HOME | DD

Some Research — Description

Hattie glanced up at Carmine, exhausted. They'd been at it for hours, searching every corner of the internet and scouring every book in the library hoping to find some explanation for Star's hair change. Unfortunately, the only luck she'd had in finding similar occurrences clearly stemmed from illuminati conspiracy with no scientific evidence backing it up.
"Find anything?" She broke the silence after a moment of hesitation, unsure if the simple question would set Carmine off. He'd been strangely irritable lately, getting less sleep and avoiding interaction as much as possible. Hattie was starting to worry.
"Nothing, you?" He sighed, setting his book down, clearly out of it. He hadn't gotten consistent sleep in almost a week and was feeling the side effects.
"Just conspiracy." She studied him closely as he leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. They'd been sitting at her parents' kitchen table for almost four hours now, and both needed a break. Before she stood up to declare they should pause, though, she wanted to talk to Carmine.
Though she was a bit worried he'd blow up on her (again), she asked gently, "Is everything okay? You've been...less, um, stable lately."
He glanced up, a bit shocked by the question. "I'm fine. Just haven't been able to sleep, I guess."
She nodded, knowing that wasn't the full truth. "Well, uh...any reason why you haven't been sleeping?"
He sat up, pushing his book towards her and standing. "No. No reason at all." He said coldly, in a tone of mock-joy. "I'm doing a-okay, Hattie! Now, if you excuse me, I'm heading back to the camp site. We can continue this tomorrow."
With that, the turned and left. Hattie just leaning back in her chair, rolling her eyes at his immature reaction. She'd started to grow used to this. As the two most book-smart of the group, they'd paired up for most of the research trying to find a new home dimension far from the human realm for everyone else. Carmine had always been a bit odd.
He'd started out really quiet and shy, but soon grew more comfortable with everyone and became a bit more assertive and confident. Lately, though, he'd been nothing but distant and irritable. All of this confused Hattie, but anytime she tried to ask about it, she got either yelled at or ignored.
Taking a sip of coffee, she closed her book as well, adding it to the stack.
Tomorrow. She'd try again tomorrow.
(I refuse to reread this so sorry for spelling/grammar errors, hope you like this!)