Her Black Cross

I could hear Mia’s ringtone coming from her phone and her footsteps as she got up from the bed we shared to pick it up. She didn’t even try not to wake me up. ‘’Hello,’’ she said to the phone and I heard her footsteps going further and further away from me.

I turned my head to the left seeing her empty pillows before I turned to the right only to check the time on the old watch on top of the bedside table. It was nine o’clock in the morning. Who the fuck was calling her so early? All of our friends knew better than to call us before eleven. We were used to be being awake at night and sleeping the whole day, just like vampires.

I tried to keep my eyes open, but they stung and got teary so I kept them closed while I rubbed them a bit to take the tears away. ‘’Fuck you, I’m coming.’’ I heard Mia screaming and in several seconds her feet brought her to our bedroom again.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ I asked once I heard the sounds of our old closet opening.

‘’Nothing! Go back to sleep, I’ll be back before you wake up,’’ she answered as she picked up some of her clothes and left the bedroom. I was really tired and just wanted to sleep, so I tried to ignore what was going on. There was always later. She would eventually be back and we would get to talk. We didn’t have to do this so early in the morning, right?

Against my better judgment, I stayed on the bed till I heard her locking the door of the house after she stepped outside. I could imagine her pressing the button for the old elevator to come up and then she would leave. It was a matter of five minutes, or maybe six.

Laying there on the bed that was now cold, thanks to Mia leaving me alone, my mind started playing tricks on me. I was asking myself what was going on and an angel and a devil were replying. Just like those old jokes where the bad side of one’s self turned to a devil and the good one to an angel. This wasn’t funny though. If something, it was weird and dangerous.

‘’Nothing is wrong, you have to trust her,’’ the angel whispered to my right ear and I found myself liking that answer and relaxing upon hearing it.

‘’You know where she’s going and what she’s going to do. You have always known,’’ the devil whispered to my other ear.

The devil was right, I have always known.