Chapter 11
Rie wakes
up the next morning with absolutly no memory of Seth's last words
before she fell asleep last night. She throws her blankets back at
the sound of her alarm, absolutly awake because she went to bed so
early. For a few moments she keep laying there, staring at the
ceiling, enjoying the temperature in the room. A fresh smell creeps
into her nose. It's gonna be a great and sunny day today.
Too
bad she isn't an outside-person. She rolls around on her bed to
face Seth, but Seth isn't in the room. She checks the other side,
but he is nowhere to be seen. Wondering if she imagined him coming
back last night, she pulls her pj's out over her head, sitting
chestnaked on her bed. She stares down, feeling so weird. It has been
a long time she has been able to do that. Since Seth was around she
always had to watch she was fully dressed and not walking around in
her underwear.
And now she is sitting here, like she used to do
more often. People can't look in her room from out the streets, so
she isn't making a big deal out of it. Walking to her closet on her
easiest, she pulls open the drawers to get clothes.
Then a loud
and shiny ,Gooooooodmmmooo…." sounds unfinished through the
room.
Rie turns around. Seth is hanging through the window
halfways, staring at Rie with large eyes. Then he thumbles over and
falls on the floor with a loud thunk.
Screaming on the top of her
lungs, Rie covers herself up with a tshirt she pulled out of the
closet, hurrying to Seth to knock him over the head with her fullest
power. ,Get out! Get out! You stupid perverted asshole! How you dare
to dash into the room when I'm not wearing anything! Creep!"
Seth tries to dodge her, but he is really bad at it. That or Rie
is just a good aimer.
Finally he manages to crawl up and get out
of Rie's reaching area. ,Hey! I didn't know!" he cries out.
,How could I know you would be naked! You usually dress in the
bathroom!"
Raining her fists down on him once again, she clings
the tshirt close to her body. ,You can't just enter a room! You
can't! Learn some rules, pervert!"
,Stop the hitting! Stop!
It's hurts!" Seth tries to stay out of reach, backing towards the
bed, preparing to crawl under it. But Rie is very angry. ,First you
wake me up in the middle of the night. At least I think you did. Then
you dissapear in the morning! And then you see me naked! You –
stupid – perverted – pingpongball!"
With her last hit and
her anger, she loses her balance and bumps into Seth. They both crash
down on the bed, making the bed shriek loudly. The bottom of the bed
shivers from the big crash and then it falls out. Rie and Seth both
fall along with it, Rie's legs clinging on the side of the bed,
which hurts her really bed. Seth's legs just fall right through it.
,Ouch… ouch…" Rie squeeks, rubbing her head. ,Stupid bed…
I told mom ages ago this one wouldn't last much longer. The bottom
is too fragile."
The is laying on top of Seth, who is eyeing her
quietly, his cheeks colored bright red. His nervous eyes are flashing
down her chest continuesly.
Rie cracks her knuckles. ,You better
not look down there anymore, buddy."
,I can't help it."
Squeeks Seth. ,You're naked! You practically ask for it to be
looked at!"
Snapping her fingers around her chin with the speed
of light, she forces Seth to look up. Her eyes are flaming. ,Let me
tell you something you better not forget, Seth! No matter how I look,
buttnaked or dressed to up my chin, nothing, absolutly NOTHING, gives
you the right to look at any privet parts of my body. Did I make
myself clear?"
,Ehm…" Trying to talk with Rie's fingers
pressed in his skin, he looks at her with very nervous and upset
eyes. ,I… I will twy… sowwy…"
,Now close your eyes so I
can put my clothes on." Rie commands, not letting his chin go.
Seth does as he is told and closes his eyes.
And while Rie is
getting up and pulling on her clothes, Seth remains on the same
place, his eyes closed tightly. ,Rie?" He asks.
,What?"
,Ehm…
If I would… would be something… like your boyfriend. Ehm, then…
uh… then I could look at you naked, right?"
Rie freezes in
her movements. ,Boyfriend?"
,Yeah, something like that."
Seth mumbles, his whole face shining in a bright red color.
Rie
turns around to look at him. He is sitting there, his eyes shut
tight, wriggling his fingers. His blond hair is hanging almost in
front of his eyes. He says it never grows bigger, while the rest of
his body does. And the clothes her wears are the right size too. It's
weird. It's unexplainable.
,In your dreams, Seth." Rie
mumbles, stepping in her shoes. ,Like that will happen."
She
walks to the door, ready to go upstairs.
,Rie? Can I open my
eyes yet? …Rie?" Seth asks, but Rie doesn't hear him, since she
already left the room.
If he were
her boyfriend? What gave him that idea? What a stupid thing to think
of! He is invisible! How could she fall for him! That's ridiculous!
He doesn't even have a real identity! He only knows his first name
and he guesses his age! For crying out loud, why did he ask her that?
Why did he?
She eyes him from her chair in the classroom, he is
sitting on the floor next to the teacher's desk, staring back at
her. And he is mumbling softly. Rie can't hear him, since the class
is too noisy. Rie breathes in and out, ticking with her pen on her
book.
Being lonely must really inflict your well being. Never
having somebody to love you back, because nobody notices you. Then
one person does notice him and he wants to check out the options. But
he is crazy! She can't love him!
Staring down on her paper she
realizes she hasn't wrote down anything yet.
Why is she so bad
on schoolwork lately? It's so hard to concentrate properly. Angerly
she shakes her head and bows over her desk. Her hair is swooping over
her paper.
Solve some mathproblems, that's not hard!
Her
eyes fly over the page These are easy. She lifts up her hand to
write.
But no ink passes onto the paper. The pen is hanging in
the air, hold by her fingers.
Nothing comes out, absolutly
nothing.
Why did Seth ask her that stupid question? She closes
her eyes in frustration.
,Hey, you know what I found out?"
Seth calls out to her. ,Marten is going to ask you out to the
schoolparty this weekend."
What! She stares at Seth in shock.
,How… how do you know?" she whispers, so noone will hear.
,I
heard him talking to himself." Seth mumbles in a voice like he
doesn't care at all. But his eyes swoop swiftly in Rie's
direction, like he waits for her response.
Rie holds the pen
tight in her hand. He wants to ask her?
What has gotten into
these people? Why is she so interesting lately? She just wants to be
left alone! Why aren't things like they used to be! She doesn't
like changes at all!
,What!" Seth interpretates her silence in
his own way. ,You mean you are going?"
He has jumped up and is
now standing in front ofher desk. His blue eyes are staring at her in
asthonisment.
Rie stares up at him and chews on her lip. No
matter what's all going wrong, it can't get worse then Seth. She
narrows her eyes.
,Maybe I will." She hisses. ,Nothing you
can do about it, your invisible."
Turning her eyes to her book
to ignore Seth, she can hear him breathe in deeply in and out. His
feet move over the floor and she can hear his restless moves. And
then without expecting it, he suddenly backs away and dissapears
through the wall.
Ow, let him be, she thinks, shaking her head.
The mathproblem lay unsolved in front of her.
Seth was
right, when Rie walks out of the school to go home, Marten appears
from behind a tree and approaches her. ,Rie! I want to ask you
something!"
Rie stops in her tracks and looks up at him,
waiting.
Uncomfortably Marten puts his hand on the back of his
head and eyes the sky. ,Well, I was wondering…if… if it would be
okay if I would take you… to the schoolparty this weekend.?"
His
eyes finally meet hers, make her feel really uncomfortable.
,Ehm…
okay." She chokes. ,But only under one condition."
His
eyebrows frown in suprisement. ,And that is?"
,I don't trust
you at all, so you better not have anything up your sleeve! I have
read that book Carry and I am not intending to end up like her! So if
you try anything at all, I will launch my foot so hard up your best
buddy over that, you won't be able to spread your genes anymore!
Got it!"
The look on her face is exactly the same as she gives
her little brother: extremely violent.
To her surprise his face
cracks up in a smile. ,You can't kill people with your eyes like
Carry did. But, hey, don't worry. I won't do anything to you,
okay!"
Judging him, Rie stares at him for a while.
,Pick
me up at 8."
,Party starts at 9."
,Sheesh, 9 then!" And
she turns around and walks away.
It's like there is a whirlpool
inside her stomach, not only causing her feel weird, but also make
her loose the controle over her legs. Why is she feeling so hyped up
about this?
She feels so different. In some way she feels like she
let herself down. It's nothing like her to accept somebody's
offer like that, it's not like her to make human contact at all.
But deep inside, very deep, she did it to hurt Seth.
And
Seth is obviously hurt, though he shows it on his own way: by not
showing up.
He hasn't been around her all day since she told
him off at Maths.
Rie quietly moves through the house, passing
every room but not going inside. But Seth is really nowhere. Then she
heads towards the kitchen and starts to prepare dinner, though it's
not her day to take care of that.
Absentmindly she washes the
beans and removes the jackets from the patatoes. Where could Seth be?
Is he hanging around outside? All alone?
Is he really so upset
about her going to the schoolparty with Marten? Why would he be so
upset? Like he ever could go to the schoolparty with her! He is only
real to her. To everybody else he is just air! She can't show up
with just air!
Yeah, another voice in her head whispers, but
normally you wouldn't even show up at a schoolparty.
''Ouch!"
Blood is dripping in the sink, her knife drops on the floor.
Cursing, she puts her finger in her mouth and pulls a cabin open
to look for the first aid kid. Right on that moment her father walks
inside and when he notices her, he quickly helps her. He pushes her
down on a chair and takes care of her cut finger.
,Honey, how
did you manage to cut yourself? You never cut yourself before! Not
even as a kid, when you were making your first sidedishes!"
She
sends her father a growl and inspects her finger, now nicely wrapped
with a bandage.
,I kinda got invited for the
schoolparty."
,Schoolparty?" Her father repeats, staring at
his daughter. ,By who?"
Rie stands up to pick up the knife she
dropped and she ansers his question, trying to sound as cooly as she
can,,Mr. Popularity."
,Mr…who?"
,Marten."
,Marten!"
Rie
washes the knife and nods. ,Yeah, Marten. And I told him I would go.
So I am going."
,Yeah, but… what about Seth?" Her father
asks, putting away the first aid kid. ,I figure he isn't too happy
about it, is he?"
,Can you smell his temper or something?"
Rie snatches. ,Yeah, he doesn't like it! I did it on purpose,
okay? I only said yes, cuz Seth is being an pain in the ass!"
,Why is he?"
,I don't know! He is!" Her cheeks go red.
She won't tell him what happened this morning. That's too
emberassing. ,He thinks that with me his world expands a whole big
deal, but that's not true. He still is invisible!"
She listens
to her own words echoeing in the kitchen.
Judging to his soft
sighs and rocking his shoulders, her father is thinking. Rie
patiently waits for his words to come.
,Seth is a human. I am
convinced of that." He finally says. ,And he has feelings and
emotions just like you and me. Yes he is invisble, and yes he can't
do everything we can do. But that doesn't mean you can hurt him,
Rie."
Surprised her father is not agreeing on her, she turns her
head to him to hear him out.
,Seth's only communicationsource
is you, ofcourse he does get attached to you, Rie. You have to
understand he might get possesive over you, because he is afraid that
only source of communication will leave him."
,So, he's
selfish." Rie says. Why is it so hard to be positive?
,In some
way, yes. But can you blame him?" He asks.
Turning back on the
cooking, Rie thinks.
Can she blame him?
The truth is, she
can't handle being liked or being special to somebody like that.
It makes her feel like she is losing controle over her body. She
doesn't want to loose controle.
But she can't blame Seth, not
totally.
