The Sirens of Calypso- Chapter 30- Whistling a New Tune

            Whenever Talia had a huge fight with Alejandro, Vanessa would come back to find a dump sitting in place of their apartment. Condom wrappers and various unmentionables strewn around the sitting area and Talia’s bedroom. She’d be up half the night cleaning the mess while the bedroom door remained closed, cries and gasps on the other side so loud she had to crank up the volume on the stereo in her own room just to tune it out. Even when she was in disarray, Talia still carried on like she had control of her life.
            Vanessa arrived back home a quarter to midnight to find Talia sitting in the middle of the living room sofa with destruction scattered all around her. The greatest casualties: the bathroom mirror and the ornate one from her bedroom, reduced to glass shards. Instead of condoms, there were various articles of clothing, most of which looked brand new, flung in every possible direction, almost giving the impression her shopping bags had exploded.
            As for Talia herself, her lax posture gave no indication that anyone else had entered the room. Her entire body was slumped forward, her face buried deep in her hands.
            Vanessa took everything in stride as she traversed the room, choosing to keep most of her thoughts to herself. She peeked into Talia’s room, finding all of the drawers in her dresser ripped out. Their contents were spread all over the floor, the bed, even hanging from the lighting fixture in the ceiling. After throwing her purse into her own room, Vanessa leaned against the door frame and heaved a heavy sigh. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were the one who was broken up with.” Talia shakily inhaled, her throat raspy, but otherwise didn’t respond.
            As Vanessa went about her business dressing down for bed, she filled Talia in on her recent “adventures” with Emilia (who called Vanessa shortly before she arrived home to check in) and Amber. Occasionally she’d raise her voice to ask if she was paying attention but nothing verbal came from the other room. It wasn’t until her teeth were brushed that she checked on Talia again. Her line of sight wasn’t angled toward the floor anymore, but she continued staring into space.
            Seeing her friend in this state made Vanessa’s chest cavity ache, but after a long night of offering a sympathetic ear to Emilia, she didn’t have the mental strength or desire to take care of anyone else tonight. Before she knew it, the tact she usually had for these kinds of situations was completely gone.
            “Listen, Talia. You made this bed for yourself a long time ago. It’s about time you slept in it. I’m not fixing anything for you anymore.” The moment she turned her back, her ears picked up the faintest jingling of jewelry from across the room.
            Talia had shot to her feet, but her ankles were shuddering uncontrollably. Her voice was ragged as she gasped, “why should you stop now after telling all those personal details to Juan Paulo so he could try and fix me? Information you had no right to tell anybody!”
            “What was I supposed to do, Talia? Stand by and let you waste away your life being unhappy with yourself? What kind of friend would I be if I…”
            “You dare to call yourself my friend after what you did? No, you are a traitor.”
            Not giving an inch, Vanessa nodded with absolute certainty. “And you are the most selfish person I’ve ever met. I’ll always be grateful to you for helping me all those years ago, but since that day, you’ve only thought of yourself. Calypso isn’t just a place for you to air your dirty laundry. It’s about all of us mending our scars and making a better future for ourselves. But you’re too afraid to let go of your past because unlike the future, it’s a narrative you can control and spin a thousand times over, so you’ll always have an excuse not to try!”
            Talia nodded, finally saying after letting it all sink in, “so… I’m both selfish and a coward? Fine. I see how it is.” As she strode toward the bedroom doors, her expression remained neutral and it put Vanessa on edge. She may have found her second wind for that speech, but her four-inch height advantage meant nothing against a furious Natalia if this escalated into a fight. Thankfully, it never came to that. Talia stopped in front of her long enough for Vanessa to see eyes red around the lids and makeup smudged from crying before she locked herself in her room.