10 june 79
tick, tick, tick.
as the clock on marlene’s bedside table flipped from 3:16 to 3:17, the blank stare she had previously been sporting turned to a deep scowl. she picked it up and lobbed it across the room with a lazy swing of her arm. it thumped against the wall and landed with a soft thud against the carpet. she slipped out from between the covers and padded into the living room, her feet heavy beneath her. for a moment, she simply stood in the open space, looking around.
that night, marlene’s mind was particularly muddy. she kept thinking about the vastness of the universe and how, truthfully, she was no bigger than an ant in the grand scheme of things. existentially, she was losing it. her lungs tightened in her chest every time she considered what she could possibly actually change. her stomach growled, but it was far too late for food. she was just restless, caught somewhere on the inside of her brain. it was an interesting place to be. she could think clearly, but every thought had some sort of negativity attached to it. there were ghosts everywhere and marlene felt like one of them, like she wasn’t actually a solid being but a mass of misty smoke.
outside the large living room balcony window, the moon was bright. it shone into the room, granting her enough light that she could see the sleeping figure on her couch and the mound of blankets they kept there throughout the day (because you never know when you might want to build a fort or something, right?).
for the first time since he’d started staying with them, edgar was not awake at three in the morning. marlene’s frown deepened as she stood there. she could quietly grab the box of paints beneath the coffee table and go back into her room without waking him. it would be the polite thing to do since the poor bloke barely slept as it was. she could make a pot of coffee, but the smell would likely wake him up. she could go for a shower, clear her head under steaming water and coconut scented shampoo. she could open the window and crawl silently onto the balcony, watching the moon until the sun peaked over the horizon. despite the list of possibilities, marlene stayed idly in place, pouting. without thinking, she swung a leg over the back of the couch and pulled herself up to perch there, legs creating a bridge over edgar’s sleeping form.
“hey,” she said, pushing on his back with her foot. “wake up.”