Lost

Part I

"Justin?" Marina's voice, from somewhere in their apartment. Probably the kitchenette. "Where have you been?"

He looked down at the uniform he wore--his shirt a searing yellow, especially against his blue pants and the matching, single word that stood stark above his breast.

And yet...this wasn't his uniform. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Around the wall, separating the apartment's meager living room and the minimal kitchenette, comes a bouncing bouquet of red curls and strawberry freckles.

He'd forgotten how short his girlfriend stood.  Compared to the surrounding furniture. Compared to all that he'd seen in the last several days.

But for what lacked in height was made up in ire. For Marina looked at him as if he'd claimed he had just finished setting her beloved bookcase aflame. The frying pan and lengthy spatula grasped in either hand did little to comfort his conscience.

"Justin, are you okay?" Like that, her anger turned to worry. Her eyes traveled up and down, taking in his uniform. The weary expression painting his face.

Setting down the pan and spatula, Marina returned to the kitchen, and, grabbing his hand, lead him toward the couch at the far end of their living room.

Though her voice was muffled as she grasped him in a hug, Marina's words rang clear, "Four days. You've been gone four days."

He wanted to explain, but the words bottle in his throat. All he could see were flashes. Of cardboard boxes. Of towering displays. Of bright, blinking lights and unending shadows.

"I don't remember you telling me you would be gone." Her head lifted and he watched as her eyes narrowed. His silence wasn't helping. "Where were you?"

"I can't--"

"You missed Chelsea's birthday." And back was her flame. It brightened the crimson of her hair, the emerald of her eyes.

Oh, how he was dazed.

"Where were you?"

And then suddenly he could think of an endless strain of words, and not the razor white that had muddled his thoughts. He was free of some grasp, and now he could remember.

"You see, I went to Ikea."