The incessant brr brr sound of something hard vibrating against a wooden surface woke Ariel. She sat up, still sleepy and narrowed her eyes to the blinking light of Kyle's cellphone. Who could it be? Calling at the middle of the night?
She waited for Kyle to wake up but he didn't. He wasn't a light sleeper after all. When the vibrating sound had stopped, she went out of her bed and tiptoed her way to his bedside table, waving her arms against the dim light. What time was it, she couldn't tell. Maybe it was past midnight. Kyle usually comes home before or after.
And Kyle hated it when someone poke their noses into his things, even if that someone was her, but the nagging feeling that she should check his phone never left her. She held his mobile and her stomach was clenching horribly inside her.
5 messages from Sera.
Who's Sera?
Sera.
Sera.
Sera.
Ariel racked her brains. Had he mentioned someone named Sera when she wasn't listening? She can't remember.
She gasped when Kyle's phone vibrated that she nearly dropped it. Sera was calling! Her hands were shaking as she felt her stomach dropped horribly. She looked at Kyle who still fast asleep and pushed the green button.
"Hey," Sera said in a sultry voice. "Aren't you coming over tonight?"
Ariel didn't speak. She covered her mouth with her other hand just to prevent her from making noise that could give her away. So, Sera was the reason why he didn't want her borrowing his phone. Maybe she was also the reason why Kyke leaves so early and returns late. She shook her head.
What an ass.
"Oh. You can't talk." Sera continued. "I get it. You're with darling Ariel aren't you?" she finished emphasizing her name sarcastically before hanging up.
Ariel drew a deep breathe. She put the phone back to Kyle's bedside table before her trembling hands could drop it. She sat on her bed, wide-awake and numbed by pain. How could he did this? How could he?
She wanted to wake Ruess, and tell him everything but that would be too much so she silently wiped away the tears that fell on her cheeks. She went back to bed which gave a few rusty creaks as she move. Fortunately, she didn't woke anyone.
She hadn't cried this much.
"Ruess." she called him.
He was preparing to leave for school but one of his books had gone missing and he needed that darn thing for today's lesson.
Usually, Ariel would be asleep by the time he left but it looked like she hadn't slept all night. Maybe she had pulled an all-nighter for a novel she was trying to finish. Because its what the typical Ariel does: read.
And he realized, as he spun around to face her, that Ruess had never sounded so beautiful in his ears.
"Do you know Sera?" she croaked.
He knew there was something wrong, the sudden horrible feeling inside his gut had told him so, but he wasn't in the position to ask what it was. He could see her shaking, like she was a ticking bomb ready to explode anytime.
Sera. Ruess thought. The name rings a bell. Where did he heard about her? He thought some more. Kyle might have mentioned this Sera during a school fair, or was it Sera? He wasn't even sure if that was Kyle who had mentioned her.
"I.. think so." he said slowly. "Kyle must've mentioned her during school fair but I wasn't really sure. Why'd you asked?"
"Do you.." Ariel started, her voice started shaking and her eyes began to water. "Do you know how she looks like? Do you know what kind of person she is?"
Ruess didn't had any girlfriends in the past and she wasn't much experienced in comforting the opposite sex, except for her baby sister whom he could bribe with sweets. He hadn't seen Ariel like this except for the time when she failed her IV insertion practicum at school.
She doesn't cry without a reason.
"Hey." he said gently, trying to keep an awkward distance. "What's the matter?"
Ariel wiped her tears with the back of her hand
Simon bugged Ruess to go with him on South Salisbury but the latter was keen enough to stand firm by his decision.
"My train leaves at ten." Simon whispered, not bothering to listen to the endorsement made by the outgoing nurses. Well, Simon never really listens. "I'm going to read the chart afterwards," he would say. "Why bother?"
He knew his friend was right but still, it was common courtesy to listen when somebody is speaking.
"Are you sure you don't want to go with me? It can get really boring."
Ruess shook his head no. Trust Simon to be insistent.
The truth was, he had never bought a ticket. He don't even know if he wanted to go. He told Kyle he will but now he was on the process of making up his mind.
Kyle's mother had been like his own too. A year after he moved in on another apartment, he learned that she had suffered kidney failure and had been on dialysis once a week. Kyle's family was well-off so money was not a problem. Two years later, Simon told him that Kyle's mother had worsened, and that the need for renal transplant was imminent. And then came the news of her death. Simon told him that the body itself had rejected the organ. It all was all too soon for him.
"Maybe it was time for you two to forget all about Ariel." Simon said, lifting his head from the chart and leaning back to his chair. "Kyle loved her, you loved her. She walked away. End of story."
Ruess did not answer. If only that was easy, he would have done it. But he needed answer to his questions. He needed closure in all of these.
He decided to go.
