The Henhouse

June 2nd, 2019 - 8:00 AM

Justin woke twice more in the night, but when he saw 8:00 AM flashing on the alarm clock he figured enough was enough. He hoisted himself up, plugged the lamp back in on the bedside table and turned to face the door. It seemed to mock him now, daring him to enter the hallway where just hours ago he'd feared his own murder. He felt the back of his head and noticed the crumbly texture of congealed blood in a small patch of hair just at the crown. At his touch, it still echoed with the pain of last night. Sighing, Justin set to changing into a fresh set of clothes, then made his way out the door towards the kitchen.

The smell of fried eggs in the hallway soothed him instantly. Rubbing his eyes, he stumbled to the living room to find 4 of his peers – the blonde girl by the bookshelf, doing yoga poses; Ivy, slaving away over the stove; Dany, eating like a man who'd been starved for a month; and Jonah, outside on the patio in a lawn chair, drinking from a mug.

Dany, seated at the kitchen island with Ivy's back facing him, was first to notice him. But he said nothing as he picked up a piece of toast and dipped it in the yolk of an overeasy egg, wiping it around the plate. He wore yet another sweatshirt, not seeming to mind the heat.

The blonde girl was too distracted by what looked like sun salutations to notice Justin, and so he slipped into the room undetected, taking a seat at the island next to Dany.

"Ah, waitress?" he snickered to Ivy's back. He held up a hand as though to order.

Ivy turned, expressionless. She dropped a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. "And then there's Justin," she sighed, "the world-weary, mid-life crisis cynic who has no obvious talents or virtues yet to be spoken of...."

"Good morning to you, too," he mumbled back. "Coffee?"

She gestured at a coffeemaker in the corner.

"So." He got up and started another pot. "'Cynic,' you say?"

Ivy took a swig of coffee and looked off into the distance. "Let's call it... intuition."

Justin heard a snort beside him. Turning, he saw Dany swallowing the last of his eggs and shaking his head. His eyebrows shot up as though to say, I don't know what she's talking about, either.

"Ella," a soft voice chimed in after a pause.

Justin pivoted the other way to face the blonde girl, who was finshing up the last of her poses.

"My name is Ella. I thought you might ask me, but...."

"R-right," Justin spluttered. "Ah... sorry."

She only smiled as she strode over, looking for something in the cabinets. Justin reached for the scrambled eggs in front of him but Ivy snatched them away.

"You thought those were for you?" she scoffed, then stabbed a piece of egg with her fork and took a triumphant bite.

"You can ask, you know." Ella said as she pulled down a kettle.

"What?"

"About the scar."

"Oh, I- I didn't want to... you know...."

"It happened during a car accident," she began. Water gurgled as she filled the kettle and put it on the stove. "Two years ago. During the summer, as a matter of fact." She traced the scar absentmindedly, fingers gently running along a red, raised line of tissue, like someone had tried to use a hot gluegun to stick the fragments of her face back together.