feeling ill and faking sick

Who: Evelyn
Where: Her place
When: Early morning

Evelyn rested her head against the wall next to the phone as she hung it up, keeping her hand wrapped around the handle even after it clicked into the cradle. Calling her brother’s building had been unsuccessful – somebody had picked up, sure. But the slurred speech and repetitive questioning of ‘… you sure – you sure ain’t Karen?’ had told her that Jesse wouldn’t be getting the message. So she had just gotten off the phone with their mother instead.

Evelyn had told her she was sick -- and it had been an easy enough lie to pull off. Well, not really. Before moving the worst lies she had told were saying she was fine when she wasn’t, or keeping secrets for her sisters. …There was also a time she convinced a sister to take her along to a dance hall on a school night that her parents hadn't known about. But in the past couple of months Evelyn had done more lying than she had in her life, and the weight of it was getting to her… it had been getting to her. Ironically, it was the guilt that made the lie easy to pull off. She didn’t bother coughing, and it took no physical effort to sound sick: she knew that had she thought things through a couple months ago she could’ve spared herself a lot of trouble. So she only needed to let her guilt come through to sound convincingly ill.

Her mother would get the message to her brother and Jessie: that she was sick and that Rebecca would be heading over with the tickets. Rebecca was her best friend; they met in grade school and were from the same neighborhood. She had been the one who found out about the jobs across town at the lawyers office, and Evelyn had moved here about two weeks after she did. Rebecca knew about 'Amelia' and about Evelyn working at the Drake. And Evelyn knew about her friend’s role as a ‘kept’ mistress for the lawyer who liked to hire poor girls and take advantage of it. But, when Evelyn pressed her on the situation, Rebecca had been unwilling to get out of it. So she kept Rebecca's secret, and Rebecca kept hers.

Being the keepers of each others’ dirty laundry had brought them closer on some levels, but their actual conversations together now driveled away into awkwardness and small talk. But Evelyn could call on her in situations like these: when she got caught up in another lie and needed somebody to help her keep it. Or when she needed somebody to deliver the tickets and be willing to take Jessie if one of her other aunts couldn’t, so that at least the day wasn’t a complete disaster for everyone involved.

Finally pushing herself off the wall and away from the phone, Evelyn made her way back to her apartment. Opening the door and shuffling her way to her bedroom, she cast a quick glance at her roommate asleep on the opposite side. The girl had finally reappeared sometime last night, looking unusually tired and worn down. But she had crawled beneath her covers before anyone could ask her how she was. Evelyn strolled over to her dresser and opened the drawer to find it still occupied by the empty pill container. She frowned. Not good. Last night had been another crappy night for sleeping – although a worried Evelyn wasn’t sure if it was because of her conscience or lack of sleeping pills. Yeah, she was concerned that it was getting harder to sleep without the sedatives… but they helped.

She gave a little sigh and closed the drawer, casting a sideways glance at her roommate who stirred at the sound. She had left money on the girl’s dresser a couple nights ago – as yet to no effect – and considered questioning her about it… but, remembering the state her roommate came in last night, Evelyn saved it for later. She sat up on her bed for a moment, restlessly drumming her fingertips against her thigh. Unable to fall back asleep, she got up and strolled to the closet door and quietly shoved it open. The box, now opened, still remained shoved towards the back. Evelyn bent down and pulled it out from behind her shoes and clothing. She made her way out to the common room and flicked on the radio, keeping it to a low volume as she made her way to the wooden writing desk in the corner. Pulling down the drop door, she used one hand to set the box upon it with more control than she actually felt; and carefully removed the pieces from it with the other.

She sat down and organized the array of small tools and parts before her. Her stomach and mind were guilt-racked -- and rightfully so. But she had wallowed in it last night, and to continue doing so all day before work wouldn’t help any thing. So Evelyn pushed her thoughts aside, a feat only made possible by her concentration as she started to assemble, piece-by-piece, Amelia’s plane.