It was raining.
Not hard.
Not soft.
The rain gave a hypnotic tapping on the window.
It was infuriating.
Why didn’t it rain harder? Why wasn’t there pounding thunder? Blinding lightning? Why did it have to be so...so…
She sighed. Looked away from the window towards the old, worn, red door. Anna allowed the rain to no longer distract her from the soft, black dirt in her hands. She dropped the dirt down still upon the yellow table. She knew she would have been scolded harshly for dirtying up her great-aunt’s table. Anna hadn’t even wanted the table, Elise had wanted it.
Said that it would give color to the room.
So Anna acquiesced to what she thought would be Elise’s only outrageous demand.
What Anna didn’t know was that one yellow table would turn into two blue chairs, a red painted door, a green dressed bed. The only thing Anna got to choose was the grey cabinet. Now, it looked to be the only thing that didn’t appear as old as the rest. Elise had thought that the room looked finally bright, finally distracted from the dreary, run-down building. What Elise didn’t know was that the only thing that really made the room bright was her.
They were happy.
Anna worked as a secretary in a small architectural firm. Not necessarily meaningful work, but she enjoyed it; she would’ve been fine there her whole life. Elise, though, Elise showed promise. Top of her class, smart, beautiful, everyone loved her. Elise was working to move up, destined to be the best attorney in New York City until...until…
Anna stopped.
Until Brandon.
The boy who lived downstairs. He was younger, but he was trouble. Messed with the wrong sort. Elise tried not to judge him, tried to help him out, given him the benefit of the doubt. Elise always had a soft spot for the misguided. It was why she became a lawyer, wanted to defend the defenseless.
Brandon was not defenseless.
He killed Elise. Or at least caused her death. His stupid gang.
Elise was innocent. She hadn’t done anything to anyone. After Anna was done burying Elise, dealing with the wretched, fake, mourning family, Anna borrowed her brothers truck, drove just outside the city to an abandoned park and dug a hole. She drove to the apartment, the one she hadn’t stayed in since Elise...left, and sat down, set the shovel on the table, and watched the rain.
Steps creaked on the stairs outside the apartment. Brandon wasn’t able to come to the funereal, too busy, but he still wanted to “pay his respects”. There were steps walking to the door. Anna would be ready when he came. Anna would make sure she got— there was a knock on the door— her retribution.