My Place

         I grimaced as her pale blue eyes glared at me unwavering. She pulled her heavy down coat tighter around her small shoulders and gently rolled her eyes.
         “But, you have to see its potential,” I said barely able to force the words from my mouth. I could feel her disapproval and it made me want to shrink away and hide. “This could be great, you’ll see.”
         There was no response, she simply spun around and began to look the place over. She was playing now with the gold pendant that she always wore around her neck. I hated that thing. Some ex-boyfriend had given it to her and she refused to ever take it off. What bothered me most was not the pendant; it was how she was always comparing me to him.
         “I know it doesn’t look great now, but…” The words were frozen in my mouth. She would never stay here with me. I did not want her to go, but I had nothing to make her stay. “At least it’s not my parents' house,” I feebly added.
         Halting her inspection of the place she glanced briefly over at me. I could see it in her eyes. That look of disappointment that she often had when she looked at me now. At last after what seemed like years, or even decades, she began to speak. “You’d have to be insane to live here!” Her voice was emotionless as the words spilled past her lips.
         Surprisingly, with these words I found a new well of strength rising up inside of me. “Well maybe I’m insane, but it’s my apartment and I’m staying!”
         Moments after I had uttered the words a southbound freight train roared past, the building, dislodging a large chunk of plaster from the ceiling.