Bars and White

Chapter Six

All of a sudden she broke the silence. "So, how are you?" she stated quite pleasantly.

I said nothing. She carried on as if I had told her it was a lovely day.

"Did you know that the most common month in which babies are born is August?"

I arched an eyebrow. That came out of nowhere.

"My birthday is in August. When is yours?"

Now that she was talking, I wished she would stop. Her voice was getting very annoying. It was a very soft and delicate voice, but you could sense there was an underlying ferocity in it. I liked it much better when she just sat there silently. Hell I liked it better when she wasn't even here.

"Even though my birthday is in August, autumn is my favorite season. Isn't that odd? Most people's favorite seasons are the seasons that their birthday occurs in."

I glared at her and she returned it with a bright smile.

"I'm so glad we are friends."

At this I became angry. Who did this girl think she was? We barely knew each other and we sure as hell weren't friends. I became very irked by her very presence. I glared at her a bit more. Maybe she would finally take the hint.

She paused a few seconds and then burst into laughter. I halted my intense glare for a moment because she was scaring me. Was she bipolar or something? Maybe she was mentally ill? Her laughter was really bothering me now. When she finally stopped, the tightness in my chest went away.

"Bullshit." she whispered under her breath and my eyes widened in surprise. Well that was unexpected. I stole another quick glance at Cammie out of curiosity now.

She turned to me with a bitter smile. I stared at her in confusion.

"It's not a lovely day is it? It's a crappy day and that won't change."

I didn't know what to think. She was a complete mess and I couldn't comprehend what exactly she was trying to say. One second she was all cheery and the next, she was dark and brooding.

"Yea, it's a crappy day. So why should anyone have to say that it's a lovely day? So what if my birthday is in August? I can love autumn if I want to. And I want to. And I will. And I do. Because I'm myself and I decide what I like and don't like. The world plays no part in the matter. At least it shouldn't. But why do I always feel as if the world is screwing me over and running everything in my life. Sometimes I wish the world was a single person so I could murder that person, torture it, and destroy it just like it had done to me."

She turned back to me expecting to see a scared and terrified expression on my face but I was calm. Her words struck something in me and I somehow could relate to them. Aside from the fact that she was a psycho of course.

She gave me a genuine smile when she saw my indifference. How I knew it was a genuine smile, I don't know. Something about all her previous smiles seemed so unnatural and forced.

She didn't say much after that. It seemed like she was spent. Five seconds ago she was a cornucopia of emotions and now she was just a lifeless soul. All of a sudden, she started crying. I stand corrected. I had no idea what to do. She was seriously freaking me out.

"You know that show they used to play on TV back in the early 2000s? The one with the two cartoon protagonists. The bunny and the pig or something. I suddenly remembered that."

I wasn't sure how to respond. I had the faintest inkling of what she was saying though.

"I just love the theme song. I think it was something along the lines of 'Happy Happy Joy Joy'." She continued. "It's such a hilarious introduction. The two of them are just bashing themselves and basically beating themselves to death. Don't you remember? It was as funny as sugar pie."

I lost her after a few seconds. My mind had completely wandered back to the days when I was younger. To the days when I would run to the couch with its tattered pillows and eagerly bounce in place as I waited for my mother to let me have the remote. It was one of the few happy moments I could suddenly remember from my childhood. But then of course I think of her. Her and her obnoxious comments and rude looks and -

My uncontrolled spiral of thoughts was interrupted by a singing voice. "Happy Happy Joy joy, happy happy joy joy..." Cammie's voice was soft and gentle. She sang partially off tune but what gave me shivers was the haunting tone in her song. She continued to sing the theme song eerily and the cell seemed to fill up with some indescribable feeling.

After a few minutes of repeating the same verse over and over again, she tapered off and stood up.

"See you tomorrow." She said with a smile but her eyes were empty.

Long after she left, I sat on my bed contemplating. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

Happy Happy Joy Joy. The words were bizzare and I brooded over them. I got brief glimpses and flashbacks to a skinny little pink bunny with crazy eyes. And suddenly it clicked. I started chuckling.

It really was as funny as sugar pie.