So, remember that whole thing a few nights ago with Farouza’s return? Well, as it ends up I WAS dreaming. She came back with her brother and her father, not like I dreamt it was with her mother and her father.

Interesting.

Anyways so she came back from India that night, that’s why she arrived here at 2:30 in the morning.

So, last night I go to bed and sometime in the night…

I wake up and look at my clock -

4:37AM it glows.

Nature is calling me.

I get out of bed and am about at my door when I hear a slamming in the pantry, and the microwave door closing.

Surely no one can be awake at this hour - I look around my room but I don’t have so much as a baseball bat to protect myself if it IS a burglar.

I open my door a crack and immediately look at the front door. It’s still locked. I open the door further, look around the kitchen and I see -

“Farouza!” I say, a little jumpy. I thought there was a burglar or something. “What are you doing?”

“OH,” She says, turning around with a bowl in her hand. “You scared me, I didn’t hear you come out.”

“Likewise,” I say, “So what are you doing up so early?”

“I’m sorry did I wake you?” She says quickly. I rub my eyes to make sure I’m not dreaming again.

I’m not.

“No no, you’re fine. I woke up because…” I trail off, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at the bathroom.

She laughs.

“Oh of course. I’m still a little jet-lagged. I’ve stayed up all night cleaning up my room. Now I’m hungry and I can’t figure out what I want to eat.”

“At 4:30 in the morning?” I say, squinting into the bright kitchen light. She laughs again.

I go into the bathroom and come out a few moments later.

“Hey I’m glad you are awake,” Farouza says, pouring cereal into the bowl she was holding.

“Oh? You need to borrow something?” I say. Farouza just stares at me.

“How did you know? Oh nevermind, I was wondering if I could borrow some of your milk,” She says, holding up my almost-empty milk container.

“Of course,” I say, stretching a bit. I walk into my room.

“Well, erm, good night,” I say to her. She laughs.

“Yes, good night for you,” She says, stirring her cereal and milk with a spoon.

The time zone for India and America must be WAYYYY different if she is staying up all night and sleeping during the day.

Farouza told me this morning that one her friends said that it takes about 10 days for the jet lag to wear off. Of course since we are in school already, she hopes it doesn’t take that long.

Neither do I.

It’s late at night. I turn off my TV and go to sleep.

Some hours later…

BOOM - and some laughing. I hear people enter the apartment.

“Shhhh they asleep!” I hear a man say. I feel like he is in my dream, but I’m not sure. I open my eyes and look at my clock - 2:30AM it says.

I was having a dream about Ree and Farouza ganging up on my in some sort of verbal fight. Farouza was yelling at me to be quiet.

Anyways I woke up and there really were people out in the kitchen. I remember lifting my head to look under my door - sure enough, the light was on. I could hear someone banging something into the pantry (which is against my wall).

I fell back asleep - I dreamt that I was in the dorms and it was late at night and people were shouting in the hallway. I dreamt I got up and yelled at them to be quiet.

I hear another bang and I wake up again. I have a thought to go out there and yell at them as I used to do in the dorms. But, we are in an apartment and no one can be that loud - my tired mind reasoned.

I fell back asleep.

This is where I get confused if it’s a dream or not.

I went out into the kitchen. A man and a woman were helping Farouza unpack her grocery things. I see a man pick up a large jar of salsa and set it into the pantry.

“Oh I’m sorry did we wake you?” He whispered. I ignore him and find Farouza.

“My parents came down to help me unpack my stuff, I’m sorry if we woke you,” Farouza said.

“Farouza…it’s 2 in the morning!” I say, going over the counter. My mother sent me something from her house - it still hasn’t arrived. I rifle through the mail on the counter. I remember something.

“Oh, Farouza, I have been getting your mail and putting it here on the counter for you because our mailbox was getting full with the junk mail and stuff,” I say, pointing at the two neat piles that I created on the counter - one for junk, and one for mail.

Farouza nods and picks up a box of Rice-A-Roni and puts it in her cabinet. I explain that I took up the first two cabinets and the bottom one. She says she doesn’t know who put the dried prunes in one of the cabinet spaces - so she moves it to a lower one.

“I’m going to bed,” I say, and I went back into my room and fell asleep.

This morning my alarm goes off - I woke up with a headache.

I can’t distinguish between what my dreams were and what actually happened last night. Was I sleepwalking? Did Farouza really return?

I jump out of bed and go into the kitchen. Everything is exactly the way I left it, only…

I open the pantry door. Her stuff is not on the same shelf I saw them putting it in last night. The dried prunes are still right below my shelf, untouched. Farouza’s stuff is on the shelf right below that…

Including one jar of salsa and a couple boxes of rice-a-roni.

I look over at the counter - the mail is not in two neat piles - it’s in one big messy one, like I left it last night before I went to bed…

I jump in the shower and come out. I’m making a sandwich for myself for lunch today to have at work, when Farouza’s door opens!

“Good morning,” Farouza says, looking at me.

I start and look around at Farouza, standing in the bathroom doorway.

“Oh, good morning to you too,” I say.

I open my mouth to ask her a question, but no words come up. I seem to have temporarily gone mute - I am unable to ask her how she is doing, or even what time she returned.

I instead turn around and pack my lunch into my backpack that I’ve set on the table. I hear the bathroom door close a few seconds later.

I’m still thoroughly confused.