Eternity Complex Ch. 2

2007
Sun filtered through the tiny slit between the closed curtains, making the fine dust particles in the air sparkle like glitter as they floated to the floor.  A shift and a grunt, and Angeline’s limp hand slipped out from her doona and into the same ray, illuminating last nights’ nightclub stamps, making them glow. 

There the hand remained, unmoving, until the silence was pierced by the steadily increasing strains of “Crazy” from somewhere within the bed sheets.  The music was thin and mutated, testing the limited capabilities of the tiny speaker from which it emerged.

Angeline jerked suddenly, then groaned, feeling about in the general direction of where she thought the music was coming from.  After twenty seconds of futile shuffling the phone stopped ringing and blessed silence was restored.  Sighing softly, and ignoring the headache that threatened at the edge of her consciousness, she relaxed once more and buried herself under the doona.

Her peace lasted all of thirty seconds.  Once more Gnarls Barkly began assaulting Angeline’s ears, and wherever she had snuggled herself had put her head decidedly closer to where it was hiding. 

Annoyed, sore, and much more awake, she sat up and flung back the covers, watching the phone fly up into the air and land with an uncomfortably loud clatter on the wooden floor.  With a now throbbing head she rolled over onto her stomach and reached down to the phone, fumbling it twice before lifting it to her face, squinting blearily at the offending device.

“Mum & Dad” flashed across the screen boldly.  Angeline sighed.  She wondered what could have prompted them to call so early, until she saw the time in the corner of the screen was 1.30pm. Maybe it had been a late night after all.  She scrunched up her face in a yawn.

She lifted the phone to her ear.  “Mmmmm hello,” her voice croaked from overuse the night before.  For now she didn’t want to try and remember what else she had done to leave herself in such a poor state.

There was a faint rasping noise at the other end, but no talking.  She tried again “Hello?  Mum?  Dad?” she cleared her throat lazily.

There was a pause, but Angeline could still hear the strange rasping in the background. 

“Ange?” finally her mum’s voice responded.  Something about her voice was unusual, like she was forcing the word out.

“Yeah mum, what’s wrong?” Angeline tried to focus, and rubbed her hand across her eyes a few times, hoping it would clear some cobwebs.

“Oh nothing darling, just wondering if you were coming over today,” she was definitely trying to sound casual, but the tremor in her voice was betraying her.

“Coming over?  What for?” she racked her brain, but she couldn’t remember saying she would be visiting.  Then again, at the moment her brain wasn’t letting her remember much of the last few days at all.

“Oh, well if you were free, that’s all…..” her voice trailed off, and Angeline felt a growing sense of apprehension.  This didn’t sound like her mum at all.

“Mum, what’s wrong?  Is there something you need help with?” She was sitting straight up in bed now, curling the doona around herself in a tight ball.

“Oh nothing Ange, nothing……I was just, I wanted to know if you wanted to come shopping with me.  I need a new dress for next weekend, that’s all,” her voice softened and she sounded less on edge.

Angeline breathed a mental sigh of relief.  Knowing her mum, she must not want her dad to find out she was going to rack up the credit card.  “Sure mum, sorry, it was a late night.  I’ll come over in an hour, okay?  Just let me have some breakfast,”

Her mother laughed softly in reply, but it still didn’t sound quite as relaxed or spontaneous as it was meant to.  Something niggled in the back of Angeline’s mind, but she was in no state to try and decipher it.

“Okay hun, have some breakfast and I’ll see you soon.” There was another brief pause as her mother took a deep breath.  “I love you, Ange,”

“Love you too, mum,” she replied, then her mum hung up.  She was a little taken aback, but decided to find out what was really going on when she got to her parents’  house.  For now she was in desperate need of some cereal.  And sugar.  And coffee.  Lots of coffee.

What Angeline couldn’t have known, despite her correct assumption something wasn’t right with the conversation she had just had, was that it had been the final time she would ever hear her mother’s voice again.