Don’t be late

Eve

The buzzing sound on the counter wouldn’t stop. I was standing over the sink brushing my teeth when my phone lit up again, vibrating insistently like it was possessed. At first, I ignored it. Nothing good ever came from messages that early in the morning. But when it buzzed the third time, I spat out the foam and picked it up, still wiping the corner of my mouth as I unlocked the screen.

It was Sage.

Not just one message, but damn three!

Location sent.

You are to come alone.

If you’re not there by 9pm, I will drag you out myself. No matter where you hide.

I stared at the screen, numb for a moment, then my reflection met mine in the mirror. I didn’t look scared, even though maybe I should have. I looked… furious. My eyebrows were pulled together so tightly that I could’ve sworn I felt a headache forming. Even with a toothbrush hanging stupidly from the side of my mouth, I looked like someone who regretted every single life decision that had led her here.

I lowered the phone slowly and pointed the toothbrush at my reflection. “Why am I even dealing with this?” I muttered, foam still in my mouth. “Why is this man acting like I owe him something?”

The phone buzzed again. I whipped my head around so fast a drop of toothpaste flew onto the mirror. Another message from him. It was short and cold.

Don’t be late.

I rolled my eyes so hard it actually hurt, then slapped my phone face-down on the counter and rinsed my mouth in irritation. Mia’s stupid warnings replayed in my mind and I instantly blamed her again. She was the reason I had unblocked him. She was the reason he now had access to my morning peace. She was the reason I was dealing with this madness.

I dried my hands aggressively and picked up my phone again, staring at the location he sent. The name wasn’t even familiar. Some place on the outskirts of town. Of course it was. He didn’t believe in normal meeting points like restaurants or cafés. No. He preferred fear as ambience.

I shook my head and threw the phone onto the bed before getting dressed. The whole morning felt ruined already. My mood was rotten, my stomach restless, and every nerve in my body annoyed. Sage had somehow managed to frustrate me before breakfast. What a talent. I didn’t ask for this man in my life. I didn’t ask for these rules. I didn’t ask for the constant threat of being dragged like a sack of potatoes if I didn’t obey him.

“Ugh,” I groaned at my reflection again. “How did life even get here?”

I rubbed my temples slowly. This was going to be a long day. And a longer night.

The whole day rolled by more peacefully than I expected. After breakfast, Mia dragged the giant blanket off the couch and wrapped herself in it like some sort of overgrown caterpillar, and I joined her with a bowl of popcorn balanced on my chest. We switched through channels until we found a comedy, something light enough to keep my mind off Sage and all the chaos waiting for me by nightfall. It didn’t take long before Mia burst into loud laughter at a ridiculous scene. The sound filled the living room, high and bright, and when I turned to look at her, she was wiping tears from her eyes like she hadn’t laughed that hard in ages. Seeing her like that tugged something warm inside me, something that always reminded me why I kept her so close.

She didn’t know that every time she laughed like that, I remembered the night everything changed for her. I remembered the way she had stood in my doorway years ago, trembling and soaked from the rain because her apartment had flooded and half her belongings were floating in muddy water by the time she escaped. She had called me, terrified, apologizing endlessly because she didn’t want to be a burden, and I drove out immediately to pick her up. I told her she could stay just for a few days while repairs were made, nothing serious, nothing long-term. But the days stretched into weeks, and somewhere between late-night talks on my bed, shared meals, and her following me around as my assistant, those weeks shifted into something else entirely.

By the time her house got fixed, she had already taken root beside me in ways I didn’t expect. When she told me she was ready to move back, I actually felt something inside me sink. Maybe she did too, because she hesitated, and that was enough for me to tell her to stay. I didn’t even bother packaging it politely. I flat-out refused to let her go. She rolled her eyes at me that day, but she stayed anyway, and we fell into this strange, perfect rhythm that made everything lighter.

Even her younger brother ended up joining us during his school breaks, sprawling across the couch like he owned it, complaining that our popcorn wasn’t salty enough. Eventually, Mia bought her own house again, something bigger and better than the old one, but it stayed empty. She kept the keys but never slept there. Her life was here with me now, tangled into mine until we could barely separate one routine from the other.

I smiled at her quietly as she laughed at another ridiculous scene on the TV. She didn’t notice me watching. She never noticed when I got sentimental like that. She was too busy living, too busy filling up the space with her warmth and noise. Whatever happened tonight with Sage, at least I had her. At least I still had someone who made this house feel less like a cage and more like a home.

I grabbed another handful of popcorn and nudged her leg with my foot. “You’re laughing too hard for someone who caused me sleepless nights this past few week,” I muttered.

She gasped dramatically, offended. “What did I do now?”

I didn’t answer. I only wiggled my eyebrows and tossed popcorn at her face, and she shrieked before doing the same. Just like that, the tension melted away again and the movie kept playing in the background, both of us losing ourselves in the calm before the storm Sage was about to unleash on my life.