I had the sudden urge to throw a pillow and kick the door open, hands clenched as I woke up.
It had been a week since I went to have dinner at the Piendre's. Within that time frame, I had not been productive at all. But productivity was not the reason I wanted to act like a wild animal that had escaped the hands of an abusive zoo.
Things were occurring again. Things I knew all too well. Things that had stopped before. But I guess it wasn't over for good.
But I knew how to handle those situations. History always had a knack for repeating itself.
Still, a little bit of old school drama was the least of my worries. One thing that did have me by the throat was the late-night vanishings of my roommate.
Yes, Lona was a hushed girl with a gripping reticent personal life. Out of the two of us, she was more introverted while I was more extroverted. She was more withdrawn about the world, while I seemed to be outgoing with it, so to speak. But, we were never enthusiastic about keeping secrets from each other. So her disappearing at night was one of the most irritating itches I had.
It wasn't like she was out getting drunk underage or doing some very indecent nonsense. I knew her better than that. Although, that still didn't stop me from wanting to know what she was doing.
She would leave around nine p.m., a few hours after dinner, then come home at four a.m. and lock herself in her room for extra sleep. She wouldn't wake up until possibly three p.m. And I knew how bizarre it sounded that I kept track of her whole unhealthy schedule.
Who on the entire Earth would come home at four a.m. with no context whatsoever? And I did try to ask her, but she would flat out ignore me. In the five hours that I did see her, she spoke nothing of her little escapade through dusk and dawn.
I had had enough of it. Even if it had only occurred in the last four days, it was too concerning. I needed to know what she was doing. I needed to stop her before she lost her mind completely from an unbearable sleep schedule.
So after preparing myself for the day, I frantically pounded on her bedroom door.
"Lona!" I stood there and waited for a response. Silence.
I pressed my face against the door, and knocked a catchy tune (preferably "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman"). "Please open the door." No response.
I knocked again, then raised my voice, "open up Asian Persuasion!" That had to do it. She hated racial comments. Especially the label I gave us back in sophomore year of high school.
I heard a faint groan from the inside of the room. "You better open this door, fellow small-eyed soul!"
The doorknob twisted and the door creaked open. She peered at me. Her eyes bags were heavy, which was unsettling.
Lona's dyed hair was in a messy bun and she wore nothing but sweatpants, an oversized T-shirt, and fuzzy socks. "What a wonderful way to be greeted in the morning," she remarked, fighting back a yawn.
"Dang, how much sleep did you get last night?" I asked sarcastically, already knowing the answer.
She pulled the door open more and answered, "obviously not a lot."
"And on that note," I reached for her wrist, "we need to talk." I squeezed my grip and dragged her out of the room. Not processing anything due to the lack of sleep, she almost hey stumbled forward but caught balance. She let me drag her to the living room as she blinked several times to catch up with reality.
I let go of Lona's wrist and pushed her onto the couch where she slumped back, hands rested at her side. She yawned unwillingly and put her hand on her forehead, "what is this about?"
"I am going to scold you like I'm the Asian mother of a child who just got a 99% instead of a 100 on her final exam." I inhaled and leaned forward with my hands on my hips. "WHAT THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THAT CAUSES YOU TO GET BACK AT FOUR A.M.?!"
Her eyes shot open from her fatigued state. "It's literally nothing." She rubbed her eyes and stared off to the right.
"You're talking to the daughter of a former U.S. Marshal and sheriff. I am legit a walking lie detector." I pointed at my chest.
"One, no you cannot detect lies. I just suck at lying myself. Two, you do not need to be the daughter of an officer to detect lies." Lona crossed her arms and sighed. "And three, you are making me very uncomfortable."
I hadn't realized, but I was leaning right in her face, etched on her unshakeable business. I backed away and cleared my throat.
"Anyways. I know for a fact that it's not nothing, but I guess I won't pry if it's something super personal. Also as long as it's not something super scandalous."
She raised an eyebrow at me and got up. "It's not."
I grinned. "Alright, I know that you're tired, so I'll let you go back to sleep."
"Thanks, Rin."
But I wasn't done. I wasn't going to leave it like that. Whatever shenanigans that Lona was up to, I was going to uncover it. I knew for a fact that curiosity killed the cat, but there was absolutely much more to the saying. After all, satisfaction brought it back.
<>*<>
The instant hitting of sunshine's rays on my skin felt uplifting. I've always loved the summer. Well, I've always admired all the seasons.
I pedaled my bike up to the rack displayed outside of the enticing cafe that sat on the corner of the street.
Ding! The little bell spoke as I pushed open the glass door. I ordered a few beverages and pastries then took a seat by the window that overlooked the city.
Having breakfast out at a cafe rather than at home seemed less confining for me. A better variety of food, and especially since the opportunity of gaining information was there for me to take.
I traced the rim of the white mug as the coffee inside swirled with the creamer. Hand holding up my face with my elbow on the table, I stared intently at the beverage waiting for it to cool down.
I gazed up as the glass door pulled open with a college student walking in. He did the weird nod boys do to flip their hair out of their face as he walked up with his hands in his pockets.
"What's up?" He pulled the wooden chair back and sat down.
I removed my elbow from the table. "The roof."
He stared. "Not funny didn't laugh."
"Hmm, ok," I replied, pushing a tray forward with a grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate milk. Honestly, his order looked like it came from the kids' menu.
"Thanks," he said as I nodded my head in response.
"No problem." I fiddled with the coffee straw then peered up at him. "So, the reason I called you here."
"Yeah, what is it?" He asked, after taking a sip of milk.
"Well, first, how have you and Lona been?" My heart got heavy as I asked.
He leaned back on his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. "She's uh, been leaving me on read lately."
I fumbled with my fork until it dropped on the plate with a clank! "Oh."
"I figured that's why you called me? I-is she just not interested anym-"
"No!" I yelped. The poor guy thought she had dropped her. "I actually wanted to ask if you knew what was happening. She's actually been leaving every night at nine and coming home at like four a.m."
His eyes widened and he scooted forward in his chair. "The fu- she's not doing any stupid crap, right?"
His ocean-like eyes shimmered. "God, no. I made sure of it. I just thought it was something really personal like family issues or boys-" I covered my mouth. He didn't know everything.
"What do you mean by 'boys'?" he inquired.
You messed up. Idiot! I scolded myself. He didn't know what his best friend had done. "Axel, it's nothing." My stomach lurched from the inside. I hated thinking about his name. I hated that I couldn't get over high school fantasies.
"I assumed by 'boys' you just meant me, but you went ahead and said it's nothing. Is she flirting with other boys too?"
"My goodness, no!" I insisted. I rubbed my face with my hands, "she'd never do that."
He ran his hand through his blonde hair. "Then what is it?"
My insides twisted. I couldn't tell him about the old school drama. I couldn't tell him that Lona's way of forgetting someone was to move onto someone else. It was like saying he was a distraction to her aching heart. But that wasn't true at all.
And I didn't want to lie to him. I couldn't. "She's been heartbroken before. Before she developed feelings for you, she was played by some else. He hit on her and like three other girls. And what makes it worse is that one of those girls was a good friend of hers."
I lifted the mug and took a sip of coffee. And then a quick breath. "Before she started sneaking out at night," I continued, "Lona would sulk all day. And it was because she was stuck between an old first love and a new one."
He didn't respond. He just tapped on the wrinkled napkin underneath the half bitten sandwich.
I bit my lip and continued to add more to my simplification. "I- I don't want her to be hooked up on the same playboy. I don't want it to seem that she's using you to get over him. She genuinely likes you."
Silence approached our table. He began to gather up his tray of wasted breakfast. "Thanks for letting me know," he said while pushing in his chair. "You're a good friend for looking out for Lona."
And the shiny bronze bell above the door went ding!
Was I a good friend? I made it seem like Lona was nothing but a member of the lonely hearts club and only wanted to move on. And I hated how I couldn't.
After sitting alone at the table by the wide glass window for several moments of regret, I left. I recollected my thoughts and I hopped onto the pastel bike of limitless travel.
I pedaled down the pavement and down the vibrant blocks of the city to the beloved music studio owned by the acquaintance of my Lola.
Then I found myself standing in one of the empty rooms that were only occupied by mirrors and a single grand piano.
I glanced at the mirror across and noticed the girl next to the door. Her hair had been sticking up in all directions because of the wind. But one feature that stood out was the tears. When had I started crying? Was it on my way to the studio or when I sat alone in the cafe?
Why can't you move on! The voice yelled. It's obvious that he doesn't like you!
I blinked. Today was not going to be a detrimental day. I woke up telling myself to be productive. And before I knew it, I was seated in front of the piano.
I slammed my fingers on top of the keys and began to play Yiruma's "River Flows In You" oh so very passionately and lividly.
I jabbed at every key and ended up with enraged chords that still managed to sound somewhat pristine.
And in the end my fingers started to ache. My hands dropped onto the piano bench. I clenched the edges of the seat and took in another soothing breath, directing and focusing my sight to the piano.
The piano was surprisingly well polished, that it had a transpicuous reflection. I traced over my bitter reflection with my index finger. The reflection then wavered as if someone were to drop a pebble in a river. My eyes widened then squinted as I leaned closer to the piano. My hand was touching the surface on which my face was shown, along with a glimmering white light that rippled like water.
I jerked my head up and stared at the studio's mirrored wall. The reflection of myself, as normal as ever, but behind me on the wall looked like it was an archway engraved into the wall.
The archway was big and wide enough for at least one person to go through. Inside, there was a bright light that was flowing horizontally as if it were water.
I cautiously turned around to face the real thing. It emitted a sound that sounded so eerie and spectral but reassuring. Like a stairway to heaven. Or a portal to like another dimension. Lost in its trance, I suddenly blinked. And the portal - archway - whatever it was, was gone. As if it were never there to begin with.
Then I panicked. What had I seen? I got up and pushed the bench out of my way, stumbling towards the door, out of the studio, and to my bike.
It was no longer rush hour, but there were still many people wandering around. So, if whatever that thing was somehow lured me in, at least I had witnesses. But, I pedaled away, not looking back at whatever the heck that thing was.
Even if I wanted to know what it was, I was leaving it at that. People would think I had finally lost it.
<>*<>
Turned on the lights. Opened the blinds. Blasted the speaker. "Lona!" I piped as I zipped up my pastel windbreaker. I had secured every part of the house with some kind of loud and obnoxious distraction. Just in case that portal would appear, I was prepared to have my absence noticeable if I were to get sucked into it. I was also slightly terrified of the sounds the portal had emitted.
When she didn't respond, I immediately ran up to her room. And to my surprise, her door was opened. And her room was empty. My heart started to race slightly and my body went into panic mode, pulling me inside her room to dig up every corner. I didn't know why but I searched for every trace of her. I searched for any of her belongings because most of them had gone. The backpack that she used for travel was gone and so were some of her clothes, hair straightener, toothbrush, and other personal household items.
All I found was a yellow sticky note on her bedside table with the words: will be back in a week, please don't worry about me.
Why would she even leave a note? Absolutely no one did that anymore. She could've just shot me a text or called me. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and messaged her. It wasn't until ten minutes later that she had responded.
When I had asked her why she wrote a note instead, she didn't answer. At least I knew where she was. But the thought of staying alone in an apartment for a while made me uneasy. Especially since there was a portal after me.
So, I went on to gather my things because I, too, was heading to my parent's house. I had made it certain that I was not about to fall into the hands of paranoia.
Yiruma's River Flows in You: