30. Contemplation

Levi was dumbfounded. He was not sure if he had heard her correctly. “Did you say you want to go home?”

“Yes.”

No mistake but, he couldn’t understand why. What could she accomplish by going home. ‘She must want to see Michael.’ He thought. ‘Well, I know that isn't going to go well, but it is not my place to control her. That is what Michael does. He has been doing to everyone for a damn eternity. No, if she wants to go home, I must let her.’

“Do you want me to take you?”

“No, I think I will just walk”

“That is a long way.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then.” While Levi had his concerns about where she was mentally, he had no doubt that she could see herself home safely, and he thought it best at this point to give her some space to work through this.

“I will just get dressed and head out then.” she went up to the bedroom without saying another word. She slipped out of her dress and threw on some leggings. Then instead of putting on one of the new t-shirts she had purchased she decided to pull one of Levis on. She threw her hair up in a messy ponytail and slipped her feet into a pair of tennis shoes. Then she went back downstairs to say goodbye.

As she walked up to Levi, still in his suit, his mouth twitched into a smile. His shirt looked good on her. He liked how even in a no care outfit she was still stunning.

“Thank you for everything. I am sorry.” She said.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

She gave him a polite smile and a kiss. It was a very brief goodbye, and then she left the loft. As she walked the dark streets, she thought about the actual act of taking a life. She knew it was justified and the world was better off. But she also knew that Sean was not meant to die at that party. She had seen his death. He was supposed to die alone in his home at the age of 77 and he was meant to just slip away in his sleep.

She had changed his plan. Elise pondered why someone like that would be allowed to live a full lifetime. He was a horrible human being. He did horrible things. The world was a much better place without him. She wandered through the city as she kept turning these thoughts over and over in her head. As she passed along a dark street a few shadows broke away and started following behind her.

The started to jeer and cat call to her. “Hey there sweet thing, you want to have some fun?”

“Show me what you got mama.”

Come on over here honey you can keep me warm tonight.”

Elise could have handled them easily, but she didn’t want to deal with this right now. She broke into a run. At first the men tried to pursue her, but she ran with the speed of an angel. Before long they were left panting and scratching their heads wondering where she had gone. She kept running until she finally arrived home.

All of the lights in the house were turned off. Perhaps Michael had decided to rest for the night. She went in but found no one there. ‘Where could he be?’ She wondered. Since the house was still under construction, she went straight to her room.

Elise flopped down on the bed and looked up at the celling. She had an unending string of thoughts running through her head: ‘Where was Michael? What would be the repercussion of her actions? Was she wrong for killing Sean?’ Her thoughts kept racing round and round.

The sun rose and Elise had not slept, not that she needed to. Leaving her thoughts behind for the moment, she got up and put on a pair of blue scrubs. Then she went downstairs to get breakfast. She looked in her fridge to find some milk to go with her cereal. Then she realized she really had not been home in a while. The fridge was almost bare. She had spent a lot of nights at Levi’s loft. She had not gone out for groceries in a while.

It was still early in the morning. She decided to go out for breakfast. Somewhere fast and easy. She grabbed her wallet and phone, put them in a small bag and locked up. After her breakfast, she went right over to Magnolia house. She still had sometime before her shift started. She thought it would be best if she went to see Margret first. Since she had missed a day.

Unfortunately, when she reached Margrets room, she found her still asleep. It was still very early. She decided to go back out to the lobby to wait for her shift to start. As she waited, Chistina came in to start her shift. Elise gave her a smile, but Christina just rolled her eyes.

“Hi Christina.” Elise said.

Christina just ignored her.

“Are you okay?”

After a moment Christina spoke up. “I am fine.” She said in a huffy tone.

Elise decided it was best to leave it at that. She looked up at the clock. It was time to start her shift.