Part One — Chapter Five: Silence Once More
RECORD P1-05
Knew You'd Have My Back
As expected, the apartment was empty when Jill got home.
The silence hit immediately.
No low music from Leon's room.
No smell of food.
No sarcastic comment greeting her from the couch.
Just darkness and the low buzz of the city outside.
Jill lingered at the B.S.A.A. base longer than necessary that evening, stretching paperwork and training reports into excuses not to go home yet.
But eventually there was nowhere else to be.
She ordered takeout she barely tasted, left the TV running mostly for background noise and sank deeper into the couch with every glass of whiskey.
Claire was busy working at TerraSave.
Chris was probably still working too.
Leon wasn't coming home tonight.
Somehow, that bothered her more than it should have.
By the time she finally dragged herself toward the bathroom, the bottle was already half empty.
Steam slowly filled the room as she stepped beneath the hot water, letting it wash away the smell of gunpowder, sweat and exhaustion.
For a while she simply stood there with her eyes closed.
Quiet.
Safe.
Home.
She repeated those words to calm herself.
Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation with Chris earlier that day.
The bar after Death Island.
Too much alcohol.
Leon laughing somewhere beside her. The smug look on his face when she stole his girl right in front of him.
Jill smirked faintly to herself.
Her past flings were men and women alike, although she had always found herself drawn a little more toward women.
She admired their softness. Their warmth. Their beauty. Innocence.
It was something she had quietly missed in her own life.
But it had been months since she had last been close to anyone.
Months since anyone had been close to her.
The realization settled heavily in her chest.
She rested her forehead briefly against the cool glass of the shower wall.
When the water finally stopped, the silence returned almost immediately.
Worse this time.
She closed her eyes.
God…
She missed being wanted.
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