She bent over the skillet, and almost got high on the bacon baking scent.

The sun had not yet risen over the horizon, and to be quite honest, she wasn’t even hungry.

She leaned towards the fridge door, and grabbed a sausage to throw in the pan.

On any other day, she would have just let it go. But the all-night Kamasutra Festival that had gone on next door had pissed her off beyond belief. Not that she was envious, ok, maybe a little… But really, she had just wished to sleep a good night sleep, for once.

It was the only time she had taken a night off from work in months, and she had spent it imagining the scene going on, just a wall away from her. The moaning, pounding, screaming left no doubt; Mrs Yoga-Expert-Animal-Saver-Earth-Carer had had the time of her life!

She could have banged (LOL) against the wall, like any usual neighbour. But she knew Mrs Oh-Yeah-Oh-My-God-Dan-don’t-Stop was a vegan. The worst type. And if these thin walls offered no sound blocking, whatsoever, they also didn’t stop strong odors. She had noticed that when someone had brought durian to one of her neighbour’s “Let’s hate meat lovers” themed parties.

Where had they found durian anyway??

She considered adding some ham to her grilling pow wow, but the mixed scent of the cooking bacon and sausage was already getting strong in the studio apartment. And she didn’t want to overdose on meat, giving Sleeping Beauty the false idea that she was right.

Keeping her up with the stench of poor piggy cooking was well enough.

She turned the burner off, and walked to the adjoining wall to eat her feast. Leaning against it she enjoyed her meal, hoping she’d hear gagging on the other side.

Happy fuckin’ birthday, girl!

There would be no cake today. And no cutely wrapped gift. No card. No wishing well for the year to come.

She sighed, hardly swallowing her mouthful.

She had started making plans to go totally solo exactly one year ago. She had long wondered what it would be like to leave them all behind. She had doubted it was even possible to do it.

She was already quite the loner, back then. No close friend, no living family, no lover. Well, sure she had him… In a certain extent. But that was another story. Aside from him, she basically had no one.

It had surprised her all the more, when she had gotten the invitation from Jeanna. The card mentionned a Tupperware meeting, but who held these anymore?? She had overheard the girls talk about the “meeting” at the coffee machine, and the giggling suggested there was more to this girls night than just discussing the best way to store celeri in one’s fridge.

She had been surprised by the anticipating feeling that had built up until her birthday night.

On given night, she had picked her favorite dress, and put on make up. She knew how to be at her best, she just didn’t care to play that game, unless it meant playing with others, in a bar, or a club, and for once, she wouldn’t go by herself.

It was foolish to think that anyone would remember her birthday. After all, they hadn’t lifted a finger when her brother, last living family member had died in a horrible car accident, just months before. And that, even if the company had published the terrible reason of her two weeks leave, on its intranet site.

She heard movement on the other side of the wall…

“Dan, please open the fuckin’ windows!”

She grinned.

Of course she should have seen it coming… Jeanna opening the door, almost dressed for a pajama party. The dreading walk to her living room, to find everyone sipping on mint tea, eating pastries and giggling over a table full of plastic containers.

A damned Tupperware meeting! A God damned Tupperware meeting!

She nibbled on the last piece of bacon wondering if she had everything needed to prepare her famous slow cooker Irish beef stew for dinner. Barbie Girl next door could always spend the day out, at least it would spare her another round of slutty moaning.

A fuckin’ Tupperware meeting! For her birthday.

The funny thing being that, although she was clearly overdressed for the event, she had managed to sneak out long before the representative had started her presentation. No one had noticed. They hadn’t even asked her where she had been, the following Monday morning…

She would never blame them for her decisions, her motives were much deeper than a flopped birthday. But it was definately a turning point.

She was invisible to them. Unexisting. Unknown.

It wasn’t like her to derogate from her precise schedule, but she did need the beef cubes. ASAP. She turned on the computer and logged on the grocerie store’s website.

 

 

 

Via today’s Fandango One Word Challenge: Unknown

You can catch up with the first parts of this story: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4.