- Can you hear me, girl?! You are nothing!
Yasmina closed the bedroom door behind her. She sat there and pulled her knees to her chest. It wasn't too late, but the storm outside was darkening the sky. She didn't bother to turn on the light, so she sat in perfect darkness. The screaming continued outside her door, too loud not to hear, but she pretended not to hear it. The mother's behavior after drinking was expected, and her drinking episodes became more and more frequent
Something buzzed, startling her from her thoughts. Her phone. In the pocket of her sweatshirt, she realized after a moment. She took it out and looked at the notifications on the lock screen.
Darius 19:24: You still haven't told me which song I should listen to next.
She considered just ignoring him. She wouldn't be able to sustain a conversation right now even if she tried. She just didn't have the energy for it anymore. Her phone vibrated again.
Darius 19:25: "Nas NeDogonyat" was good.
Yas sent him links to a few more songs. It wasn't a conversation. It was terribly one-sided and she actually felt a little bad, but the fact that Darius liked the same music as her took her mind off everything for a moment.
Darius 19:58: is everything ok?
Yasmina 19:59: Everything's fine, I'm just tired
The storm was getting stronger outside. The wind tapped rhythmically on the window, loud enough that she thought it was getting inside. I sit there, eyes squeezed shut, listening.
A long time passed like this. The wind was getting worse. The tapping became more and more frantic until she realized it wasn't the wind. Confused, she stood up and grabbed a baseball bat from under the bed.
Then she went and opened the window, the snow was falling non-stop. She raised the stick above her head and was about to crack his skull...
- Do not hit me!
Stopping mid-swing, she stopped and looked down.
- Darius?
- Yes?
Yas blinked several times. Darius stood outside her window. Lightning flashed behind him and snapped her out of her thoughts.
- Did you come all the way here? During a snowstorm?
Darius shook his head and gestured to the right. There was a bicycle lying on the snow about five meters away from them. Yas couldn't decide whether it would be stupider to walk all the way or bike through the storm. Their houses were practically at opposite ends of the village.
- Can I come in?
Shocked by the whole situation, she forgot he was outside.
- Sure, sure, I'm sorry. Come in.
The snow had melted and was dripping from his jacket and staining the carpet. Yasmina held out her hand and he took off his jacket and handed it to her. She gave him her towel and then placed her jacket on the radiator.
When she turned around, Darius was looking at her sketchbook on the bed. She had previously worked on a painting inspired by his story about his dream.
- Looks good… I think. It's a bit dark in here.
- Oh yes. I forgot to turn on the lights.
She walked to the door, double-checking that she had locked it as she entered, and then turned on the light. Warm light illuminated her room, matching the dark wood furniture, pine-green quilt, album covers, and photographs.
Yas went and sat on the edge of her bed with her legs crossed, watching him as he looked at her half-finished painting like it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She hugged an orange pillow with fringes to her stomach.
It was strange how quickly Darius became another part of her life.
Darius walked over and sat down, taking off his gray backpack and placing it at the foot of the bed. They were slightly tilted towards each other so that they could still see each other.
- Why are you here?
- Can't I just come to you?
- You entered through the window, not to mention that the weather is creating a bit of Armageddon here. Should I pretend it's normal?
- Your mother doesn't like anyone, I had no other choice
It was no secret that Mom didn't like Darius. She never understood why she didn't like him. He's never done anything wrong.
The thought of her mother made her feel worse almost immediately. She lay on her back, staring at her sketches pinned to the wall.
- There are so many things I want to draw. How can I choose just one?
- Do it later.
- But then I'll forget.
- Write down your ideas and come back to them when you have time.
- This is a thought.
There was a loud knock on the door. Yasmina raised herself on her elbows and covered Darius's mouth with her hand, silently urging him not to resist. His wide eyes were full of confusion, but he quickly realized what was going on.
- Who are you talking to there?! Her mother shouted through the door
- With no one!
Yas waited to make sure her mother had gone downstairs.
- Why are you really here? She asked
- To see you.
Together they stared at the ceiling in silence. Yasmina listened to the wind outside and heard it finally calm down.
When she sat down again, it was ten in the morning. Her phone was almost dead. Her bedside table with her phone charger was on the side of the bed, closer to Darius. Yasmina turned around, wanting to ask him to pass it to her. The words died on her lips.
Darius was fast asleep.
He had the ability to fall asleep quickly all the time. At school, on the bus, while studying together, and sometimes even in public places such as parks, he was not afraid that someone would steal him.
Yasmina didn't struggle with her facial muscles this time. She slowly got out of bed and walked around him, pulling the covers over his shoulders. Then she plugged in the phone and went to the door.
Yasmina stayed there with her hand on the doorknob. On the other side she could hear her mother's heavy breathing. Yasmina was tired of pretending that nothing had happened.
Yasmina took a deep breath, turned off the light, and opened the door.
Darius woke up in a bed that wasn't his. He stood up, blinking furiously away the fog of sleep. This was Yasmina's room, but she was nowhere in sight. The morning sun streamed through the window, the curtains remained open from last night.
He threw off the blanket he didn't remember falling asleep under, reached for his backpack and pulled out his phone. He turned it off before leaving the house to save the little power he had. Somehow he always forgot to charge his phone.
He didn't wake up to a spam of worried messages. His father and no one ever tried to contact him. All he received from his family was a single text message from his brother.
1:52: If you don't reply by 12, we're calling the police.
Darius 10:15: I'm fine. I waited out the storm at Yasmina's.
Darius threw his backpack over his sleep-wrinkled T-shirt and moved towards the window.
The door behind him opened. Fearing Yas' mother, he was about to run away like crazy, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard
- Are you leaving so soon?
The sudden halt in his momentum caused him to stumble backwards. Darius landed flat on his backpack. Yasmina walked over, revealing her black hoodie first before leaning down a little and hovering over him.
Despite her small smile, she looked tired, the kind of deep exhaustion he had seen in his father's eyes after work, and it should be mentioned that he worked in construction. Darius believed it was something only adults could experience. He got scared when he saw it on her.
- Are you OK?
Darius forgot to answer for a moment. He blinked stupidly at her.
- Yes everything is alright. he said, sitting down.
The fall was short and his backpack saved him from the worst. He hoped nothing was broken there. Standing up, he turned around and showed her the message he had received. Fortunately, his phone was not damaged.
- Then you should go, right?
Darius looked out the window, the sky was clear, the snow reflected the sun, the road through a small forest with trees on the sides looked magical.
- Actually... He started... I was thinking about taking a walk. You want to go?
To tell the truth, she just wanted to leave the house, for the first time in her life she shouted at her mother, saying everything that was on her mind, what she thought about her drinking. Her mother just looked at her blankly and went to the kitchen to get some water, trying to kill her hangover.
Darius climbed out the window, pulled his bike out of the snow, making a mental note to see if anything was rusty from being in the snow all night, and chained it to the fence.
Yasmina left the house and joined him, they set off along the rope of trees, down to the on the left side they had a dry reservoir, apparently clay was extracted from here for a nearby brickyard which now stands abandoned, between the trees it gave them a view of the other end of the crater, with all the snow and sun it was a majestic view.
Suddenly a familiar mongrel with unsymmetrical ears ran up to them.
- Bumpy... Darius bent down and pet the dog... since you're here, Ben isn't far away.
They went further, Darius was two steps ahead of Yasmina, suddenly he stretched out his hand and stopped her, Yas looked at him confused, he pointed to the trees, she looked there and smiled
Ben and Sammy were there, locked in a kiss, it looked quite funny considering Ben was skinny and wiry and Sammy's biceps were bigger than his waist.
Darius deliberately stepped on a dry twig to make a noise, the lovebirds jumped at the sound and turned around when they noticed Yas and Darius, they blushed.
- THIS IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE! they shouted at the same time so loudly that the two of them winced.
Darius, casually passed them, saying that they wouldn't tell anyone, they walked for a while before Yasmina announced that she had to go back
- You should take your mother to therapy. Darius said, Yasmina sighs heavily
- I know.
In the evening, Darius was going to the store, when he came back with an orangeade in one hand and a pack of pepper-flavored chips in the other, he noticed that someone was sitting on a bus stop bench. Who the hell is sitting outside at -20 degrees? Even the bums hid.
He stepped closer and when the figure raised his head, Darius almost dropped the things he was holding onto the ground
- Yasmina?
Yasmina was sitting there, huddled in the cold, next to her was a backpack and on the other side was a bag, he could see clothes through the half-closed zipper.
- She kicked me out... Yasmina began, in a voice indicating that she had been sobbing for a long time, her eyes were also bloodshot from crying... when I mentioned therapy for alcoholics.
Darius, probably for the first time in his life, felt like knocking out someone's teeth, or more precisely, Yasmine's mother.
- Come... he said, walking up to her and throwing her bag over his shoulder... you and me coming my home.
Yasmina got up and followed him
