Abel refuses to stop running until he reaches their apartment and by the time he's gone up the stairs his calves are burning more intensely than ever. He massages them the best he can and once the pain's mostly gone he walks to their door. He grabs the keys from his bag, turns the right one in the lock and grabs the handle. As he slides the door open he hears the increasing sound of water running and a very bad feeling creeps into his mind. He runs to the bathroom, surprised to find it unlocked.
In the bathroom he finds Cassandra, passed out and slouched on the shower floor, with a stream of water coming down over her from the shower head. He reaches to turn off the shower, twitching slightly as the ice cold water hits his arm. He crouches in front of her, relieved as he hears her breathing steadily. He strips her, carries her to the bed and tucks her in under as many warm blankets as he manages to find, simultaneously making sure she's still breathing.
Once he's sure she wont freeze to death he takes off his damp jacket and throws it on the back rest of a nearby chair. He holds his head between his hands, trying to make sense of the thoughts and feelings spinning inside his head like a storm. Deeming rational thinking useless he grabs a nearby vodka bottle and takes a big gulp, despite his dislike towards most alcoholic drinks. As it burns his throat he almost throws up but once it kicks in he feels slightly relieved.
He throws himself on the bed and tries to fall asleep but gets up after realizing it's impossible in the state of mind that he's in. He sighs and begins picking up bottles Cassandra had brought in. As most of them still contain various amounts of alcohol he sets them on a nearby counter to sort out later. He puts their wet clothes on the balcony to dry and throws the pack of cigarettes he finds on the couch to the trash can.
During his cleaning frenzy he finds a small tape recorder, which he decides to play as he's never seen it before. He plugs in a pair of headphones and presses the 'play' button.
"You're a fucking asshole, Abby", he hears Cassandra slurring, "Leaving me alone like this and not even keeping your fucking promise."
The message is interrupted by loud gulping.
"If I die here you can be sure as hell that I'll haunt you until the end of your fucking life, you hear me?!"
He starts hearing nearly incomprehensible sniffling and whining on the tape.
"Please don't leave me... I can't be here by myself...", and the message ends with an artificial female voice saying "1:24 a:m, today".
He takes off his headphones and sits on the floor, hugging himself tightly.
"I'm all right", he tells himself. Once he calms down he climbs on the bed and eventually falls asleep.
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