Chapter 11

It was late at night when Carmen inserted the key in the door lock of Melissa’s apartment. And, a second later, she realized that the above mentioned door lock had been changed.

Carmen’s eyes were reddened and puffy. She pursed her lips in anger and winced.

“Fuck”, she hissed between gritted teeth and started banging her fist on the door.

She should have known it better. Melissa could be a very vindictive woman – her outbursts of rage were legendary – and her swift change of attitude towards Carmen, after the infamous phone call, was predictable. After all, she had dumped her.

In spite of all that, though, Carmen was resolute and very, very irritated. She kept banging on the closed door until Mel opened it and stared at her with a harsh look. She wasn’t sleeping. In fact, she was perfectly dressed and looked completely awake. She had left Carmen banging on the door on purpose.

“Good evening”, Melissa said, and the ghost of a joyless smile appeared on her face.

“Move away”, Carmen replied, tiredly, and pressed her palm against Mel’s chest, pushing.

“Wait, wait a second. This is not your house anymore”.

“You’re right. But my stuff is still mine, if you so please. So move the fuck away from here and let me in”, Carmen cut in curtly, stepping into the apartment and going directly to the bedroom they once shared.

Behind her back, Melissa chuckled bitterly.

“Considering that I won’t be inserting anything into your door lock anymore, I thought that I could change mine…”.

It was gratuitous and cruel, but Carmen scoffed just a little, totally untouched by Mel’s words.

“Pathetic…”, she just muttered, “…And gross. I’m so glad it’s over”.

Melissa rested her shoulder against the doorframe and observed Carmen in silence, her arms folded.

Carmen grabbed a suitcase and started picking off her clothes from the closet, quickly but very calmly.

”It was only one hour ago
It was all so different then
Nothing yet has really sunk in
Looks like it always did
This flesh and bone
It’s just the way that we are tied in
But there’s noone home
I grieve…
for you
You leave…
Me…”

“So?”, Melissa asked after a while.

Carmen didn’t bother to turn around.