Chapter Three
“Hello . . . “I said shakily, not just my words, but my entire body trembled. I was half expecting to hear a series of heavy, raspy breathes and then after I was well and adequately freaked out, a sinister voice would hiss “seven days.”
But, for once, the worst case scenario didn’t play out.
“Oh, good you’re alive, now I can kill you myself,”
Thank Buddha, I thought, No Grim Reaper doing midnight prank calls, just Elise.
“You truly have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice, Elise,” I sighed, lowering myself on to the edge of my bed. “I seriously think I’m losing my mind,”
“Of course it’s me, who the hell else would it be? The Devil?”
“Well actually—“
“—No, I won’t let you do it again,” she cut across.
“Do what again?”
“Distract me, take me on a scenic drive through your mind, I swear you make me have the attention span of a goldfish,” Instantly, Dory from “Finding Nemo,” came to mind which was quite the improvement in contrasting comparison to all the other . . . thoughts.
“Sorry, it’s not intentional, just an effect I have, I guess,”
“You know, Eden,” Elise said. “since the day I met you—and every day since—I tell myself that one day I will be able to understand you, and maybe, if God is real, I will be able to make sense of the things you say, but,” she sighed in defeat. “ . . . I guess today is not that day.”
“Nope,” I giggled. “Guess no—“
“—I’m glad you find it funny, because I sure as hell don’t,”
“Okay . . . I can truly say you’ve lost me, you did not have me at hello—well actually—baby, you had me before hello.”
She swallowed a giggle/ “How do you do it?”
“Do what?” I asked blankly.
“Make everyone around you look insane,”
I thought about it for a moment. “It’s a gift,”
“Eden,” she forced the train back on track. “As much as I love you, it’s 6 am in the morning and I haven’t had a cigarette yet, so can we get to the point . . . preferably before Christmas?” she said hopefully.
“It’s 6?” I gasped, springing out of bed and rushing to the blinds. I lifted them up just a fraction and sure enough, through the tiny gap, I could see the weakest rays of light creeping over the night sky.
In less than an hour, the sky would be ignited with fiery light, but the brilliance of the dawn could never outshine, for a lack of a better word, the reflection’s emerald fire. Her gaze, and her gaze alone, would always ignite the darkness in ways the sun never could.
“Eden,” Elise snapped me back to reality. “There is an alarm clock beside your bed, yes?”
I nodded, and then realized she couldn’t actually see me, “yes, but you know as well as I that Its plugged in but I haven’t set the time,”
“Oh lord, you know, sometimes I swear I could slap you, but you’re lucky I love you,”
“I believe you, its 6, I never doubted you, I just . . . I guess I lost track of time,” and reality, but what’s new there.
“Oh really, you don’t say,” she said with sarcastic bite. “But that still doesn’t answer my question?”
“You asked a question?”
“EDEN!”
“Sorry, sorry, what did you ask?”
“Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think I even asked you,” she groaned a little. “It’s too fucking early for this, gah,” I heard her take a deep breath. “Eden, dearest, why in the world did you text me at 5:45 in the morning? Do you have a death wish, ‘cause you know how much I love my sleep,”
“I—messaged you?”
“You’re the only Eden Harris I know who would be awake at such a godforsaken time of the morning, so yes, you did text me, now, tell me why, or I swear next time I see you, I’ll push you in front of a train—in the most loving way of course,”
Only Elise could find an affectionate way to push someone in front of a train.
“I actually am so lost right now, where the fuck are my breadcrumbs!”
“Breadcrumbs,” she repeated, I could almost see one of her artistically narrowed eyebrows raise in confusion.
“Breadcrumbs,” I said again.
“No, I heard you the first time; I don’t get it—oh, Hansel and Gretel,”
“Gold star,”
“Hey, don’t be a smart-arse, you know my brain doesn’t function this early in the morning, goddamit, you did it again, Eden, tell me, why did you text me!”
My heart sank deep; dragging all my organs down with it, my pulse raced and thoughts began to swim. “I actually have no clue. . . “The weakness returned and my fragility was declared in the words I whispered.
“Eden, you’re doing it again . . .”
“What? Distracting you?”
“No,” this time I could see her shake her head. “Scaring me.”
“Sorry.” It was too hard to speak; an ocean of thoughts was raging back and forth inside my mind. Each thought screamed a little louder than its predecessor until I felt my body grow faint, my temples throb in unison with my heart.
“Should I be?”
My train of thought was truly derailed, speeding towards oblivion.
I was off the rails.
No pun intended.
“Should you what?” I forced these three words out, like trying to squeeze the last bit of toothpaste out of a tube.
“Should I be worried?”
“I don’t know,” my voice fell short. “B—but I am,”
“Give me ten minutes and I’ll be over,” in the background I heard her fumbling and rummaging. I heard a rapid zip and the slam of drawers. “And you best have a cigarette when I get there.”
“Sorry,” again it was all I could manage.
“Just . . . just save me a cancer-stick, okay. See you soon!” her voice grew distant as she made to hang up the phone.
“Elise!” I said all at once.
“Hmmm?”
“T—thank-you, seriously, thank-you.”
And with that, I disconnected the phone, and fell to my knees, tears again flowing freely.
It was safe to say I had gone from Kitten-eyes to full blown Panda-eyes.
