Nessie's Gift

“Nessie is such a sweetheart!” I turned to Robert “Rob” Gray to give him the most chilling smile I could muster. 

“Of course she is” I replied but bit off my tongue before I could add, Nessie is also a weird paradoxical combination of narcissism and sensitivity. I stared back and forth from the brown wrapping paper to the white box in my hand. I couldn’t help but feel curious of what a classy slob would gift to her mortal enemy. 

“Do you think it’s a bomb?” Tess whispered. She peered over my shoulder and gasped as she read the first line of the note “Paris, huh? Some friend.” And then the insolent flake had the audacity to laugh. I turned and glared at her but her laugh was too infectious and in the end it won me over into a fit of unladylike hysterics. 

“What’s so funny?” Ted asked from the corner of the room. There were a lot of things Theodore Taylor could do, like playing water polo and securing the highest nation-wide score in GMAT, humor however, seemed to be the one pursuit he couldn’t master. “I repeat, What. Is. So. Funny?” Of course he made it a habit to make us all feel like delirious apes by repeating things twice with long pauses in between the words so that we understood him.

“Inside Joke Teddie” I replied, purposely coloring the air with agitation. I could almost feel rage heat up his face at the nickname before he walked out. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Delilah asked in her whiny voice. I wondered why Tess had invited 5 people over to ‘celebrate’ my birthday when all I had wanted was a day’s sleep. 

“Nothing Deli, he’s just going through some stuff and thinks we are all his highness’s verbal punching bags” Tess replied, clearly realizing what a bad idea it was to reunite a fundamentally broken group after 6 years. 

I shook my head and read the rest of the note, feeling my heart grow heavier and heavier with each word. 

Dear V,

I hope you’re well. I found a gift for you when I was walking past the Antique Shops in Rome. 

I hope you like the gift. Accept it as a peace gesture from my part, won’t you V? Lets meet up soon.

With love,

Vanessa Gilbert.

 “Wow… judging from the size of that box, it’s some major peace offering.” Tess said. “Maybe it’s a teddy? Or maybe a speaker system?”

 “Maybe it’s just an oversized model of The Colosseum? She said something about Rome being her inspiration for the gift” Maylee, our most quiet member finally spoke up.

“Guys I believe it’s an X-box” Rob said with far too much enthusiasm.

“Don’t open it! Do you really think someone like Nessie can change? I mean god bless her soul but she had beef with almost everyone in high school?” Tess said as she almost lunged at the package. No one in the room disagreed.

“Yes Tess. Look at us, we all changed didn’t we? Robert is prepping for his first case in a real court instead of our weekly fake Supreme Court cases with charges like ‘felony of ill thoughts’. Tessa you have an art exhibition next week in The Met. And as much as I hate saying this, Theodore’s business idea is a grand genius, investors are pouring in like rain. Maylee, Delilah don’t even get me started on your ‘secret’ projects. We’re all different people now and if Van wants a second chance she deserves it just as much as the rest of us do” I looked all of them in the eye before I finished my little speech.

“I agree” Ted said from the doorway, “monsters do change. Maybe Nessie is ready to become our dear Van again”. Everyone nodded and unanimously agreed on opening the package.

“What the-” Rob was cut off before he could say anything.

“Do not utter a word Rob” Tess said in a harsh tone. 

“It’s a freaking…” Ted trailed off.

“Head. It’s a head. Looks like a lamp.” I completed.

“There’s ‘Antony’ engraved in bold on the back of the neck. Is this supposed to be a message or something? I mean I get the whole betrayal-decapitation thing but do you honestly think she’s apologizing by a severed head?” Tess said, clearly horrified by the idea. 

“Maybe she’s asking you to decapitate her if she pulls up any more outrageous stunts” Rob chuckled.

 “I remember a conversation between us along the lines of me wanting to go to Rome when we were two silly 10 year olds who’d read the first chapter of Tragedy of Julius Caesar. We always thought Antony was the real villain, even though our book club couldn’t get over how awful Cassius was. Maybe she remembered that too and is trying to tell me she thinks of herself as an awful person. She did write that she wanted to make amends. So that’s probably what this is.” Everyone looked convinced by my theory so we decided to close the discussion.  

“I should probably get going. Anisha will decapitate me if I show up after midnight” Ted said as he shrugged into his jacket.

“I knew he wouldn’t dare to take off his collar” Tess giggled out loud. Throwing her one last dirty look Ted walked out.   

“So… what are you going to do with this?” Tess asked once everyone else left making flimsy excuses.

“Accept her apology and honor it. I mean it’s kind of cute” I said as I looked at the ugly white figurine with deep red eyes. 

“No Nika, it’s not cute, it’s scary. You know what? Whatever, I’m going back to my room and I’ll try to forget that it exists. Enjoy being an overly nice fool for the next century or so.” Tess gave an exasperated sigh and left my room.

I looked at the head again. It wasn’t really as ugly as Tess believed it to be. Sure it had angry red eyes and wore a permanent frown, its hair styled like permanently misshaped spaghetti but it spoke of poignant memories that had been buried in the race of growing up. I thought of the disturbed child I was and the time Vanessa and I had spent together. Things were great before they went downhill but weren’t all friendships tested? Maybe my test was just a little more difficult but I could forgive her if the girl who loved frothy pink drinks and long conversations about fictional characters still existed inside her.

I set my newly acquired lamp on the night stand and turned the lights off. Now I could see why Tessa hated that thing. Its eyes glowed fiery red and its mouth was parted as if to say something vengeful. And it was staring at me. As much as I tried to shut my eyelids and force myself to sleep I couldn’t stop the innate knowledge of something watching me. Finally I gave up and put the nightmarish thing in my drawer. Apparently even that wasn’t far enough because after long hours of rapid breaths and unsteady heartbeats, when I did fall asleep my dreams were filled with ice cold statues chasing after me and yelling “Kill her”. 

Next day I couldn’t help but feel guilty about my thoughts of the previous night. I had decided to forgive Van yet I couldn’t even be in the same room as her weird gift. Oh how I had almost convinced myself that it wasn’t that bad. 

When I shared my thoughts with Tess all she said was “Nika you stress about stuff way too much. Stop it before the guilt rots you from inside. Even if Nessie… er… Vanessa had angelic intentions, she’d get it.” No she wouldn’t, I thought silently. I knew Vanessa, one of her biggest challenges was overpowering her ego, she would never let things simply be. But then she was also the thoughtful soul who made an attempt to rekindle a friendship… a mess, that’s what I was.

The phone call came at precisely 2 pm. “Hey Vanessa” I said as a familiar voice greeted me.

“So did you like my gift?” Van asked in a careful tone. 

“Of course! It was very thoughtful. Thank you Van” I said. Hoping she didn’t catch my breathy voice.

“Oh you did? That’s great…” she said in a doubtful voice. 

So she heard my hesitancy, I thought, here goes our chance to friendship. “I’m sorry Van. I really did appreciate the thought but I couldn’t sleep with that thing looking at me. I remember and still cherish our childhood though… and again, I’m sorry for disrespecting you and your obviously creative gift” 

“Oh my god Nika. I can’t believe you…” she couldn’t keep her words together anymore and laughed for a considerable amount of time before continuing “I can’t believe you’re still stuck in all that bullshit! I only sent that horrifying lamp as a random joke. And to think that you wrote a whole novel in your head. You haven’t changed a bit Nika, still making mountains out of molehills. Anyway, my agent is waiting, gotta go. Schedule our lunch with my PA Claire, okay? See you as soon as possible. Bye” the line cut off before I could muster up the words. 

Turns out I wouldn’t have known what to say even if she hadn’t disconnected the line. It wasn’t anger or pain that filled my being, disappointment was the emotion that flowed through my veins. To think I’d gone through the whole song and dance of making up excuses for Vanessa… I couldn’t blame her for being who she was, for all her faults she was honest. Pain wasn’t far behind disappointment as it crashed through my soul. I’d have to grow out of my Vanessa shaped memories and cut them out until my mind looked healthy. The process was going to be a long and excruciating one but I was determined to get a better look for myself.