Chapter 5

Shane went back to the one-bedroom apartment she shared with 3 other girls.  Flopping down on the couch, she kicked off her shoes and tried to sleep.  She slept fitfully, waking up with a dream of bird wings fluttering in her mind.  Her roommates were awake, standing in the small kitchenette, discussing some protest or rally they planned on going to that day. Shane, suddenly felt too confined…claustrophobic, even.  She got up and walked out, murmuring a gruff “Morning” to her roommates on the way out the door.  Once outside, she sat down on a strip of grass that ran between the apartment buildings.  She took a deep breath, the sense of being smothered dissipated.  She missed the well-tended gardens at Maeve’s mansion.  It had become their custom to start out the day there, having breakfast, taking in the fresh air, and listening to the birds sing.  Shane took in a deep breath, smelling asphalt and car exhaust.  Looking around, there were no signs of birds, either.  She sighed… “I gotta get outta here…find a place with a yard…some trees would be cool, too,” she thought.  With that thought in mind, she went back up to the cramped apartment.  As she stepped inside, she heard her roommates talking.

“She’s gotten even stranger than she used to be,” one girl said.

“Yeah, she disappears for weeks, then just shows up again out of the blue.  And, she’s hardly even civil to us,” another girl agreed.

“Well, what do you wanna do about it?  She does pay her part of the rent,” the last girl asked.

It made Shane a little sad to hear them speak of her in such a way.  She interrupted their discussion.  “You guys don’t need to worry.  I’m gonna be moving out soon…probably in the next few days.”  She thought, “I don’t wanna stay here anyway.”

She went over to the Planet again.  She bought coffee and a muffin, and looked for her friends.  She saw Jenny sitting at a corner table, reading through a massive pile of newspapers.

“Hey Jenny, you catching up on all your news at once?”

“Oh!  Hey Shane, yeah…umm actually, I’m looking through the classifieds, at people seeking roommates.”