Unlike Peter's assigned flat, #1406 contained no remnants of her life before the broken world where she'd first met him. In contrast, the flat assigned to her was clean and fresh, nothing at all like her place in London. Wallpaper striped the west wall of the living room and offset the soft green couch. When Evey'd first seen it, she sat down in the middle seat carefully, then flat-out grinned when she didn't sink straight to the floor.
There hadn't been much Evey could do, the night before. After realizing that most places were closed and most people were already in their beds, she retired as well. The following morning, she rose before the sun and spent entirely more time than she'd ever admit to anyone exploring her new closet full of clothing exactly to her tastes. And then there was the shower, with water pressure that was more than just a trickle, and with water that didn't turn icy after three minutes under the shower head. When she was done, she smelled like blackcurrant, honeycomb, and sandalwood.
The midmorning sun slanted gold against the shop windows she passed, now. She had no particular goal on what to do today, other than to explore. Evey had dressed in open sandals and a brilliant pale dress cut of fabric too delicate to ever have withstood the world-breaking reality crisis behind her -- and it felt decadent, foolish, and breath-takingly like freedom to be in such clothes.
The more she saw of this new place, the better her mood. She crossed the street at an intersection, having caught sight of a park on the opposite side. Following the decorative black metal fence, she finally got to the gate and swung herself into a paradise of green.
How long had it been since she'd seen healthy, clean grass? Ahead, she saw the blue glistening of a lake. Evey stepped off the sidewalk completely, toed off her sandals, and, after a second's consideration, left her sandals to wait there for her. It felt absolutely wrong to leave them, after over a year of scrounging for anything that could be used. But that was the point. Grinning, barefoot, soft grass under her toes, she started toward that pond.