As Bizarre as It Gets

''Where is it? Where the FUCK is it?'' I was saying through gritted teeth while I was turning my bedroom up side down.

I'd lost my cell phone. With so much effort put into not losing myself, I started losing other things.

My nerves were wearing thin but I took a deep breath and sat down on the bed, feeling the heat finally leaving my face. I mean, so what if it was a perfectly functional Samsung SGHE730 my parents bought me for Christmas a few years ago? I could afford a new one. And I could re-collect all the numbers on my sim-card pretty quickly... Ok, maybe not all of them. The blood rushed back into my face when I remembered what amount of photos and clips I had stored. Oh, boy. And the saved text messages from... Oh, no. Somebody out there was browsing through all of that.

I dragged myself into the kitchen/living room and sat down on the couch. I called home to explain to my parents they can only reach me on the aunt and uncle's phone. They weren't making a big deal out of it, commenting it was time for a new cell anyway.

Then I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. That wasn't very interesting because of my knowledge of German. Even the movies were dubbed. Just when I was blankly staring into Johnny Depp who spoke German in the voice that didn't suit him (the movie Chocolate was on RTL2), my aunt and uncle came back from work.

''Hey, Scarlet,'' aunt Mary said.

''Hey, kid,'' uncle Vince added.

''Hey,'' I replied quietly.

''Did something happen?'' aunt said worriedly.

''I lost my cell phone somewhere in the city today.''

''Oh, dear. Well, at least they're replacable.''

''Yeah. At least I didn't lose my wallet with all the documents in it.''

''Exactly. Now, uncle and I wanted to order pizza for dinner. What do you say?''

Later I was lying on my bed, listening to my mp3 player. I was listening to the song Wouldn't It Be Good by Nik Kershaw. '80s pop music was one of my many passions. I kept thinking if anybody was trying to reach me but couldn't. Especially Erik. I would never say he was my boyfriend, maybe 'lover' was the right word. I would come over to his apartment every couple of weeks and spend the night. We weren't in love with each other (you can't have everything, right?) but the sex was good and we also had a good time listening to music or watching TV together. He never said anything directly but I knew I wasn't his only girl. That was alright. At least we respected each other not to lie about our romantic feelings. The truth was, there weren't any. Still, sometimes he would send me a text message just to ask what's up. It didn't make my heart skip beats but it made me smile.

The next day I woke up with a splitting headache. I spent the day doing the housework and taking some time for myself. You know, taking a hot shower, doing my hair, doing my nails, etc. Basically, I just wanted to fill my day. I made a decent home-cooked dinner for my aunt and uncle.

''Scarlet, this is delicious.Thank you,'' my aunt said and smiled at me from across the table.

When she smiled, wrinkles around her eyes became prominent. That showed her true age. Usually she looked a lot younger, it was because of her skinny body and short hair. In my opinion, short hair always made people look fresh and trendy. My uncle, however, wasn't exactly trendy. He did wear sporty clothes but his deep voice and sort of earnest aura he had made him seem older than he was. Plus, his hair was completely white. Too early for his age if you ask me.

I wished them both goodnight and went to my room. I was listening to music, Rasmus to be precise, and writing a letter to a girl who lived in Taiwan. Having snail mail penfriends was another one of my passions.

It was around eight o'clock when my aunt knocked on my door.
''Come in,'' I said.

She came in with a confused expression saying: ''There's a phone call for you, I guess''.

''Who is it? Mom and dad?''

''Not exactly. It's a boy. A local boy. First he asked me if I was aunt Mary and then he said he was looking for a girl called Carly.''

The look of confusion didn't leave her face but reflected on mine.
I went into the living room and took the receiver.

''Hello?'' I said.

''Good evening, miss. A friend of mine found your cell phone and he wants to give it back but he is too scared to call you- OUCH! *(undetectable conversation on the other side)*''

''Oh, thank you, God,'' I said with relief.

''You don't have to call me that,'' he teased.

Ok, so this boy was a smartass. And a chatterbox. He had a lovely young voice, not exactly deep. Hey, wait a second. How did he know my nickname just from having access to my phone? Before I could ask him, he continued talking:
''Are you free tomorrow around noon to meet up?''

''Yeah, sure.''

''Ok. We'll wait for you at the bus stop where you dropped your phone. Oh, and by the way, my friend wants you to know he's not Chinese- OUCH! Warum hast du-'' And that was the end of the conversation. I was just standing there staring at the receiver.

''Someone found your cell?'' aunt asked.

''Umh. Yes. I sat at a bus stop yesterday and it must have fallen out of my pocket. There was a boy there who found it and wants to return it to me.''

''That was him on the phone?''

''No. It was his friend.''

''Friend?''

''Yeah. And he's loud.''