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Chapter 5
Maria’s Call

Days passed since the night Virgil and Daniel talked by moonlight and Virgil’s life still hadn’t returned to normal. Every day since then, Daniel’s face and words occasionally crossed his mind throughout his day. Added on to this torment, he rarely ate because of the perturbing memories, which troubled his father. Many a time Virgil would come home from school and go straight to his room, quietly bypassing his father like an apparition that ritualistically returned to its place of eternal torment. Although his father cooked and set out food for Virgil to eat if he became hungry, his son never came downstairs to join him for dinner.
On this rare occasion in which Virgil came down to eat dinner, his father took advantage of the moment to ask his son what was wrong. Across the table, Virgil remained silent, separating his peas from his mashed potatoes and stockpiling them into a pyramid like they were cannonballs. His mind was deep in thought, and, like his display of stockpiling the peas on his plate, he stockpiled reasons why he could not bar Daniel from his thoughts. Every possible solution came to mind: Daniel’s face, words, even actions posed as an interesting remedy to his affliction.
“Virgil,” His father asked, “did you hear me?” From across the table, Mr. Zachary stared at his son, expecting an answer. Virgil could tell that his father expected a good answer. His father hated to repeat himself.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Virgil said apologetically. He glanced up from his plate and gazed at his dad to fortify his apology. Although his father had left his job hours ago, Virgil noticed that Mr. Zachary still maintained his white dress shirt and red tie. It was typical of Virgil’s dad to remain in his work clothes all day until it was time for bed.
“It’s been a long day at school. I’m perfectly fine,” Virgil added quietly.
Soon after Virgil believed that he provided a strong reason that supported his disturbing silence, he quickly looked back down and began to disassemble the newly constructed pea pyramid with his spoon. Pea by pea, he tore down the pyramid until a green avalanche of the spherical vegetable spilled into his pool of mashed potatoes. He then sighed and put down his spoon. He couldn’t eat any more, although earlier he managed to finish off his steak and half of a serving of mashed potatoes. His mind was to preoccupied with the solemn promise he made to his friend. If he knew that the troubling feeling was persisting within him because of that accursed promise, he wouldn’t have agreed.
Virgil pushed back from the table, stood up, and began to walk out of the dining room and toward the stairs. The whole time, Mr. Zachary sat examining his son’s face for a clue about his son’s unusual temperament.
“Where are you going, Virgil?” His father asked worriedly. “You didn’t finish your dinner,”
“I’m…not that hungry, Dad,” Virgil responded sadly. His voice sounded like his thoughts: heavy and strained. “I’m going upstairs to finish my homework. I’ll come down to say goodnight, I promise,” With that, Virgil left the dining room and slowly made his way upstairs to his room.
Upon arrival in his room, he fell onto his bed. The thoughts plagued him more as he resided in the darkness of his room. Although his room was dark, he could still see the moon outside his window beside his bed. He looked away, fearing that the tormenting memories would strengthen within him if he examined the moon long enough. The moon continued to shine through his window and its rays fell on his bed. Each ray emanating from the overhanging moon was like a pale celestial blanket of light that seemed to consume his bed with its hallowed glow. The darkness of the room soon became a sense of security for Virgil. Darkness to Virgil was a realm of secrets, and he intended to keep these secrets in this light deprived void forever.
Just as Virgil’s eyes began to close as he watched the darkness on the other side of the room, his cell phone rang on his nightstand. Virgil sat up in his bed, and, turning towards the phone, he noticed that it was also bathed in the rays of the moon. Picking up the phone and checking the caller I.D., he realized that the caller was Maria.
“Hello?” Virgil said drowsily. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He suddenly realized that he was more exhausted than he had thought.
“Virgil? Hi, it’s Maria,” Maria said quickly. Her voice was sweet, and yet had a tinge of urgency in her voice.
“Hey, Maria,” Virgil said after another yawn. He had yet to shake off the sleep as Maria spoke. “What’s up? How’s your wrist?”
“It’s fine, Virgil. Thank you for asking,” Maria responded automatically. “Although, it is still hurting. But that’s not the reason why I called you, Virgil,” She said as her voice became less urgent. Her voice now acquired more of a sterner tone. From Virgil’s careful deduction, he realized that Maria had something important to say. He soon began to recline in his bed, awaiting Maria’s reason for calling him at this late hour.
“I wanted to tell you something about today,” Maria began. “Remember when Daniel pulled me aside as we were walking down the hall from lunch?”
“Yes,” Virgil said as his eyes automatically turned towards the moon outside his window. “It wasn’t that long ago, Maria. Why?” Asked Virgil. He shifted in his bed and wondered why this incident became of instant importance to him.
“Because,” Maria began with a slight hesitation, “while we were aside from the class, he asked me a question. He asked me…did I love him. I was totally surprised at this question, you know? It was a little out of the ordinary for Daniel. He said that we should be together, and that he wants an answer by tomorrow,”
Almost immediately, Virgil’s heart skipped a beat and sank into the pit of his stomach. The way Maria phrased what Daniel said had stirred him from his drowsy state and pulled him back to reality. Fumbling in the darkness as if he were frantically looking for his sanity, Virgil quickly turned on the lamp beside his bed. The white light immediately engulfed the darkness around it and devoured the moonlight that had previously drenched his bed.
“Oh, well do it,” Virgil said in a nonchalant way. As soon as he finished giving his advice, Virgil became sick with regret. In reality, his heart was tearing with every word that spilled from his mouth. Despite this depression, he continued giving his false support to his confused friend. “I think that you guys would be the perfect couple. So why not date Daniel? If you love him, its only right, right?”
“Your right, Virgil,” Maria said calmly. She had a discernable sense of resolution in her voice. “If I love him, why don’t I go out with him?”
Virgil became silent when she asked this question. Inside his soul, in the far recesses of his heart, he wanted to admit to Maria Ramos that he loved her. He couldn’t stand by and allow her to be swept away by his unusually handsome friend. To him, it just wasn’t right. “I don’t know,” He said mechanically. “Like I said, you both seem perfect for each other,”
“Yeah,” She said quietly. “I somewhat wonder why I love him, Virgil,” began Maria. “Ever since Daniel’s birthday, I fail to keep him off my mind. It’s like he’s engraved in my mind now, and I don’t think that will ever change. My hear and soul both yearn for him, Virgil,”
Virgil forced a laugh. It was more of a laugh of pity than a humorous one. He laughed because he felt the same for Daniel, and yet he knew that it was unusual to feel that way. “You’re right,” Virgil said as his eyes shifted back to the moon outside his window. “Daniel’s had that effect on me for the past three days,” Realizing his sentence seemed a bit awkward to him, he quickly added, “Well, because of his actions, of course,”
“His actions were pretty heroic,” Maria Ramos agreed. “I’ve never seen him so…attractive, so…well, great,” Virgil could tell that Maria was fantasizing. “He was like my night in shining armor, my hero,”
“Yeah, yeah I get it,” Virgil growled. Maria’s praise of Daniel made him remember his own incompetence. If only he could return back to that night…so he could be Maria’s hero. “No need to become romantic here,” Virgil began to recline in his bed. The shocking circumstances in which Maria called bothered him and he soon became tired. Staring at the now brightly-lit ceiling, he felt jealous of his friend. Although he was tired, the growing jealousy kept him awake to listen to Maria’s conversation.
“Virgil?” Maria said. “Are you still there?” Apparently, she had continued her conversation and soon realized that Virgil had not responded for many minutes.
“Oh. I’m still here, Maria,” He said somberly. His thoughts were now preoccupied with analyzing the rising jealousy within him. Why was he jealous? More importantly, who was he jealous at?
For thirty minutes after her confession, Maria talked to Virgil about other, less pressing things. She had nothing to do for the night and wanted to talk to one of her best friends. The whole time Maria talked to him, Virgil’s mind continued to discern why he could not let go of the fact that his two friends were in love. Soon, Maria’s talking became an annoyance to him and he finally had to say goodbye to her. She reluctantly agreed, and they both hung up.
Setting his phone back on the nightstand and turning off the lamp, Virgil laid his head on his pillow and welcomed the night into his room. Although the moonlight returned to its resting-place on his bed and nightstand, it did not bother him. Without changing his school clothes, Virgil closed his eyes and fell asleep, his mind still turning over the thought of the two star-crossed lovers.