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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

(Part 1, Part 2)

Jackie called.

She did not sound like a girl.

I normally would not have answered the call, but I recognized Jackie’s number and thought maybe she ought to know. She was wasting her time, and I needed to clear my inbox and call log soon. 

“Hello?” I do my best Helena Bonham-Carter imitation because there was no one else I’d rather pretend to be at that moment.

“Mark?” she said in a timid voice.

“Who?”

Jackie lowers her voice even more and the only word I could pick up was “Mark.”

“There’s no Mark here, love. I think you’ve got the wrong number.”

I drop the call and go back to watching Sengoku Basara Season 2 because it was a Sunday and I deserved to lie in bed and let my mind wander off to ancient Japan on steroids.

A small part of me wonders whether Jackie will try other numbers, hoping that one of them would finally lead her to Mark. We step out of each other’s lives just like that, and I expect never to hear from her again.

I pause the video and head outside for a cigarette break. My shoulders were aching. All afternoon until way into the evening, I had been lying on my side, watching, gushing, squeeing, holding my breath. Apparently, while I was indulging on Japanese history, the rest of the nation was watching a debate between presidential candidates on national television. For a moment, it sparked my interest, but I wasn’t going to aggravate myself over lies and lies and lies.

That night, before sleeping, I went to the kitchen to grab myself a glass of water–to ward off the nightmares. I found my brother staring at a watermelon.

“What are we gonna do with this watermelon?” he asks.

“I dunno,” I shrug.

“If we leave it there too long, it might turn into a coconut.”

theorchestraofmadness prose writing journal musings the saga of jackie and mark