Chapter two

Cassandra reached the parking lot and threw herself into her car, and drove off in a frenzy, screeching tires as she left. Weaving in and out of traffic, Cassandra sped toward home with a heavy heart.

Once she arrived safely back home, she parked her car and ran inside to the refuge of her little two-bedroom cottage, and threw herself down onto her bed.

The tears came fast and hard, flowing freely down her cheeks like waterfalls. They fell silently onto her pillow, staining it, as she buried her head into it.

Tears for a guy she had spent two years of her life with, only to find him entwined in the arms of his trashy assistant.

The weight on her shoulders felt like it was crushing her, as her chest heaved and her eyes burned and stung. She was sobbing so hard that it felt like someone had taken her soul from her body and was trying to wring the last vestiges of life out of it.

She screamed at the betrayal that she had just uncovered. She was so angry she couldn't think straight, as many questions plagued her mind.

Why did he do this?

How could she have been so stupid?

How did she not pay attention to all the signs?

"It's over. It's over... it's all over," she screamed as she curled further into a tight ball under her comforter.

As her head replayed the events that had transpired that afternoon, the tears continued to stream, until there was nothing left in her to cry about.

Until the sharp pain inside her heart turned numb.

Until her body stopped shaking

Until all that was left were her hiccups and her sniffles.

Finally, when her tears had stopped, and her face was wet, there came a stillness as she laid there, unmoving. As she stared at the ceiling in the darkness, she slowly drifted to sleep.

(•)

Cassandra awoke to the sound of her phone ringing.

She rolled over, ignoring whoever it was, and immediately upon opening her eyes, she began to feel the stabbing pain of betrayal flood her thoughts and emotions once again.

She hoped that she would wake up from a bad dream and all would be right in her world, but that wasn't the case.

Instead, she woke up to tear-stained cheeks and a dark emptiness inside of her, feeling more alone than she had in a long while.

Cassandra finally dragged herself out of bed and headed to the kitchen. She grabbed the ice-cold vodka bottle out of the freezer and poured herself a shot. She threw it back and felt the burn of the liquor as it ran down the back of her throat.

She was ready to pour herself another, and then suddenly her phone started ringing again.

"Who in the hell keeps calling?" she thought angrily.

Fully prepared to send whoever it was directly to voicemail and shut the phone off, Cassandra went to grab her cell. But before she pressed the hangup button, she saw her friend's name appear on her phone's screen.

Eloise Chesterfield had been Cassandra's best friend since the first grade when her family had moved just across the street from Cassandra.

They were inseparable up until just after high school ended. They didn't see each other as often as they liked nowadays due to the daily activities of adult life that took up their time.

Eloise had gotten married just a few years after graduation to her high school sweetheart, Nicholas, whom Cassandra never really cared for that much.

He seemed like a nice enough guy, but she felt like Nicholas was a little too "old school" and held Eloise back from doing what she had always dreamt of doing.

Nicholas didn't want her to go to work, so she stayed home and took care of the house like a good little wife. Eloise claims that she's okay with it, but Cassandra knew her friend better than that.

She had an independent side to her, and it's as if Nicholas had just suffocated it and put it to rest the day they said their "I do's".

Nicholas has been pushing for Eloise to get pregnant and start a family, but that was not something that she had ever really wanted in her life.

And so, the issue was causing some major conflict between the couple.

She always talked of having a glamorous job and owning her own apartment. Eloise even vowed to take Cassandra on adventures with her long into their old age.

However, when Nicholas came along, those plans changed drastically, and Eloise changed. She was no longer her old, scrappy, independent self.

"Hello?" Cassandra answered Eloise's call with a quiet, hoarse voice.

"Cassie?" Eloise asked with concern in her voice, "Is that you?"

"Yeah." came the emotionless response.

"You don't sound good. Are you okay?"

"No... not really." Cassandra sighed and then threw back another straight vodka shot with a grunt.

"Don't go anywhere; I'm coming over!"

And with that, Eloise hung up the phone.

(•)

"Cassandra, you look awful! What's going on?" Eloise blurted as she walked into the house.

"Good to know because I feel awful, too."

Cassandra's orange-brown hair was a matted mess, her mascara had streaked black marks down her cheeks, and her eyes were red and puffy.

Taking a few more shots to try and numb the pain before Eloise arrived, Cassandra also reeked of alcohol.

"Well, I went to surprise Michael at his office today at lunch," Cassandra slurred, "and guess what I saw... I caught him half-naked on his desk with that skanky bitch, Ashley," she explained numbly.

"What?" Eloise yelled out.

"Yep... he's a cheating son of a bitch, and I was too stupid to see it. Why was I so blind to see it?"

"Cassie, don't do that! You had no way of knowing!" she declared as she rubbed her friend's back.

"All of those times he claimed he was working late, I'm sure he was tangled up with that no good hag," she said through a muffled, drunken hiccup.

"I'm so sorry, Cassie. What a lousy piece of crap he is. He doesn't deserve you and honestly, never did!"

"Well, I slapped the shit out of him, and it felt great!" she giggled to Eloise. "I've never hit anyone before."

Eloise couldn't help but giggle along with her friend. She knew whatever bottle Cassandra had been knocking back seemed to be doing the job, at least for now.

However, Eloise also knew that Cassandra was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, and unfortunately, the emotional pain would still be there when she woke up.

"Cassandra, maybe we should get some coffee in you and get you into bed."

"No, I don't want any caffeine."

"Well, you're going to get it anyway," Eloise said and got up.

Eloise went into the kitchen and quickly made her friend a cup of coffee. But when returning with the cup, she found Cassandra already passed out on the couch.

With a sigh, Eloise threw a blanket over her and sat down next to her. As Eloise quickly drank the coffee she made, she wrote a note to Cassandra.

'Call me when you wake up tomorrow. I have something that might improve your mood a little bit. - Ellie'

Tbc

CHAPTER THREE