“Fine. I’ll get his things. Make the place all nice and tidy so you get the maximum amount of dough seeing as that’s what’s most important to you.” My words were glacial now, and I hoped they cut him as deep as I meant them to.

“Please, Lily, you don’t need to do anything yet, I—”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. I’ll take everything to my place and when Jack gets back, he’ll stay with me. And, Sam?”

“Yes?” he whispered.

“Fuck you for giving up on him.”

I silenced his protests by hanging up, and when he called back, I switched off my phone. Fueled by anger, I abandoned my quest for pointless food, picked up a roll of packing tape and asked the store clerk for their entire collection of empty boxes.

Once I got to Jack’s apartment my anger and frustrations had subsided a little, but not enough for me to change my mind about collecting his things. If I didn’t do it now, and as more and more days passed, I wasn’t sure when I’d find the nerve.

As I walked up the stairs with a few boxes in my hands, I stopped midway. Jack’s front door was ajar.

I threw the boxes over the banister, ignoring them as they crashed to the ground, and took the rest of the steps two at a time.

“Jack,” I shouted, bursting into the apartment.

I was met with complete silence, and it took my brain a while to click into gear and process what my eyes were seeing as I walked through the hallway. Jack’s things strewn across the floor. Clothes and shoes, pillows and bedding, utensils and broken glass. It looked like a tornado had torn through the place. Get out, my brain screamed at me. Get out now!

I backed away, my feet sliding across the floorboards as they tried to gain traction. Someone had been in here, gone through all of Jack’s things. Had they already left? What if they were behind me, coming back up the stairs? There was no noise aside from the beating of my heart, but that didn’t mean I was alone. I retreated to the front door. Once outside, I leaped down the stairs and pulled out my phone, dialing Heron and whispering a silent thank-you when she picked up after one ring.