Mad Green Eyes

Chapter 2 - Inkblot

2) - Inkblot

Koslovski had slept on the sofa overnight. The only reason for this was that he had been expecting to stay at one of his friends’ houses, but he had got a call late the night before explaining that his friend’s mother had just fallen very ill and he could no longer stay over.

Ada stretched her arms out behind her as she woke up, and heard a satisfying crack from her shoulders. She staggered over to the door and slammed it shut, annoyed by the sound of Koslovski’s snoring. She changed out of her nightclothes into her usual black attire and looked at herself in the mirror. She slowly raised a hand and brushed her fair hair out of the way to reveal her whole face. She flinched at the sight and quickly let it fall back into its original position.

‘Ada? I’m awake you know, you can come in.’

Ada turned and walked into the living room. Koslovski was half on the sofa and half on the floor, his limbs sprawled out all over the place. She had no blankets for him to defend himself from the cold, so she had lent him her coat. For reasons she could not fathom it now lay on the other side of the room.

‘Why is my coat by the television?’ She asked quietly.

‘Is it?’ Koslovski raised his head and glanced at the other side of the room, ‘oh. You’re right. It is.’

‘Did you get up in the night?’

‘No, I sleepwalk,’ he scratched his head in embarrassment, and rose unsteadily to his feet, ‘sorry, did you say the bathroom’s next to your bedroom?’

‘Yes.’

He stumbled over the carpet and down the corridor. He wore only a pair of long trousers, and Ada noticed with slight surprise that his chest bore a long, ragged white scar from his left shoulder down to his right hip. She wondered how that had happened.

Ada wandered over to the kitchen and began to chop up a pineapple lying next to the sink. She heard the toilet flush and Koslovski walked in, yawning loudly.

‘So, what’s for breakfast?’

She glanced at him.

‘Well, I wasn’t expecting you to stay overnight, so I didn’t prepare anything special.’

‘I wasn’t expecting anything special. I’ll do it myself – where’s the toaster?’

Ada pointed to something metal covered in pieces of fruit and banana skins.

‘Ok, and your toast?’

She gave him a blank look.

‘Um, what about bacon?’

She still had that vacant expression on her face.

‘Well, Ada, what are you having for breakfast?’

‘Fruit,’ Ada replied, turning around to continue chopping the pineapple, ‘that’s all I ever eat.’

‘Oh. How had I forgotten?’ He muttered, ‘your teeth must be really bloody awful, Ada, with all that citric acid.’

 Ada raised a sceptical eyebrow.

‘Who’s playing dentist now?’

‘It’s common knowledge. And I used to be a dentist when I lived in Poland, I’ll have you know. Let me see your teeth.’

Ada hesitated, and then reluctantly opened her mouth.

‘Wider,’ Koslovski said as he leant forward, and she obliged, ‘Jesus, Ada, your front teeth are fine, but the ones at the back are rotting. Badly.’