"Unnh..," she groaned. "What is wrong with me?" she asked the darkness. Silence was her only answer. She gnawed silently on her thumb nail, staring in the corner where the ceiling met the walls. She was thinking. Something was missing from her life. She didn't know what..she didn't know why she felt that way. But her life felt empty and pointless lately, and she was losing sleep over it. What could it be? She was relatively happy... Well, she wasn't sad about anything in particular. She had a nice home, a loving family, an adorable little sister who was growing up way too fast.. A good job working in a restaraunt shop as a cook. She was a great cook. Everyone loved her food, and it made her happy. So what was missing from her life?
She reached over to her bedside table and picked up the picture frame perched there. It was a wooden frame with a black and white photo inside- a photo of herself and her boyfriend, Coet.
He was older than her, at twenty three. She was twenty, almost twenty one. They were near complete opposites. He was a fisherman/sailor, braving nature and the storms as he went out to sea every month to fish. He was tall, broad, and blonde, with his shaggy hair pulled back in a ponytail. He was tan and red from the sun, and work hardened from manual labour since a young age. When he wasn't out to sea, he was working on the ships. If he wasn't working on the ships, he was spending time with Daisy. She, on the other hand, was tall (but still a head shorter than he) and slender, with long wiry legs, and plae white skin. Her hair was black and chopped in a shaggy cut nearly identical to Coet's, except that she usually wore it in tiny pigtails. She was happy and bouncy usually, and he was tough and didn't express himself much. But he loved her, and she knew it. And she hoped that someday they would get married.
He was away now, somewhere out in the sea, but he would be coming home soon. Very soon. Any day, in fact.
She clutched the frame happily to her chest and flopped onto her back on the bed, sighing, smiling, eyes closed, dreaming. Soon, she was asleep.
Days passed. The weather hadn't been perfect, so Daisy wasn't too worried- sometimes his ship was delayed. Things unpredictable happened on the water sometimes. But she had learned that before- she cried and cried for days when he walked in the room, and had to explain to her that life was unpredictable and sometimes these things would happen. She had learned not to panic. So she just waited, patiently, for the day he would come back home.
It was two weeks after he was supposed to have come back home. Daisy was worried. In fact, she was a complete mess, and beside herself with worry and fear. Where could he be? Had his ship sunk? Would he ever come home to her? She couldn't imagine what would happen if he never came home. Sometimes ships were lost at sea and not found for years. Sometimes they were never found, the ship and crew lost to the bottom of the sea. So she cried. And cried. Rivers of tears, as she hoped, hoped, but deep down inside- she doubted.
Two months after he was supposed to have returned. She was a hollow shell. She lay in her bed in all of her free time, staring at the ceiling, hugging the picture to her chest. Her father had given her a tiny kitten as a gift- fluffy yet sleek, covered in gray fur, with yellow-amber eyes. She named her Pidge, and Pidge kept her company, at least. Day after day, Daisy hugged the photo and pet the cat, sobbing silently and listening to the soothing purrs. People came to visit her.. Especially one man, Cilik. He had courted her when she was younger, before she met Coet. And now that everyone assumed Coet to be dead, he began to visit her again, trying to comfort, trying to court again.
She lay on her bed. Pudge lay on her stomach, purring contently and Daisy's free hand slowly stroked one of the kitten's ears. She heard a door shut gently somewhere in the front of her tiny home. She would have gotten up, but she just didn't care anymore. Footsteps towards her. A part of her hoped... But she sighed. She was just setting herself up for disappointment.
"Hey Daisy. How are ya? Still haven't gotten outta bed, huh?" asked Cilik quietly. He had a flower- a pale yellow daisy- in his hand. He placed it on her night table, next to where the picture stood- when it was there, and not in her arms. He noticed her clutching the picture, and a look darted across his face- one of jealousy, perhaps? But it was gone in a flash.
"Listen, Daisy...Ya really gotta let go. This isn't healthy! Really," he said. She turned her head slowly towards him, bloodshot red eyes looking sadly into his.
"No. No, I can't. I loved him, Cilik. And I hope, I pray, I dream that he will come back to me. He will. Or else, I will go to him, someday. Until then, thanks for being my friend, but thats all you are. I'm sorry." Anger glinted momentarily in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Daisy. I'm sorry that you can't let go. I'm sorry you won't let him go. I'm sorry that I care about you." He turned and left. She cried harder.
It was two days after her confrontation with Cilik when he came back to her house again, letting himself in. He didn't come into the room, instead stayed in the kitched and cooked a small dinner for her. The smell of seasoned meat drifted into her room, and her stomach growled loudly. She hadn't been eating much lately. She knew she should get up. She knew she should do SOMETHING. But it just hurt so much.
He came into the room, holding a plate with some sort of meat on bread, and a vegetable. It smelled so good. She sat up slowly, and he handed it to her. She ate it slowly, savouring the taste. He placed another daisy, a pink one, in her lap. She looked at it, looked at him...and smiled, slowly, shyly. Maybe he wasn't so bad... She wasn't ready to date him of course, but why push him away? He smiled back. She looked up, looked past him.. And gasped, dropping the sandwich onto the bed. She stood, as if in a trance. Cilik's smile faltered, and he turned..
She stepped up to him slowly, reaching her hand up, touching his hair. Touching his face, eyes filling with tears.
"Coet..," she whispered. Tears overflowed. He squeezed her to him as close as he could, and she sobbed.
He told her his story. She listened, completely spellbound. He told her slowly, quietly, all about what happened out at sea.