BLACK ROSE (COMPLETED)

20 -

"Now, here's what we're going to do," Derin began to explain, rising from the couch to stand before me. "Take off your shirt, Ece. Let's try another one and see if you can turn its color to black as well. I believe you can."

Sitting comfortably on the couch, I replied, "I wouldn't be surprised if it works as you say. After all, I turned the red rose petals that fell on me by the pool black today. So let's try, as you suggest."

Derin, standing directly in front of me, made a gesture with her hand, indicating I should hand over my shirt. "Turn around, girl!" I warned her.

"Turn around, girl," Derin mimicked me with mockery. "Ece, you're such a prude! It's just us girls here. Don't exaggerate, just take off your top already. We're conducting an experiment, for heaven's sake!"

Instead of bothering with turning her around, I figured it would be easier to just turn my own back to her. So I stood up, turned away, and began lifting my shirt from the hem, pulling it up and over my head. As I freed it from my neck, I extended the shirt behind me toward Derin, while using my other arm to cover my chest. Since I had removed my wet bra earlier, I was now bare-chested.

Derin took the shirt from me. "Let's take off your shorts too, and then I'll bring you some fresh clothes."

"But I'm not wearing any underwear!"

"Relax, girl, we're not going to eat you."

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment as I used a decorative pillow to cover my body, slipping out of my shorts and handing them to her. I sat back down, trying to cover my private areas with the pillow and my hands.

Derin called out toward the door, "Tisssotti, dinner is served! A plain Ece fillet, no spices. I've stripped her bare for you. Come and feast before she gets cold!"

"Derin! Stop making fun of me and give me some clothes!"

Laughing, Derin sashayed toward the wardrobe room. She returned with a white, asymmetrical, knee-length dress and clean underwear.

I took the dress and underwear from her. As I turned away to dress, I felt a sharp pinch on my shoulder. It was like a bite. This girl had actually bitten me!

"Derin!" I shrieked, "why did you bite my shoulder? Can you please behave?"

"Old habits die hard. Once a snake, always a snake. When nature calls, sometimes I just feel like biting."

Her explanation, bizarre as it was, made some sense to me.

Yet I was dressing under immense psychological pressure. Tisssotti, my nudity, the nibbling on my shoulder... Stress always upset my stomach. I just hoped this time it wouldn't.

When I was finally dressed in the outfit Derin had given me, we began to wait. We waited and waited... But the dress remained white. "It's still as white as if it's been washed with a decent laundry detergent," I murmured. "We must be doing something wrong."

"Or missing something... Ece, do you know what was common when you turned the roses by the pool black and when you turned your clothes black in my room?"

"What was it?"

"Fatih," Derin explained. "The missing element in the equation is Fatih. If we bring him into the mix, I'm sure that dress, which looks like it's been freshly washed, will turn pitch black, just like in the detergent commercials."

Derin pulled out her phone and began showing me pictures of Fatih from her album. Seeing his photos reminded me of how he left tonight, and my anger flared up again.

"It's working," Derin said, pointing to my dress, which had begun to turn black. "You react to Fatih like a bull seeing a red cape, my dear Spider-Girl."