Sleepless
The sound of silence drifted through the apartment. It was old and musty because of the season. Not hot enough to be warm, not cold enough for the heaters.
She lay in bed tossing and turning unable to sleep.
Flip. Shuffle, Shuffle.
Her lover lay in bed snoring soundly and snuggled up to the wall as usual.
Flip. Flip. Shuffle.
Her mind was racing with a hundred menial thoughts. What should I wear to the interview? Should I be witty or serious? Perfume or no perfume?!
"To stink or not to stink..."
No one laughed.
Flip. Shuffle.
"I have GOT to get some sleep".
Flip.
She thought about the phone call earlier that day, if only briefly. She hadn't told him about it. She figured there was enough pressure on them right now to pay the bills without having something else to be paranoid about.
Shuffle. Flip. Shuffle. Flip.
She yawned until her jaw cracked, and flipped again.
The sound of the phone ringing was almost deafening after the many hours of silence she had already endured and she fumbled out of bed to answer the phone.
A breathless "Hello?" was all she could manage.
There was only static.
"HELLO?" she tried again. Her lover stirred ever so slightly and she realised he had stopped snoring.
There was a giggle on the phone.
"Who is it?" her lover asked softly.
She covered the mouth piece and answered. "I don't know."
"Hang up." he responded sleepily and resumed his snoring.
"This isn't funny."she said into the reciever and hung up the phone, loudly.
Just as she crawled back in bed the phone rang again. She got up and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Nice pyjamas" Click.
She sat there stunned. She hung up the phone and sat by it for what seemed like an eternity. When she finally calmed down, she rose and crawled back into bed. Sure enough..as soon as she lay down the phone rang again.
And rang.
And rang.
Then stopped.
She couldn't hear anything for the longest time. The room was completely silent. She lay there and waited for her heart to stop pounding.
I suppose if she hadn't been so startled by suddenly seeing the man standing in her closet,with a cellphone in his hands, she might have realised her lover wasn't snoring anymore...
