Chapter 37
Lane (August 2023)
...
One evening while they were working, Lane had some friendly visitors at Declan's Coffeehouse. It had been ages since Lane had seen Addison, Dylan, and Reese. When they came in and saw Lane's smiling face behind the counter, they waved and quickly hopped in line. It wasn't busy in the coffeehouse that night and Lane was relieved to know that their friends didn't seem to hate them after how things were left. The last time Lane texted Addy was a couple of years ago when they were supposed to go out but Atlas refused to let Lane leave the house. Lane smiled when it was their friends turn in line.
"Hi Addy," Lane said.
"Lane," Addison smiled. "How are you?"
Lane sighed. "I'm actually doing very well, thank you for asking."
"Ophelia told us about what's been happening. With Atlas," Dylan said. "We're so proud of you!"
"We've been telling everybody the truth," Reese added, "so you don't need to worry about Atlas and his buddies spreading bullshit."
"We're so glad that you're away from that asshole. Ophelia said you've been doing great at your new apartment," Addison said.
"I am doing great," Lane replied. "One of these days you guys can come visit. We can catch up like we've been meaning to do."
"We can talk and vent and watch a movie or something," Dylan said with a smile.
Lane nodded. "I would really love that, you guys."
"We have some news!" Dylan cheered while holding out her hand, revealing a beautiful ring with an opal gemstone on her ring finger. Reese excitedly showed Lane her matching ring while clinging to Dylan's arm. Lane was speechless. "We're engaged!" Reese giggled.
"Guys, I can't believe it!" Lane replied. "I'm so happy for you two."
"You're invited to the wedding of course," Dylan said.
"We wanted to ask you if you would be in the wedding party," Reese added.
Lane laughed. "You really want me to?"
The women both nodded.
"They can't get married without you being there, Lane," Addison laughed.
"I don't deserve you guys," Lane said softly.
"Aw, don't say that," Reese said. "We love you."
Lane walked around from behind the counter to hug their friends. The group squealed and cheered together and Lane felt like they were finally who they were supposed to be; free and able to enjoy life. Atlas could no longer keep Lane away from the life they were meant to live.
"Ophelia is invited too, of course," Dylan added. "She took care of our little Lane! We are really grateful for her. We're really sorry we couldn't do more to help you with Atlas. We didn't know."
"I'm grateful for Ophelia too," Lane replied. "She's my best friend."
After Lane got out of work for the night, they took the bus home. As they were sitting in their seat, and as the bus passed glowing streetlamps, they scrolled through the pictures in their phone of them with Atlas. Lane thought about it for a moment and began to delete the pictures one by one. His face, his smile, his being didn't need to be saved in Lane's phone anymore. Lane was done and knew that they wanted to let go of these memories. Even the happy ones. Lane cleared out the photos with Atlas and began to look through the other pictures that were saved. There were pictures of Lane with Ophelia; all of them had good memories attached. There were pictures of Addy with her husband and pictures of Dylan and Reese. These pictures were older and Lane was excited to take new pictures and create new memories with their friends that they were unable to connect with for some time. There were a few pictures of Reina at college that she had sent to Lane. They hoped that Reina would visit soon. Then Lane could take their sister to the aquarium and get new pictures of her with the sharks. Lane was hopeful and they turned their phone off to stare out of the bus window.
When Lane got home, they slowly made their way up the stairwell to floor C. But Lane wasn't prepared to see their apartment door unlocked and opened. Lane froze in the hallway and stared at the door. They slowly reached into their pocket, took out their phone, and called 911.
"911, what is your emergency?"
"There's someone in my apartment," Lane whispered as they backed away from the door to C7. "I don't know if they're still in there but there's been a break-in."
"What is your address?"
Lane refused to enter the apartment and decided to go back down and wait in the building's lobby. They remained on the phone until the cops showed up. When the police arrived, Lane brought them upstairs and the officers went in first to inspect the apartment. They explained their situation with Atlas and the restraining order to an officer that stayed with Lane in the hallway. Two officers came out of C7 and motioned for Lane to enter the apartment.
"Whoever broke in is gone now," one officer said.
Lane stepped inside and was shocked to see their apartment in disarray. Books were on the floor, the coffee table was not in place, cabinets and cupboards were left open as if the intruder was looking for something. In the bedroom, Lane's clothes were scattered on the floor.
"Do you see if anything has been taken?" another officer asked.
Lane looked around for a moment and then finally nodded. "My laptop is gone. Some of my clothes are gone too." Lane looked through the apartment and scanned for things that were missing. "There's missing books for some reason. And missing jewelry. I don't know, it's like a bunch of little things are gone. The biggest thing is the laptop."
"Now, you said you have a restraining order against your ex-boyfriend?" an officer asked.
Lane nodded. "I think this was him. His name is Atlas Finley."
Lane left their apartment to go down to the station with the officers to file a police report. On the way there, they texted Ophelia what happened and also texted Phoebe. When Lane was brought home by another officer, Phoebe was already there changing the locks to C7. She also had a camera installed in the hallway. Lane was grateful for Phoebe's quick thinking but they still didn't feel safe. Atlas was out there lurking and Lane grew worried about his intentions.