ethosa

"Toria!" Mum called from the bottom of the stairs. I rolled over in my sleep and remained silent. She called again and then came up the stairs. She stood at the door to my room and commented on the dishes, said it must be hereditary since my little sister does the same thing.

"She only does it 'cause I do it," I said.

"She's always been messy, though. I can get like that, too," she said and sat down in my computer chair. She almost missed the seat and laughed. "I smoked a doobie. Can you tell?"

I gave her a good look in the face. "No," I said. "But, you know, maybe Bethany and I are messy because we spent our childhood without a bedroom to ourselves?"

"Right, you shared a room with your dad..."

"And she was always with you."

"No, that was when she was really young. She's always had her own room since she was six. She's got no excuse, Toria," Mum said. "And you say I'm too nice to them."

"You are!" I said but didn't feel like going into detail. I grabbed my phone from my night table and checked my email. I pulled up the covers to my chin.

Mum picked up a Chapters giftcard from the floor and placed it next to me on the bed. "You still need this, or...?"

"Nope." I grabbed it with my index and middle fingers and flicked it back onto the floor. Mum laughed.

"That reminds me. Rico has the same giftcard, but only JJ likes to read..."

"I just bought two books from there the other day. They sell more than just books, you know?"

"Like what?" Mum asked.

"Like... stationary?" She gave me the mum-eye. "Electronics? Pass my chromebook."

"Where is it?"

"Right there in that pile of clothes." She handed me my chromebook and I searched up some stuff from the online store and showed her. She didn't seem interested. Her eyes wandered to the small stack of books I keep next to my pillow.

"Levathan ... Wakes?" she mumbled.

"Leviathan, mum."

"I don't see an I... oh, never mind. There it is."

I sat up. "Do you know what a leviathan is, mum?"

"No. What is it?"

"It's supposed to be a gigantic sea monster that God created."

"Really," she drawled.

"Yeah. The biggest creature in the sea. Huge. There were three others: Behemoth and Ziz. God was supposed to have made them, too."

"You know, I find it funny how you know all this stuff about religion but you're not actually religious yourself."

"Yeah?"

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. Let's not talk about it."