Shattered Appearances ✓

f o r t y - t h r e e: Apparently Thai Food Makes You Sleepy

The fluorescent lights shone brightly as I stepped inside. Small cubicles lined the room and the atmosphere felt murky as I approached my destination. Officer Cordero was eating Thai food when I approached his line of sight.

"Good morning Ms.Newman. Got any news for us today?"

"If I didn't, then why would I be here?" I said in an overly cheery voice before I sat down.

He didn't react to my tone of voice and instead just waited for me to hand over the papers to him. I was supposed to come here every week and give him progress reports. He read over the printed messages that were sent over text before finally responding.

"Do you have any idea over what he is referring to at the end of each conversation?"

"I have no idea. He's really into watching mystery and horror movies. He's probably trying to be like that on purpose."

He examined the papers for a few more minutes before finally setting them down. "Do you remember any of his favorite movies?"

Taken aback by surprise, I momentarily thought about the relevance this question has to anything. I thought back to any movies he might have enjoyed. Since I didn't like thinking about that moment in my life, everything was a blur, but I managed to recall one detail.

"Ryan was really into The Catcher. He told me he always used to watch it as a kid."

The Catcher was a 1968 mystery/thriller movie by Selene di Erba. It took place in the early fifties and was about a psychopathic man who was obsessed with a woman, Anna Clarke, and her boyfriend. Anna had no romantic feelings for the man and tried to get away from him on multiple occasions. The man, named Arthur, thought he could give the women a better life and kidnapped her. The boyfriend tried to find Anna over the years but had no luck. Towards the end of the movie, it is revealed that the women tried to escape but died as she fell through a window.

Officer Cordero wrote what I told him in a notepad and then nodded. "Based on what he's written then I could say that he will call in the next week or so. Maybe in the next few days."

Although this was good news for him, it was terrible for me. My facial expression instantly crumbled and I looked at the ground in fear that I would show something that I would regret.

"How do we know he is even going to call anyway? I don't want to waste my time."

"Mr.Thompson might like to play games but eventually he will get to business. One of these days, I can assume based on what I have gathered so far, that he will try to call you. If he doesn't, then we will have to come up with plan B."

Somehow that didn't make me feel better. Deciding that I didn't want to dwell on the matter further, I grabbed my bag, said my goodbyes and left. Feeling hungry, I gave Thomas a call, and he agreed to meet me at my place so we could order takeout.

That should get my mind off things. At least for a while.

*~*

"Have you ever done something that you've regretted before?" I looked at Thomas strangely as I slurped the remaining noodles of my Pad Thai. That was a random question to ask, especially if a couple of minutes ago we were talking about our annoying sisters.

"Have you met me? I do think that I regret every single day. I'm a walking mess. I don't dwell on it, though. If I do, then I'll never be able to move on from the past. Why?"

He continued to eat his food and I wondered if my answer was supposed to be the end of that conversation. I didn't want to press on further so I continued eating until he finally responded.

"I really wronged a friend. They don't know what I did yet, but once they find out, I'm afraid that they'll never want to speak to me again."

"It can't be that bad. If you really did something wrong, then you should apologize before they find out. That way, you'll be better able to repair your friendship. If you don't mind me asking, what did you do?"

I didn't really think about what he said. Everyone does something bad against someone at least once in their lives. What he done couldn't have been that bad if he was speaking to me about it.

"I betrayed their trust, and it really sucks because I like them a lot." He was being strangely vague about his answers but I couldn't blame him. Although what he did say reminded me a lot of the conversation Lucy and Bryson were having.

Bryson didn't trust Thomas.

Lucy did.

Did something happen between them?

As I tried to rack my tiny brain around the matter, I didn't notice Thomas looking at me with sad eyes before suddenly saying, "Forget about it, it's not important now. I'm going to get a glass of water. Do you want something to drink?"

I shook my head no and he went along into the kitchen. Even though I tried to ignore it, I knew that deep down, Thomas was talking about me.

After we finished everything, and all that was left are the styrofoam packages besides my bed, I flipped through a magazine, while Thomas took a nap on my bed. He claimed that the Thai food made him sleepy but I knew the real reason.

He really was a lazy ass after all.

Since he has a tendency of sleeping with his arms and legs stressed out everywhere, I was forced to sit on my bean bag chair. I didn't mind, though, I loved bean bags.

All of a sudden my phone began to ring and I quickly took it.

Unknown.

Panic surged through me as I thought about what to do. I couldn't do it now, I had company, and even if he was asleep, I might accidentally wake him up. Deciding that the best idea was to dismiss the call, I clicked mute and put it behind my chair.

Officer Cordero said a couple days at the very least. Not a couple of hours. I settled in relaxation for a moment before it began to ring again. I hit mute but this time Thomas stirred. By the third time, I decided to chuck my phone across the room. It wasn't of any use though since he was already awake.

"I'm going to kill the bitch who decided to wake me up from my nap."

He continued to rub his eyes as if he'd slept for eight hours and got up. Once he was relaxed again and wasn't going to kill a bitch, he asked, "Who was calling?"

I thought of a quick lie. Even though it wasn't my best, it would have to do.

"My Abuela. She wanted to congratulate me for graduating but didn't have the time to do it earlier. I would have responded but I didn't want to wake you up."

"Well look how that worked out."

Little did he know that I spoke to my Abuela in my entire life. My mother refused to speak to my grandmother when she disowned her for eloping with my father. Oh well, Thomas didn't know that.

He looked at his phone and saw the time. "You should talk to her. It's always good to maintain a relationship with long-distance family members. I should go now anyway. My mom is making dinner."

"We just ate an hour ago," I said flatly.

"So?" He responded in the same tone of voice.

I shook my head playfully before leading him out the door. "You're right. Food doesn't care. You should go before Paige eats all the leftovers."

He chuckled before he bid me goodbye and left. I sunk into the floor and went to pick up my phone. I should probably stop throwing it every time I hear of him.By the end of this, I won't have a phone to begin this.

I waited for a couple of minutes before it rang again with the same I.D. Taking a deep breath, I pressed accept.