Obscurity

‘White’ was all he said.

“White, like pure white?” I asked. What kind of white? There are many shades of white.

“Teeth,” he answered.

I looked at him. Teeth? Like the colour of teeth? But not all teeth are white. Not all people have teeth. Not all people are white. Not all people are teeth.

We were running. We were running so fast, so fast. Running down the halls, running past the rooms. Running. He was huffing and puffing and so was I. He and I are unfit, so very unfit.

I do not get it. His face was blank, his movements were languid and his eyes were half-lidded, like this was boring him. But he was unfit. So very unfit. How come he did not look tired? We were running so fast. So fast, everything was a blur.

“Jet,” I said, “everything is white.”

“White, white, white, white,” he began to hum.

“Stop,” I told him.

We stopped running.

We watched each other as we tried to catch our breaths. We are so unfit. Very unfit.

I noticed his shirt was crumpled. I noticed his hair was messy. His buttons were not buttoned right. Does he not know that? It needed to be fixed.

“Audrey,” He spoke.

“Yes?” I answered.

He took my wandering hands and held them tight. He looked at me, his eyebrows furrowing together.

“Where are you taking me?” He asked me.

I frowned at him. Was he not the one who had asked me to come with him? Does he not know his hair is messy? Does he not know that he did not button up his shirt properly? Does he not know that if he holds my hands, I cannot help him?

“Jet,” I begin to say. I need to tell him, but he interrupted me.

“Audrey.” He said.

“Yes?” I replied.

“Where does the sun place the pillow of a cat near go?” He asked me. He squeezed my hands before dropping them. I sighed.

“Jet, I – ” I began.

Then we saw Dr. Meyable, walking through a corridor. Dr. Meyable saw us. Seeing Dr. Meyable, Jet immediately grabbed my hand.

“Run,” he said. “Run.”

But I stay.

No, I did not run. I held his hand to stop him from running. Does he not know he is unfit?

I looked at Jet. Jet was frowning. I wonder why didn’t he iron his shirt this morning?

“Audrey,” Dr. Meyable said as he placed his hand on my shoulder. I hope he washed his hands. “Jet has an appointment,” The doctor said. He smiled at Jet.

Jet looked at me, as if in betrayal and his eyes told me everything but ‘white’.