Anna Lockwood

“Sweet Jesus Ava!” She squeals, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I was gonna treat us to a brunch before you pick up and move this evening, please don’t hurt me!”

Of course, It’s just my roommate Anna.

“I’m sorry love, but I’m in the mens bathroom washing my hands, what else was I suppose to expect ya creep!” I bust out laughing, my mouth couldn’t contain it.

“Honestly, I meant to creep you out but I wasn’t expecting the blade! It's super cute, can I see it?” She exclaims, I’ve never seen this excitement before. I wish I would’ve known this at all the past 4 years we’ve lived together! I pass her the blade and dry my hands off.

“Where did you get this? Is it custom made? Why do you have it?” She rambles. The questions just keep flowing in, so I take a deep breath and look up at this tall beautiful woman.

I say tall but she was maybe 5’7 or 5’8 at best, but anyone taller than me is tall. She looks into my eyes and finally steadies her breathing and quiets down.

“Ms. Lockwood, breathe. It is a custom made bench made griptillian drop-point serrated s30v pocket knife, it has a black blade. One one side, it has skulls imprinted in it, on the other side it says kitten in lobster font on the other side. It has pink glass filled nylon handle with black hardware. I bought it for myself when I turned 17 and i knew my life wasn’t getting any easier so the least I could do is have protection.” I let out at a breath that I wasn’t aware I was holding in.

She looks at me in shock, I definitely scared her off.

“Wow, you must be really scared if you called me Ms. Lockwood, I’m not that fuckin old now am I sweet pea?” She lets out an outrageous laugh and yanks me into one of her famous breathless hugs.

“I’m just glad I didn’t scare you off, its just easier to be formal and turn off my emotions when I talk about my old life. You’re the only person that will know me in between both stages of my life. I just can’t be who I used to be, and I want nothing to do with the people who pushed me into becoming that person. I can’t wait to move to Dawson City, start completely fresh and new in a small town. Nothing from my old life in Columbia can follow me there.”

I didn’t realize I took the knife back, nor did I notice I was clenching my fist around the open blade. I lightly wince, nothing I haven’t dealt with before. I rinse and dry my knife and then tend to the gash in my hand.

Once I wrap my hand in gauze and medical tape, Anna is practically dragging me out the door of the mens bathroom. “Lets go out for brunch, I’m absolutely starved sweetheart!”

Anna’s sky blue eyes glimmer as she says brunch, it’s always been her favourite. We both pile into her Jeep SRT, I plug in my aux cord and the first song that comes on is “Good Day” By Ice Cube. Anna whips her bright blonde hair over her shoulder and yells “turn this shit up!”.

I happily oblige and then quickly turn on the seat warmer. We graduated in December, which is a weird time to graduate after 4 years of school but I finished high school early and I couldn’t follow my dreams living with my family. So I got my cousin to smuggle me into Canada. I changed my identity and enrolled in school.