Cover by AngeBlancRose
1. | unknown caller

THE THING ABOUT ELODIE was that she had the worst fucking timing ever. There was no guidebook, no class, our moms could've taken to prepare everyone for how she appeared out of nowhere, like a monsoon, flooding my life with either chaos or joy. There was never an in-between with her. From the moment her mom went into early labor, resulting in our lives being forever intertwined, to our first day in middle school (I don't want to talk about it), to the most world shattering heartbreak right before college graduation, there was always Elodie.

I loved her in the only way a friend of twenty one years could love... but, to say her return into my life, in the form of a text, was unexpected is an understatement.

It came late in the evening, a loud echoing pa-ding! that interrupted my unabashed crying session over a soggy container of pad Thai while my heart felt like it had withered away behind my ribcage. A simple text, from an unknown number, that stared up at me through tear blurred eyes, lighting up in the darkness of the room.

A monsoon, a sudden flash of rain in the driest desert.

I sniffled and hiccupped, wiping my eyes and feeling the sting of eyeliner and mascara making the tears worse. God, what the hell was I doing with my life? I was a twenty-two year old woman, eating Pad Thai in a pitch-black bedroom, knowing my roommates could hear my wailing throughout our shared apartment, sobbing over a man I always knew wasn't mine to begin with.

I picked up my phone, sniffling still. I knew it wouldn't be him when I swiped up to unlock the screen. What I wasn't expecting was an unknown number and that bubble of text that would inevitably change my entire night.

"Meet me behind the mall at midnight. Don't bring anyone!"

There was no name, no specific tell-tale as to who the sender was, but who else would be sending some random text about meeting them behind the mall during what could only be called the witching hour? Can't say it was the local drug dealer.

I felt a stirring in my gut. Anxiety? Anger? Happiness? All three, probably. Elodie could always illicit that response of emotions from me, and she knew it. Her dark eyes would flash with this promise of trouble in the best way possible, a mischievous grin pulling at her lips, her dark curly hair framing her face, making her appear almost angelic. How her whole face lit up when she had an epiphany that would later spiral into pandemonium.

I stared at the text a moment longer, letting my thumb hover over the number. I swallowed back my tears and dialed the number, bringing it up to my ear while it buzzed, waiting for the other end to answer. Anxiety coursed throughout my body as I waited. So many thoughts rushed through my head.

It can't be her, because we haven't spoken in several months, so why would she start now? Why behind the mall? And why at midnight of all times?

"Hello?" the voice, soft and siren like as it had always been, asked.

It was her.

"Elodie?" I sat upright on my bed, tipping over the partially empty container onto the floor. Shit.

I felt that rush of conflicting emotions again, but there was one that stuck out the most as I gripped my phone for dear life. "Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me? So, now you want to reach out, when I've tried everything. Your twitter, your phone number, your other phone number!"

I imagined her sitting in the driver seat of that ugly Ford Fiesta she always refused to let go of, I could hear a car running in the background, probably amused at my outburst towards her. I almost respected her for it, though, no outburst or sudden flash of anger could ever phase her.

I stopped pacing and slowly breathed out, rolling my neck, and dropping the hand on my head. There was a silence between us, and I thought she had hung up, but I heard the faint radio in the background. It was just us. Elodie was the first to break the silence.

"Kennedy, babes," she said, I heard the inhale of her vape, "did you get my text?" Something like anger bubbled up in my chest. I could feel that smile through the phone, full of promises of chaos and release from this reality, even when I tried to be the reasonable one and usher her to logic and peace, I still secretly missed it.

Didn't save her from my bubbling anger, either.

I paced the floor, wearing footprints into the carpet. "Yeah, I read the text. What I want to know is where you've been, why you've been avoiding me for almost a year. Like, really, is it that hard to open your text messages and send a quick hey, I'm still alive, love you? Seriously, Elodie. It's like you disappeared into a void without giving a shit about anyone else."

I sat back down on the bed, picking at the duvet, wrapping loose threads around my index finger until it turned red from the circulation being cut off.

There was silence between us for a few heartbeats too long.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, cutting into the silence and throwing me off guard. I'd never known her to apologize without an argument at the very least, it's why she was on the debate team throughout our sophomore year of high school before she grew bored of it. "I never meant to ghost you. There was... a lot going on. I'm not with Bea, anymore, for starters."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but I felt a slight twinge of guilt for being so harsh from the beginning. Should I be grateful for her mere return, or was there something more she was leaving out?

"I was thinking, though," she continued, crashing my train of thoughts, "that while I'm back in town, we could go on one of our adventures, explore the town nightlife. Something like old times." When I didn't reply, her voice changed to that taunting, persuasive tone that always got me dragged into the middle of the wildest situations. "Besides, from all these reposts on your socials, I would think you're free for the time being."

Ouch. That stung. She was right, though, and had been the one to tell me time and time again how it would end with him, and my delusional self believed differently. Maybe, it would help, leaving the crowded off-campus apartment, to do something before college graduation, before I would take this degree and move on to my next life obstacle.

There was one thing, though.

"I'm not going to the mall at midnight, though," I pointed out, "not when it closes at eight at night and security is patrolling all through the parking lot." And I'd like to avoid the back of a police car, I silently added. Her epiphanies never came down to it, but there was a weird feeling in the air, like I was agreeing to something more than a night barhopping.

"So, meet me there at eight," she said. "It's nothing serious, Ken, I'm just here for a few days, looking to see my best friend for a while. You know, before I disappear into a void."

I stared at the clock on my nightstand, lost in thought and the pain in my chest with each pulse, anxiety climbing. The red numbers beamed at me. 5:55.

Significant change or transformation; major life changes, freedom, personal growth.

It was just another synchronicity, it met nothing yet meant everything at the same time. I licked my dried and cracked lips from crying into my pillow for two hours, and said the words that would go on to become the biggest epiphanot in our history together.

"Yeah. I'll be there."