The Henhouse

June 7th, 2019 - 9:38 AM

"You look like Death himself, you know."

"Rough night."

Justin took another sip of watery coffee as Ella stared on. He shifted on the couch uncomfortably.

"I have... sleeping problems," he explained.

"Insomniac?"

Clasping the hot mug in both hands to warm them, Justin shrugged. For once, he saw no reason to lie.

"Not diagnosed, but...."

"I see."

Ella shifted from an Upward-Facing Dog to Downward-Facing Dog, arching her back elegantly and stretching out her fingertips wide to grasp at her yellow foam mat. Justin only knew those poses because Ella had spent the last hour relentlessly trying to interest him in yoga... to no avail.

He felt tingly and weird sitting with Ella, now – and not in the cute way. More like he was... unworthy. He'd felt the same two hours prior, standing in front of Casper's door, preparing some kind of apology for last night. Eventually he settled on trying again later; Casper was probably still asleep, anyway.

Then he'd felt it again at 8:30, when Ivy and Peter came out for breakfast. Peter had starting waking up earlier than on his first few days in the House; no doubt staying up with Ivy had thrown his Circadian rhythm for a loop. She'd cooked Peter scambled eggs as her eyes flicked nervously between him, the pan, and Justin and Ella, who were already talking by the lounge. When Ella gracefully lifted a leg and assumed a pose she called the Standing Split, head by her right knee and facing the faux fireplace, Justin shot Ivy a look appealing for her trust.

Peter met it with a stony gaze, and Justin's eyes darted away. Ivy and Peter left the kitchen soon after, side-by-side.

Now Justin watched Ella finish what she was calling her Cool-Down phase. She lay down, belly up on her mat with her eyes closed, and at first Justin thought she was going to fall asleep. Then he noticed her left hand tense up into a fist.

"We contract then relax each muscle of the body, one by one," she explained, her voice serene. "First, the left hand...."

The muscles of her left hand visibly unclenched, tendons retreating under skin. He watched as she repeated the process for her right hand, right and left forearm, right and left upper arm, right and left shoulder. Under a coat of sweat, just beneath the surface, he could see her muscles flexing and unflexing, and he started to imagine the blood running through her veins, the million other things that must be happening inside her at that moment, processes he could never see or understand, and he wondered, then, what he could possibly know about anyone....

He felt dizzy all of a sudden.

"I think this coffee is weak, or something."

"Headache?" she asked. "You know, a few poses could help... lower your blood pressure, get better sleep-"

He chuckled. "No thanks, Ella." As much as he liked her name, it still felt strange on his tongue.

She paused to tense and relax her left and right calves.

"So," she offered, moving on to her feet, "I found out that most of the board games in the bookshelf don't have enough pieces for eight players. But, there was an old deck of cards tucked underneath the Sorry! box. Do you think anyone here knows poker? Or...?"

Justin stopped listening when Dany cropped up in the corner of his eye, hands in the pocket of yet another sweatshirt, head tipped downward. Justin stirred, spilling a bit of coffee on his lap.