When I wake up I still have the headache and my hands are a little numb, mainly the tip of my fingers, like when its very cold and you grab something warm. I sit up in bed and rub at the back of my neck roughly, I stand up and take two pills… well, let’s make it three, its better to try and prevent a migraine… or worse. I grab my phone, unlock the screen and it goes straight to Instagram and that alert that the action I’m trying to do is blocked, I stare at the screen, at the lock right in the middle, I watch it and remember dreaming about locks and broken keys. I exhale heavily, put my phone on the bed with the screen down and start my morning routine, brush my teeth, shower, get dressed, have breakfast, text Cris that I’m on my way and get out of the house.
Surprisingly, Cris is on time. She jumps from excitement when she sees me and runs to catch me in a hug, I honestly can’t stop myself from smiling when I see her and laughing when she jumps at me, blindly trusting that I will catch her and not let her fall.
“Girl, I’m just as surprised as you are that she’s actually on time.”
Amira appears from behind Cris and bumps her shoulder slightly.
“Dude, your faith in me is appalling.”
She lets go of my neck and holds my hand.
“Shall we?”
I nod and all three of us walk to the subway and then into school.
The school day comes to an end without anything relevant happening, Cris tells me she can’t go for the stuff for the costume today but that she can tomorrow, she drops me off at home and then lets me know when she arrives at hers. My mood swift becomes evident as soon as Cris leaves and I’m left at my house without her, the silence becomes heavy so I walk up to my room to play some music at a high volume, then I sit in front of my computer, open up the browser and go to the Facebook site debating whether or not to open an account, but I cant make up my mind because I don’t know how I would feel if the results were the same as for Instagram.
I stare at the screen for around ten minutes until my mother enters my room, startling me and making me jump a little, she asks me to lower the volume and asks me if I’m ready for dinner, I say yes, close the computer and go down to the kitchen.
Fifteen minutes later we’re about to finish dinner and my father asks me a question.
“Joa, kid, is everything okay? You haven’t said a word.”
I look at him and realize he’s right, this is the time I usually tell them all about my day, about Cris and school, but not today, today I just don’t feel like talking, I don’t really know what to talk about that isn’t’ the Instagram thing but there is no point since I already know how that conversation will go and I want to avoid it.
“Yeah, all good. I’m just tired.”
He nods and says something about all Mondays being exhausting then, he raises his shoulders and I excuse myself to my room. I video chat with Cris for a few moments until she also asks me if everything is okay, I tell her the same thing I told my father, she tells me she’ll let me rest and we hang up.
I go to sleep, and I dream myself inside a crystal box, trying to talk to people but no one looks at me, as if I wasn’t really there.
