“I’m home!” Sylir raised her voice slightly stepping inside the small apartment. The curtains were closed and the place was a complete mess. She sighed, kicking her heels off and hanging her jacket up. The dust made her cough and she desperately tried to ignore the spiders staring down at her from the upper corner of the room. “Marco?”

  No answer came so her boyfriend was either asleep or not home. She looked around checking the few rooms they had. When she couldn’t find him anywhere a sigh of relief left her.

  Dim light filtered through the closed curtains, revealing a cluster of beer bottles on the floor and peeling wallpaper, cigarette smoke clung to each piece of furniture. But at least it was a home and not a caravan cart.

  Sylir walked over to their small bedroom and pulled her shirt over her head and got out of her pants. Then she stared at her reflection in the mirror for a few minutes then quickly looked away. A cheap beat up bra that hasn’t been washed in a bit too long and a few bruises on her knees. She pulled a more comfortable shirt on. It had a few holes but that’s fine. Her face was also a mess of makeup and half smudged off lipstick. She wiped it off, looking back at her reflection she thought she probably looked even worse now. She brushed her hair pulling out the knots from it.

  Finally she was done. Before this she looked messy but it looked like it was on purpose. Now she still looked like shit at least in her mind. Whatever it’s not like she had the time to properly clean herself up right now. Sylir attempted to smile at her reflection. But all she found were more mistakes in how she looked so she decided to step away from the mirror for good. Instead heading towards the kitchen.

  It was no surprise when she opened the fridge and found it almost completely empty. They had little money and Marco always ‘forgot’ to buy groceries. She groaned trying to think of what the hell to do. She had no clue when Marco was coming home or even where he was. Probably off doing some one time gig because he couldn’t get a proper job for the life of him. She didn’t have the budget to go out to eat somewhere, her paycheck was still a long way from arriving.

  After a while of rummaging around the kitchen and trying to find something edible she managed to find a few slices of bread, a single egg and half a bell pepper. Good enough for dinner she thought, finding a mildly dirty pan and cracking the egg into it with some oil.

  She ate quietly and quickly as there really wasn’t anything to savor about the meal. Maybe she could grow her own vegetables? No it wouldn’t really work. She barely had a balcony and she’d need a whole garden for that.

  The door creaked open around 10pm that night. Sylir was laying on the couch reading a book she stole from the school library. She looked up seeing her boyfriend in the doorway. He had a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth and an empty beer bottle in his hand. His dark eyes stared at her while he removed his jacket and shoes. Marco walked towards her with unsteady steps.

  “You forgot groceries again!” Sylir said, her voice annoyed. “We literally have no food that isn’t rotting”

  “You could buy shit too, you know.” He replied bitterly.

  “We talked about this, it's your job! And besides, I have work all day.” She grumbled.

  “You have a job and yet we have no money. How does that work huh?” He raised his voice. Sylir glared at him angrily.

  “I just started! They won’t pay me until the end of the month, it’s how regular jobs work! But you wouldn't know that would you?” She yelled back.

  “Well at least I’m actually making money!” Marco exclaimed, throwing a small string bag on the table. Sylir got up and opened it. It was half filled with gold coins. From the looks of it there couldn’t be more than fifty coins in there. Still it was better than nothing.

  “How did you get this?” She was kind of suspicious of the fact that the small bag had a few fancy embroidered details on it which were definitely not her boyfriend’s style.

  “None of your damn business woman!” He yelled, giving her a condescending look and crossing his arms. “Be glad it’s there would you?”

  “Don’t talk to me like that! You stole this didn’t you?” Sylir shouted.

  “Why the fuck do you suddenly care about that? Maybe I did, so what? Gimme a break I know you don’t give a shit you’re just as much of a lowlife as I am.” Marco frustratedly ran a hand through his dark overgrown hair and stepped forward looking down at Sylir. “Now cut the crap and remember who’s putting a roof over your head!”

  He loomed over her being about half a head taller and much stronger. She could smell the alcohol on his breath very strongly and it made her sick. Her shoulders tensed and she could hear her heartbeat quicken.

  “I’m sorry.” She muttered, eyes fixed on the floor.

  “Yeah that’s what I thought.” He chuckled. “I’m taking a shower.”

  He put out his cigarette, smudged it on the kitchen counter and stumbled towards the bathroom. She soon heard the running water. What she wouldn’t have given at that moment to be back in her office. Working at the academy was probably the first job she actually enjoyed and she never thought that was possible.

  Especially with the company she had there. Oscar seemed like a really good guy. Shame about the wife and all that. She’s been with a married man before but it didn’t end well so unless the opportunity presented itself she didn’t exactly want to make a move. And besides right now she practically owned her life to Marco so it was better not to disturb the waters.

  Marco rescued her from the caravan she was traveling with. She couldn’t have left on her own but she would have given anything to be away from them. She was sick of having to perform every night and having people stare at her or treat her like shit just because of her work. She wanted to be respected finally. Or at least treated normally.

  Marco offered to take her in and away from Amohyl. She wasn’t in love with him at all. She barely even liked the guy but obviously he wouldn’t have helped her if she didn’t reciprocate at least a bit. So now she was sort of stuck with him. At least she had a roof over her head and frankly she couldn’t care less how many times she needed to ‘return the favor’ to him. Anything was better than being in that place.

  She went to bed not saying another word to him.

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  ??...??

  Sylir shot awake in the middle of the night to a sharp sudden pain. It seemingly had no reason and came from her stomach. She gripped it feeling panicked and confused. Tears welled in her eyes as she pushed Marco, shaking him awake.

  “Wha-” He asked, still half asleep. When he saw her clutching her stomach and nearly crying he made a confused face. “Shit you okay?”

  “ Do I look okay!?” She yelled in frustration. “I- It hurts so much…”

  “Okay- okay just stay calm.” He grumbled, getting up lazily and walking outside. Marco returned minutes later with a small bottle which was filled with hot water. He wrapped it in a blanket and handed it to her. She pressed it against her stomach hoping it would help as she herself couldn’t really think of any other ideas. “You better?”

  “N-no…” She muttered in pain.

  Marco sighed and climbed back into bed settling behind her and wrapping her in a hug. He pressed a kiss on her head more gently than she was used to him being.

  “Just please calm down, it's fine” He muttered tiredly. “You’re fine.”

  “Y-yes… fuck… I’m fine!” She repeated trying to steady her breathing and ignore the pain in her abdomen. He placed a hand over hers which was clutching the blanket pressed over her stomach. He leaned back, placing a pillow behind himself so his back was comfortable against the headboard. The room was still dark and all they could hear was their own breathing and the faint noises from the street.

  He felt kind of bad for her but he was tired, drunk and couldn’t do anything anyways right? So he held her until her whimpering got quieter and he could go back to sleep.

  Sylir understood. At least she had someone to offer some comfort. It felt like hours before she could fall asleep. Her sleep felt restless and her dreams were confusing. She felt like she was drifting in deep waters, being pulled down by some unknown force. The waves were crashing over her cruelly pushing her further and further down.

  When she awoke her heart was racing but she could barely remember the feverish dream.

  Marco still had her in a hug. She wriggled herself free from his arms and was happy that her pain had faded. Sylir pulled her hair into a bun fixing it in place with a pretty hairpin she kept from the circus. Her clothes for the day consisted of a pair of black flared jeans, one of her favorite red lacy tops and beat up boots because it took her exactly two work days to give up on wearing heels. They made her feet hurt and just weren’t worth the effort. She also felt like her students didn’t exactly prioritize fashion and maybe looked down on her for it.

  On her way out the door she picked up the small probably stolen bag of coins and took out about half of the money. Her hope was that this way Marco couldn’t spend all of it on useless things and she could actually go out and buy food. Hopefully he didn’t count them yesterday.

  She picked up her jacket and dashed out the door. Sylir was already late so she pretty much ran to the school. It’s not like they had any food at home so she didn’t bother having breakfast.

  ??...??

  The door of their office burst open and Oscar’s head shot up. Sylir ran inside, throwing her bag on the floor along with her jacket.

  “I have a class! I’m completely late.” She yelled over to him before picking up a seemingly random stack of books from her desk and running outside slamming the door behind herself.

  “Well good morning to you too…” Oscar grumbled standing up and folding his reading glasses on the table. He collected Sylir’s things from the floor hanging her jacket on the clothes hanger then placing her bag on a chair.

  The impact of her things getting thrown onto the floor seemingly resulted in some of her crudely thrown in makeup breaking. She would not be glad about that for sure. He decided to tell her when she came back, which happened about fifty minutes later when she slammed the door open again, groaning loudly.

  “Good morning.” Oscar cleared his throat. “I think some of your makeup broke.”

  “Are you fucking with me right now?” She asked tired eyes staring at him. He shook his head and pointed to the bag. Sylir immediately ran over to it and rummaged around. She took out her lipstick and popped the cap off only to watch half of it break off and fall onto the carpet. She groaned in frustration burying her face in her hands. “This week can’t get any worse.”

  “Oh come on, it's okay.” Oscar didn’t understand why she looked so upset. She also looked extremely tired which probably made her even angrier.

  “No it fucking isn’t! I’ve had this lipstick forever. I loved it!” She yelled. “And I literally have like 25 coins to my name so I can’t exactly buy a new one!”

  “Okay you look really messed up, and I know it’s none of my business but are you alright?” He asked, looking up at her from his desk. His voice sounded genuine enough for her to believe he was actually concerned.

  “Yeah I just- something weird happened. I got this really bad stomach pain last night and I couldn’t sleep.” She explained not looking at him “And then I was late and then this and I can’t spend money on anything right now because I need to save it for rent and food and bills!”

  She gestured at the broken lipstick then threw her arms in the air out of anger.

  “Have you eaten?” Oscar asked, suspecting that being hungry might be the reason she’s getting this frustrated.

  “No…” Sylir admitted.

  “Okay so if I’m correct we both have another class right now, but how about I buy you breakfast after that?” He asked, getting up from his desk. She looked at him with wide eyes.

  “No- please you don’t have to.” She stared at her feet feeling really pathetic. Apparently she looked so pitiful even someone who only knew her for three days wanted to help.

  “Come on. I haven’t eaten either because I have an early class on Tuesdays so I don’t have the time.” Oscar explained looking at her. “I know a really good place, it's cheap too so there’s no reason for you to feel bad.”

  “I don’t need your pity.” She muttered.

  “It’s not a pity I kinda just want company. Having breakfast alone is depressing and I don’t mind paying for it.” He replied smiling.

  “Didn’t you hate company?” Sylir asked, tilting her head up at Oscar.

  “Maybe I changed my mind.” He said with a cheery tone.

  “Really? Then why have you never invited anyone else for breakfast?” She teased. It was now his turn to look away nervously.

  “Listen, are you gonna take the offer or will I have to deal with you being hungry and pissed off all day?” Sylir laughed at that.

  “Fine… I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.” She murmured fidgeting with the strap of her bag.

  “Okay. Now let’s get to class because I don’t wanna be late.” He concluded by picking up his things and opening the door for her.

  Another fifty minutes later they were walking away from the school and towards the bustling city. Many people crowded the streets doing their morning shopping or going to work. Oscar led her into a quiet little street where a small coffee shop came into view tucked away in an alley. It was surrounded by flower pots and had a few chairs outside.

  They stepped inside and were greeted by a small halfling behind the counter. She had short hair and wore a beat up apron. The shop was small and a homey warmth filled the air. They ordered their food and coffee from a small menu.

  Sylir was starting to enjoy this. It’s been a while since anyone got her food or spent time with her like this. Even if it clearly wasn’t a date she still liked the attention. And she also liked the fact that he looked very much eager to pay. His wife was a damn lucky woman in her opinion. She still felt tired despite the coffee but at least now she had some entertainment. Oscar told her about books he’s read recently, and he shared stories of ridiculous things his students have done.

  The morning sun was shining through the small windows and somehow it felt warmer than ever.

  They finished their food quickly because they needed to get back to the school. As promised Oscar paid, leaving a small tip on the table. He smiled at her assuring her once again that it’s completely fine and she needn't worry about returning the money to him.

  Sylir followed him quietly back to the academy, and for a while she felt a serene calmness wash over her. But she had a suspicion it wouldn’t last.