Glitterdust (Completed)

21. Games

The box that contains the heart stands between us. Its content is spreading the nauseating sweet scent of rotting meat. Megan looks at as if it's a bomb that will explode as soon as we make a noise.

"It's not human," I say to break the silence.

Megan glares at me from under her eyelashes

"I think it's bovine. You can tell because of its size and-"

"Thank you, Eli, but if I've never had any intent to become a doctor, let alone find out more about the anatomy of cows." Her eyes grow big, she covers her mouth with her hand, as if she scares herself with the harshness of her words. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

She never finishes her sentence. Her gaze is caught again by the box on the table. "What now?"

"I can bring it to school. They have a special waste bucket for organs and body parts. We can't throw this in our regular trash can." I say.

Megan's eyes grow big. "Seriously Eli, bring it to school? What about bringing it to the police?"

"Police?" The thought that this was something for the police never came up to me. "Why would we call them?"

"Isn't this a threat or something?" Megan looks horrified at the box. "It looks like a threat to me."

I shrug, pull the box closer, and take a look. I shake the box to look under the heart if there's any message. The heart wobbles like it's made of gelatin, and I hear Megan gag.

"I think it's just a prank of one of my co-students. There's no letter or something in this box. Maybe it's a weird way to congratulate me on getting my degree. You know, like that time someone sends a vase with an arm to the new secretary at school to welcome her." I chuckle when I think of that day. "It was a complete scream fest. You should have seen it."

Megan glares at me. "Do all you medical people have this weird sense of humor?"

I think of all the pranks we pulled on each other, jokes consisting mainly of severed body parts, bodily fluids, and other things that make other people retch. I guess it's a way to deal with the responsibility that comes with the job, a way to blow off some steam, but I don't know how to explain this to Megan, so I keep my mouth shut. There's no way I can improve this situation.

'Fine, I'll call the cops. And if it were your co-students, it'll teach them a lesson." Frantically she taps the buttons on her phone.

I leave the room. When Megan has something in her head there's nothing that can stop her, not even a bulldozer. I don't want to argue with her, but I think she overreacts at the moment.

With me being tied to the house, she starts to annoy me. Her bossiness works on my nerves. I guess we stayed too long in the same, cramped space the last days. There's no way to avoid each other and I don't want to lock myself in my room the whole time. It's summer, and the warm humid air feels make you sweat with every move you make.

My room is like a small oven at the moment. All the curtains are closed. I can't open my windows, because I'm too scared the paparazzi will pick up something I say, or worse, they hear me fart or burp accidentally. You know, those things happen when you just drank a glass of soda, but it would be embarrassing if the press picked it up. "Super star's new girlfriend creates noises from hell." That's the kind of headliner you want to avoid, right?

I sink in my chair and stare at my computer screen. When I log in to the game I'm surprised to see almost all my friends are online. The sun is shining, if I wasn't locked in the house because there's an army of camera-wielding snipers waiting for me to leave the house, I would be outside, enjoy the sun, stuff ice-cream in my face and drink in the last days of freedom before the hell of eighty to hundred-hour workweeks would start.