I See The Stars//A SHORT STORY

2/4

Water hit the bathroom tiles and ran down the glass door of the shower.

Rain, hit the roof in a sweet lull and ran down the glass widow.

Yoongi stared at his smoked reflection through the mirror; eyes still dark and hollow, skin a soft milk, small lips tinted pink, cheeks red and dark hair sticking to his forehead. He laid both his hands on the sink to lean deeper into his own reflection, to try and see himself because somehow the distance now wasn't enough. And it wasn't the steam of the mirror that abstracted this, he could see someone, he just didn't know who it was.

The man quickly retracted his hands when he felt something under his palms. Raising his arms, strands of hair hung from his hands, sticking there because of the moisture. He looked down to see that there was more laid out on the sink.

He walked away towards the toilet where he rolled out tissue paper to remove the hair on his hands and on the sink. He picked the strands up with the tissue and rolled it all together. He bent down and opened the dustbin there. Large balls of dark strands hid inside.

Yoongi threw in the tissue and shut the lid.

•. •. •.

Yoongi walked out the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar for the steam inside to escape. The room was dark and grey, like the sky outside. It had confused the man when he woke up because he'd thought he'd slept the whole entire day and it had been already night but he was relieved when he'd seen the digital clock beside him which showed that it was indeed only 1:26p.m.

After last nights dinner, him and Yeul had crashed and blacked out on the bed without even realizing it.

He turned his head to glance at Yeul, the faint grey light from the window showed half of her pale face, bones beginning to slight stick out her skin as she slept peacefully.

He walked out the room with the intention to make a meal for both himself and the girl. She hadn't been feeding herself well and Yoongi could see that she was losing weight rapidly.

Yoongi walked into the living room where Canopée sat staring blankly at the television screen as his wife spat out words that Yoongi didn't understand.
The woman said a few words in a harsh but lowered tone to her husband who paid her no aid but continued to look onwards to the television.

She clicked her tongue, giving Yoongi a nasty glare before walking out. The young man flinched back in shock as he watched the woman's back disappear into the kitchen.

"Mon ami!"

Yoongi turned his head to the man and he waved his hand, optioning for the boy to come towards him.

"Come." He demanded and Yoongi hesitated as slowly approached Canopée.

"Uh I actually wanna go make something to eat-"

"No worries. Monique, she make lunch."

Yoongi paused in his steps, his mind going blank for a moment and a soft 'oh' escaping his lips.

"I should probably go help her." Yoongi said about to turn around. He stopped when the man sitting threw his head back in laughter. Canopée dug his pockets and took out a box of cigarettes and his lighter, throwing the former item on the table, searching for the latter.

"No,no,no. She not in good mood. You go help her now, she might bite you. I go help her when she is happier." The man said, a cigarette stick upon his lips. He lit the end up as Yoongi took a seat adjacent him.

There was a brief silence as Canopée pulled from his cigarette, eyes staring at the screen while Yoongi was in deep thought.

"I think Yeul, your cousin. I think she's anorexic..." Yoongi finally spoke his thoughts out into the open. Canopée turned his face to stare at him, flicking the ashes into their rightful tray.

"..or bulimic? I don't know the right phrase for it so..."

Canopée raised a brow in confusion and Yoongi knew he had to go into deeper terms for the man to understand where his concern was stemming from. He explained that the previous night, at dinner, Yeul had stormed of to the bathroom and that she had returned with her breath smelling of bulb. He furthermore explained about the time they had been flying to Paris that she had puked on the plane but implied she had motion sickness and that she had been looking skinnier than the day he met her.

Canopée shook his head disruptively, shaking his hand in front of Yoongi and the boy stopped talking.

"No,no,no. Yeul, she's not this anerocksick eh what you call-it's because of her sickness."

Yoongi's eyebrows shot up, along with his heart.

"Sickness?"

Canopée took one last pull from his cigarette, crushing it against the ashtray base to kill it's spark.

"Oh no. She not tell you?"

-

Authors Note

Stan Pomme