I am Clara

Mimpi Sends me Into a Rose Bush

I woke in the middle of the night, still laying on the floor. I woke in a cold sweat; body drenched but shivering to the point of clattering teeth. I felt like crap. But it was a flue type crap, not death. I took that as a small victory. I had survived the first injection, and I was going to make damn sure I wasn't getting another one.

      Careful not to wake my mother or siblings, I crept to the kitchen. Taking a few breaks on the way to catch my breath, and careful to keep the coughing silent, I finally grasped the red oven mitts. It took a lot of maneuvering, but eventually with the mitts and tongs, I managed to move the Sphere to the safe beneath my bed. Sphere out of sight, I let myself relax. Despite the cold symptoms, I returned to bed feeling accomplished; naively believing that I had bested Mimpi at her twisted games. I really shouldn't have thought it would be so easy.

     I was an idiot.

     A few days without another visit from my foreign friend, and I thought life was back to normal. Cue the entourage of my greatest enemies, pointing, and laughing at me. It was three days after Mimpi's first appearance, that her face found itself back on my night table. How her face was projected when the Sphere was safely tucked away under my bed? I don't know. And I didn't care. I was not dealing with this. Better to run from your problems, than face them, right? I entered my room, saw her face, and turned right back around. I was out the door almost as quickly as I had entered.

      "No stopping it, Clara. Deal with it now or risk your family witness it," she spoke quietly, just loud enough for me to hear through the door.

      I stopped in my tracks. Anger churned deep in the pit of my stomach. My family had gone through enough. I would not let these people come anywhere near the rest of the Molino/Binsfield family.

     I marched back inside, slamming my door shut. Forget being calm. It didn't matter if I angered her, she was going to kill me anyways.

     "Listen," I started in an unfriendly tone. "I don't know who you think you are, but you need to stop. You can't order me around. You can't control my life... You need to get your head out of my house, and bring the rock with you, or I swear I'll call the cops".

     "Can't do that," Mimpi said imperturbably. "And it be to your benefit to keep this to yourself."

     "Why? Are you going to kill me if I don't? Cause it looks like I'm going to die, either way."

      "You're not going to die," she sighed.

       I was again thankful that she wasn't actually in my room. I don't care how old she was. I might have thrown hands.

      "That's right," I agreed. "I'm not going to die. You can't mess with me in jail."

      Mimpi rolled her eyes. "I messing with you from Indonesia, how you think anyone going to stop that?"

      Inhaling sharply and crossing my arms over my chest, before I could argue she was talking again.

      "What your first impression of me?" she asked.

      "What's that got to do with anything?"

      "Just answer the question."

     "Ok," I said. "I thought and still believe you're crazy. You are a nightmare, and clearly not in a healthy state of mind."

     She wasn't even surprised by my answer, she smiled as though she had been expecting it.

     "The Sphere has mind of its own. It never let itself be caught in wrong hands," she said.