#wliz

(This ended instead up being Liz, Veronique and Sara talking about Jack. It also lacks a proper ending)

“He’s completely crazy”

“Nutters”

“There’s no way there’s any actual truth in what he’s saying. I’ve been hit by the most common disease against women, I need to get surgery in 6 months, and everything will be fine.”

Sara sighs, and buries her head deeper into the pillow.

“Sometimes, though – I can’t get rid of the feeling that he’s telling the truth. It almost does feel like there is life growing inside of me. Not a disease, not something to get rid of, but something that is worthy of my love, of a chance”

“Personally I think he’s right”. It’s the first time Veronique speaks, and both Sara and Liz stares at her as if she’d just said she was moving to Mars.

“Don’t listen to her, Sara. She just liked his cats,” Liz comforts, awkwardly stroking her friend’s back.

“Well, they were adorable. And what if he really is right – what if everything in our brain does change at midnight on New Year’s Eve? That means there won’t be any trips for us to the South next February, Lizzie, because you won’t remember who I am”

“This is stupid”

“No, no, it’s not. Careful with your foot. Yes, good. Okay, you can remove the scarf now”. The excitement in Veronique’s voice is to get sick of, had this not been her girlfriend she would probably have made it obvious 10 minutes ago. But there is something incredibly charming about the sound of her voice, how you can just hear she’s smiling, so her pulls herself together, and instead lifts up the scarf.

The sight meeting her eyes leaves her speechless.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I know you like hiking, so I figured I could try to take a little piece of the forest inside of our flat. I know it’s not much, but you seemed so sad when you sprained your ankle, I just wanted to cheer you up, and—“

“Shut up. It’s gorgeous”

Their small living room is completely changed – the pictures on the walls changed to picturesque photos of the rainforest. Liz could faintly hear the sound of a creek (after a while she realised it was just playing on their stereo), the lights were dimmed to resemble those that would stream through the highest trees early in the morning. She has to bite her lip to prevent the ‘ah’ from escaping her lips.

Veronique stands there with the biggest smiles on her face, making Liz shake her head, before she pulls her into a tight embrace.

“Just because I sprained my ankle?”

“Just because you sprained your ankle”

“You’re the silliest person I’ve ever met”

“I love you too”

The first thing Liz feels in the morning is safe. A pair of warm hands holding around her, pulling her just a bit closer as she budges, just a bit. Her lips forms into a small smile, and she turns around – spends a moment studying her girl’s face. Eyelids closed, but you can see her pupils barely moving underneath. She must be dreaming, and Liz allows herself a few moments to think it’s about her – them. Walking on the beach, laughing, holding hands, on their next scheduled vacation to the sea next summer.

Liz smiles, then, moving her eyes to study the curve of her lips, the small crook on her nose, and then she buries her head into Veronique’s neck and feels incredibly grateful for it being a Saturday.

***

Jack wakes up of cold paws clawing at his hair, and a loud moan escapes his lips before he opens his eyes. The sound of a meow, quickly followed by 4 more in different voices, makes it obvious that there is no chance for any more sleep. So instead he wraps his hands around the grey cat (it’s Fez, it’s always Fez), and pulls him into a hug. Breathes in the sweet smell of cat – one of his only pleasures in life. Then he remembers that his only other pleasure – no, hope, will be here within a few hours, judging by the loudness of the meows, and he drags himself out from under the blanket.

(He doesn’t sleep on a mattress - they all have microbes that sneaks into your brain and washes away any individual thought, he’s sure of it)

***

She’s alone. That’s her first realisation. The bed is cold, and there are no sounds coming out from the bathroom. She closes her eyes again, as if it would bring him back – but as her eyelids opens again there are still no sounds coming from the bathroom, still not shape next to her on the bed, no one looking out of the window.

She fixes her eyes on the roof, and her hands travels down to the small bump on her stomach. It is barely noticeable, but it’s there, and she’s afraid. It is like a foreign object is growing inside of her, eating her up on the inside. Maybe it is right, what the crazy man with the van said, that there is a human being in there. But she still can’t quite believe it, can’t grasp the idea of a living creature inside of her – she knows there is something there, but a little person, a fragile thing?

She shakes her head. No – it can’t be. Everybody knows he’s crazy, knows there’s no truth in his words.