Page 117 of The Monster and the Masochist

The sound was so violent, I jumped, nearly spilling my wine all over myself.

I whipped around to see what caused the abrasive noise, only to find that Theo had dropped both our bowls of pasta on her way to the table.

The delicate bowls had exploded across the tile, and there was blood red pasta sauce and sharp shards of ceramic everywhere.

“Shit. Fuck!” Theo rasped, and I rushed to grab a broom as she bent down to try to clean up the mess.

“Don’t move!” I snapped at her. She was barefoot, and the last thing I wanted was for her to cut herself.

“I… I’m sorry. I just…”

“Don’t be sorry, it was an accident, I just don’t want you to hurt yourself. There are pieces of glass everywhere…”

I grabbed her Nikes from the front door on the way back and handed them to her, slipping into a pair of flats myself. Crouching down with a broom and a dust pan, I started cleaning up the mess.

Theo knelt next to me and started reaching with her bare hands for some of the larger pieces of ceramic, and I nearly bit her head off in my panic.

“Don’t! I’ve got it,” I snapped.

She glanced at me, and the look on her face made me pause.

She was pale. Like… deathly pale, and she was shaking. Her whole body was quivering, the way a rabbit shakes when it finds itself in a predator’s line of sight.

“Theo…” I frowned, reaching forward to cup her cheek. Her wide eyes met mine, but they didn’t seem to be registering that I was really there. “It’s okay. It’s just a couple of bowls. We’ll clean it up, and everything will be fine,” I tried to reassure her, worried she thought my type-A ass would be so angry about the mess that I would kick her out or something.

“Y-yeah… Okay. I’ll get some paper towels,” she croaked, and I gave her a reassuring smile.

“Sounds good. Put on some gloves. There are some under the sink. Once we get most of this cleaned up, we can vacuum to make sure we don’t miss anything sharp.”

She didn’t answer me; she just silently went through the motions of cleaning up the mess.

When it was all tidied up, I turned to face her, still concerned with how upset she seemed to be over dropping the bowls.

“Baby… I said it’s fine. There’s nothing to be upset about, alright?” I tried to soothe her, but she just nodded.

She was barely looking at me…

“I… Uhm. I’m gonna head out for a bit,” she said abruptly.

I blinked.

“You’re… heading out? It’s like eight o’clock at night. What do you mean you’re going out?”

She brushed past me, floating like a ghost to our room before reappearing with her gym bag slung over her shoulder.

“I won’t be long. Just realized I forgot something at the ring,” she muttered.

‘Again. She lies to us,’ my monster hissed, and I clenched my fists at my side. It was right, and I hated it. I didn’t want to think Theo would lie to me, but it felt like she was.

“You’ll be right back? You’re just going to the ring, then coming right home?” I asked carefully, and she glanced back at me, her throat rolling as she swallowed.

“Yeah. Be right back.” She stepped into the elevator and hammered the ‘door close’ button impatiently.

“Alright...” I replied, feeling both confused and a little panicky at how quickly the energy between us had shifted.

I wanted to ask if I could come with her, but by the time the idea crossed my mind, I was talking to dead air.

Theo was already gone.