Ineffable ꕥ Joost Klein ꕥ

41.

Elke woke up the next morning alone. She wasn't a heavy sleeper, so the fact that Joost had slipped out of bed told her that she must have been exhausted.

When she pulled open the curtains, Elke was able to see the bedroom properly for the first time. It was basic with a wardrobe and a singular bedside table. There were no posters on the walls or anything that signified that it was Joost's childhood room. The only thing that caught Elke's attention, was the picture frame sitting on top of some drawers in the corner.

The picture had a woman and a man standing with a small, five-year old boy. The 2000s camera quality was an indicator of those in the photo as if the platinum blonde hair on the child wasn't enough. Elke didn't pick it up from the feeling of an unknown fragility of the photo.

She admired it, wondering how the 6ft3 blonde she knew could have been so small at a point in his life. The sight of Joost's mother and father created a tightness in her chest. The fact that the boy in the photo was oblivious to the terrible loss that was coming was tragic. The photo almost looked hopeless and Elke had to leave the room to give her aching chest a break.

Descending the stairs, Elke looked to the kitchen. There was no sign of Joost, the woman who she had worked out was his sister, Enzo or Daan. She wondered if Joost had left with his friends, leaving her car out the front. But when Elke saw movement through the window above the sink, she headed for the door that lead to the back garden.

Joost slouched in a metal chair with a cigarette in his hand. Daan was stood at the end of the garden while Enzo tapped away on his phone. Both of them held cigarettes between their fingers and as Elke opened the door to the garden, she almost wished she could be the same.

The conversation halted at her arrival and the mens' attention turned to her. In her clothes from the previous night, Elke squinted as the sunlight blinded her. Enzo was the closest one to her and slipped his phone into his pocket to greet her. But before he could get a word out, his face dropped with his eyes falling to her neck.

'Jesus Christ,' he gasped. Enzo leaned to the side to peer around the curve of her throat and took a long drag to busy his hanging jaw.

'What?' Elke's hand flew up to rub at the space. At her careless touch, she recoiled her fingers back with a restrained wince. She was yet to see the bruises that lined her jaw and the redness of her neck.

A hand stopped Elke from heading inside to find a mirror. Rearing back, Elke met a pair of sunglasses covering narrowed blue eyes. The hood of Joost's hoodie sat over his hair, casting Elke in his shadow from the sun. Joost gently turned Elke back to face him while holding his cigarette down by his side. A crease formed between his brows and his jaw sharpened at the state of Elke's soft, once perfect skin.

Elke stood still as she felt Joost's forefinger stroke the length of her neck. While it pained to feel even the gentlest touch, Elke braved it by taking in Joost's features.

'Nanda left something for you to put on that,' he mumbled and Elke watched his plump lips form in gracious 'o's. 'I'll take his hand for that. I swear to you, liefje, I won't let him get away with what he's done.'

'What has he done?'

She wouldn't have asked the question if she didn't see more behind Joost's claim. When Elke caught Enzo's uncomfortable figit from next to then, she knew that she had been right.

'Donnie's dead,' the tall, thin man said plainly. 'Alanis said the police found him and Acid already gone.'

A dizziness over came Elke and she appreciated the chair that Joost offered her. She shrunk into it, her hand shaking as it came to swipe her hair out of her face.