「ABSENCE」 TMNT 2012

25; Argument

    "Lucas!"

    Said brother bounced off his bed as Elly slammed the door open and stormed into the room. Her face was pink. She was angry. At him. Yet he had no idea why.

    The last time he had seen her this upset was when he'd stolen one of her Barbie dolls to dress it up. But that was when he was in fourth grade, and she was in first. For years after she had shown almost no emotion except annoyance, exhaustion, and straight up silence, if that counted. Seeing her like this was unusual, and he wasn't quite sure how to react.

    "What's the matter?" He asked calmly.

    She stared up at him, disbelief written all over her freckled face. "How could you? Why didn't you tell me about her?"

    "About who?"

    "Karai! That girl you're dating! Why would you even think about going out with her?!"

    Lucas was confused. "Karai? I don't know anyone by that name."

    She glared at him. "Heck yeah, you do! You went on a date with her tonight at Coney Island!"

    He frowned. "You mean Karma?"

    "Her name is Karai."

    "Elly, her name is Karma."

"Lies!" Elly screeched, pointing an accusing finger at her brother. "She's telling you a bunch of big, fat lies!"

"Calm down, okay? We'll work this out," Lucas said, putting his hands up defensively.

Elly continued to point and took slow steps farther into the room. "What has she told you?"

"First of all, how do you know her?"

"I've seen her multiple times over the last few months. She works for the people who kidnapped me!"

"What?" Lucas snorted. "Elly, you're delusional."

Elly's glare hardened. "I'm not. I saw her. She's evil, I tell you!"

"She's not evil. Her name is Karma and she's an actress."

    Elly quirked an eyebrow. "An actress, hm?"

    "Yeah. And a director. She hired me to design some costumes for a movie she's working on."

    "She works with the Shredder!"

    Lucas scoffed. "The supposed "warlord" who thinks he can take over the city?" He rolled his eyes. "Come on, El. This is ridiculous."

She jumped onto the bed and looked down upon her older brother. Elly wasn't short. At five foot eight, she stood taller than most of her peers in high school. But Lucas was six foot three, making her look short when they stood next to each other. Standing on his bed made her feel more on top of things, in a way. More authoritative.

"My friend, April, was at Coney Island and saw you two. She's never seen you before, but she knew Karai. Why? Because Karai's evil!"

"That doesn't make any sense. How would your friend know who Karma is, and how did she relate me to you?"

"Because she heard Karai say your name and remembered me mentioning you. And she knows Karai because they run into each other all the time. As enemies! Because Karai is evil!" She repeated for the third time.

Lucas crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I got that part. I still think you're not hearing things correctly or something. Maybe you should go to bed. You haven't been getting a good, full night of sleep for a while."

    "Listen to me, Lucas," Elly pleaded. "Karma isn't who you think she is."

    He sighed. "Go to sleep, El. We'll think about this tomorrow." Lucas turned away, to the window. He didn't want to continue this conversation. Ever. It was stupid and unreasonable.

    "Fine. Whatever. But I won't let this go, you understand? You can think about it all you want, but I know the truth! Goodnight." She jumped off the bed and stalked out of the room. She didn't even have the decency to close the door, Lucas realized when he turned around. She also messed up his bed.

That night, he did think about it. A lot. In fact, he replayed the short argument in his head so many times he could've recited it out loud from memory. And the more he thought about it, the more he questioned. Karma was indeed a mysterious woman. Lucas didn't even know her last name. She'd never mentioned anything else about her job except for what he'd told Elly. He also knew little to nothing about her family. It was also suspicious, now that he thought about it, that she'd wanted him to design Japanese war costumes.

If what Elly had said were true, why had Karma agreed to spend time with him unless she had a specific reason? She must want something he had, something she could only obtain from Lucas himself. But what did he have? He wasn't necessarily an interesting person. He didn't have many connections that would be useful to her. At least, he didn't think so.

    More and more questions were brought to the service. Now, not only was he doubtful of her character, but he was also curious. He would have to sit her down and have a talk with her. If she were to keep agreeing to dates, it would be best to get a serious conversation over with early on in the relationship.

    That's how Lucas had always seen things. He didn't ever want to get into a relationship based off of mere feelings and emotions. It would take time and effort, and the freedom to speak one's mind and get answers to questions that needed to be addressed. A talk like that would be the revealing point for deciding whether or not to take things further.