Hidden Mysteries

Cuts and Clues

Balloon was waiting for me in front of our school when Knife dropped me off in the morning. It took him a while to spot me in the crowd today; since I was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a hoodie underneath a T-shirt with some punk design on it, a significant contrast to my usual outfits of plain sweaters with pleated skirts and tights, usually topped off with a pair of mary janes.

"Suitcase! You're wearing them today?" Balloon looks at my outfit with eyes of interest.

"Yeah! You like my outfit?" I ask, striking a small pose. "I ."kinda had a epiphany, and...I want to express myself the way I want to. Not the way my family would expect me to."

"Yeah, speaking of your family..." Balloon glances in the distance, watching my big brother drive off. "Did your dad find out about the whole sneaking-out thing?"

"Find out? He had already sent Knife out to search for me before I came home," I sigh. "Nickel was livid, of course. And unsurprisingly, he started blaming you. But..."

"But?" Balloon repeats slowly, his brow furrowing.

"I just couldn't let him talk about you like that anymore. So...I stepped up for myself. I defended you, and I may have stepped out of line, but I got my message across." I twirl some hair around my finger as the both of us turn to head inside the building. "Then this morning at breakfast they said that I'm grounded for the next week, so we can't hang out outside of school until then."

"Well, that sucks. But we can still hang out here, at school, can't we?"

"Yeah!" I smile. "Nickel can't stop us from doing that, that...hmmm..."

"That shmendrik?" Balloon suggests.

I snicker slightly. "What, what does that mean?" I had picked up some Yiddish here and there from hearing Balloon and Tea Kettle talk, but I wasn't fluent enough in it to understand a full conversation.

"Well, it roughly translates to a stupid jerk."

I burst into laughter. "That's Nickel, alright! He can be one big shmendrik!"

We both laugh together, but part of my mind isn't completely focused on our conversation. I couldn't help but think about that voice I had heard last night, how it had made my body feel cold and sent a strange feeling up my spine that couldn't be described with words.

"Suitcase?" Balloon's voice snaps me out of my train of thought, looking worriedly at me. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, uh. I'm fine, I guess," I stutter slightly, trying to wave it off. It's not that I don't want to talk about it, but I don't want to talk about it here.

"Are you sure?" he asks, stopping to look at me. "I mean, I don't want to push you to talk or anything, but you look...off."

I glance around the hallway before grabbing Balloon by the hand and pulling him into the nearest gender neutral bathroom as fast as I can, only letting go to lock the door behind me.

"S-Suitcase? Are you okay?" He looks nervous, fidgeting with the sleeves of his salmon sweater.

"Sorry, it's...I just don't think I should be around a ton of people while I'm explaining this," I sigh, leaning against the door as I face my friend. "You remember last night? When I went off on my own?"

"Uh, yeah? What about it?"

"Well, when I was on my own, I...heard something. This...weird, disembodied voice," I explain slowly. "I-It just came out of nowhere, almost as if it was...answering a question that I was asking in my own head."

"A voice?" Balloon repeats, tilting his head confusedly.

I nod. "I-It wasn't a voice I recognized either. It wasn't you, obviously, or Fan or Test Tube, or anyone I was familiar with, but...it knew my name, Balloon. And when—the moment I heard my name, I just felt all...ugh, I don't know how to describe it."