Ruby Red Marionette

thirtytwo | serpent

Batul went home and brought us a blow-up mattress after we watched the video for the fifteenth time.

We put it on the floor in the bedroom, which was cold, scary and dark during the night. The rest of them went home, still scared out of their mind. When we kept watching the video, there wasn't much conversation. Each of us just kept saying 'play it again', and then when that was over, we said our goodbyes. Nothing special. We all wanted to say so much but didn't know how to translate it into words.

When she got the sheets, Batul also brought me NyQuil (she warned that I use it sparingly and recommended that I try meditation instead). It helped me to get about five hours of sleep, surprisingly. It was eleven in the morning by the time I woke up on the right side of the mattress. Just as I opened my eyes, I saw Isaiah standing by the window holding the only thing that the robbers left-a Rubik's cube.

"We have to find him." He said. His face looked brighter, more healthy than it did last night. Last night, I saw him in a place that I would rather not remember. From his reaction to walking into an empty condo, to watching the video, he had gone through enough. But this morning, he looked better. Not necessarily happy, but better.

I didn't respond to him, only let out a tired, groggy moan. I couldn't quite move yet.

"I went over to the police department today to report the robbery. I told one of the officers that I'd like to report a robbery, and he told me to sit on the bench and wait for someone to assist me. They were really busy, and I overheard a lot of talking. I found out that-Geneva, are you listening?"

I groaned again. There was something in NyQuil that, while helping you to get some sleep, made you feel like you were dead when you finally woke up.

"I'm not going to tell you the news until you're up." He began to play with the Rubik's cube. "Why are you still asleep, anyway? I left to go to the precinct about two hours ago. You woke up when I was getting dressed."

"I thought you were still in bed." I said.

"When I got up, you probably took your arm from around me and wrapped it around the end of that mattress. I can see how you'd mistake a blow-up mattress for me." He chuckled.

"Speaking of that, I wonder how Yvette would feel to know that we slept in the same bed last night," I said, sitting up to remove my bra.

Isaiah sighed. "Speaking of that, we never really got to talk about that whole situation."

I shrugged and tossed the bra to the side. "We didn't."

He twisted the Rubik's cube again, and I could tell that this time he actually wasn't making an effort to solve it. He was passing time to figure out how to start. "I mean...how did that make you feel? Catching us like that, I mean? Were you weirded out?"

I thought about seeing them kiss last night. It felt like weeks ago. "No. Not really. I wasn't weirded out in a jealous, sad, seeing-your-crush-kiss-another-girl kind of way. I was weirded out in a more seeing-your-mom-kiss-her-boyfriend kind of way, you know?"

Isaiah laughed. "I don't know. Not really. But, then again, I guess I can understand. Seeing you kissing some guy would weird me out too, but I'm not sure if it would be in the same way."

I looked up at him then. "In what way would it weird you out?"

"I don't know," He said. "But listen, I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything in advance. I didn't really expect it to happen like that."

"Apology accepted."

I didn't ask anything further, but I still wanted to know how Isaiah would feel seeing me with someone else. During the night, with us on that twin-sized mattress fighting for space and eventually wrapping our arms around each other for warmth, I couldn't help but think about Simon. This was always where the twelve-year-old Geneva thought she'd be with him. But now that he wasn't the one whose shoulder I could lay my head on and whose legs could keep mine warm while I slept, I knew that he had never been the one. And if he wasn't, I didn't know who was.