The Planetarium

PART EIGHT

ICARUS AND CIRCE CAME TO VISIT over the holidays, much to my annoyance.

My mental health suffered over the next few days. I felt overcome by worry and sickness that I still had Juliet restrained in my cabin, but it had reached the point things had progressed too far now. When my brother wistfully mentioned our hunting days in the woods, I swear I nearly had an aneurysm - in no circumstances would I let any fool near those grounds.

It was only after a few days people started asking after Juliet. It wasn't uncommon for people to disappear for a day because of bad hangovers, or late nights with members of the opposite sex. But when Juliet skipped her late night radio show, everyone began to worry.

"I thought she was still pissed at me for missing our reservation," Phil kept saying, shaking his head like a bewildered Labrador. "But I just don't know where she could be."

There were many speculations; maybe she'd gone to visit the family? Maybe she'd finally cracked under the pressure of study? Maybe she found a new man and was now living in his one million dollar bachelor pad?

"When was the last time you saw your friend?" Circe asked.

My younger sister was as basic as they got. She swung her long dark hair, raising one intricate eyebrow lifted straight from an Instagram tutorial.

I mumbled something incoherent.

"Julia's boyfriend says a NASA patch is missing from her jacket," Icarus chimed in, helping himself to my popcorn stored in the pantry. "D'you reckon something bad could have happened to her?"

Perhaps other people were beginning to get the same idea, because when Juliet's phone and purse were discovered left in her apartment, someone contacted the police. There were whispers sweeping around campus; she'd had to disappear because she had to payback drugs, because someone had saw her take MDMA once at a party. Then a boy claimed he saw her hanging by the train tracks. Rumors ensued.

So I had to sit through an agonizing dinner with my siblings. We went to a Mexican fast food restaurant. Circe slipped some whiskey in her cola.

"Orpheus, quit fidgeting around the place," Icarus said, getting irritated. "I know the food isn't great but it can't have gone through you that fast."

How could say a thing under his piercing glare? Icarus was a fruitcake, but he wasn't a daft one. I could give no sign anything was out of the ordinary.

Hannah was a bigger problem. Usually, she could see through me like she had some special scan into my thoughts. I blamed her stupid neuro-studies, but maybe it was her deafness that made her more attuned to human body language.

The six of us sat gravely in the living room. Hannah squeezed my hand for the entirety of the TV show we were watching.

"I know you don't like her," - I jumped in before she had the chance to analyze me - "but I'm concerned about Juliet. I hope she's okay."

I hadn't been to the planetarium since the fling at the hotel. Everything reminded me of bad feelings, the constellations maps and the lovely night we spend eating junk, leaning back in the plush seats. I pretended to read about the solar eclipse upcoming in North America, but in reality my eyes were glazed over, contemplating my impossible situation.

There was no way out of this.

The next day, I finished my study session at the library earlier than I told people. I dodged the humanities building where I knew Ezra may be hanging about smoking a cigarette, but instead doubled back through the back entrance. Still in a daze, I forced myself to pick up some groceries from the market a few stops prior.