Nothing At All

6.2

"Don't go anywhere," I yelped, jumping to my feet. I ran down the stairs, not stopping to catch my breath at the bottom, and sprinted at light speed to my room. My backpack sat, undisturbed, by the foot of the bed. Snatching it up, I raced back to the study room.

"What is wrong with you?" Mircalla asked as I panted furiously.

I threw myself back into my chair. My heart skipped a beat when the already broken leg fell off and the chair collapsed like a house of cards in the wind. I squeaked and dropped my backpack as my legs flew up in the air and my ass hit the ground.

Mircalla started to get up, but I held up a hand and scrambled to my feet. "Stay!" I propped the cursed chair back where it was and wedged the leg in between a stack of books and the wall. I sat back down and started digging through the back.

"I am worried," Mircalla said, "that you are going insane."

I ignored her and kept digging. I hadn't open this since the night of the wreck. Everything was exactly like I left it; food wrappers, books, and brochures were all crumbled together underneath my giant sweater. The object of my desire was at the very bottom.

"Found it!" I pulled out the acrylic nail set and proudly held them out.

Mircalla leaned forward and inspected the cheap plastic. She glanced up at me, confused. "What are these?"

"They're fake nails. Give me your hand." As she took off her gloves, I pried open the packaging. The neon pink coffin nails spilled onto my lap. An aching pain in my heart started up as I thought of Alex.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked, hesitantly scooting over and extending her left hand.

I grabbed her hand and was immediately taken aback by the temperature. I was holding a handful of ice. Maybe it was the fact that normal people are warm, but something about her just felt dead. It was unnerving, but I was too focused on my idea to worry about it for long.

There was no longer any nail on her nailbed. It had all been worn away, and in its place was just a bloody and scuffed strip of skin. This presented a few problems, mainly how I was going to get the nail even, but it wasn't much different than doing it for Alex. The glue went on the first finger without any issue.

"My sister was a burn victim, so her fingernails were kind of messed up. She adored all kind of fake nails and always had them on. She got these in the mail the day we left for the trip and wanted to bring them along. Since she's a fucking idiot, she didn't have anymore room in her backpack and had me carry them. I think she'll understand if I let you use them."

The acrylic nail pressed into her skin, the pink standing out against the white. I carefully made sure it was in the proper position.

As soon as it was on, she pulled her hand out of my grip and held it up in front of her. Her mouth dropped open in awe as she moved her finger. Her eyes were locked on the inch-long acrylics.

I stared at her, eagerly anticipating a reaction. The longer she remained silent, the more worried I got. Just as I was about to ask if she wanted me to remove it, her lips began quivering and she scrunched up her face. Dammit, this was supposed to cheer her up, not make her more sad.

She looked at me as she wiped the tears away with her sleeve. "These are more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. If this is the future, then I do not mind living to see it."

"I'm glad you like them," I said nonchalantly. I breathed an internal sigh of relief. "Give me your hand and I'll finish up."

She did so happily. "Do you have anything else in that bag of yours?"