It was a cold windy day when John woke up and decided to clean up the house. He decided to start with the living room. Just three days ago, he'd been staring out of the window of that room as his girlfriend Kinsey had been pulled yelling and swearing into a police car. Well, she was his ex-girlfriend to be exact. They'd only been together for five months.
John started by dusting the worn-out corners of the room and rearranging the furniture. Additionally, he examined the photos on the coffee table and removed the ones with Kinsey in them. He'd get rid of them in the afternoon. Similarly, he planned to get rid of the items belonging to her. She clearly wasn't going to come back to fetch them, right?
The same process occurred in every other room with photos inside. The dust was wiped away and anything to do with Kinsey was removed and left downstairs in a pile in the hallway. Eventually, every single room was arranged exactly the way John wanted them to be. It was the first time in ages since he'd been able to decide things for himself.
He went back into the bedroom to check if he'd forgotten anything, and that's when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. John noticed his scruffy appearance and the old shabby dressing gown he was wearing. Along with his pyjamas, they'd been the only items of clothing he'd worn for the past two days. He'd had a down period during that timespan and had spent most of the time in his room, whilst occasionally going downstairs to get something to eat or drink. The rest of the time, he'd just slept. It had made his own appearance even scruffier, but it wasn't as if he was that attractive anyway. Or at least not as attractive as Kinsey or any other guy she could have dated. They both knew that.
John took a closer look at his reflection and noticed the deep purple bruise that had been on his forehead four days ago. He was surprised to see that it had gradually died down. He'd had other bruises as well, but this was the most severe. With the others, he could just lie to his pals at work and claim that he'd walked in a wall when he wasn't paying attention. Only he and Kinsey knew the truth. This bruise was different though. It had a deep red cut running through it. It too had healed up and clotted. It would have been hard to lie about that injury. Besides, he'd been about to received another one until the police intervened.
All of this analysing brought back even more painful memories until finally, John just broke down and cried. The morning air was silent, all except for the sounds of deep, heaving sobs. It had been the first time John had wept since meeting up with Kinsey; he'd not wanted to seem weak in front of her. But now something felt refreshing about it. It was perhaps this thought that helped John to get back up to his feet without feeling any shame. He looked at the phone he'd picked up before the police had arrived, and then turned back to his reflection. It looked wobbly through his tears but after mopping some away, he noticed himself exchanging a watery smile.
“It was really brave of you to do that – it really was,” John uttered to the reflection whilst stroking the surface of the mirror. Talking to himself. Another one of his strange habits. Kinsey had always thought of him as weird and he agreed, but he just did not care anymore. He could be however weird he wanted to be now that she was gone. Wiping the last of his tears away, he left the room and made his way towards the stairs.
Walking down to the kitchen, John pondered over what he was going to do over the weekend. He could always go to the cinema – another animated film was coming out and he wanted to know what it was like. Kinsey never cared for that sort of stuff, so it had been months before he could go and see one. There were plenty of things that he and Kinsey could never agree on anyway. Alternatively, he could go to the park two streets away. He liked gazing at the flowers blooming in the springtime and staring at the sparrows flying through the sky. Again, he had not been able to go for a long time.
The kitchen was plain and pristine, though there was some mildew in the corner of one of the walls. A small bloodstained patch also appeared smeared on the radiator below. John was puzzled as to how he hadn't bothered to clean that up beforehand; it had been there for four days. He got a sponge, ran it under some water and used it to get the blood off. A crimson stream ran down as he squeezed it back into the sink. John let out a satisfied sigh as he turned around – and noticed his coffee mug smashed beneath his feet. Again, it had been like that for four days.
John went over to the nearby cupboard that Kinsey's vodka had previously been stored inside. He got out a pair of scissors and a roll of sellotape that had been carelessly stored inside and headed back over to the fragments of the mug. Kneeling down beside them, he carefully used the sellotape he cut out in order to gradually stick the fragments back together. The final product wasn't exactly perfect, but he was happy the way it was.
John used the fixed mug in order to get himself some coffee for the morning. It always kept him refreshed. Kinsey had never approved. Too much caffeine, she'd said to him. So he'd secretly bought a packet when she'd been away. He'd stored it in another cupboard where he knew she wouldn't find it, though he'd been paranoid of the idea that she could find out eventually. One he was sure that the coffee was just right, he sat down at the table and took a sip. It tasted divine and gave him a warm feeling inside, just like how the dressing gown did. It was a feeling he rarely felt around Kinsey. He kept sipping and sipping (whilst having the occasionally bite of a moist blueberry muffin in between) until he'd drank it all up.
He stayed sitting down whilst looking around with one hand rested on his chin, not really saying anything for some time. After processing his surroundings, he closed his eyes in order to think some more. It was nice to have a house to himself again without having to share it with anyone. John let out a small chuckle at this thought. He spent a few minutes pondering in this manner, before finally opening his eyes again and gazing at the clock. 10:00am. Pretty late. Usually Kinsey would have told him to hurry up at this time, but now John didn't need to be concerned about what she thought. He still wanted to get outside the house though. He'd get washed and dressed soon, and then think about whether to go to the cinema or park first.
