Star Bright

Five: Saturday

  Dani opened her eyes. She cursed and strained them against the bright rays of sunshine coming through her window. Hands over her eyes, she got up and drew the curtains together. The rays thinned and slept in slits on the floor. Dani yawned and went to use the bathroom. After she emerged, she pulled open a drawer, picked a small bag, opened it and scooped some grains. She went to Bob's bowl and sprinkled it, which the fish launched up to eat.

  After a minute of watching, she stepped into the small hallway, still in her pink pajamas, spotted with rubber yellow ducks. Dani stood outside the room Jerani had once used. Last night, after the first successful tutor, Dani had come back to an empty house. She had a spare key so she'd let herself in. No Jerani. No Jean. Jean would be at the hospital but where would Jerani go? Hadn't Jean said she would take him to the station before going to work? Maybe there had been a missing poster for Jerani after all, a piece of paper that said, 'Help! Please help us find our delusional son, Peter' (or John, or James, whatever). Hope shone in Dani's chest as never before. Her home suddenly felt like her home again. With Jerani around, it had looked more like a friend's house. After an hour of texting and watching five episodes of Harlot's Diary*, she finally went to bed, leaving a note under a magnet apple on the fridge saying not to wake her up.

   Now here she was, in a brand new day, a Saturday to be exact, about to find out if her life would be the same again.

  She knocked. And waited.

  There was no sound.

  The hope from yesterday was growing rapidly in her chest. She knocked again. Still no sound. This time, a smile widened into existence. Dani mentally did a happy dance and walked on to Jean's room. As her hand touched the cold door knob, a door opened behind her. Dani turned around.

  And felt her smile melt like ice cream after the sun jumps out from behind a cloud.

  Jerani stepped into the hallway, yawning. His jet black hair was messy and he was wearing her jeans again, accompanied by a red shirt that hugged his figure. He smiled when he spotted her.

  "Oh were you the one knocking? Sorry, I was getting dressed. Turns out sleeping with clothes on can be really hard. How do you humans manage it?"

  Dani's tongue had relocated to somewhere she didn't know; she couldn't speak. Despite her annoyance and disappointed, she felt heat spread in her chest and she hated herself for it. The image of Jerani tossing around naked in bed was so darn distracting.

  "Sleep is very interesting." He continued, completely unaware of the image she had painted in her mind. "It's like you're dead but still alive. I'd recommend it for people who hate other people. They don't get to talk to others and they get plenty of rest. I love it. My cosmic brothers and sisters will be fascinated!" His smile reminded Dani of a child who had finished an assigned task first.

  "You came back..." Was all she could say.

  "Yes, I did. Oh!" He held up a finger. "And I brought you something very interesting. BRB!" He dashed back into his room and later came back out with an old brown piece of paper. "BRB means Be Right Back. I saw it in Gabe's memories. He uses it a lot when texting."

  "I know." Dani said before she could stop herself. She consciously bit her tongue as a way to punish herself but couldn't bear to feel the pain; so she cursed silently instead. But how had Jerani known that? How had he known her best friend's favourite acronym? Wait, Gabe had driven him home last night. Was it possible he had mentioned it? It had to be. She didn't know how the conversation could have moved towards that direction and she didn't care. It was a logical explanation.

  "What's this?" Dani said, taking the outstretched brown paper.

  "It's an old poster for a missing person. I asked a kind officer if I could take it. Jean left me in the station and rushed to work, saying she was late. So i-"