A little bit mad. (1)
_____________________________________________________
Her face was an impregnable mask;
you'd get nothing out of it, zilch. That was before; all the layers came off
slowly, one by one.
"You know when you get the mean
reds?" She opened the back door, and threw
her handbag to the other end of the seat.
"Mean reads...you mean like the
blues?" He watched with increasing bemusement
as she plunked herself on the leather seat. He really didn't seem to feature
in her realm of things at the moment, except when she needed responses to her
bizarre questions. She shut the door firmly, her tense body relaxing
immediately as it hit the comfortable seats.
"No, blues ... your just sad that's
all... the mean reads a horrible one. Suddenly you are afraid, and you don't
know what you are afraid of! Do you ever get that feeling?"
"Sure" It was a lie; he did not have a clue. But he sure was
intrigued; she looked a little dazed, and even slurred a little. He looked down
on his phone, no new messages or missed calls, meant he had some time. Not like
he had any choice either, he paused briefly before he turned around and asked
her, "So, where do you
want to go?"
She scoffed at him, "You don't know?" The idea seemed absurd to her.
He merely shook his head.
"I always go there when I'm
sad" She
mused sadly, and closed her eyes as if she was drowning in sleep.
He sat there deciding his next course
of action. She looked like she had just stepped out of work but drunk; it didn't
seem to add up.
But what the hell, where does she want
to go?
Then she spoke with her eyes closed
completely oblivious to his dilemma just lost in her own world... a web of words, "Calms me down right away, the
quietness of the place... Nothing bad could ever happen there... "
"Are you sad?" He asked her out of curiosity.
"No, I don't have the
blues... "
"Ahh... ... yes", he put on his seatbelt," The mean reds?" He looked at her for a
confirmation, and noted a faint movement of her head, "which means, you
are more than sad... " he
paused momentarily, trying to think of the right word, "devastated
then?"
She mumbled incoherently,
"something like that... " Then
almost as if that was some hidden cue, she straightened up a little
clumsily, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the lights outside, "why aren't we moving
yet?"
"Right away Princess" Only he wasn't sure, where to exactly. "Tell me
something?" he talked as
he drove them out of the quiet residential neighborhood scattering autumn
leaves as they picked up speed.
"People that can't handle
alcohol, shouldn't drink"
" I'm not drunk, just ... "
"Just?" He watched her through the mirror, as she struggled with
the right response, her tiny nose scrunched in a peculiar way.
"Do you always talk so
much?" No
he wasn't going to stop asking questions, she'd just have to come around to it.
"That depends... " He didn't bother with the rest, knowing she wouldn't
bother either way. Instead, he was right back at it, "Is that a beauty nap or
something?"
She chuckled. There was silence for a
while.
"I'll take that for a no
then" He smiled for the first time. "So where to... ?" he stopped at the light, and
turned around again, "I don't even know where you want to go?"
"Where I always go... where
everybody... wait, wait... " she stared intently at something on
her thumb as if trying to remember the right words before finishing off with,
"where nobody knows my name" And
smiled. It was the first time; he'd seen her do that.
Clearing away that little distraction he
carried on, "Do you always talk like that?"
"Like what?"
"You know... " he was surprised to see her take out a cigarette and dump
the contents of her handbag on the expensive seats when she couldn't find the
lighter.
"Don't even think about it" He warned her. She put the cigarette
away. He found it odd how she obeyed him without any protest? This woman sure was weird not that it irked him. He mused. He was distracted by the
ring of his cell phone, "Hello"
By the time, he was done with the
call. She was back to being lost again. And that dazed look was back on her
face. He was a little concerned to see that pale streak return, she looked much
better when she rattled off senselessly he thought.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Are we there yet?" She replied.
He sighed; it was going to be a long
night. He could see through the mirror, those droopy eye-lids meant, she was
really drowning in sleep this time.
"The mean reds are back eh?" He wanted to keep this conversation going, to keep her awake,
for as long as he could.
"It is" she stilled, "I
got fired today"
"Oh come on, that's not the end
of the world"
She chuckled.
"That doesn't sound like the mean
reds; you know... more like bright yellows or even pink"
And then she did it again,
"Take the next right, and stop at the pier"
---------------------
Part 2 - Pg.7
Edited by -Aria- - 10 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount