2. Looking Away

The next morning, the wind had dropped and it had stopped raining. Here and there, a few rays of sunlight even managed to find small gaps to shine through a blanket of clouds. Frida decided to have breakfast on the balcony. It wasn’t all that big, but there was enough space for a foldaway table and two wooden chairs. One chair would have been enough as she rarely had visitors, but Frida enjoyed the empty chair’s company. Sometimes she’d imagine her husband sitting next to her and looking up at the sky with her. He had passed away a long time ago, but she would have loved to have spent a little time on the balcony with him.

After breakfast she lingered for a little while longer, sipped a second cup of tea and embraced the warm sun on her skin. She thought back to some of the beautiful moments she had experienced with her husband, a nostalgic smile on her face. Their exciting trip to Nepal – how long ago had it been? Twenty years, a little more perhaps. The many winter nights spent in front of the open fire, telling each other stories. Or the time they had planted an apple tree in a wild garden and promised one another everlasting love – it had been so long ago, and yet it felt like yesterday. She missed him.

The church bells rang in the distance. It was ten o’clock. Frida got up, cleared the table and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready. She planned on finally going to visit her former colleague again. They had taught at the same school and had stayed in touch after retiring. But while Frida was still capable of living independently at her old age, her colleague had been less fortunate.

A quarter of an hour later, Frida closed her apartment door behind her and took the elevator down to the ground