Ell Sadem

NINE: THE DARK PT. 2

—Evan—

I groan and carefully angle my head to the side so I can stare out the window without hurting myself more than I already have today.

The curtains flutter on a small breeze, the shadows from the tree outside playing on the carpet under them. Carpet that's probably a little damp. It's humid, not all that hot, but definitely clammy. Muggy.

'Oh, it's such a nice night! Just keep the windows open and you'll be fine,' they had said. 'We don't need the air on tonight!'

Even their kids seemed pretty annoyed. Not that Bobby and Chara ever seem overly concerned about them above the basics. General comfort as a concept seems to be a luxury to the odd couple. But I have to cut a little slack; from what I've picked up from the stories Bobby occasionally drops, they grew up poor in a failed utopia. Poor and under a Bureaucratic regime that kept its foot on the people's throats, and however annoyed their kids may be at times they couldn't be paid to care. They're barely home and have their own jobs, so if they want anything, they just buy it themselves. Which is, now that I think of it, probably why the two decided to apply to host exchange students. I could probably ask for anything I want and they'd likely give it to me. Not turn on the air, of course, but it's not the end of the world.

In any case, the whole house is going to be musty now. Granted, I've technically lived without air conditioning far longer than not, but not with this humidity. It's gross, especially with the carpeting. Specifically with the carpeting. I'm pretty sure it's growing mold. Mold and who knows what else.

My phone dings somewhere in the darker part of my room.

Is it midnight already? I sit up on my elbows and a shiver racks through me at the sudden coolness of air against the layer of sweat sticking my tee to my back.

My phone dings again, the screen lighting up just long enough for me to barely catch it in my peripheral vision but not actually see it. 

Time to go. I haul my achy self over the edge of the bed, my toes curling at the feel of muggy carpet; too much worse and it'll be like it rained in here. Wincing, I carefully waddle across the room, every step stretching stiff muscles and sending spasms through my shoulders and chest.

A small thud and sharp pain blazes up from my pinky toe. I gasp, and my knee gives out which sets off a long chain of painful afflictions that leave me writhing on the floor in muffled pain as my phone starts blasting a default ringtone. Crap.

Off. I need to get it off before it wakes the whole house. My body jerks up as I try to shove to my feet, but I can barely scoot an inch, let alone get up, so I come crashing back down on my bad shoulder no less. My mouth drops open and a wheeze is all that comes out.

Light spills under the door, then a shadow. Before I know it Bobby's face is nearly in mine, "You okay?" Deep lines carve into his forehead, his accent thick.

I try to nod, a bead of sweat rolling down my neck. "Yeah, yeah, Bobby, I just about broke my toe, is all." I clutch his arm as he helps me up, sucking in deep breaths that only hurt more as the adrenaline fades quicker than I realized it was here.

"You should be more careful," he pats my shoulder, worried face turning from me to my still-ringing phone. "Who's that?"

I follow his gaze, stomach falling. "I don't know."

He frowns grumpily and shakes his head, "They shoulda known better. Bad manners. Get better friends." Turning, he leaves my room just as quickly as he'd come in, turning the hall light off as he passes it.

Right, well. I hobble to my phone "Yeah, I'm up."

"Get your butt outside," then Rob hangs up.

Throwing my shoes on as I go, I make for the window; this is probably going to be one of the stupidest things I do here or a giant waste of time.  Either way, I've already committed so backing out isn't an option. A quick look out as I rather stiffly climb into the windowsill shows a figure on the sidewalk. I take a deep breath, eyeing the branch just a few feet below. If I can make it there, I can drop the rest of the way down without too much trouble.