Queen of the Living

Chapter 12

    In the still and empty darkness of her mind, a single ray of light protruded, filling the calmness with an uncomfortable glow.  It pulled Nawal from her serenity and disturbed the ever-growing peace of her sanctuary.  She opened her eyes and was consumed with sadness.  Morning.

    Nawal lifted the blankets and swung her legs over the side of the bed.  If her hair held any significance, it would be as a symbol to her current state of grogginess.  She placed her bare feet on the cold, wooden floor, wiped the hair from her face, and yawned.  She had long lost her cell phone and had no idea of the time, so Nawal opened the bedroom door and left.

    She crossed the living room and entered the kitchen, looking for a clock on either the stove or microwave.  She found the clock on the stove and focused her eyes to read the digital display.  Six thirty.  “Ugh,” she uttered.  Still, she was up and decided to play the nice guest and fix some breakfast for her new flat-mates.  She took a pass through the kitchen, which was missing a coffee machine, and the refrigerator, while quite nice on the outside, held only one plastic bottle, filled with some sort of chocolate shake, and the name, “Nicole,” written in black marker on the side of it.

    “Okay,” She said, closing the refrigerator door.

    The pantry and cabinets held similar results, further confusing Nawal as to what exactly was eaten in her small estate.  The answer, she discovered, was in the freezer:  forty-three different flavors of ice cream.

    “Wow.”

    About that time, Nawal heard a sound by the entrance to the house and turned her head to see Nicole peeking at her from her room.  Her hair was in its usual ponytail and a toothbrush was held firmly in her mouth.  Having been caught, and clearly embarrassed, Nicole retreated from whence she came.

    “Um, hi?”  Nawal said, although a bit late.  She closed the freezer and looked down in search of whatever it was that had embarrassed Nicole, and realized that her hoodie, jeans, and bra were still decorating the floor in her room.

    “Oh,” she said.

    Not to be hampered by such things as decency - especially around other women, and twice as especially at six thirty in the morning - Nawal made her way to Nicole’s room.  The door was open and inside she found Herman sleeping on top of the bed and Nicole performing the most amazing of feats.  She was sitting on the floor in front of a stand up mirror in the corner of the room, leaning forward and applying eye-shadow while somehow managing to brush her teeth at the same time.

    “So you do wear make-up,” Nawal said.

    Nicole took a quick break from applying and smiled at Nawal.  “Unh,” she said, which Nawal took as a “yes” do to it being monosyllabic.

    “Um, so, do you mind if I borrow a top, or something?”  Nawal asked.  “I’ll probably go pick something up later today, but.”

    “Uh-ah,” Nicole answered, of course, meaning “no.”  She took the toothbrush from her mouth and pointed at her walk-in closet.

    “Thanks,” Nawal said.  “And good morning, Herman,” she added, to which he opened his eyes for a moment but just as quickly fell back to sleep.

    Nicole’s room reminded Nawal of her own room at her parent’s house.  It had a queen-size bed on the right wall with two night stands, a desk next to the door, and a stand-up mirror in the corner by the entrance to the closet.  The only difference was that Nawal’s was always a mess, had posters on the walls and lacked a giant, sleeping dog as even modern Egyptian families weren’t particularly fond of such animals and tended to prefer cats.