Thud
I turn in my sleep, feeling my eyebrows knit together.
Thud
What is that noise? I am awake by now, only moodily staring at the ceiling, upset that Vern woke me up.
It doesn't take me long to realize that the power is off. The apartment is pitch black.
I never liked the dark, so I tip out of bed and walk towards what I hope is the door in order to sneak into Vern's bedroom. I stop when I hear voices.
"You think anyone saw us?" asks a hush voice.
"No, ya idiot," comes a darker, more aggressive voice. I don't even realize that I am walking towards the door now, their voices becoming more and more audible with every step I take. "Ninjas don't get seen."
Ninjas?
"Well, April did make a lot of noise." comes an interjecting voice before a female speaks.
"I just wish Raph is more gentle when carrying me, and that he won't throw me." the female says, earning a chuckle from the dark-voiced male.
"Sorry Angel Cakes, maybe one of us should have done it." comes another.
"Now where's Vern?" asks a fourth voice. Four males and a female. Vern never told me he was planning on having guests, especially not so early in the morning.
"I'll go check on him, maybe he forgot." the female says and begins walking. I hold my breath when she passes my room, and release it softly when she knocks on Vern's door.
"Vern!" she screams, and it's as if it is some sort of trigger, because I hear Vern's door shut. By now I am leaning against the door, unsure of why I don't just march inside. It's my place too, now, after all.
"What are you guys doing?" he hisses, his voice low at first, but getting more audible when he passes my room.
"You know we can't meet at my place anymore, because of my roommate." the female says. Her tone is annoyed, probably due to the fact that Vern did not remember. I am not surprised, he rarely listens to anybody.
"Yeah?" Vern responds nervously. "Oh yeah, crap, I forgot." he then lowers his voice. "But seriously, guys, my sister flew in from South America. She's in her room right now. You guys are lucky she's probably jet-lagged, because if she finds out, and gets put in danger, so help me, I will-"
"Relax, numbnuts." says the dark voice, irritation clear in his tone "She ain't gonna find out."
There is a sound and suddenly there is light peeping under my doorway.
I am now deadset on meeting these mystery people, so I grab my door handle and tug, only to feel it not budge.
Darn it, it's locked.
I feel my fingers clasp around the cold key, and I turn it, finally pulling the door back and exiting in the hallway, where I see... Vern.
He is behind the counter, preparing coffee... alone as the TV screams at us.
"Sleep well, Jules?" he asks, his hair messy when he runs a hand through it. He removes another mug from his cabinet and begins making me some coffee as well.
"I could have sworn," I seak to myself, leaning forward and peering over the couch to see if I can see anyone, but there is nobody. "I could have sworn I heard some people." I face him, my brown eyes curious.
Vern let's out a laugh, but it sounds forced, and in response I cross my arms over my chest.
"There was nobody. Maybe you were dreaming." he says, holding my coffee out to me. I take it, but notice his eyes dead fixed on something behind me. I turn to look at what he sees, but there's nothing.
"It felt pretty real to me." I audibly mumble, and I hear Vern gulp down some coffee, which I know he always does when he's nervous.
"I think it was the TV." he says quickly, making me face him. I don't want to tell him that I know the power was off, because he will know I eavesdropped.
His eyes flick to me, then back behind me.
Irritated now, I turn again, quicker than before, but all I see are the curtains moving due to the wind. I swear I closed the fire escape before I even went to sleep.
"Did you open that?" I ask Vern, not facing him yet, but keeping my eyes fixed on the fire escape window.
"Yeah," he takes another gulp, "it gets a little stuffy in here sometimes."
I finally face him. "Vern, is there something you're not telling me?" my voice is soft as usual, my eyes calm. He sighs at the look on my face, the look that would make him spill everything to me when he was still living back home.
Just as he is about to speak, his phone rings.
I had a dream last night
I got to see Las Vegas
Vern quickly scans over the caller ID, nods to himself and rejects the call, silencing Mayday Parade.
Who would call at this time?
"Aren't you gonna answer that?" I ask and he reduces his gulps to sips, while my coffee begins to grow colder in my hands. I can see Vern begin to grow annoyed with the questions.
"It's a work colleague. I will see them tomorrow." he responds.
I sigh. "You know you can tell me anything, Vern."
It seemed to make him even more annoyed. "Look, Jules, things are crazy at my place at the moment. I'm trying to deal with mom and dads death the best I can, but if you're going to keep bombarding me with questions, I'm going to explode." he says and gulps down the rest of his coffee, before walking around the counter and patting my arm twice. "Goodnight."
"I'm sorry." I say, but I know he can't hear me, because I can barely hear myself. I hate how openly he speaks of the death, while I'm trying to store it deep down. I sip my lukewarm coffee before turning to the fire escape.
Once again, I swear I see amber eyes watching me, so I place the mug down and walk towards the fire escape.
I draw the curtains back and see nobody. Then, I lean out and feel the Manhattan breeze envelope my face. There's still nobody, but I swear I see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye.
Deeming myself as paranoid, I shut the window to the fire escape and walk straight to my room, leaving my coffee to get cold.
