Since He Left ✓

02: Mental Disasters

"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?" - Albert Einstein

Listen to Morning by Marc E. Bassy. 

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I had jogged all the way up sixty-seven floors and stood in front of the suite room. Realizing how dumb I was, I greedily searched my pockets, I had forgotten to take the room card to unlock the door. The massive doors were too thick to knock, so I whacked my palms on the doors several times.

"Hey, hey! I'm coming, I'm going to report for bad service!" it was Joseph shouting with a hoarse throat. He opened the door and exhaled when he saw it was me.

"Isla? What the heck are you doing this early? Outside the suite?" he emphasized on the outside, and he let me in. "I wanted some Skittles and when I came up again I realized I had forgotten the card," I smiled shyly up at him, he looked at me with the strangest expression. Like I was telling him Aliens had just invaded. Joseph was tall and not exactly chubby, he was rather thin. At that moment he was wearing his black swimming shorts and red blouse. Nick's chestnut brown hair color matched his father's, just not as ruffled hair as him.

"Well, okay... Uhh, we'll be having breakfast in like half an hour. So go dress nicely, it's a fancy restaurant." He looked at me and then turned to go back to his room. I guess my red flannel shirt, black pants, and boots weren't exactly fancy. I walked quietly back to my room, across the sitting area, and closed the door to change. I opened the sky-blue hand luggage and picked out a white dress that came down to my knees. I matched the dress with some soft-yellow beads to compliment my blue eyes, people always tended to comment on my eyes. I brushed my dull blonde hair, which came down to my shoulders, and decided to curl a few strands since I still had time to spare. I hoped it wasn't too much for a simple breakfast, but Joseph said it was a fancy restaurant.

"Sweetie, that's a pretty dress," Maman said. Everybody had woken up and nobody seemed to blame me for the door incident. I guess I didn't knock as loud as I had thought, lucky me.

"Thank you, Maman. You look nice too," I looked at mom, who had dressed in a long black maxi dress, and silver jewelry to match. Her hair was shorter and brown too, unlike mine. I had received most of the genes from my father, not from Maman. In French, "Maman" meant mother. That's what I was raised to call her, sometimes I called her mother or mom, but Maman sounded more familiar to me. I guess Nick used to call his mother that too before she passed away. I doubted it wasn't a soft spot for him, I could see that. Everyone had a chapter they didn't read out aloud, even I did.

Nick had dressed up in a gray shirt, brown pants, and black shoes. I could definitely tell he had gel on, too. Joseph was in a white shirt, black pants, and brown shoes, quite similar to Nick's clothing. Mom was currently helping Joseph with his cuff, we were all gathered in the sitting area. I turned off the huge flatscreen and opened the door.

"I'm hungry. Let's eat," I held the door open with one arm, the other gesturing for them to pass out through the door.

Nick chuckled when he walked by me, "don't forget the card," he said, and gestured to his pocket. I blushed and mimicked his words, guess they all had heard me after all.

We took the elevator down to the lobby and asked where 'Myra's Eye' was. That was the name of the restaurant, it was located further down in the hotel. The blurry glass doors opened, to reveal an area of quality. Tables were set in a spiral structure, where the buffet laid; seafood, Chinese cuisine, sushi, fast food, desserts, and fruits. Whatever you wanted was right in front of you. It didn't look like breakfast, but it certainly seemed delicious. People swarmed the big space, and we were directed to a table at the back. Maman sat next to me, Nick in front of me, and Joseph diagonally across from me. People were dressed more than nicely, and I who had thought my dress was too much. A nineteen-sixties vibe vibrated off people, most women reminded me of Bond girls; Tight red dresses, hair looked like it was done by professionals, silver, and gold jewelry, and etiquette practiced to the maximum. I felt like it was a scene from an old classic movie, it was strange. A short man with the red uniform and a mustache came up to our table and handed us the menus. Such a massive buffet and a menu? The thick book was set in front of me, I began to feel nauseated. My hands came up to my head and I winced, not this again...