23 APARTMENT OF HER OWN (3)

Mary almost dropped her phone seeing the message. She realized that maybe Jim was the only one among her acquaintances who could be able to do something about this bracelet of hers. But she made an effort to control herself and blocked this number as well. She promised to herself that she would avoid any contact with Jim from now on, and she was not going to go back on this promise any time soon.

Realizing that she could not find a way out of this situation now, she decided to go to sleep. As Scarlet O'Hara used to say, "After all tomorrow is another day."

Next morning Mary did not hurry to cancel her contract with the landlord, she arranged for her run as usual. It started to become a routine for her. She did not feel any pain in her muscles or lungs anymore and it also helped her to cleanse her mind from heavy thoughts. She stopped counting the days of her experiment deciding that it was successful. She would thank Brenda for her introduction onto running next time they met.

When she took a shower and could not find any other urgent matter to attend to, she headed to her old apartment to say goodbye to it and to make sure that all her things were taken by the vanmen. It took Daniel, or probably Helen instead, a couple of hours to find a new apartment for Mary. This one was much closer to Daniel's and Mary was surprised that it was not in the same block of flats. Probably there was nothing out for rent there at the moment.

The matter of contract cancellation was settled not without an effort. The landlord did not want to return the pre-payment and Mary had to recall their contract terms according to which she had to warn him about her moving out two months prior the date. So she let him keep two months' rent and the rest of money he returned to her bank account.

She was not sure what to do with this money, because it belonged to Jim and she did not want to use it. But it also felt strange to return this money to him because she understood that for Jim it was a ridiculously small amount. So she just decided to keep it untouched and return it if he ever requested or if the opportunity presented itself.

Her new apartment was more spacious and modern, she liked it but there was some homely spirit missing in it. Since she did not plan to live in it any time soon, so she did not expect it to become any cozier out of a sudden.

While she was unpacking she realized that since it was Daniel who rented it for her, he probably had a key to it as well. She did not feel comfortable when someone else, even if it was Daniel himself, had a key to her own safety harbor. So she secretly called a locksmith and left the apartment only after the door lock was changed.

She knew that Daniel would not like it, but if he agreed that she could have an apartment of her own, then it should really be her own.

Marcus was waiting for her outside and when she went out he passed to her the bracelet which Daniel talked about the other day. Mary took it reluctantly and put it on. She felt like an animal from the Red Data list, she was registered and tracked, and God forbid anything happened to her!

Her paranoia also would not subside and she felt an urge to change her mobile phone just in case someone was checking her calls or messages. She took Marcus to the electronics shop and bought a new mobile phone there.

When Daniel received a message from the bank informing him about a transaction in the electronics store, he checked with Marcus and was very surprised to learn that Mary decided to buy a new phone.

But he suspected that even if he asked her why she changed it, she would avoid telling him the real reason.

When Mary put her SIM-card into her new phone she asked Marcus to stop by the embankment, she leaned over the stone fence and threw her old phone into the river.

Later in the day Jim discovered that the tracking dot from Mary's phone disappeared from the radar.