Chapter 46: Sun and Moon

                                    

                                          
Sallie didn't sleep for the rest of the night. But it didn't matter anyway. It was 6am now, and she decided it was best to stay awake. The nightmare had done something to her. It didn't traumatise her, but it was currently tattooed in her mind and she was constantly thinking about it.
                          
In a strange sense, it alerted her, not entirely paralysed with horror...but just freaked out.
                          
Sitting up on the sofa, feet tucked under her legs, she stared blankly at the TV, watching it with almost inaudible sound. She didn't want to wake Joey up after he returned to sleep. She was enough hassle for him as it was...
                          
Jessica Fletcher was on a mission in New York this time, solving a murder that had been pinned onto her. Sallie watched Murder She Wrote contently, finding it by accident while surfing the channels and had become intrigued with it. This was the third episode she was on, and it certainly helped keep her occupied.
                          
But she knew it would only distract her until the next time her thoughts returned to the surface.
                          
Soon, she would have to confront Corey.
                          
But the very thought of him...
                          
Sallie began to weep silently into her hands, finding it painful to even think of him right now.
                          
Betrayal. That's how she felt.
                          
And for someone whom she genuinely thought she knew and trusted...
                          
"Why...?"
                          
"Spaghetti-O or Beans?"
                          
The lights in Gateway Market was too bright. Sallie hated it. A headache had blossomed out of nowhere and it persisted, craving for attention she didn't have strength for.
                          
Blinking, Sallie turned to Joey suddenly, hearing his voice but understood nothing.
                          
"What?"
                          
"Spaghetti-O or Beans?" Joey smiled again, holding a tin can in both hands. Sallie's eyes flicked from the beans to the spaghetti.
                          
"Spaghetti-O."
                          
Joey's nose wrinkled.
                          
"The fuck is wrong with you, Sal? Beans are king!"
                          
The banter from the little drummer made Sallie smile, and it has warmed Joey up to see her thawing out from her trauma.
                          
"Nah, mate. Spaghetti-Os are nice! You get bored of Beans!"
                          
"B-But Beans are great! Because-!"
                          
"They make you fart?" Sallie snorted as she watched Joey frowned playfully, tossing both tin cans into the shopping cart.
                          
"We're not friends for the next five minutes." And it pleased Joey when Sallie pulled her lips and widened her eyes, pulling a mock-worried face, and stuck her tongue out.
                          
Joey was feeling a bit better himself. Sallie was warming up and was talking more. Even after that strange dream, she seemed to have gotten better. But Joey knew that she needed to return home tonight. He just prayed he does the very best he can to make Sallie feel better, to give her the strength that was there before, before Corey...
                          
"Hey, Sal?"
                          
Sallie had turned away for a moment and was eyeing up the selection of miniature model cars that hung up. Hot Wheels, she used to collect them all the time with her dad back in California...
                          
Come to think of it, where did they go now?
                          
"Sal?"
                          
The Brit returned to the world and looked at Joey, her eyes gentle.