Sanity || j.d

37

Cole had invited me over that night; the request seemed out of the blue, but not unreasonable. I was busy every other night so it was fine and well suited to the rest of my week. Although I did have to talk Josh into dropping us off at Cole’s place, which wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but he told me that I owed him.

His house was small, single story, not what I expected. It had a grey render and was plain. The windows overlooking the front yard were floor-to-ceiling but they were narrow. There was no grass in the front yard, only dirt and an abandoned swing set that looked old enough to be something my parents would have used. A bike was dumped in the sheltered part of the driveway which we walked up to the front door.

Cole didn’t say anything until we were inside, but he held my hand the whole time since we got out of the car. I think he was afraid that I would run away or be deceived by the look of his house.

We walked through what looked like the living room, him tugging my hand as he walked ahead, even though I was more interested in looking around more than anything else. The living room was considerably messy; the couch was covered with clothes and whatnot, but what bothered me was the way the house was silent. Not that my house wasn’t quiet, but there was always noise of some sort going on in my house.

We ended up in his room. We were sitting on his bed. Laying back, I reached my hands behind my head. His room was dimly lit, the grey, sheer curtains pulled across the window only letting a fraction of light peek through. The four bedposts were ornately carved with flowers, leaves and vines tracing their way up to the top of each of the posts that were easily three heads taller than me. What intrigued me though was the way there were chunks slashed out of them, purposely I suppose, but I wouldn’t understand with what or why.

“It’s beautiful.” I commented on the bed while Cole played with my hair. We hadn’t spoken since we got out of the car and I was kind of afraid of breaking the pleasant silence.

“It used to be me sister’s.” His voice sounded too solemn to mean nothing. “And it’d be beautiful if it wasn’t so trashed.” He ran his hand over the ruined part of the carvings while his eyes trailed over the messy floor. Clothes, books and empty food packets littered the ground of his room.

“It’s still beautiful.” I continued, overlooking the trash and forgetting the mention about the sister I’d never met. Still my curiosity seemed to linger. Why were there slashes on the bedposts? Did he do it? Who was his sister? Why hadn’t I met her? Where was she?

“I didn’t think you’d be the type to kiss on the first date.” He noted, changing the subject, which I was more than happy to comply with.

“What are you talking about?” I asked laughing lightly.

“Well you kissed me on the night of Josh’s birthday-” He began explaining.

I laughed. “Not a date; you kissed me.”

“-and the morning following his party-”

“You offered to buy me food and I thought we clarified that it wasn’t a date.”

“And lastly when I came over to your place a couple of weeks ago.” He concluded.