Elliot entered the apartment building through the disused side door, avoiding a likely confrontation with the seventy-two year old woman that lives in the apartment below him. Climbing the stairs to the 5th floor was a small price to pay for one more day without having to explain the shouting match she heard last night will be the last. He'd told her this before, but this time was surely the last time she'd have to hear angry exchanges with Lauren; the last time Lauren would say "I'm leaving, and I'm never coming back!"
Elliot opened the door to his quiet, sparsely decorated apartment. Looking around he notices a gap on the wall above the couch, a frame was missing, but he couldn't immediately recall what had been there that morning. Hanging his coat next to the door, his eyes next fell on the empty space where the doormat had been. A short tour of the bedroom, bathroom and refrigerator revealed that she had broken her promise and had returned, but only to collect her things, and a few of his. Elliot's cat, Ebony, meowed piteously from the corner of the living room where her favorite wicker chair used to reside. "Sorry deary, it was her chair." he tried to explain. Lauren's clothes, furniture, toothbrush and feminine products were gone, as expected, but so were the good towels, the 600-thread-count bed sheets and the shower curtain, leaving only the clear plastic liner. She had done a thorough sweep of every room, removing any and every object that might give her reason to return again. Still, she left him with a painful sense of finality, and that would have to be enough to carry him until he could replace the coffee maker.
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