Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Double life: late dinner

I couldnt find an image of what I wanted, so I just used one of my own drawings. Not the ideal picture but this is what I was looking for or something like this...when I find if Ido, I´ll remove this drawing.

When Aaron woke it was dark outside. He learned that he had a broken nose. He was swollen and had some kind of bandage on his face. When he tried to touch himself he squinted his eyes, it hurt. “Don't touch your nose, you idiot!” said Josh. He smiled at his twin´s concern. It was not weird for Josh to be there, both of them knew they only had each other so they were always there for each other. “You look amazing!” Josh said and grinned while taking a picture of his twin. “Shut up!” Aaron said and grunted in pain. Josh fixed his brother´s pillow. The nurse came in and checked on Aaron. “You should go and eat something” she said to Josh “it´s not good to skip meals, this fellow will be ok over here for tonight” Josh smiled and nod but didn´t move. “Go, man, I´ll be fine, plus you gotta pick my stuff in the library” “Where is it?” “I dont know, just look for it” “Stupid Aaron” “you´ll be the one going after my stuff” Aaron said and stuck out his tongue. “Shut up!” Josh said and grinned, he was glad Aaron was fine, he had been worried that it took longer than usual for him to wake up after he fainted. He went out right when the nurse came in with some food tray. His stomach grumbled. “To the library and then to eat” he said and headed to the tall building ahead. Though it was in front it was not close. When he got there it was closed. The next morning they had a math quiz and he had not returned Nichole´s notebook. “Nic´s gonna kill me! how will she study without her notes?” he thought and directed towards the cafeteria. The school ground was vast. He got lost again. The map was in his backpack at the library. He wandered around trying to remember how to get there. Once he finally got the cafeteria it was closed. He checked his watch, it was nine pm already. “Perfect” he said out-loud and walked over his steps. The trail passed near the exterior wall. He saw a shadow over the wall, even though it was dark, the moon was shining bright. “Hello?” he said “who´s there?” “Are you lost again?” a female voice asked, clearly trying not to laugh. He walked towards the thick stone wall. “What are you doing here?” “Walking” she said and kept walking “by the way, dont climb. You might fall and there´s some very scary river at the other side of this wall” she finished. He was starting to wonder if he was so predictable or if she was a mind-reader “just follow the path and you´ll find the way” she said without turning to see him. He climbed the wall and walked towards her. “hey, look, about you...” “get down! -she stopped and fast walked towards him- it´s dangerous!” she seemed truly concerned. “I get lost easily but I do have balance, now listen to me, about your...” He couldn't´t finish his sentence. When he realized, he was hanging off the edge of the wall, Nic was holding his hand, stopping him from falling to the stones and the angry river. His hand was sweaty. His heart was pounding. He was very scared. “Don´t let go of my hand and try to grab the wall with your other hand OK?” Nic said, she didn´t seem to be scared at all, except for her eyes, there was this darkness in them as if she was having painful memories. He nod and reached for the edge of the wall.With his feet he pushed himself up and Nic pulled him until he was safe. They both got down. He sat on the grass still breathing hard. She was just standing next to him. “Thank you” Josh said still looking down. It was strange to her, she didn´t know what to feel, she had never dealt with a situation like that, she felt that it was white colored against all the black canvas of situations she knew how to deal with. “Now, you´ll be my slave for the whole eternity” she didn´t let her emotions show when she was so puzzled. He laughed and saw her. “come on! for the eternity? that´s too long! plus in some other cutltures it´s the one who saves the life that is responsible for whom he has saved! ha! gotcha!” “right... are you ok? are you hurt in any way?” she kneeled down and took a flashlight out of her pocket. “yeah Im fine, I just scrapped my hands but that´s it... I...” “what? I thought you said you had a good balance” “I do but I think something hit me, like a rock... but no body seems to be here but us” She furrowed her eyebrows “where did it hit you?” he looked at his shoulder. “can I see it?” “eh?” “maybe we can find out what hit you and try to figure out where it came from” he took off his sweater and unbuttoned his uniform shirt. She got closer and took a look. It was bruising there. It was obvious it had hit him hard but to hit him that hard it had to be thrown from a close distance or maybe with some kind of weapon. “I think you should go to your room” as she said that she heard his stomach grumble. Nic lifted an eyebrow. “Are you hungry?” He blushed. “By the time I got to the cafeteria it was closed” She got up to her feet. “You really need to carry that map with you. Let´s go” They walked together for a while. She led him to his building. “Go to your room. Leave your window open ok?” He was confused but she was already walking away when he managed to form a coherent sentence. He went in. He changed his clothes and observe the redish mark on his shoulder, it hurt. He saw the window and remembered what Nic had said. He opened it not sure why she asked that. After a minute or two he heard a noise and then he saw Nichole comming in from the window. His eyes were wide. “Im just taking care of the life I saved” she said with her usual nonchalantly voice. “how did you...?” “Havent you take a look out your window yet? there´s this plant...you can guess what Im trying to say right?” she took off the bag that was hanging across her shoulder. She took out a bottle of apple juice, some bread, a can of tuna, mustard and mayonnaise. “I hope you like tuna sandwiches” she said and sat on the floor. “How...?” “well, I have years living here but I was once the new student just like you and there was a kind person who gave me peanut butter sandwiches when I couldnt get on time to the cafeteria” Josh smiled and took the sandwich and pour two glasses of juice. “Thank you, Nichole” “Just Nic” she said and drank from one of the glasses she had brought along “I´ll get some food like this...just in case” he spoke his thoughts out-loud “Are you planning on missing the cafeteria hours?” she laughed “No, but just in case..... by the way, I have to tell you something...the library was close so I don't have your notebook. I´ll tell the teacher what happened, the nurse gave me a note and...” she smiled a little “Do not worry I had already studied that -he watched in disbelief- do you think I would´ve given you my notes if I hadn't studied before?” she was back to her usual tone and detached demeanor. “Your bag, along with my notes and your brother´s bag is down stairs at the lobby of the building” He was surprised. “You went back and brought my things and also Aaron´s?” “Didn’t I just said so?” He didn’t know if she was actually oblivious of her own kindness or if she didn’t want it to be overly celebrated. “What were you doing at the wall?” he suddenly asked curiously after a while of comfortable silence “Walking. I already told you” she drank her juice “I think I´ll let you study now but don’t worry too much you probably won’t get graded this time since you only have like three days in here... you shouldn’t even study for that” “Right and then the teacher will label me stupid” she smiled and shrugged. “I was wondering if you could lend me the rest of you notes?” “Sure, but you gotta finish one first” she got to her feet and collected her things to leave “I´ll leave you the food and the dishes you used, just in case” “where did you got that?” “I have my ways” she laughed “actually you can ask your family to bring it for you” “oh... wait, how´ll you leave? you aren't supposed to be here” “And you just realized that?” she said smirking while she walked towards the window “bye” and then she went out. He got up and ran to the window. He saw her, she had literally jumped and fall on her feet then ran to the woods. She had made him believe earlier that she used the plant to climb but she clearly didn’t “maybe that´s just to come up...maybe she´s into gymnastics or something”

2 comments:

  1. A lot to read this time. I'll read it when I get home. Love the drawing by the way. ;)

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  2. Wow. Nic is so cool. She's like a cat. Classy and mysterious! I love love love the scene at the wall when she was in the dark and asked if he was lost again. And the black canvas splashed with white was so thoughtful. Oh and I love that Josh was calling her Nic in his head but not out loud. I can't really explain why but it was adorable

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