7 Chapter 06

Elizabeth sat by the counter and kept glancing at her phone, the tips of her Doc martens tapping on the floorboard nervously as she waited for Maya. It was seven pm. Elizabeth drew her eyes away from the phone as it worsened her nerves. Instead she inspected her apartment trying to focus on something else. The thin glass windows overseeing pillars of other red bricked buildings, but mostly the endless sky above that stretched out for aeons. The rare picturesque blue sky patch that wasn't covered by a cluster of buildings was what made Elizabeth pick the apartment, she knew if she was going to be cooped up in all week more than any average New Yorker, she could always go to that window ledge by the kitchen counter and gaze at that patch of sky, knowing she wasn't being suffocated.

Elizabeth knew what she was about to do was crazy and absurd, but the words on that letter clung onto every cell in her brain and the more she read, the magnanimous her urge to visit this town no one's ever heard of became, at least herself. She could not describe the impulse, but she knew she could not refuse the cosmic pull this town had on her.

Elizabeth had been spending the past few hours trying to conjure up the most believable explanation she could present to Maya about this sudden escapade of her, including grounded facts and reasons, but she had no success. The doorknob rattled and Elizabeth's head snapped towards the door while her breathing increased rapidly.

*****

Maya walked into the apartment with a comforting thought of a long shower and a cold glass of wine after a hectic story she had got approval for about a restaurant with a horrible cuisine, along with a strong alibi to top it off. With high hopes in mind for a celebratory relaxing shower, Maya cascaded into the apartment to see Elizabeth dressed up in her beige travel sweater, the only midi skirt for special occasions and her Doc martens with a sheepish grin on her face. The travelling bag next to Elizabeth made Maya's mouth drop.

"What's going on?" Maya asked closing the door behind her.

"As you can uh see," Elizabeth eyed her luggage dramatically, "I'm...going on a little vacation."

Maya's face dropped all the way to the ground in a literal New York minute and Elizabeth winced as if she had dropped one of Lorraine's crystal vases. "Wha-what... why are you telling me this now?" She asked mortified and tired all together.

"It was a last...couple-of-hours decision?"

"Where are you going?" She asked flatly.

"Just Alabama, this town called uh...Chelseaville. It's nothing—

"Elizabeth cut the crap and tell me what's going on please?" Maya's tone was weary.

Elizabeth sighed and stood up, but she did not make it towards Maya. After taking a dramatic deep breath, she told Maya about her reasons to visit this town.

Maya was not surprised because she was aware of Elizabeth's sudden stunts, but today instead of rolling her eyes at Elizabeth, she felt sorry for her roommate for trying to find her next escape as she always did when her life was at the cusp of newness. It did not take much time for Elizabeth to decipher this look of pathos on Maya's face, like her mother's.

"Maya, I know it sounds crazy, but out of everything that's not happening in my life, this feels insanely right and maybe I do need this getaway."

"Elizabeth, do you even hear yourself? You're doing it again—running away the moment your life is trying to make amends." Maya said looking at her unnervingly and Elizabeth felt her chest twitch in pain. Maya was tired of witnessing her friend pack her stuff and fly away when her life was beginning to stabilise, she was aware of Elizabeth's resentment towards conformity and her place in this city, but she was also guilty of watching Elizabeth seek for a "greater perhaps" and not realise it anytime soon.

"Starting to sound like someone I know very well," said Elizabeth stiffly.

"I'm sorry Liz, I didn't mean to—what about the job?"

"It's almost been a week, Maya. They are not going to make the call after a week's silence, you know that."

"But that's just one job- we can look for more, I—

"I don't want a job okay?" Interjected Elizabeth, her voice rising, and Maya looked at her in shock. She had never heard Elizabeth's crystal voice break into screams. "I don't need some hot head fawn over me for my qualifications, then place me in a cage to do their bidding- I don't want that, I really don't." repeated Elizabeth with sharp determination in her voice that threw Maya off the edge. She looked at her friend with confusion and fear, wondering if she will ever be able to solve the puzzle of Elizabeth Hartley.

"Th-then what do you want Elizabeth? And don't leave me hanging, please." She pleaded softly. Elizabeth scoffed at the question helplessly as it was a personal mystery she had been trying to stamp "case closed" over for so long but had never succeeded. She shrugged and smiled vainly at Maya.

"I don't know yet Maya," she shook her head at the ground and looked at Maya, "but I do know that I need to give this letter. As dramatic as I sound, it's one of the only things that has made sense for the past few days." She laughed in wonder and sadness. Maya saw the faint glimmer in Elizabeth's eyes that was trying to overpower the misery behind her eyes. The glimmer revealed a glow on Elizabeth's face, like the one she had on the night she got plastered, except now she was not- this sight made a minuscule part of Maya's rationality bend for Elizabeth.

"There's FedEx and air mail, but here's my roommate crossing states to deliver a letter," Maya smiled worriedly at Elizabeth. Elizabeth sighed in relief to see Maya's face falter.

"Thank you for trying to see through all this when I know it's hard. You amaze me every time."

"I never see through you Liz, you're crazier than a bunch of hormonal teenagers on spring break," Maya said exasperated, "but hey, promise me this is the last episode of 'Hartley's excellent escapades' I'll have to bear witness to? And no spin-offs of any sorts."

Elizabeth never knew where she would be, it was almost as if she didn't know where she would be until she'd done it and sometimes she wondered if her life had any meaning beyond the impulsive flights she had taken or the exotic food and languages she'd encountered, watching colourful memories flash by her like a kaleidoscope on roll.

She looked at the window by the kitchen, hiding her guilt-ridden face.

"I'm sorry Maya I can't promise that."

"But why not? -no scratch that-I'll never know why, but please do remember this is why I'm the only sane woman in all of Manhattan willing to live with you." She huffed with mock frustration. Elizabeth's spirits lifted hoping Maya's mock frustration indicated her blessing.

"Thank y-

"No Liz," Maya interrupted and sat herself on the couch, utterly tired, "don't thank me for helping you walk away for the umpteenth time, I won't." She said furiously and Elizabeth felt guilt rising up her throat, as Maya's face distorted in anger.

She sat on the far end of the couch.

"Maya, I'm not walking away, for once."

"And I want to believe that this is for that letter and whatever spell it cast on you, but is it really the truth?" Maya asked looking into Elizabeth's eyes and she had to gulp down a tinge of resentment for herself. Elizabeth sat there in silence contemplating her true intentions for this sudden journey and she slowly felt the reasons overcrowding her mind- the dull life, her infuriating mother, the oppressive city with its constant pretensions...the list went on. Maya waited patiently for Elizabeth to answer.

"Don't worry Maya, I'll be back before you know it," Elizabeth stood up and walked to her luggage, knowing she would lose this battle with Maya if she tried to reason further. "After all I'm only delivering a letter."

These were the times when Maya wanted to be there for Elizabeth- when she could not place the right words in her own mouth- and regardless of their tensions she always decided to be there for Elizabeth. The last thing she wanted was for Elizabeth to leave the city feeling the loneliest she had ever felt.

"Liz I know you mean something in there," she said gesturing at Elizabeth, "- something that I can't see and I can never fathom how you find the courage and resilience to run across the state for a strange letter, but I do know that you're my roommate, the best I've had and even if I seem to be lost or bewildered by your crazy ass, just remember that I'm always going to be here when you get back." She said smiling reassuringly, indicating she had lost the battle.

Elizabeth broke into a smile and walked across the apartment with a fervour of affection for her roommate.

"Oh, I don't deserve you," sighed Elizabeth as she threw her arm around Maya.

"No, you don't," Maya smirked and hugged Elizabeth, relieved she was back to her spirits. Elizabeth grabbed her luggage and made it to the door, turning around to take in one last glance of her apartment, harbouring a strange feeling as if she would never see it again. She pushed the paranoid thought away with a laugh and bid Maya goodbye.

"See you in two weeks, roomie." Elizabeth winked at Maya and was out of the apartment, before Maya could question furthermore, heading towards her final escapade to oblivion.

******

For a woman of twenty-three with a zero source of income, Elizabeth never had obstacles travelling around half the globe. While every other parent had built a college fund for their children, Alan Hartley had prepared a "special fund" for Elizabeth apart from her college fund, to be opened on her seventeenth birthday and this fund was ample enough for Elizabeth to thrive for a decade- it was the one thing Lorraine truly hated about her husband, how well he loved to spoil their daughter, when he wasn't even their for her anymore. Elizabeth stared bug eyed when she was introduced to this massive fund and a part of her hated that her father had done it to separate herself from the rest of the normal kids, but as she grew up the more it helped her run away to the wildest places she had only imagined as soon as she began to see it's worth. Elizabeth never told her mother how she decided to spend the fund and Elizabeth knew her father wouldn't make hasty decisions or any decisions out of a whim, he'd always have his mysterious reasons, which was why she stopped her impulsive vacations a year ago as she planned to save it for something greater that she believed he had foresaw. And this was the first time in a year Elizabeth had decided to use the fund, and she couldn't help wondering if this was the something he had foresaw, because the one feeling she couldn't suppress was the stirring edginess she felt as she reached the airport. She usually felt at ease the moment she was heading towards the airport as it was the only place that would soon take her far away from the city, but tonight she was rather nervous as if she were walking into something she would never see coming.

By the time Elizabeth had boarded the plane, her heart was in a rush of excitement and during takeoff she had a brightness radiating off her. Out of all her purposeless adventures, this trip to Chelseaville felt like she was doing something meaningful for once and that feeling alone put all her other unsettling thoughts at ease. Clutching her lucky blue cross body bag in where the letter lay safely, Elizabeth nestled her head against the window and reminisced the words on the letter. There was a subtle tone of urgency in the sender and Elizabeth knew this letter was meant to be delivered. She had wondered how this letter had survived for this long and it led her to think that it meant whatever these lovers- or lover- had it still must be alive, at least the embers of his fire were still aglow unable to be extinguished even if it wanted to. Elizabeth knew unresolved feelings were not the best for anyone, especially lonely lovers, like Heathcliff in her favourite Bronte classic. Hence with hopes of helping a troubled man find peace and closure, Elizabeth ventured into the quaint town of Chelseaville as the busy city lights of Manhattan slowly faded away like a cluster of glow worms.