Come on Up to the House

[Spindarene]

((Lily Ashburg continued from Nobody Said It Was Easy))

Lily wandered aimlessly through the snow, still numb from what had happened. Her arms bristled with the cold and the pain in her feet grew more intense, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

As she rounded the corner of a building she saw that the cabanas were only a few yards away. She stepped a few feet closer, then stopped. While she couldn't see very well from her distance, she thought that the people were still there. Given how late it was, they were probably going to stay the night. She hesitated, weighing her options. She couldn't keep wandering around with no shoes or sweater forever, and she was pretty sure the cabana they'd left their stuff in was a few away from where the people were.

She slowly moved closer, walking in a semicircle around the cabanas to stay as far away from the populated one as possible. When she got to the one she wanted, she peeked in all the windows to make sure that no one was inside before entering.

The room was exactly how they'd left it. Her shoes lay next to the door, and their packs were next to the couch and chair. Wandering over to the bathroom, Lily saw that her clothes were still hanging up on the curtain rod, having long since dried. Washing them was such a stupid idea in retrospect, but she'd wanted so badly to pretend that everything was normal, that all she had to worry about was smelling bad after a few days.

Turning off the light, Lily mechanically moved over to the couch and sat down, staring at the floor. The silence pushed on her ears the longer she sat there and she desperately wanted to break it, but couldn't bring herself to.

Gradually, her eyes filled with tears that dripped down her nose and cheeks as she continued to sit still, her trembling hands gripping her legs as she realized what she had done.

At the time, leaving had seemed like the easiest thing to do. She'd thought that being alone would be less painful than traveling with Dougie, knowing the eventual outcome. As she sat there, however, with the silence pressing in on her, she realized that it wasn't.

For a moment she considered going back to the bus station to see if he was still there, but then what? As much as she hated to admit it, the show had won. No matter what what they'd been through or what promises they'd made, eventually they'd been divided like everyone else.

She shifted so that she was laying down, her tears occasionally falling onto the cushion beneath her. She lost track of time as she laid there, staring at the wall and trying to ignore the painful feeling in her chest. Her mind swirled with thoughts of home, the show, and Dougie.

Eventually she was brought back to the present by a noise outside. Sitting up, she listened intently for a few seconds, but didn't hear anything else. She wasn't entirely sure the noise had been real, but decided to err on the side of caution.

Getting up, she wiped her face and headed to the bathroom to change, and emerged wearing her original clothes. She stuffed the red t-shirt and track pants into her bag and slung it over her back. As she made her way toward the door she hesitated before moving over to where Dougie's pack was. Picking up the unopened sandwich, she stuffed it into his bag before zipping it up and dropping it under a small table. She wanted him to be able to find it if he came back, but didn't want it to be immediately visible to potential looters.

After putting on her socks and shoes she glanced around the room briefly before turning off the light and opening the door.

((Lily Ashburg continued in Psycho Beach Party))