Simplicity

chapter 11

  “Isla, open the door.”

For the past ten minutes I’d been standing in front of her apartment waiting for her to let me in. I knew she was home, where else would she be at 8.30 am? After the ‘incident’ last week, she hasn’t replied to any of my calls nor has she answered my texts or Facebook messages... Well, I’m not shocked. I yelled at her, even though I had every right to I shouldn’t have done that. I’d even asked Edith to give me the spare key to her sister’s apartment but she’d been told not to. Isla hadn’t told her any of the details, just that she didn’t want to see me. Edith had given me a sympathetic smile and wished me good luck knowing my attempts were futile.

  “Are you just going to skip school then? Stay home, sleep? You can’t avoid me forever, you know.”  I knocked my head against the door and leaned there. I closed my eyes and listened to see if she was even up yet. At first I couldn’t hear anything, just the distant sound of the traffic from the nearby main road. But after straining my ears and focusing on the tiny details I could hear a soft scraping noise that I assume to be Homer in his litter box. I listened for the sound of water running or of something frying. Maybe even Isla talking to Homer as she does or maybe the melody she hums when she’s organising something. I knocked again; the vibrations on the door buzzing through my head. She’s probably curled up in her duvet with her iPod plugged in.

I let out a sigh and knocked my head on the door a last time before weakly swinging my bag over my shoulder and walking down the hall.

It was snowing again this morning, not as heavily as it had been yesterday but snow was snow and the thin slush that covered the city was good enough for me. After I’d left the Café, I’d gone straight home, wordlessly walked past my parents and face-planted on my bed. I didn’t want to think, I didn’t want to eat, I didn’t want to do a thing. I’d screwed up. Everything I’d run away from was coming back and slapping me in the face –but this time Isla is involved and she doesn’t exactly seem to be on my side.

I slid my hand into my pocket and retrieved my car keys before stepping out of the elevator and into the dark and dank parking lot ahead. The familiar echo of the car being unlocked was strangely comforting against all the sudden change. But the basement seemed so quiet this morning. Usually there’d be two pairs of footsteps; mine and Isla’s. She’d nag about all the problems she’s having in French and I’d retort with a sentence I knew was too advanced for her to comprehend. I don’t like this; going to school without her in the morning is surprisingly lonely. Is what I thought as I reversed the car out of the lot. 

                                                                                         ~~~

I backed up into the Starbucks parking like I did every morning and reversed my car into the space at the very left –facing the shop window.  I turned the key and the car’s humming stopped as the engine shut down. I was greeted with a smile by the girl behind the counter but a puzzled look crossed her face when I didn’t return it. 

  “Morning, Alex.” She called cheerfully. “Where’s your haughty little girlfriend? She hasn’t been visiting us as often.” She wrinkled her nose and started the coffee machine; my regular stops here not needing me tell her my usual order.

  “Morning.” I replied monotonously. “She’s not around.” I said. I wasn’t fully awake yet, my eye-lids were heavy and my body ached. As stupid as it may seem, the fight with Isla really had taken its toll on me. I hadn’t been sleeping much, hadn’t been eating. The fact that it was my fault made it even worse.

  “Oh. So you don’t deny it then?” For some strange reason the smile on her face had faded and her tone was flat. She looked down at the Styrofoam cup as the hot, brown liquid bubbled into it.