As Bizarre as It Gets

All the lights were out except the display of the stereo. There was some rock music playing but totally unfamiliar. All of a sudden a small pillow came flying towards us, hitting the door.

''Yu...'' Strify said his name like a soft warning.

The answer that came from the other side of the room was muffled, presumably by another pillow.

Strify turned to leave but I stopped him by grabbing his arm and whispering: ''Why is he throwing things at me?''

''He doesn't know you're here,'' he said and closed the door behind himself , leaving me in pitch darkness with a depressed and agressive guy.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I was slowly making my way across the room and sat down on his bed. The mattress bent under my weight.

''Strify, bitte...'' he said like he was trying to get rid of company.

But instead of leaving, I lay down.

''Lass mich-'' he began to say.

''I'm not Strify,'' I said, not letting him finish the sentence.

He was now quiet and tensed up a little.

''Carly,'' he whispered breatlessly.

''Yes, it's me.''

''H-how did you get here?'' he asked like he was trying to swallow a lump in his throat.

''Your friends brought me here. They care a lot about you.''

''Yeah. And what do I do? Punch one of them who is half my size.''

''He'll be ok. Now you know that you have to tell what's bothering you. Don't stuff it all down until it explodes.''

I reached and touched his shoulder. He twiched. I pulled back. Then he slowly rolled over and looked at me.

''Why don't you go back to sleep?'' I asked.

''I wasn't sleeping.''

''Nevertheless, try to get some sleep,'' I said and brushed the hair away from his face. It was all crusted with hair gel and who knows how many other hair products.

He smiled and scooted closer to me. Then he put his arm arond my waist like he was making sure I wouldn't suddenly get up and leave.

''Why don't you try to get some sleep too?'' he whispered and kissed my forhead.

And we both wandered off into some long forgotten dreams.

@}--,---

I woke up a few hours later, presumably. Just like the last time I'd woken up in that apartment, it took me time to figure out where I was.

My eyes settled on Yu. He was still asleep, his arm still resting on my body. I menaged to squirm away and when I was trying to get up without the bed making a squeaky noise, I felt two hands on my waist pulling me back.

''And where do you think you're going?'' he whispered in my ear.

''Apparently nowhere,'' I said and felt his arms snake around my body.

I decided it would be best to surrender so I lay down again. We were quietly staring at the ceiling for a short time.

''Carly, I just realized I know so little about you,'' he said.

''What would you like to know?''

''Everything.''

''Ok... My full name is Scarlet Lillian Graves, I'm 22 years old-''

''Your middle name is Lillian? That's a pretty name.''

''My mother gave me both of my names. I still live at home with my parents and I have a twin sister but we're not identical. Her name is Amber Elisabeth.''

''You both have beautiful names. So.. if I saw you and your sister next to each other, would I know which one are you?''

''Oh, definitely. We look very similar but there are differences. We've never had people mistaking us for one another.''

''I remember you said you graduated from a university and you come from the ex SSSR, right?''

''Actually... I didn't graduate, I dropped out. And I don't come from the ex SSSR, I was born in ex Yugoslavia.''

He nodded to let me know he was still following so I continued:
''I had my reasons for dropping out but I'm not sure I want to bother you with that.''

''No, I want to hear it.''

''At the end of last year my first novel was published. It was part novel, part poem book, part handmade diary of the main character which I also illustrated. The title was The Prince of Ravens.''

''Sounds cool. What happened next.''

''The book was a huge success. The first edition sold out in two months and the second edition came out last April. Then I did some interviews for teen magazines, one TV appearance and, believe it or not, there is a gothic rock band who call themselves Scarlet's Ravens.''

''Wow. So you're pretty big in your home country.''

''Bigger than anybody would want to be.''

''Meaning...?''

''It started at the end of April. Some fourteen year old girl hung herself. Her family found a letter she had left fot them and it had a couple of quotations from my book. But that wasn't the end of it. Two weeks later another child died. He cut his wrists and wrote a poem from my book on the bathroom tiles in his own blood. Within two months the body count came up to eight.''

''Oh, fuck...'' he said and covered his eyes.

''Yeah, it got ugly. The parents blamed me for their children's deaths. I was on the cover of every tabloid and they talked about me on the evening news. People stared at me in the street, threw cigatette butts at me... In the end I couldn't stand all the 'that's her!' looks. And so I came here to stay with my aunt and uncle. Nobody here knows who I am.''

''That's an impressive story.''

''But I still haven't heard yours.''

''Uh, ok... Let's see... My name is Yu Phoenix, I'm a guitarist, I live here with two of my band members. How's that?''

''That can't be all of it. C'mon, I've just told you my darkest secret.,'' I said and got out of bed.

I walked to the window and drew the curtains apart. The night was already fading away, making room for the sleepy pink sunrise that would soon appear. That was one of the things I didn't like about summer - the early dawn.

I absent-mindedly looked at the street far below. It was empty. Yu got out of bed and stood next to me.

''Are mornings always so peaceful here?'' I asked.

''They are until Strify wakes up. But, knowing Strify and Kiro, we have another five hours of silence ahead of us.''

''You know, when Amber and I were in highschool, we would sometimes sneak out at night and walk around town. We would always be back before dawn and our parents never found out,'' I remembered.

''You miss her?''

''Yeah, I do. She moved to Norway last year. I haven't seen her since. At home we hardly ever speak of her anymore.''

He put his arms around me carefully like he was afraid he could break me. Or like he was waiting for me to try and stop him. I didn't. I put my arms around his waist and my cheek rested against his bare chest. It wasn't until then that I noticed a burn scar on his skin. I traced its outlines with my fingers.

''How did this happen?'' I asked him.

''I pulled a kettle off the stove when I was a kid.''

''And this?'' I asked, looking at a scar on his arm. I could recognize a healed cut when I saw it. My mind drifted to Amber once more and my stomach tied itself in a knot.

He took a deep breath and said: ''People can be pure evil. I don't have to explain that, do I?''

''No.''

I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. I didn't know what I was looking for but I found a hundred emotions mixing together. He kissed me carefully, like my lips could make another burn scar.

''You're so different from other girls,'' he commented.

''What do you mean?'' I was confused.

He didn't say anything else. Instead he kissed me but without any fear of being burned. His tongue in my mouth was like an aquarium fish on cocaine, with a lot of vigor. I could feel his hands find their way under my hoodie before I remembered I wasn't wearing anything underneath. Leaving house in a hurry and being lazy with my outfit took its toll.
I felt him smile into the kiss so I slowly pulled back and smiled in return.