CONFRONTATIONS
SHE RETURNED TO the college the next day, determined to find Anders again and set things straight. She mentally chastized [sic] herself for having such a slack jaw; if only she'd spoken up sooner, then maybe these thoughts wouldn't be zooming around her head. She went into the dormitory, to the third floor, and began checking out the door numbers. She passed the giant smiley face on Tasubo's door, and finally came to Room 408. She stopped and knocked.
A shuffle. A bright, cheery voice replied, "Come on in!"
Puzzled--the voice was not Anders's--she did, shutting the door behind her. There was another person here, shorter than Anders, with black hair and an earring, humming to himself as he made his bed and moved things around. "I was wondering when you'd show up," he said, starting to turn around. "I've been waiting since--oh." He blinked at her. "You're not Sid."
"No, I'm Julie. Julie Newcomb." She held out her hand, feeling stupid for intruding. Sidras was obviously a friend of this man. "I'm sorry if I barged in or anything."
"Oh, that's okay. People barge in all the time." He gave a crazy laugh as he shook her hand. "That's why Anders locks the door so much. Me, I don't really go for locked doors, they're a sign of paranoia if you ask me. Oh, by the way, I'm Dino. Dino Garris. Three-quarters Italiano."
Julie smiled. So this was Anders's roommate. She'd expected--something else altogether. Somebody different. Somebody more like Puck.
"Hi," was all she said. "I was just looking for Anders. Is he here?"
"Anders? Oh, no. He left early this morning. Always does. When he doesn't have any early classes, that is. He likes to go horseback riding out near in the old field behind the college campus." He waved his hand in the general direction of the back of the commons. "You could probably find him out there, or maybe in the woods nearby. Anders likes to go down and sit by the creek. We have a real nice creek out there, Booneytayle. [Note--long ago when I came up with the stupid name of this creek, I remember going through all sorts of idiotic spellings--Boonytail, Booneytail, Boonyetayle, Boonytaile, etc. etc. ad nauseam. Why "Booneytayle"? I have no idea.] Don't ask me how it got that name." He laughed again. "But that's what it's called. Booneytayle Creek. Only Anders calls it a stream." He howled this time.
Julie smiled again, only this time it was slightly forced. "Okay, then. I'll check out there. Thanks. And tell Sid I said hi."
"Oh, so you're a friend of Sid's?" He seemed ready to jump up and down for joy. "Hey, let me give you some advice. Go down to the stables just behind the college, near the rec center. Tell the guy in charge Sid sent you. You'll get a horse for free then, and then you and Anders can ride along together."
"Thanks," Julie replied. "I just might do that. See you later."
"Bye! Tell Anders I said hi!" He was back to tugging on his blanket and humming before she even left the room.
She left the room, stepping out into the hallway. As she came to Tasubo's room the door opened and Tasubo came out, stopping just short of running into her, and staring at her as she walked by. She tried not to stare back, wondering why he was looking at her like that, and jogged down the steps to the second floor. [Note--by now, I can't recall if Tasubo was meant to be involved in Puck's and Anders's abductions or not. I seem to think he was supposed to be involved, minimally, but I feel that might have in fact been in the Men In Black series instead. As my writing now stands, I do not think Tasubo is involved in any of this.]
She'd managed to procure a map of the campus from a newspaper slot on the wall of the lobby, near the door; this she looked at to find her way to the stables. True to Dino's word, as soon as she'd told the student in charge that Sid had sent her, and said to say hi, he led her to a stall and pointed out one of the horses for her to ride. It was just as well, as she hadn't brought any money with her anyway. Thanking him, she saddled up and led the horse from the stables, off in the direction of the field.
When she reached it she squinted across, trying to see if there were anybody out there. There was nothing, save the stump of a tree here or there. She turned to the woods, just off to the right. The wind wasn't blowing at all, and she thought she could hear, very faintly, the trickling of water.
Anders likes to go down and sit by the creek. Julie put her foot in the stirrup, mounted the horse, and rode in the direction of the woods.
It took her a few minutes to reach the woods, at her leisurely pace; Dino had said Anders didn't have any early classes, so there was no need to hurry. When she reached the woods the sound of gushing grew louder. She squinted ahead, and could make out the sunlight glinting on water.
As she neared the creek a new sound caught her attention, a sort of plinking. She stopped and cocked her head, trying to determine what it was. It was coming from the direction of the creek.
It sounded like fish jumping. Or pebbles being dropped in water.
She climbed down and tied the horse to a tree--she didn't want to have to pay for it getting lost--and crept in the direction of the sound.
As she came up to a stand of trees and peered around she could see what it was. Anders was seated upon a large, flat stone just above the water, tossing small rocks into the tumbling creek. His horse, a large white mare with dirty-colored legs, stood nearby, grazing at the few wisps of dead grass left. Anders himself looked as if he were in some kind of trance, tossing the pebbles almost mechanically, not even looking at them, but instead off in the distance, where the field continued beyond the woods. He seemed to be humming under his breath.
Julie cautiously tiptoed around the stand and made her way, quietly as she could, towards him.
She thought she wouldn't be able to recognize the tune he was humming, thinking it would probably be Swedish or something. So she was surprised when she found her brain mimicking his humming. A song by When In Rome. The Promise. [Note--obvious much?]
A bird, perched in the tree she was passing, flapped away, startled.
Anders's head jerked around; for the briefest split second, the look in his eyes was one of fear. It quickly turned to anger, which Julie was only slightly relieved to see turn to irritation.
"Hi," she said.
"What are you doing here?" he snapped back.
Nice to see you, too, she thought. "I was just wondering how you were doing."
"Well, I'm doing fine. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone."
She felt like complying, running back to the campus, but steeled herself and continued forward. His look of irritation increased, and he turned away, continuing tossing stones; only now he very nearly hurled them into the water. She reached the rock and sat down beside him. He didn't even look back at her.
"I said I'd like to be left alone," he echoed himself.
"I know."
"So why are you still here?"
"Because I thought maybe you'd like to talk."
He sneered at her; just once she would have given anything to see him look the way he had in her dream, if it had been a dream... "Listen, I came out here to be by myself, not to have anybody come out and be my shrink. I don't feel like talking right now. So, please go away."
Well, at least he's getting more polite. "I think you're lying."
Plink. "Well, you don't know that for sure."
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure myself."
Plink. "And what makes you think I'd like to talk to you?"
"Maybe because we're going through the same thing."
He raised his arm to toss a stone; and instead turned to look at her. "And how would you know?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing. "How would you know exactly what it is that I'm going through?"
She shrugged. "Maybe I'd know better if you told me."
He snorted. "Fat chan--" He cut himself off, and frowned at her, squinting. His hand reached out and he turned her head to the side, peering at her sore eye. "God. How'd you get this?"
"I don't know. Last night. I woke up and it was all red. It's not so bad now."
He looked distressed, somehow. She wondered why. He stood up, his hand still under her chin, forcing her to stand up as well. The white mare lifted its head and snorted in their direction.
"Last night?" was all he said. The tone of his voice implied a lot more.
"Yeah, last night. Why?"
In response he took her hand and very nearly dragged her over towards the mare. "Hey! What are you doing?" she cried, trying to pull free.
He stopped and looked back at her, but his eyes seemed blank. "Did you bring a horse out here?"
"Yeah, I did. Over there. Why--"
"Go get it." He let go of her hand so abruptly that she nearly fell over. He didn't make a move to help her. She stumbled in the direction of her horse, untying it and leading it back, not thinking to climb on. As soon as she reached him he got on his own horse; she followed suit, and nearly fell off when he grabbed the reins of her horse and yanked it forward. The horse snorted and jerked its head painfully.
"Watch it!" she exclaimed. Anders didn't say anything, didn't even look back, but instead continued in the direction of the college. "What the heck are you doing? Hey! What's going on?"
"We're going to talk with Puck," was all he said, and was silent the rest of the way there.
After they'd returned their horses, Anders took her by the hand again, and dragged her, protesting, from the stables. They continued that way all the way across the commons to the dormitory, through the lobby, up the stairs, to the third floor. When Anders reached Room 419 he stopped, not letting go of her wrist (which was starting to hurt more than just a little), and pounded on the door.
After a moment it opened, and Puck peered out, glasses perched on his nose, looking surprised. He looked from one to the other, from the stone-faced Anders to the squirming Julie. "A. C.? Julie?"
Anders pushed past him into the room, turning and slamming the door behind them. Puck jumped. Julie finally broke free and pulled away, rubbing her wrist and gaping at him. Anders turned back to the two of them, looking at them both.
"We need to talk," he said.
"You've got that right," Julie replied.
Puck's brows furrowed. [Note--that should be "brow," singular.] "Am I missing something?"
"Not any more than I am," Julie answered him. Anders went and sat down on the extra bed in Puck's room; it was left over from when Tasubo had moved out. Puck and Julie sat down on Puck's bed, staring back at him. Puck rubbed his hands together numbly, wondering what was going on. Anders didn't normally go barging into other people's rooms. He'd once complained to Puck how rude it was, before Puck had told him to just lock his door. He wondered what could make Anders so rude now.
Julie likewise stared back at him, still rubbing her bruised wrist, perplexed and a little bit frightened.
Anders just lifted his hand slightly, and nodded at Julie. "Look at her eye."
Puck did so.
"Her left eye."
Puck did so. Then he sucked in his breath, and looked again. He tilted her head to the light. That's two men that've touched me today, Julie found herself thinking, and so far I'm still just a curiosity.
"Damn," he breathed. "We were right."
"Right?" Julie pulled away from him, looking him in the eye. She felt a sort of primal fear working its way up into her chest, towards her throat. "Right about what?"
It was then that she finally noticed how red Puck's eyes were; she whirled to look at Anders, but he seemed all right, other than that strange blank look he had. "What's going on?" she barely managed to whisper.
"I got an earbleed and passed out yesterday morning," Puck replied. He tapped his ear. "My left ear." He motioned to Anders. "Anders got a nosebleed. His left nostril." He lightly touched her cheek, just below her sore eye. "It looks like you've had some problems yourself. With your left eye."
"What are you saying?" She couldn't keep the quaver out of her voice.
Puck pulled back and shrugged, giving a shuddery sigh. She was glad she wasn't the only one so rattled. "I'm not saying anything. I'm just stating the obvious."
"Do you think they did something, Puck?" Anders asked, in a flat monotone, hardly a question. "Do you think maybe they broke my nose, and punctured your ear, and then pulled out her--"
Julie jumped up; Puck put out a hand to stall the scream rising in her throat. "I don't know," he said, raising his voice a little, so that she sat back down, her hands balled beneath her chin. "I don't know what they did. Or if 'they' even did anything. Maybe it's just the dry air. Really dry air can upset your eyes and give you nosebleeds."
"Yeah, but can it puncture your ear?" Anders stared back at him.
Puck looked trapped. [Note--the "real" Puck would likely just say something bitchy.] "I don't know," he forced himself to say. "I don't think so. But I think it's an old injury. My ear's always bugged me."
"Has your ear bugged you, or is your ear just bugged?"
"Hold it hold it hold it!" Julie cried, jumping up again and clamping her hands over her own ears. "I don't know what you're saying--I don't think I like it--"
"You don't have to like it," Anders said, also standing, his voice also rising, but still flat and emotionless. "Nobody has to like it. But they do it anyway."
Now Puck stood. "Come on, Anders. You don't know for sure if they really--"
"Yes I do!" Anders whirled to face him, his anger finally bursting through. He jabbed a finger at his nose; it would have looked funny in any other situation. "They put something up there, you know they did. You were there. And they did it to you, and to you, too." He jabbed his finger at Puck, and at Julie.
"I never said I was anywhere!" Puck shot back. "I wasn't with you that night. You were alone, as far as I remember. And I don't remember any--"
"Damn it, Puck! We were ALL there!" He swept his arms out, as if encompassing the entire world. "Maybe not at the same time--but they could always take it out and check it over, and put it right back in--"
"Put what back in?" Julie shouted. She was sobbing by now. "Check what over?"
"These! These things!" Anders turned on her and jabbed savagely at her eye. She cowered back, ran into Puck, and clutched at him, burying her face in his shoulder. He put his arms around her protectively, shooting a look at Anders, one half of anger, half of fright. [Note--WAY WAY OOC MOMENT! Neither Puck nor Anders is acting in character in this particular part. Puck is an antisocial sadist. I. e., NOT the type to comfort a woman when she's down. Anders's behavior is more excusable considering the circumstances, but, Puck--comforting somebody? Nuh-uh.] "You know! The things they put in there to check us out! To keep tabs on us! These bugs!"
"Anders," Puck said, his voice holding more than a threat.
"They just stick them in and turn them on, and then they can tell wherever you are, and they can just pick you up whenever they f--king want--" [Note--OOOOH!--bleeped-out adult language alert! Back then this was way "mature" for me. And apparently when I originally typed up this note I had missed the earlier such instance, *LOL.*]
"Anders!"
Anders whirled around to glare at him. Puck stood his ground, Julie still crying into his shoulder, giving his friend a vicious look. The anger melted from Anders's face, and his arms dropped; he started looking around him, as if he'd somehow forgotten how he'd come to be pacing around his companion's room. He looked at Julie as if just noticing her, then at Puck. The look on his face was one of utter confusion.
"Nice to see you're back," Puck said evenly, his voice so frigid it sent chills down Anders's spine.
Anders shivered, looking around. "I--I--" He blinked, putting a hand to his head. He finally sighed and dropped his head, his eyes closed. "I'm sorry," he mumbled at the floor. "I think I kind of freaked out."
"Yeah, I think you kind of did."
A shuddery sigh. Anders shuffled his feet, feeling an angry embarrassment in the pit of his stomach. "I didn't mean to do that. I just--didn't get much sleep last night. I haven't been getting much sleep at all. My head hurts. I don't feel very well."
Puck's look and tone of voice softened. "Yeah, well, I haven't either. I don't think Julie has either. Huh, Julie?"
Julie lifted her head and snuffled, peering over at Anders cautiously, both of her eyes red now. Anders let out his breath and returned to staring at his feet.
"I'm sorry," he said again.
Julie let go of Puck, and he of her. She rubbed the tears from her eyes and sniffed, brushing back her hair. "Yeah, um...that's okay. I think we're all kind of stressed out."
"That's part of it," Puck said, not bothering to clarify on what the other part of it was. He decided they really didn't need to know right now. He put one hand on Julie's back, the other on Anders's, and steered them both gently towards the door. "Listen, why don't you two go and try to take a nap or get some rest or something. I assume you don't have any early classes to get to. Just go get some sleep and when you wake up try to do something to get your mind off all this. Then maybe after we've all calmed down we can talk or maybe go do something."
The two of them had been allowing themselves to be ushered out of Puck's room; however, at this last statement, Anders turned around to look at him. "Do something like what?" he asked.
Puck just looked back. "What else?" he replied. "Visit Al Goodwin, of course."
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