Leaving Me

by ScurryBelle

2 - This Big Apple

As I walk into town, I see people everywhere on their way to ice cream shops, banks, and grocery stores. Everyone seems to have their life planned, and organized, as if they were all programmed like a robot to do day-to-day things. I'm not like that, I do things on an impulse, which is bad.

I enter the bank. Many clerks, people withdrawing, or people making accounts or bank loans are no where to be seen. Usually there is more commotion, but I guess this is a slow weekend. I go over to withdraw some money from my account.

"I would like to withdraw fifteen bits please."

"Card please." she asks with a plastered on fake smile.

I hand her my card, seeing maybe ten bits in my bag.

"Here you go!" She hands me my card and fifteen bits. "Have a nice day!" She smiles as I wave a goodbye to her.

Leaving the bank I see my friend Lyra struggling with her bike. Lyra has been one of my closest friends besides Octavia since I was twelve. We have been in almost every class since the 7th grade, we shared notes, pulled pranks, and hung out in the library all the time.

"Hey Lyra, need some help?"

"Oh hey Vinyl!" She replies. "Yeah, I can't seem to find my key, and I really need to get going somewhere."

"Remember when I broke into that guys locker and we rigged that baby powder trap as a prank? I could just pick your lock the same way."

"Oh thank you Vinyl, that would be fantastic!" She says as I start to pick the lock.

"So what exactly brings you to this side of the town?" I say to start a conversation. " You usually stay on the north side of Manehattan."

"Well, I am going over to a few friends of mine's house to give them a house warming gift. They just lost their jobs and are moving in to one of the apartments near yours, 302-B West Apple Blvd."

"That is literally right next to me, I'm 302-A! That apartment has been empty for a year, the last person went crazy from my dubstep and moved away."

The lock finally unlatches, so I take it and wrap it around her handlebars.

"I finished picking the lock, could you ride slow so we can talk?

"Sure! What do you wanna talk about?"

"I recently got a new set of speakers for my gigs, their as tall as me!"

"That sounds great! I just got this new bike a week ago from my grandparents." Lyra says. "I actually had one, but this one was better and I sold the old one to pay off some of the new one.

As we trailed off into miscellaneous discussion, Lyra didn't seem very interested in talking, but I didn't realize it until we were talking for about twenty minutes. After that we just walked silently to her cousins' house.

She knocks on the door, and when it opens, I recognize them. The Flimflam Brothers.

"Hello Lyra! I was wondering if you were going to come and visit us." He says with a smile. "I see you also brought a friend. What is your name, if I may ask?"

"The name's Vinyl." I tell them bluntly. "I recognize you two con artists, why did you move to my area of Manehattan?"

"Our Super Speedy Cider Squeezie 6000 didn't get us very far," They explain. "and we lost a lot of money, so we moved into these cheap apartments, because it was all we could afford."

The Flimflam brothers are notorious for trying to put a family that owns an apple orchard out of business by making cider faster than they could. Then it backfired when the family was making quality cider faster than their machine, so their machine started adding in bad apples to compete, and their cider was terrible. So then ended up loosing their whole reputation because of a wonderful, hardworking family.

"Huh. Sorry Lyra, but it serves your friends right. Their not very nice."

"I know, but their still one of my closest friends, and I still care about them, so I wanted to bring a house warming gift."

We walked in, the apartment was very cramped. It has an old couch, probably from inside the cider machine they traveled around in, which I guess they sold to pay for the apartment rent, and an old stand with a boxy television set.

"So what do you plan to do here? You only have so much until you can't pay rent." I ask questionably.

"Well, we were hoping to find a new profession, like music, that is why we chose this apartment, because it is next to the classical Cellist, Octavia." Flam proclaims.

"I happen to be her roommate, so if you want to get to her, you have to persuade me to step aside."

"That shouldn't be hard..." They snicker. "We will figure out a way."

Lyra intervenes our argument. "Anyway, I brought you two a housewarming gift, a large pot of mums! I know its your favorite."

"Thank you greatly my dear, I'll just place place it near the TV."

I sit down on the couch.

"So how long are you planning to stay in this area?" I ask.

"Until we can get another business running." Flim says

We talk for a while, figuring out what they plan to do with their residency in Manehattan, and then I end up dosing off on their couch. Everything goes dark, and empty. I'm floating in a huge void of black death. A small light comes from ahead of me. Octavia flows out of the void with a beautiful purple aura surrounding her. She's staring back at me, silent.

"Tavi, whats going on!" I try to shout to her, but nothing comes out.

"Sorry Vinyl. I cant do this." She says.

"Do what?" Still nothing comes out.

"We cant be together. Its just not working. I need my space."

Another me appears. As It flows through me. I have bandages around my chest, and a dark gray aura around me.

"Tavi!" The other me shouts. "Don't leave! Please tell my why you are leaving?!"
Huh?

"No, I'm sorry. Its over. Goodbye Vinyl." Tavi floats away.

"Come back!" The other me yells chasing after her.
What's going on?!

Everything fades away as I yell out to her to come back. Suddenly I wake up. I'm back in my apartment, Lyra must have went and got Tavi to carry me back from next door. She is sitting on the other end of the dining table and reading her classical music magazine that I surprised her with by signing her up.

"Good evening sleepy head, have a good nap?" She says disappointedly.

"Did I miss your ensemble? Please tell me I didn't." I sputter out hesitantly.

"No, you didn't miss it, I need you to drive me there remember? I need to be there in thirty minutes to perform."

"Oh sorry, I'll get right on that."

I jump out of the chair, and grab the keys to our little Volkswagen Beetle, nab up her cello and strap it to the top like we always do.

"I still don't understand why you wanted a Beetle, you cant even get your cello inside."

"Because its a cute yellow, with tons of extra features that we got a grand bargain on. I was set on that car a year before we even got it, remember?"

"When was this?" I asked perplexed out of my mind, as we started to drive.

"We had just started dating and you were driving that stupid Sedan around. It was dented up and everything, then we went past the car dealership and it was sitting on the edge just waiting for us to drive it."

"Oh, and I wanted the Hummer, but you said we could never afford such a car, and it was bad for the 'environment', whatever that means."

I have always wanted a Hummer, or a Challenger, or a Ferrari. Something cool to impress everyone, but those were all terribly expensive, and those are everyone's dream cars anyway, unlike Tavi's Beetle that she loves oh-so-much.

When I was in about sixth grade, my eyes were laid on an Old Model A that was restored to perfect condition, old fiberglass sidesteps, which I know to never stand on, rustic grille, and a bright red interior! At the time I thought that was the most awesome thing I had ever seen, but then I grew older, and was way more interested on a relationship than cars.

Later we arrived to the back of the concert hall, and I dropped of Octavia.

"Here is your ticket, I want to be able to look up and see you in the balcony." She says.

"I'll be there, I will never let you down." I promise to her.

I park the car, seeing a homeless man sitting at the back of the building, not caring much I walk past him and the fact that he is alone stops me.

"Excuse me," I ask. "Why are you here, what brings you to sit here out of all places?"

"I like the music." The man says. "It makes me happy, its very soothing to my soul."
I thank him for replying to my question, and continue to the front of the building.

"Hello, I would like to watch the show."

"Sorry, you can't come in without a ticket." The doorman informs me.

As I check my bag, I realize I must have dropped the ticket from a thirty foot distance. I run around looking for it, but cant find it. Maybe I can try to bribe him with the bits I have so I can enter, it worked in the past back at a nightclub I went to three years ago.

"Uhm" I clear my throat "Would a nice man like you let me in for twenty-five bits please?"

He grabs me by my blazer. "No way, I will not allow anyone to get in without a ticket." He turns me around and puts me down.

I walk anonymously back to the car. Scanning the back of the building, I find the fire escape. I climb onto the dumpster below it so I can reach the ladder, and climb up. As I reach the top I realize the door is locked from the outside.

"More lock picking? I feel like a criminal today."

I look at my watch, 7:34, which means I'm late, and Octavia Is probably wondering where I've went. Hurrying up a bit more I get the door open and sneak inside. I can see her playing her song already, and I've completely forgot the crazy name of it. I can see her looking for me, the ashamed look of her eyes make me feel bad for forgetting the ticket. I hurry over to my balcony seat and sit down, she notices me and she starts playing better than ever.