Bloom

30. humorless comedy

Zephaniah

Cooper had thrown up again last night. This time he had done it in front of my bedroom door, I thought he had wanted to get out to do it outside, but I slept too deeply to notice. I wanted to worry about it, and I was already in the process of making myself crazy, but the vet had said nothing was wrong.

That meant I didn't have to worry about it. Though, this strange feeling appeared in my guts every time it had happened. Cooper was old, I knew that, but he wasn't thirteen yet. He was supposed to live another two years.

Golden retrievers could become ten to twelve years, German Shepherds ten to fourteen years, after all. Which meant, the average would be around thirteen years old. Cooper had another two years to live.

I yawned, I was tired. My cheek was pressed to my notebook, my fingers slowly playing with my pen as I was waiting for Haven to arrive in the brand new library. I had come her earlier on purpose, so I could get used to the fact that everything was changed.

The once messy, slightly yellow walls were now freshly painted white, the brown shelves were now black. This strange scent still hung in the area, it was most likely paint. The freshly painted chairs and tables had been placed differently as well, making me slightly upset.

I wanted to be able to see the door, the desk and the books, now I was only able to see the books.

Panic had engulfed me the very first moments, it felt like I had lost control over a certain situation. Though, the longer I sat here, the more it started to dawn onto me. It was fine, just a slight change, nothing major. I kept telling myself.

Yawning again, I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my sweater, wondering what time it was. She would be on time, wouldn't she? Otherwise we wouldn't be able to discuss the lecture, to hand out the information we had both heard. Well, information I didn't hear but she did, more like it.

I barely gave her information back, only imagination and perspectives.

"Zephaniah!" The loud voice screeched, tight arms wrapped around my waist a moment later.

It hurt me, sudden touches sometimes did as my skin started tingling and my ears whizzed, making me flinch away. "You- you're hurting me!" I exclaimed, trying to get out of its grip, my senses being overwhelmed because of everything that had happened already today.

"Seriously? What are you, made out of sugar?" Tara chuckled, shoving the chair across me away with a rough sound, making me shiver. "Don't be so dramatic, I didn't even do anything."

I wasn't being dramatic, I was in pain, why couldn't she understand?

Frowning at her, I wiped my cheek as the paper of my notebook had been stuck to it, making it feel strange. "You're sitting on Haven's chair."

Tara raised her eyebrows and turned around, eyeing the chair for a while, "Not really. Do you see her name written on it?" She asked, making me frown still.

What did she mean by that? Why would somebody's name be written on the library chairs? The association was once again, hard to find. "No?"

She slowly rolled her eyes, then moved closer to me as she laid her notebook down onto the table. "She's sick, haven't you noticed? She wasn't here all day. Hannah asked if I could help you out today, so being the good cousin I am, of course I will!"

"But Haven- but it's our library moment," I brought out quietly, not even sure of my words myself. Obviously, I had noticed she wasn't here today, but this was our moment. She hadn't told me she wouldn't be here for that so I still expected her, that wasn't strange.