"Swept away" written by VeGirl 2014 © All Rights Reserved

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The flight back to Sweden had been a nightmare. Isa was stuck in a void, a black hole where all she could feel was how she had hurt Morgan, and she knew that she had to endure that pain every day, every hour and every second.

She was in her own personal bubble of pain, totally unaware of the person sitting next to her no the flight or the time. Even if her stomach was rumbling from hunger, all she could do was pick at the food with no appetite.

It was as if everybody else was rushing around in the airport with their bags and Isa walked in slow motion like in a film or something. Her entire world was muted, everything was a distant hum and Isa felt separated.

Her room in the house where Isa had lived for the last two years wasn't available anymore and she didn't want to move back to her old hometown; risking running into a gloating ex boyfriend. There was only one option left and that was why Isa ended up outside Wilma's door with bags in her hands and tears in her eyes.

"Isa?" Wilma said surprised. "What did he do?" she barked with her eyebrows knit together.

"I think I broke up with him." Isa started to cry and Wilma wrapped her in her arms. "I couldn't take it anymore, and now I don't have anywhere to stay."

"You're staying here!" Wilma said firmly and Isa was so grateful to have her as a friend.

She helped Isa with her bags and they sat down on the couch where Wilma forced the whole truth out of Isa. "So he didn't do you wrong then?"

"No, but somebody started to send me photos of him together with different women, and even if I wanted to think they were fake, I still got hurt." Isa admitted.

"And they were fake?"

She glared at her friend. "Yes, they were fake. He wasn't cheating on me." Isa was actually quite surprised of the intensity with which she defended him. Perhaps she had been premature in her decision to leave.

Wilma just watched her with one of her eyebrows raised.

"Why don't you like him?" Isa asked baffled.

"I do like him, I'm just being precautious."

They just stared at one another.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened between you and Robert?"

"Not today," Wilma answered and Isa knew it was no use in trying to probe further.

~ ~ ~

At first Isa was tucked in on Wilma's sofa bed, but every night her nightmares kept both of them up. Finally Wilma decided it was better if Isa just slept in her bed. It was wide enough for the both of them. "That way I can go back to sleep again." Almost every night she had to wake Isa up before they could fall back to sleep again.

Wilma had kept her part time job at the bookstore and had got some last minute course at the University where she studied creative writing now. Isa had no idea Wilma had ambitions to be a writer, but her friend told the story of how it had been a secret dream of hers for some time. It was amazing that she really had applied and got in.

Isa was proud of her.

But when Wilma asked about Isa's plans, she came up blank.

"You have to eat! Come on, you and me are going down to that pizzaplace downtown." Wilma was constantly on her case, and Isa was so grateful as the days rolled by.

Everyday Isa got up when Wilma did. They had breakfast together and then Wilma got to school or to her job while Isa sat down on the couch and just stared into the closed TV. Day after day they had the same procedure as the weeks rolled by.

One day, almost two months later, when Wilma got home and she had forced some food into her friend, she pulled out a writing pad. "Here are your options," Wilma explained before she started to skive up the different school or job opportunitys Isa might have. She was basicly telling her friend to get a grip, and it actually worked.

Isa was still interested in art, and she tried her options to get a job here in town or close by. She knew they had advanced galleries in her old home town, but she really wanted to stay away from that area.

After another few days of intense therapy and encouragement with Wilma. Isa had several names and numbers on that pad on the coffeetable.

At first she contacted her old boss to ask him for references and then she started to call the minor galleries around. Nobody had any openings at the moment, but Isa got a few of the bigger ones to take her number for short noticed vacancies. Unfortunate that didn't give much of an income though, so she decided to take the train to Malmoe and personally visit a few galleries there.

The first one she got in to, Isa didn't like the interior of, but the staff was really nice, and she left her CV to the girl at the reception. The other one she visited, was a fabulous gallery, but the staff was really snotty. Isa walked around to see the display of arts, but didn't even mention her resume.

There were a few more, where she left her CV as well, but it was all just short and temporary opportunities.

"See, things will work out." Wilma sounded hopeful and Isa started to believe in what she told her. She was basicly a robot that did what she was told to do.

After another few weeks though, Isa started to get calls from the different places, and with a couple of days work a week she was able to get a small income to contribute to the rent.

Unfortunately, as a substitute at work Isa wasn't allowed to plan anything for her own, no matter how qualified she was, and that sucked. That was the most exciting part of the job, and the most challenging; picking a theme, searching for artists, preferably unknown, shooting stars, and finding things they'd be willing to expose.

Now, all she could do was guiding people around, talking about other people's work; it wasn't what she wanted. Slowly Isa started to mask the emptiness inside her, at least to distract herself from thinking about it, but she was still miserable.

Wilma did her best to help her out of the doom and gloom and dragged her out to their favorite clubs, but when their friends asked about her American boyfriend Isa wanted to curl up in a corner, hugging her knees.

She wasn't exactly the partying kind of girl anymore.

"Oh he's over there, working," she faked a casual tone.

"I heard you two broke up," one of the girls said and Isa wanted to punch her straight in the face, or possibly throw up.

She straightened her back and plastered a nonchalant smirk on her face. "Do you believe everything you read in the papers?" Satisfied Isa saw her recoil slightly. "Sorry to burst your bubble." With the high and mighty face on, she strode away from her; walking straight to the bathroom where Isa ended up a sobbing puddle on the floor.

She had been sitting there for a while when she heard Wilma's worried voice. "Isa, are you okay?"

Her sobs had subsided, but not the grief. "No..."

"Come out, please." Wilma begged and Isa unlocked the door to let her friend into the cubicle. "Oh, sweetie," was all Wilma had to say to start the Niagara Falls of tears again. She hugged Isa for a good while, before putting an arm around her shoulders to lead her out of the bathroom, out of the club and home where she tucked Isa in and wished her a good night.

The alcohol level helped Isa to fall into the dark oblivion, but when she woke up the next day with a blitz of a headache, and last night's fluid intake wasn't the least relief. Silently Isa staggered up from bed for some aspirin and a glass of water, and then slumped down in bed again. Luckily she didn't wake Wilma up.

Thoughts were whirling around and around in her head, much worse than the break up with Fredrik. Once again she had left a guy.

This was not the same, she told herself.

This time she didn't want to run, but Isa had already felt so distinct that it wasn't her life, that she didn't belong, so when the horrid pictures started to arrive she somehow got the evidence she needed.

~ ~ ~

All the things Isa had in the basement of her old house she moved into a rented storage. Isa remembered the day Morgan and she had put the things downstairs with a positive plan for the future and it hurt to think of.

Elin looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, but Isa begged her not to ask how she was doing. It was quite obvious actually. "Okay, I won't ask how you're doing, but what happened?"

Isa's eyes silent begging did no good with this 'big sister' kind of girl and she had to confess that she had to leave before she lost her mind.

Elin looked at Isa with those scrutinizing eyes of hers. "Things will work out."

"How can they?" Tears started to fall down her cheeks again. "I'm broken," Isa cried.

Elin put her arms around Isa for comfort and held her like the friend and big sister she alway had been. "One day you'll see things in a different light." Elin did her best to comfort her. "There will come a day when you're ready to deal with your life again."

"But I was broken already before Morgan!"

~ ~ ~

She had never been one to buy celeb- or gossip magazines, but one day Isa couldn't seem to keep her eyes from the tabloids anymore. Everywhere she sought his face. It didn't take long for the news to leak all the way to Sweden, that Morgan Gray was once again available on the market. There were numerous rumors of him being unfaithful and even a few where Isa had been the cheating part.

His face plastered one magazine after another, and there were always different women wrapped around him. Isa's fight or flight meter switched to fight every time, and she wanted to take a flight over there and slap him.

When she got brave enough to look closer though, she saw that there were no life in his eyes; those beautiful eyes filled with life and mischief in Isa's presence were now dead.

She had really broken him. The thought of causing him grief, seemed even worse than her own pain.

Slowly days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and one day Wilma came to Isa with a tense look. "I have something to tell you if you have time to listen why I have been a bit rough on Morgan and why I helped fend Fredrik off your back."

With a puzzled face Isa sat down and listened.

Wilma started to tell her friend about her past boyfriend and everything she had been through; the way he had abused and beat her up.

Isa was absolutely blown away and just sat there with tears in her eyes as Wilma told her about the different ways her ex had abused her.

"So, I'm guarded when it comes to new guys. Especially cute, charming ones like Morgan who gets all the girls."

Isa didn't know what to say, all she could do was hug her friend.

"I've managed to create a new life and I don't want anyone to ever have to live through that. That's why I have been watchful when it comes to Morgan and even a bit around Robert. Even if he is a completely different kind of guy."

"Then why did you break up?"

"We haven't broken up."

Isa looked dumbstruck at her. "You haven't broken up?"

"No, not really..." A coy smile spread on her face, before she got the serious expression back. "So it wasn't Morgan that chased you away?" Wilma needed to know once again.

Isa sighed. "No it was my own stupidity, with a little help from those threatening letters; I was scared."

Wilma hugged her again for a long while in silence. Wilma's story made it clear of how guarded and supportive she had been was reflected in her own broken past. "You need to move on," she said and Isa didn't know what to say.

She was absolutely right, as always; this wasn't a real life. This was in fact less of a life than she had locked in Morgan's apartment in Greenville.

Isa had over the months managed to get some odd jobs, but nothing that would work in the long run, and finally she got tired, took a deep breath and called Gary at the gallery in New York.

To her extreme luck they had a guy working with them that got ill and had to resign. They were just about to put an ad out.

"Do you think Angela would want me back?"

"Of course she would; if you'll just hang on, I'll page her for you."

Isa swallowed hard and took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and that was all she had time for before Isa heard the line crack and Angela pick up the phone.

"Felicia?" Angela's voice sounded excited to hear from the girl. "When can you start? I need someone first hand Monday morning."

Isa laughed relieved. "That's no problem, I'm only fourthousand miles away; I'll just scurry over." She might have been a tad sarcastic.

There was a well known laughter on the other line. "You were a really good intern, and as long as we don't have any cute Swedish guys on display here, for you to joke around with; I'll be happy to have you."

"Thank you," Isa said with a genuine smile, for the first time in a very long time. When she hung up the phone, Isa knew that the worst conversation would be the one she'd have to have with Wilma.

Isa took a deep breath, and dialed the next 001212X-number. "Hi Mom, is your spare bedroom available?"

.