ALL THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND

A Developing Case

“Argh! Stupid dog! Sorry, Sea are you still there?"

            I pressed the phone to my ear to hear his voice stumbling gawkily. I cradled it carefully, and paced in rhythmical circles around my room.

            "Uh, yes. Is everything alright?" I asked timidly, not knowing Terrance's current situation.

            I heard him hum to himself, then the sounds of movement and footsteps pounding up a set of stairs. "Sure. I'm alright. My aunt's scrawny little rat, excuse me, dog was nipping at me again. Stupid thing," he muttered into the phone.

            I softly chuckled in the darkness. A few radiant figures of light were alive and slowly dancing as they escaped the waving curtain, making the otherwise shadowy space rather lively and mystical.

            I rubbed my face with my soft sweater sleeve over my hand in a contented fatigue. Taking a seat on the bed, I listenedto the loud slam of a door forced shut, and Terrance letting out a long exasperated sigh.

            "My aunt's okay. She's really nice and friendly, I mean. It's just a little boring and lonely up here. And then, of course there's that dog and all..." he trailed off, and I could almost see him staring off into the distance.

            "Oh," I murmured, wishing that I could have been a better person to talk to, someone to easily come up with brilliant advice. "What's up with your mom?" I asked.

            He scoffed, and quietly complained, "She's hanging out with my aunt. They're like, BFFs or something. Everything they say has to do with some private joke or whatnot. I'm a little left out.”

            I thought this over and silently agreed that it would be a little strange seeing Sherry together with her sister. However, I realised that it would be quite nice for her to begin recovery with a loved one.

            "I see. So what have you been doing all this time then?" I asked.

            "Working on my papers for school, and messaging random people," he went on. "Stupid people though. So stupid." I could then see him shaking his head to himself.

            "Whom are you referring to?" I mused with a casual curiosity.

            "Ah, I don't know. Derek, I guess. I never realised just how stupid people really are. Myself included," he answered glumly.

            The complete sadness in his voice tweaked my heart, as if I were suffering survivor’s guilt. I felt as though I had finally come unto a decent sanctuary to call my own, while shutting out Terrance in the cold bitter winds of full exposure.

            "So, how are you doing? With the new place and stuff," he tried to slip out the question as gently and casually as he could. He must have felt as though the words he carried were fragile artefacts in a heavy box, awkwardly handed over to me.

            "I...am good. Very good actually. Uh, I like my new room," I stammered awkwardly.

            "Oh really? That's cool," he replied, but with a tinge indifference in his voice. He was off in the stars, probably trying to organize into them constellations where I was hiding relations with a cheap veneer. Or perhaps, he was arranging them quite nicely in his mind, and I was simply overestimating my secrecy.

            The thoughts of my promise to keep him updated rang in my mind with a dull pounding blare.

            "Yes, yes it is,” I said. “Claire says that I can go to school next week. That'll be fun.”