Chapter 3

…

It was around midnight. A peaceful quiet time when even the night creatures seemed to be asleep. Either that, or their voices and songs were muffled, stopped by the four wooden walls. Her room. This box-shaped space, which they occupied to motionlessly bide their time doing nothing. Or at least on the outside it seemed so, but within there was a chaos. A stark contrast to the peaceful, tranquil night. A highway of thoughts racing and crashing. Burned memories and memories, which they wished could be burned.

She blinked, sighed and felt herself becoming tired. I won't sleep though. She thought to herself, and was determined to keep her eyes open. Blinking again, she gave him a look.

Almost eerily so, he remained where he was. On a chair close to her bed with most of his weight held on his elbows. He's tired as well. She could see from the bags under his eyes, or just the way he blinked. Slowly, and involving some conscious effort. Despite that however, he too was determined to remain awake. She knew he was.

Nightmares.

They both thought and their eyes met for a moment.

"…"

They looked away from each other and yawned. Continued to do nothing while the inner chaos persisted.

She yawned again, and with irritation realized she'd have to do something about this. She wouldn't be able to keep herself up if nothing was done. Giving him a look, she noticed he yawned one, two times in a row and that was her cue for an action.

She picked herself up and set her feet down on the floor. The surface was slightly cold but she liked that. She enjoyed it for a moment longer, and then slid her feet into the slippers and rose in full length.

He fixed his eyes on her. She didn't pay attention to that and exited the room.

He waited.

Minutes, but how many he wasn't sure, and before he would consult his scroll on the matter, she was back.

"Take one," She said as two steaming mugs were hooked in her fingers.

"Thanks," He said as he took one of the mugs to himself.

She nodded, and moved herself back to her bed. Instead of laying down on it though, she simply sat on the edge. Took a careful, slurping first sip of her coffee, and then set it down beside her.

He blew air on his coffee for a few moments, and then he too, had a taste of his drink. His face souring as he did.

"What the hell, it tastes so bitter." He remarked. Even sticking his tongue out just briefly.

She exhaled through her nostrils, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"I like it that way."

"Well…I don't. I like it sweet."

She shrugged her shoulders and took another sip.

He tried his again too, but the result was the same. Perhaps even worse as he burned his tongue as well. Sighing, he placed his mug down and was sure he wouldn't give it another try.

She rose to her feet, got hold of his mug, disappeared from the room for a minute or more, and then was back. Wordlessly, she gave him the mug and sat back on her bed.

He could see she added milk this time, and giving his coffee a try, so did she sugar. Perhaps even too much, but he wouldn't complain.

"Now this is much better," He said, the tone of his voice flat and indifferent. That spark of emotion he had when expressing how terrible her coffee was, was now gone. He was back to being a blank page. A blank page with aplenty of words written with invisible ink.

Observing him just a bit a longer, she noted that she wanted to see an ink with some actual color.

"When I was little, I actually used to make my coffee as bitter as possible. I would take the biggest mug we had in the house, fill it half with just coffee beans, the rest with hot water, mix it, and try to chug the damn thing. Sometimes, it wasn't so easy," She said, the silly memory expanding more vividly into her mind. Before she blinked, and was back to her room.

She noticed his face didn't change much. However, just slightly it did as something brighter than misery was reflected briefly into his blue.

"And just in case you're wondering, yes, I did it to test my courage and will," She said, and for a moment, he smiled. Whenever it was real or not, neither he or she could tell, but the glimmer of light in his blue most certainly seemed to be.

"So even as a child you were daring and willful," He said, and noticed her eyes glazing over. Being lost in a thought for a moment.

"I was," She said, and took a sip of her coffee.

He did too, and noticed her lilac was saddened. Or was it obese disappointment? Resentment? Or maybe even all three at once. Whatever it was though, it made him part his lips and say, "I just remembered something. When I was little, my ma used to scold me for adding too much sugar to my drinks. I even added some to soft drinks and juices. On one occasion however, I added too much and got really sick. I had the absolutely worst stomach ache possible, and, well, my digesting system was very, very upset. So upset, it didn't shy away at all to voice how upset it was with me."

"Did you shit yourself? Diarrhea, I mean."

"No, but I wouldn't care even if I did."

"…"

A pause. A moment of utter silence which should have been awkward, yet instead was just dead.

"Pf." She pushed air though pursed lips, a sound similar to a chuckle. "Adding extra sugar to soft drinks and juices is just really weird and stupid, you know that?"

"I didn't, but after I spent two literal hours in the bathroom pretending to be a live fountain, gushing from up and down and even middle as I cried my eyes out, thinking that this is the way I die, well, I came out a better, wiser person," He said, and her following chuckle was barely that, but it was genuine. Honest enough for him to muster a half decent smile. After it faded, they returned to drinking their coffee' and indulging themselves into thoughts.

Drowning themselves into thoughts.