The Loony Garden (StemxStud)

10

The next morning my tongue was sour. I rolled out of bed with drool across my cheek and sore thighs. I slowly got dressed and relished in coffee and dry cereal. I was going to wok today and I'd also apologize to Danitha for my behavior. After a sniff under my arms and a forlorn walk to the shower, I emerged naked and shifted through my closet for what to where. My mind briefly drifted to Cristy. I wonder what she was doing right now and if her brother/boyfriend had killed her or anything?

My eyes widened. "Shit."

I scrambled with an undershirt and panties on yo my phone and cradled it in my shoulder blade as my cousin picked up. It was not my cousin. "Damn it Laila! I've been trying to contact you for eight hours by now! Okay, maybe more like seventeen, but you get my point! You got the wrong job, that one wasn't for you. It was for my other sister, your step sis."

My heart froze.

"But....."

"Yea, y'all both went to mental places but it wasn't the same one. Anyways, that ain my business to tell but I can find you another job sis. I didn't even know you needed one," he said with a sigh. I heard someone yelling in the background. At times like this I forgot he was in jail and not far away at somebody's trap house selling away. The good ole days of us growing up. "No, I-I like it..I like it here," I said with a deep breath, "You should send D, I can take good care of her here. The mental hospital ain the same hell from when I was younger." I paused, unsure if I should mention Sally or how I had caught up with Didi. I opted against it and shut my mouth.

"Anyways, since I know D is still on hard times and she never got the note intended for her, I can swing by there some time and bring her out here. Shit, me and her might not be on the best of terms since she let that lil stud work her way into her world and cut out family, but I'm cool wit her staying here if she ain got a place."

He stayed silent for a while and I heard a loud clang. I sucked in a breath. As many calls and favors he got through I had to only wonder what my not-so-innocent brother did for a living now.

"Ight," he said sucking his teeth, "I'll tell D you swangin by. Love you, sis. You know dat. And go out and check on Mama, ian heard from her in a minute nah."

"Ight, love you too, bro," I whispered and hung up before the tears could rain down. Even though I wasn't involved with him being arrested I still felt like it was my fault. Mucus sucked at the wetness in my throat as it became dry and sore as I sobbed. How did it feel to live in constant fear that something would happen to your own close kin? I could not fully tell you. You only fully know when they're gone, oddly.

After I was dressed I headed out the door to work, trying to figure out when I would fit in time to swing by D's place, and also where she even stayed. I thought about calling my cousin again but I figured I could save that until after work. Pulling up at the place, I reconsidered living here but then thought about the horrific one night I had spent there. Maybe it had been the thunder that had done it.

I was clocked in and I immediately made my way to Danitha's room. She had probably assumed that I didn't come today. I was going to make it up to her. I held a bouquet or red roses with one single grey rose that I had dyed at home with some leftover Easter egg stuff that I didn't even remember ever using.

I knocked on her door and called out in my best imitation of Sally: "Medicine!" Being brief was always the best way to pretend...to act. It got things done and just as I had thought Danitha did not recognize that I was not Sally by the clipped tone I had utilized.

I was feeling scientific today.

"Oh," she sighed seeing me, then her gaze drifted to my flowers. "Oh....that's nice. Who are those for?"

"Who do you think, Dan?" I asked in this surprisingly horny voice.

I saw her but her lip then look away. "What do you want, Laila?"

"Maybe I want you," I whispered.

"I called in today....You're now my patient."

"Patients and nurse shouldn't-"

I pushed Danitha further back into the room and shut the silent door. I dropped the roses into her chair and she fell back onto the bed maybe a whole three feet away from the door. I wrapped her legs around my waist and stared darkly into her eyes. I took a deep breath after looking at the uncertainty in them. I readjusted myself and sat up, dropping her legs.

Sometimes I just...went into another world. Softly snapped. I locked my lips, still tasting the pancakes I had made last minute after my sugary cereal. I looked back at the roses in the chair. "Those are for you," I said moving away from the bed, "as an apology." I turned to leave and Danitha grabbed my arm. I turned around slowly, afraid of what she had to say. "You make everything so fucking complicated. I just needed my revenge. This...wasn't supposed to happen."

I turned my head away from her and she let go of my arm weakly. I looked at the bottom of her door like a child being beat. "I'll help you the best I can, then. Sometimes revenge isn't worth losing what you gained."

"Laila," Dan called out from behind me.

"Look," she pulled my arm again and I braved myself for more words I didn't want to hear. Well, maybe it wasn't the words, it was the way they were put together. The words that didn't need to be there. This....was supposed to happen. "How can you tell me what to do with my life when yours isn't even completely turned around? I don't know who you were before...but you certainly haven't changed, Laila. When you change, come chat wimme."

"You need to change too. I'm not the one in a mental hospital," I countered.

Danitha glared at me before shutting the door.

"And you can take your damn roses," she said reopening the door and throwing the bouquet at me before I could leave.

"Danitha," I sighed into the roses, looking deep into their red luster.