#me getting miself back into the writing norm

[miengsol]

jello ( drabble two. )

aka the origin story of calum, mana, and jello.

word count: 694 words. *** The first time he sees her again, it’s been almost four months since he’s last heard from her. Five months since they’ve graduated from Vanovoir. Ten months since Daniel passed away.  

( And yet, the thought of him remains anchored in Calum’s heart. A metal weight drenched in water. It might rust with time, but to disappear completely? Probably never. Before it was a burden to carry, but now? Calum finds comfort in it. To carry another person, forever unchanged, wherever he goes. )

She’s thinner under the dim lights of the library she now works in. One could say doll-like, but with hardened eyes like hers, she likens more to a feral cat. On edge, ready to strike back at any moment. At first, it sends a shiver down his spine- is this really the friend he’s known for four years- before concern seeps in when she shoves a clipboard into his hands. She stumbles forward a step, gripping onto the counter between them for support.

It’s only when he shares a meal with her when he’s able to get a better look at her. Somehow he manages to convince her to visit him In his apartment. She’s not just thinner. She’s paler too, the air around her somehow still. What used to be simply quiet has become an oppressive silence. The way she stands now no longer seems fierce, intimidating, but now just fragile. A gust of wind could easily knock her over.

But it’s more than how Mana looks that scares Calum. It’s the way she plays with her food, takes hardly more than a few bites of the stir fry they’re sharing for lunch. It’s the way she turns down a cup of coffee from him. The Mana he remembers drank coffee on the daily. The Mana he remembers ate cookies and brownies and pudding on the daily. Would even steal them from the cafeteria as snacks for later. What happened in the five months he was gone?

But he can’t ask her any of that. All she tells him is that her stomach hurts when she eats most things. Anything sweet. Anything acidic. It’s always been that way between the two of them- never talking about past. Never poking at gaping wounds, even if it’s with an alcohol wipe.

But he can’t just watch her erode like this either.

So he thinks. What can he do? What can someone like him, someone with absolutely no nerve, do for her? Daniel would know what to do, he realizes. Daniel’s always known Mana better than Calum ever has. If he was here, Daniel would know what to say.

But Daniel is not here. And Calum is not Daniel.

Calum doesn’t even know where to start.

But then the answer comes to him. Not in the form of words- Calum’s never been all that eloquent with words anyways- but in the form of jello.

It makes sense, really. If he can’t reach her with words, he can at least do so with action. With food.

He looks away the first time he makes some for her. Collects the dirty dishes on the table to wash by hand. If she doesn’t eat much to begin with then it only makes sense that she’d be uncomfortable with people placing food in front of her, expecting her to dig in. It’s orange flavored, that one. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her snatching the metal spoon up. And then the jello.

She puts a spoonful in her mouth and chew. Her eyes light up. It reminds him of the Mana he remembers seeing him off when he left for Seoul. And then she takes another spoonful. And another one. And another one. And another until the cup is empty.

After a little while, he returns to the kitchen table for the rest of the dishes.

“You finished it.” He notes, picking up her jello cup and spoon. Did you like it?

She peers over her book. “I was hungry, that’s all.” Yes I did. “What are you smiling for?”

“N-Nothing!” He keeps smiling anyways- small victories are victories nonetheless. “Nothing, I promise.”