Interlude 2: A much needed departure

Content warning the third: Aly talks about her **** again and faces heavy emotions when doing so

Bi looked at the closed gate, seeing no sign of the men yet. She moved her binoculars towards the windows of the apartment complex, but she didn’t see any signs of him there either.

“Bi, is this going to take much longer?” Aly asked her. The brunette was sitting on the passenger seat of the car with her legs curled up.

“Patience is an essential skill to have during a stake out.” The cop answered without taking her eyes off the apartment complex.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just…” Aly hesitated “I know I said he would come out around this time, but he knows that I know that. What if he changed his routine?” She hugged her knees.

Bi sighed and looked back at her friend. She put a hand on the younger girl’s leg and reassured her with a softer tone.

“You don’t have to worry, ok? I’m here with you every step of the way.” Then, in a more matter of fact tone, she added. “Besides, I got a friend doing me a favor and tailing this guy for the better part of a week. He will go out today, and when he does, we’ll go in.”

Aly didn’t say anything in response, but she nodded with a soft smile on her lips and let go of her legs, sitting cross legged on the car seat instead. A few more minutes of silence and attentive watching followed for the pair, until a car came screeching out of the parking lot gate, zooming down the street.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Aly exclaimed.

“I didn’t catch his plate. So wait…” They waited a few more excruciating seconds, until another car came from a side street and followed in the direction of that first car. “Yeah, that was my friend’s vehicle, he’s definitely tailing that guy. Which means the coast is clear.”

The two women got out of the car and walked towards the gate of the apartment complex. Aly took out a small ring of keys from her pocket and opened the smaller gate for pedestrians. The brunette went on ahead, leading them through the empty, unkempt halls and dirty courtyards of the place. Shortly after, she reached the front door of one of the apartment buildings and the pair entered. They went up a rickety flight of stairs, and soon stopped in front of an apartment door. Aly picked up her ring of keys once more.

“Shit, shit, shit! He changed the locks.” She whispered to Bi in the deserted hallway.

Bi looked both ways down the hall before whispering back to her friend. “Keep a lookout.” She kneeled in front of the door, took out a couple wires from her pocket, and inserted them inside the lock.

“You're going to break in?!” Aly gasped, incredulous, still whispering. “Aren’t you supposed to be the goody two shoes cop? How did you even learn how to do that?”

“If you stay in my line of work for long enough, you learn some tricks here and there.” Bi talked as she worked on the lock. “And besides, sometimes you gotta dirty your hands to help out a friend, isn’t that right?”

And just like that, the door opened. Way too fast for anyone in the building to notice.

“You first.” Bi gestured for Aly to go in. “This is your apartment, you know where everything is. Let’s grab everything you need and move quickly, before he comes back.”

Aly nodded solemnly and entered the apartment she had shared with Luke until the week prior. The young brunette made a beeline for the bedroom, making a point to stare completely at the ground until she got there. When Bi entered the apartment proper, she understood why: the living room, the halls, almost every wall was full of hanging portraits, or had shelves filled to the brim with pictures of the couple, with smiles and happy memories.

The cop made an effort to quickly scope out the place and make sure they were truly alone. Her search was thorough and she made sure there was no one in the apartment besides the two women, but she did notice how unkempt the whole place was. Or at least, had been since Aly left. The sink overflowed with dishes, random beer cans scattered over the floor, and the bathroom’s trash can was filled up to the top. Maybe Bi was not the most organized person out there, but at least she put the trash out, she’d keep her house clean, even if her clothes would end up scattered around her bedroom. Bi made a mental note to not have her home end up like this, and went back to help her friend.

When she got to the bedroom proper, Aly already had a suitcase thrown over the messy bed, and she was shoveling her clothes and belongings into it. Wordlessly, Bi picked up another suitcase and started doing the same.

The two women worked fast and quiet, Luke could be back any moment, so every second counted. They needed to grab as much of Aly’s things as they could, and leave before he could reach them. Occasionally Aly would stop, her grip would tighten around whatever object she was holding, and her eyes would begin to mist. When Bi would notice it, she would always stop what she was doing and move to hold her friend’s hands, or hug her for a brief time, and then the two would continue again.

After about 20 minutes of shoveling clothes and other important items into bags, the girls wordlessly looked at each other, then nodded. Too much time had passed, Luke could decide to return early at any moment, and they had packed the bulk of what Aly would need. Bi checked her phone and there were still no warning messages from her contact, so it seemed they were in the clear to make their exit.

Both of them rushed back to the front door, until Aly suddenly stopped when they passed the living room. She stood still, stuck in her tracks. She didn’t look at the room, she didn't look at the door, she stared at a spot on the ground. But her hands holding the bags were shaking.

“What is it, Aly?”

The brunette felt the warmth of a hand reaching out to her own.

“It just doesn’t feel fair, you know?” She fell quiet again. But the hand over hers gave her the strength to keep going. “He kept me almost like a prisoner here for months. Couldn’t leave unless he said so, and even then, he would always be there, whenever we went out. Finally, here I am, escaping once and for all from this place, but he doesn't get to face anything. Maybe he’ll miss me, but that’s it.” She dropped all the bags to the ground. Moved her hand away from her friend, took a few indecisive steps.

“He doesn’t get to suffer, and maybe that’s fine, but I don’t want him to leave this situation without losing nothing.” She moved to one of the portraits on the edge of the living room. She picked it up and looked at a picture of her and Luke having fun at a beach. “He doesn't deserve these happy memories. He probably doesn’t even care about them.”

She chucked the portrait against a wall, shattering the frame into countless pieces with a satisfying crack.

“Yeah, he doesn’t get to keep any of this.”

She grabbed another portrait, looked at it, it showed the couple in an amusement park. Aly smashed it against a shelf and shattered the glass. She hit it again, and again, and by the time she was done with it, the edge of the shelf had completely torn through the picture inside. So she threw it against the ground as strongly as she could and moved on to the next.

And off she went, destroying frames, slashing pictures, and erasing memories. Some of them she chucked against the ground, or a wall, others she smashed against each other, others she even aimed against portraits hanging on the walls, destroying multiple at once. By the time Aly was done, the ground was covered in splinters, plaster, shattered glass, and shredded paper that once upon a time had represented memories.

Aly herself was panting, hands red from the effort. She was shaking. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, wheezing, to see the solemn face of Bi. Her friend gently brought her in close, hugged her with a kindness and tenderness Aly wasn’t expecting. Aly sobbed into her embrace, releasing tears of anger, sadness, frustration, mourning. She cried and cried, but **** herself to stop after a short time.

“We have to go. He could come back at any moment.”

Bi lowered herself to her friend’s level and dried her tears. “We do. But once we’re out of here, you can feel as much as you need.”

They grabbed the bags and left the apartment. Bi led this time, since she knew the way now, but they still didn’t see anyone on their way out. They quickly got to the car and drove away.

Once they were far enough away, Aly sobbed silently on the passenger seat, laying on her side and facing the window, staring at the passing landscape. After a while, she asked Bi a question with her hoarse voice.

“Why did you let me do it? I thought you wanted to get in, get out, and not be detected, so he couldn’t come after us.”

“Because you are my friend, and you were hurting.” Bi responded. “Now come, let’s get you some ice-cream, because you fucking deserve it.”

Aly laughed as she dried her tears. “Thanks, Bi.”