Bloom

Night 4: I love you

"Hey, Jen..." We whispered. The room, vibrant with greens and pinks just a moment ago, was now dark and moody. Jen turned the lights off after we had both gotten into our pyjamas; she had a spare set of cute and spotty, purple pyjamas (a pair of pyjama shorts and a t-shirt). Jen looked at us laying on the floor from her bed "...will you forgive me for the way I acted, before?" Jen's face was assaulted by a shocked, almost offended, expression. "Of course, I'll forgive you! I already did, hadn't I? It was nothing, okay?"

There was a moody silence, accompanied by the perpetual cries of crickets and the soft whistling of the breeze outside. "Jen..." She rolled over again to look at us. We hugged Jen's pillow with utmost violence, and the burning in our cheeks began to grow. "...I don't want t- to go... to go back home."

The pillow was damp and warm from where we buried our face. Moonlight cut through the curtains and Jen's face glowed a mystical white. We pushed the cushion hard against our face, yet again, and peered into the pitch black.

There was a gentle ruffling of fabric and a subtle thud on the bedroom floor, then a floorboard creak. We hugged our pillow tight; look away, don't peak. They're looming... creeping.

"EEK!" We yelped. Jen's finger was pressed hard against our arm. "Oh... did I startle you? Oh... I'm sorry..." She was squatting beside us and peering down. "I have something I want to show you." She said in a half-whisper, getting to her two feet.

We put the pillow aside and began to get up, but suddenly, Jen grabbed our hand and rushed us out of the room, accompanied by a large bee soft-toy in Jen's right arm. We ran and we ran until we came to a bedroom at the end of the hall. Jen hushed us, wide-eyed and with her finger to her lips, then tip-toed the rest of the way. We tip-toed and tip-toed until we came to a dead end. There was a wall, nothing else, just a wall, not even a window or a bookcase to make it feel less empty.

Jenny gently placed her bee on the floor, and lifted her head high, lending her attention to a white loft door on the ceiling. She jumped, jotting her arm out above her in an attempt to grab the latch. We stepped back as she landed so impactfully, which had produced an ear-splitting thud. Jen quivered with angst, and we held our hands to our ears, gritting our teeth.

"Psst... I have an idea!" Jen whispered to us. Her eyes locked onto ours, as though they were magnetically attracted, and a gentle smile mustered on her face. "Hey, could you lift me up and I'll lift you from in the loft?" We were hesitant, but agreed; there's no way we couldn't have, what else were we going to do? And besides, we'd do anything for her, anything at all, we love her. Slowly, we knelt down and held our arms out, laying our palms flat, facing upwards for Jen to step on.

You probably look so pathetic right now, kneeling down like that! Jen probably wants to laugh at you so hard, just go ahead and let her, idiot! Everything and anything you ever do is so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. You are so fucking stupid. Just stop trying. Jen will never like you, a shitty little girl who does anything for attention and is especially inconsiderate and nasty towards her friends. You need to learn boundaries. You get far too close to Jen. You don't respect any of your friends' boundaries at all. Stop. Just stop, you freak. They all want rid of you. They all talk about you behind your back. And you know what? You deserve it. You deserve it all. You foul and ugly unlikable fucking little bitch. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

"Shhhhhh, it's okay. You're okay." We were in her arms - Jen's - sitting on the floor, in an awkward position, as though we had fallen. She held us tight and stroked our head, running her fingers past our bow. "It's okay." She looked deep into our eyes, past her tears, with that same smile. We took a deep breath. "...but nothing's wrong?"