All of a sudden, Robert snapped back to reality, as if the world didn't exist before and it all just happened again in the course of a second. He picked his head up, looked around and headed up the stairs to his apartment. He stopped outside his door and realized he didn't have his keys. Since he drove home, he must have dropped them in the lobby. So he headed back down to the lobby to look for them. That's when he noticed the ambulance and the paramedics rushing Sile out of the building. She was under a white cloth, well, white and red, but he understood she was dead. Then he heard the door to the stairs close. He followed it, purely out of interest. He didn't know anyone else who used the stairs and he certainly didn't know who it could have been aside from a man; which really didn't narrow it down.

Robert climbed the stairs only ever seeing the shadow of the man he had noticed earlier. The man finally reached the floor on which Robert assumed he lived and saw him through the crack of the closing door. It was Cleake, he only knew his name from a handful of awkward moments in the elevator in which Cleake always introduced himself, despite Robert already knowing him. So Cleake must not have remembered him. The only thing was that Cleake seemed to have a big grin on his face as he unlocked and entered his apartment.

Robert had his hunches, but he decided he wouldn't worry about it now, he had other, more pleasant things to think about. Namely: Mary. He had decided she was the one. He had actually decided that the first time he had seen her, but now he was comfortable admitting it to himself. He headed over to her apartment in hopes of catching her before she left for her late shift. Robert knocked on her door and waited, but it appeared she wasn't home. He left and headed over to the place she worked, a small, 24/7 restaurant. He got there, a short 10 minute walk, and saw her inside. He stood there dumbstruck for a second, still thoroughly infatuated with her. He watched as she took the man's bill and entered it into the cash register. But then he noticed something wrong. He saw her expression go from cheerful to dread. He immediately understood what was taking place and sprinted for the door. The door flew open and Robert heard the man tell Mary not to be a hero. Then he saw a flash out come from the man's hand and he watched in horror as Mary fell to the ground. Robert stumbled backwards, visibly shocked and then somehow managed to collect himself and charge the man who had shot the woman he was in love with.

Each step seemed like a mile and each second felt like an hour as Robert ran, in full stride, at the assailant. Then, all of a sudden, Robert lost his footing and fell. He fell like a rock, hardly bracing his fall at all. There was warmth on his stomach, and a little bit of warmth in the back of his throat. He looked under the counter of the restaurant and saw Mary, somehow smiling. She mouthed something to him. He tried to stand back up, slowly, and fell back down, feeling even more of warmth on his back. The best he could do at this point was crawl towards Mary, slowly; and when he managed to close the distance enough, he wrapped his fingers around hers. He tried to speak but was unable to, instead coughing up warmth on the ground. He simply mouthed, slowly, and quite deliberately: "I love you."

Robert woke up still groggy from his vacation. Nothing went as planned and in his opinion it was a wreck. But that was behind him. He got up and went to make his eggs. He opened the foam container that held the fragile eggs but instead of the 12 that were supposed to be neatly arranged in the packaging, there  were eleven. He cracked two eggs in the pan with one hand (a trick he had picked up a couple of months back) and prepared his morning coffee. He ate quickly and got dressed and was out the door eleven minutes before he had to leave.

Later that day he went to grab lunch with a few coworkers he had befriended in the past couple of weeks. He had a roast-beef sandwich, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and opened up the wallet to pull out the last eleven dollars to pay for his meal. Back at work he handed his boss his eleven page TPS-report, including the newest, updated cover-page, and headed home early to hopefully meet Mary for a quick bite to eat and maybe a movie. He counted their dates as he walked to the car. Tonight would be the eleventh of what he considered date and he was excited. By this time, he was in the car, turning the key in the ignition. He lifted his foot off the brake and made his way out of the parking lot to 11th Street.

Robert's hands were tingling and he felt like he was on top of the world as Mary got in the car. She seemed to enjoy dinner as well as the movie. She buckled her seat-belt, leaned back into her seat, and let out a sigh. The two of them made small talk for the short drive to the apartment building in which the both lived. It seemed like an eternity to Robert as he was beginning to feel butterflies in his stomach as he pulled into the parking lot, and it only got worse as the got out of the car, and it was nearly unbearable as walked through the door.

They said their usual musings about enjoying the evening, and Mary turned to get in the elevator. Robert lightly touched her arm before she walked away, something between them clicked and she turned around with a innocent, beautiful look on her face. He took a step forward to close the gap between them and moved his head closer to hers. To Robert this felt like the longest few seconds of his life. His lips met hers and the world around them exploded, it seemed to them like nothing mattered aside from what was between them at that very moment. They pulled away from each other as though they both knew exactly what the other felt. Robert's eyes were closed and he just listened to Mary's breathing, now heavier than before. And he just listened as her breathing faded, as his arms brushed against his pants at his side, as the elevator doors closed, and he kept listening with his eyes closed as the elevator rose. And he sat there, for hours, just listening with his eyes closed.

Robert arrived at work early and made his way to his desk. He waved hello and greeted everyone he saw. He was in a very chipper mood this morning and as soon as he sat down, he got right back up. He realized he hasn't used his vacation days thus far this year. He rushed back out of the office just in time to barely catch the bus back to his apartment. He packed his bag and by the time he had he was starving. So he headed down to Casa de Waffle for a small meal. He sat down at the booth behind a girl he recognized from his apartment building. He couldn't recall her name but he overheard her talking about a vacation as well. He decided not to continue listening in and went about planning his own vacation. He decided it would be something small, like maybe camping. He loved camping when he was a kid. Being able to step  out of tent and looking up at the stars; they were so beautiful out in the mountains. There were so many and they all seemed to shine so brightly. In fact, that was Robert's least favorite thing about the city, the lack of stars in the sky at night. He thought he might ask Mary if she'd like to go along. He pictured the two of them sitting around a campfire. Not a care in the world. Robert had been learning the guitar for no other reason than he had tried in the past and failed and was now feeling confident in himself. He didn't know much, only about three chords (so he could play most pop songs). But he figured it could get him through a weekend away.

At this point, Robert had finished his meal and wanted nothing more than to head off to the mountains with Mary for a few days. He wanted to share his experience with her and make her happy. He thought about everything they could do, a hike, a picnic, anything really; and sooner than he realized, he was walking in the door of his apartment building. He waited around in the lobby for hours waiting for Mary. He saw all sorts of people he never knew existed, let along lived in his building. And finally, after 5 hours, Mary arrived at the building, clearly exhausted from a day at work.

"Mary!" Robert said excitedly, "How was your day?"

"Oh, hello Robert," she replied, "it was fine I suppose."

"Well I was wondering something... I've got a few vacation days I need to use up and I was thinking of going somewhere, and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to join me."

"Uh, I don't know Robert, what did you have in mind exactly?"

"Well I was thinking about spending a few nights up in the mountains, it's really beautiful this time of year."

"Well I suppose I've got nothing better to do. Let me call my boss and let him know I won't be in the next few days and I'll give you a call tomorrow."

"Okay, well then I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow then."

"Okay, I'm gonna go get some sleep, long day." And Mary took the elevator up to her apartment.

Robert just stared on at the closed elevator doors and whispered to himself: "I love you."

The night was cold, particularly when the drafty apartment blew against the sweat that had broken out on Robert's back. It was cold enough to prohibit him from sleeping that night. So cold that he decided to just forget about sleeping; it was a Saturday and he didn't need to worry about going to work the following morning. Robert sat up, peeled the damp shirt from his back and threw it in the corner with his other dirty clothes, and got up to make himself some coffee. Robert Whittlesey was growing fonder of coffee; in fact, most of his previous habits had changed. His eating habits changed; he began working out again, which he hadn't done since college; he stopped seeing his mother's face as much. That last one was what had bothered him the most in his past. He had been seeing his mothers face for the last 15 years. It wasn't always blatant. It wasn't always subtle. His mother showed up in shadows, in the fog of the mornings, in the smog of the afternoons. Robert knew it was his mother's ghost. She wasn't haunting him, more like just checking in. Making sure her only son was alive and well.

Robert let out a big sigh as he eased into the wooden chair in the kitchen. He brought the cup of coffee to his lips and took a sip. It was strong and bitter: exactly how he liked it. He leaned back in his chair and stared out of the window. He simply sat there for a while, taking intermittent sips from his coffee all night. The night also seemed much shorter than most; and before Robert knew, it was time to get up and go to work.

Robert got up out of his chair and set about getting ready for work. He changed his clothes, made breakfast, and put his work related belongings in his suit case, and glanced at his watch to check the time before stepping out the door... not quite so deliberately.