The Call
Dalia had just arrived into her room from her date with Robert, and her only wish was to be able to get to her bed and cry herself to sleep. However, things do not always happen as one has them planned and that night she wouldn't be getting any sleep. As soon as her head touched the pillow, her phone rang. She saw that it was Marla and considered not picking it up, but then she remembered her threats.
-I want to see you, now.- Marla told her without even letting her talk.- My place, you know how to get there.-she hung up immediately leaving Dalia with the phone on her hand and the words in her mouth.
Dalia took a jacket and asked for a taxi, the buses had stopped running by then, and it was a long walk to Marla's. She got in the taxi and gave the driver the instructions, then she just stared through the window feeling horrible about everything she had to do, and about not being able to love Robert as he deserved. They arrived at her destination earlier than she would have liked, she paid the taxi and entered the building. As usual, the elevator ride felt endless and she was glad when it was over, she hated closed spaces. She got up the stairs and out to the open, but there was something different now. Someone had torn off all the rainforest vegetation that didn't allow to see the house and carpeted the floor with grass. Also, the house was different, it was only the old part now, although they had remodeled it, so it now had a main entrance just in front of the end of the stairs. Dalia wondered how could they have changed everything so fast, but she also had the feeling that she wouldn't like the answer. She arrived at the door and rang the doorbell. The door opened almost immediately. She entered the house wondering where would she find Marla, but actually the only thing she had to do was follow the lights. She found Marla in the old library, which had been enlarged. She was sitting on a sofa Dalia had never seen.
-Why it took you so long? Anyway, I need you to do something for me. Come sit.
Dalia sat rigidly on a chair that was just in front of Marla.
-I believe you still have access to the little rabbit, don't you?
Dalia nodded.
-Good, do you remember what you gave him after the exams in the first semester? You are going to give it to him again. Oh, not now, no my dear, I need to prepare it, but you have to plan carefully when you are going to give it to him and when, and then you have to tell it to me so I can prepare everything that needs to be done. You have a week, understood? Now leave, it's late and I need to sleep.
She dismissed Dalia as if she were an obnoxious presence. It only made Dalia feel even worse. But what could she do? She left the house crying and wondering whether Marla had called her just to annoy her because what they talked about was clearly not an emergency. Dalia thought that maybe she knew that she was regretting working for her and that was just a reminder that she held the power. She called a taxi and then she checked out some messages she had received. Robert had written to her asking if she was okay. Asking her to meet him the following day, that they needed to talk.
When she finally got to her bedroom she was so tired that she got into her bed in her clothes. However, she could not sleep. She knew that the only way to stay with her friends, her real friends, was to keep working with Marla, but she also knew that it would mean betraying them. If only she were braver she would defy Marla and tell Albert all about it, she would also tell Robert that she actually loved him. But she had never been brave so she would have to keep doing what she was doing.
She finally fell asleep remembering how Robert had kissed her, it had been so sweet. It made her smile and feel happy for a while, and she needed to feel happy at least until next morning.
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