NOVEL SIMPLE Cycle 7 (Avi)
Avi opened the door to Nikki’s flat and stopped. It was a disaster. It looked like a hurricane had gone through the room.
Nikki, standing in the middle of the disaster, turned to face him.
“What ha-”
“My diary is gone!” she yelled angrily. “I looked everywhere! Someone took it!” She groaned, turned, and collapsed face-first onto the bed.
Avi sat down next to her. “Why would someone take your diary?”
“I don’t know,” she said into a pile of shirts. “Probably to read and laugh at.”
“You’ve lost it before, right?” he asked. “Where was it then?”
“Under the mattress,” she grumbled. “I looked there. And under the bed. But I remember putting it in the drawer with my shirts! Specifically! And it’s not there!”
Avi took her hand and started massaging it. “Is anything else gone?”
“I don’t think so,” Nikki said, rolling to face him. “I didn’t notice anything missing.”
“So someone came up here and specifically took your diary,” he said softly.
“Yeah.”
He frowned. “How rude.”
“I know!” She sat up. “Kimi says her diary is where she left it, so it’s just mine that’s missing!”
“I haven’t checked if my music book is still here,” Avi said. “Mika has like a dozen books, I could ask if any of hers are missing? Who else has a diary?”
“Everyone,” she grumbled, collapsing onto her back.
Avi brushed hair out of her face. “Maybe the Admin destroyed any diary that talks about how we weren’t always players. At least that way no one is reading it. We weren’t supposed to return, so we wouldn’t have noticed.”
“That’s still rude,” she said, moving close to him. “It’s my diary. If it needed to be destroyed, I should have been the one to do it.” She paused, then decisively added, “Nya.”
He smiled. “Want me to go ask Gin if anyone’s been up here?”
“No. Stay here and be miserable with me.”
“Ok.” He laid down and cuddled next to her, not miserable at all.