Tragic Renewal Read Online Free

escaped Brianna’s throat. “Ms. Thompson, we’ve all had those days. I’m so sorry about your friend, if I lost my best friend I’d probably never be sober again. Back to your earlier question, it’d best if you can get here as soon as possible so you can decide how you want to handle things.”
    A tear slipped from the corner of Harper’s eye and rolled down the side of her face leaving a tiny wet spot on the flowery pillowcase under her head. Brianna’s willingness to forgive rudeness and show compassion put her tear factory to work. “Thanks for not thinking I’m crazy. My life is a mess right now and I don’t even have a best friend to vent to. I will be there as soon as I can.”
    “I look forward to meeting you Ms. Thompson and guess what? We all need a best friend to lean on.”
    “Thanks, I’ll see you when I get there.”
    Harper ended the call. She sighed and slumped her head until her chin touched her breastbone. After another deep sigh she stood from the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She groaned with defeat when she looked in the mirror. Her bloodshot eyes stung, and the whites coated in streaks of red and the brown irises smudged. She rubbed at her swollen lids then searched through the cabinet for eye drops.
    With rumbling stomach she went to the kitchen in search of sustenance, which lately had consisted of fast food or frozen dinners. The best friends of single people everywhere. The fridge yielded little in the way of fresh food, but the freezer held one last frozen meal. She took it out and wiped the frost from the package.
    “Looks like it’s hamburger steak, green beans, and mashed potatoes tonight.” She said aloud to the empty apartment, almost hoping for a response so she could immerse herself in being crazy. At least then she’d have someone to talk to.
    After tossing the dinner in the microwave she hurried to the bathroom for a quick shower to rinse the grime and sweat that accumulated after sleeping for most of a full day.
    Her broken TV stared at her with a silent accusing gaze, its screen dripped tears of glass from its fractured face. With nothing on the shattered TV, she ate her dinner in silence. Chewing and swallowing reverberated with each bite of preservative-laden chunks of meat with scant resemblance to the picture on the box from which it came. Her mind drifted to the reason she was in the hole of an apartment and living on the edge of welfare. Resentment drew her brows into a tight knot across her forehead when she thought of her ex-husband, Scott. At this moment he and his new bride were doubtless enjoying a nice meal in their new house, having an excited conversation about the baby that would soon arrive, and staring with adoration into each other’s eyes.
    Their imagined married bliss was enough to make her want to puke. The tasteless food lost all appeal. She walked to the trashcan and tossed the plastic divided tray and the remains of her meal. It landed with a hollow thud and splattered potato paste on the white plastic bag. She tugged the bag from the can and carried it to the trash drop in the hallway. The metal door clanged shut after the chute swallowed its meal of plastic covered trash, then burped a faint whiff of rotting garbage.
    Harper stared at the red metal door of the trash chute after it closed. Her fingers traced the words etched in the peeling paint by some bored soul with nothing better to do than deface someone else’s property.
    Get a life
    The scrawled message touched a chord in her that had been lying silent for many years. The chord rang as it strummed through the synapses of her brain. For the last twenty years she had devoted her life to an ungrateful husband. She followed him from base to base as he followed his dream of becoming a general in the Air Force. Though unsuccessful on making general he’d made it to Colonel before he retired the previous year. Even though she knew about his numerous trysts she held on until he retired