The Rude Phone Call

Jonathan held his head in his hands as he sat on the now somewhat clean floor of his bedroom, his back resting against the bed. His head was spinning with questions ‘when did Liza write these letters?’ ‘Why did she write the letters?’ ‘What is written in them?’ and most importantly ‘Why did Liza never give me these letters?’ The after-effects of his last night‘s drinking fest hadn’t faded completely and all these questions were confusing him more than ever. He wanted to read those letters but was afraid of what he would find in them. So he did what any normal guy would in this situation do, he called his sister. Alice was Jonathan’s twin sister, while Jonathan had gotten his sharp features and jet black hair from his father, Alice had inherited her auburn hair and all her delicate features from their mother. The only thing common between both of them was their mother's green eyes.

After calling three to four times Alice finally picked up the phone. “What do you want?” was the first thing she asked, her voice was a bit hoarse and her tone was accusing. ‘Of course, Alice would know about the divorce, she is Liza’s best friend after all ‘Jonathan thought to himself and then replied “I want to ask you something?” he asked. “What do you want Jonathan? Haven’t you done enough?” she asked sharply. This sent Jonathan's anger soaring high "What did I do Alice? It was your best friend who cheated on me, who broke my trust. I thought that at least my own sister would understand, but no, you are always on her side aren’t you? You know what Alice go ahead and tell your slut of a friend that I never ever want to see her again “Jonathan ranted.

Suddenly he heard a faint strangled sob coming from the phone and he heard Alice whispering in a soothing voice, “Don’t cry Li. He is not worth your tears, Come on, you go and have a shower while I finish talking to him “. He heard some shuffling in the background and after a few minutes Alice said “Call me, when you have your sanity back Jonathan and don’t you ever dare to insult Liza, my brother or not I won’t hesitate to harm you. That girl has been through enough already “ “ Who was with you Alice ?” he asked hoping that there was someone else with Alice, that someone else had heard his insults, someone else who is not Liza. “ Who do you think, it was Jonathan?” replied Alice, her tone defeated, and with that, she ended the call.

All the anger drained away from his body now that he realized that he had called the woman he had loved a slut, he had insulted her and she had heard it. It pained him that the strangled sob that came out of her mouth was due to him. ‘If you are so much worried about her pain, why didn’t keep faith in her?’ the annoying voice of his conscious piped up. He had called Alice in hopes of clearing some of his confusion but by the end of the call, he had only gotten more confused. He threw his phone away from him and in frustration. That’s when his eyes fell on the box full of letters by Liza that laid open on the crumpled maroon bedsheet. Hesitantly and with trembling hands he picked up the first neatly folded letter in the box and opened it. It was written in black ink on a beautiful rose-colored paper. And as he read he felt himself being drawn into Liza’s words