Midnight Falls

10: Arianne

That man was funny. His London accent shone through, even when he wasn’t pushing it for me. I can’t help but wonder who he was visiting here. And do they know how funny and kind he is? After all, my only discomfort with any of the things he said, I don’t fully understand why I was upset myself.

I mean, ‘young lady’ and ‘lovely lady’ are both compliments, right? Well, technically the first one could be used to discipline, but he didn’t use it that way and that wasn’t my problem with it. I- I actually think it was the lady part that upset me. But why?

I push the thoughts away, instead going back to singing the song I was in the elevator. It’s a small and repeatable one from kindergarten, but it comforts me. Reminds me of a time when things weren’t so confusing and I was sure I was ok with being a girl.

“Sunshine and lollipops, this is my fun song, Sunshine and lollipops, this is my fun song, Sunshine and lollipops… ” a kid who lives on the same floor as me passes by, giving me a strange look, but I ignore it. Well, on the outside at least. I stop singing, but I try to make it seem like it was my choice. Inside, I’m still singing but it isn’t the same.

“Ari, is that you?” Carl calls from I think the bathroom. Either that or his bedroom. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” I called back. 

“How was your day?” I barely hear him over the running water, but at least I know he’s in the bathroom now.

“Good. Most people left me alone at lunch today. Oh, I met this really funny guy when I got off the elevator today.”

“Really? What was so funny about him?” He has a slightly distant sound to his voice, but I still tell him as I set my bag down and begin to see what chores are left to do.

“Well for starters, he had a really noticeable accent, like he was from London,” I say, checking the sink. Nothing in it. Great, because I hate dishes. Especially the ones Uncle leaves. Seriously, does he know how to dump and rinse? He gets on us about it, yet he can’t do it? “And I get the feeling that he made it, oh what’s the word?” I pick up the Fabuloso and see that it’s gone down a little. So no mopping, but I will have to re-sweep before Uncle gets home. “I guess he pushed it more. I don’t know.” I glance in the living room. Everything is neat and tidy, so I just need to make sure it stays that way. “Oh! He also had dark purple and he smelled like fresh baked cookies. I kinda liked that.”

“Uh, remind me again what your favorite smell is again,” Carl says carefully. I ponder the question, wondering why that of all the questions, until I remember something Uncle told us once. Vampires smell like what you love the most. 

“Damn it, he was a vamp?! I liked him.” My voice has a tiny whine to it and I do stomp my foot like a little kid, but I don’t care. It is just my luck that I meet someone nice and they’re a vamp.

“That jackass! I told him to not go near you!”

“You what?!” Immediately run to the bathroom, preparing to swing open the door. Then I stop, remembering exactly what is done in the bathroom. I sigh angrily. “Are you decent?” Carl hesitates and I glare at the door, willing him to open it for me so I don’t have to wait to ask him the questions flooding my mind. I don’t open it because I remember accidentally walking in on him using the bathroom when I was little and I never want to do that again. It was that day I found out that boys have different privates than girls; and why there was often a little bit of pee on the toilet seat in the morning.

“Can- can you wait a minute?” He asks. There’s some clattering sounds coming from inside, but I can’t do anything at the moment.

“Fine. Just hurry,” I demand, letting myself lean against the door. It takes about two minutes for the clattering to stop, replaced by tiny winces of pain. I thought about asking if he was ok, but I knew he would lie to me. A lot of the times he was hurting, either physically or mentally, he refused to tell me outright. It gets infuriating.