudly as she dropped them into the white glass bowl that was sitting at the edge of the black wood table, the sound bouncing off the white marble floor of the hallway. Though empty of any other aside from herself, the house was filled with noise - the rain pitter-pattering against the roof, the clacking of her white stilettos against the marble floor, the creak of wood common in such an old house, the light but steady drip of water falling from the leaky faucet into the kitchen sink. No matter how many sounds echoed throughout the house, nothing seemed to drown out the ever-present thoughts of him. Everywhere she looked, there he was, embedded in the hundreds of memories they had shared together, replaying over and over at the sight of anything... everything. She sighed deeply. Exhaustion entered every inch of her body with each new breath and she soon found herself giving in to the idea of taking a long hot bath, and calling it a day.

The loud shrill of the telephone sounded as the last piece of clothing fell from her body and onto the little pile at her feet.

"Fuck off, I'm not home," she called out to the empty house, and turned to close the bathroom door to shut out the noise of the phone. She stepped into the steaming water that slowly filled the large claw foot bathtub, and sat down with her back leaning against the inside of the cast iron tub. The heat of the water began to relax her tightened muscles, giving her a chance to finally unwind from the chaos of the day. The thunder of the water falling from the tap and into the tub resonated loudly enough that she could hardly hear the sound of her own voice as the answering machine clicked into play.

Hi, you've reached Lena Stiles. Sorry I can’t come to the phone…

She pushed back the ever-present thoughts of him and let her physical senses take over her focus – the drumming sounds of the running water, the smell of cherry blossoms from the soap in her hands, the soothing heat of the water against her bare skin, slowly rising, inching its way up her neck. She turned off the tap once the water reached the tip of her chin, and lay back down, closing her eyes in an attempt to remain focused on her surroundings and not on her thoughts. At last, she thought, a moment of peace. She let herself go, allowing herself for the first time in months the chance to fully relax, freeing her mind from thoughts of the outside world, from the thoughts of the past that constantly haunted her.

A loud crashing sound woke her from her relaxed state and she sat up with a start, gripping the sides of the wrought iron tub with her now water-pruned fingers. She shivered, realizing how cold the water had turned. How long have I been asleep? And what the hell was that noise? She stepped out of the tub, trying to make as few sounds as possible, and reached down for the white terri-cloth robe that lay crumpled in a heap at the foot of the tub. After hurriedly draping the robe around herself, she carefully opened the bathroom door, cringing slightly as the hinges creaked in the doorframe. Her heart began pounding wildly in her chest, her thoughts racing a mile a minute as she slowly made her way out of the bathroom and into the hall.