True Believers Chapter 17

17
[Untitled]

THAT EVENING PUCK WENT TO ROOM 408 AND KNOCKED ON THE DOOR; HE'D brought his books in case he got the chance to study any, though he doubted it. Dino answered the door, giving him a puzzled look, and he entered.

"Hi, Dino," he said.

"Hi."

Anders looked up from where he'd been sitting on his bed, likewise looking over a textbook; he motioned to a chair sitting near the nightstand and Puck sat down with a tired sigh.

"Study session?" Dino inquired.

Puck looked at Anders. "You mean you didn't tell him?"

"Dino?" Anders said. "I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"Heck, yeah! You helped me find my test study sheets. Ask away!"

Anders shuffled his feet against the carpeting, obviously uncomfortable. Puck didn't blame him. "Puck and I have to...settle something. Would it be all right for you to, you know, sleep over with someone else tonight?"

"Oh." Dino paused thoughtfully. "Sure. That's okay. Maybe Helmut and F. M. have room for me. I like F. M. He's really funny, y'know." [Note--Helmut Honecker and Fisker Martyn Zynda (of The Pro and "Black & White"), two other minor characters of mine. Helmut is German, of course, and FM is bipolar. It's a great combination!]

A faint smile from Anders. "Yeah, I know."

"You could always stay in my room," Puck offered. "It's a little bare but at least it isn't crowded."

"Naw, that's okay. I know F. M. He'll let me stay over. I hope you two settle whatever it is that needs to be settled. Oh, here--" he snatched up his books from his bed, and swiped his hand across it in a brief attempt to smooth out the sheets "--I'll just get these out of your way. Looks like you two've got some studying to do, too. Well," he finished, hurriedly moving around the room and snatching up some clothes, which were lying around haphazardly, "see you two later. Hope everything goes well!"

"Yeah," Anders echoed himself, as Dino swept out of the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving no trace of him ever being there, "we really hope so."

Another long, uncomfortable silence.

"Well," Puck finally said, breaking it and pulling out one of his books, "maybe we can get some real studying done, huh?"

Anders sighed. "Maybe." He stretched out on his bed and opened his book again, Puck doing the same on Dino's vacated bed. "What're you studying for?"

"Psychology. You?"

"Principles of Architecture."

Puck rolled his eyes. "You just can't pick anything simple, can you?"

"What's the problem? I like architecture."

"Okay, suit yourself. But I'm sticking with Pavlov."

"Suit yourself."

With that, they both returned to their books.

Several hours passed, seeming like forever. Puck tried reading over his material, but his mind just wouldn't stick with it. As soon as he came to the section on repressed memory he found himself especially absent from the reading, instead wondering about his own experiences with repression.

Anders was having the same problem, though he tried not to show it. He flipped through his book, pretending to carefully look over the pictures of buildings inside--they were wonderful buildings, edifices under which any other circumstances he would have found very interesting, but his eyes kept creeping to the clock. [Note--some transposed words in this sentence. I meant, "...edifices which under any other circumstances he would have found very interesting." He's not locating stray circumstances underneath the buildings, ha ha.] He finally forced himself to concentrate, and found himsel [sic] flooking [sic] at a geodesic dome. Gee, he thought sarcastically, seems familiar, doesn't it?

After a long while, both of them finally could stand it no more and glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight. They shut their books, Puck swinging his legs out of the bed and stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Guess we should be getting to bed," he remarked as casually as he could.

"Yeah," Anders said, and Puck wondered if that was a quaver he heard in his voice. "It's pretty late."

"G'night."

"Good night."

Puck got up and turned off the main light, then climbed into Dino's bed, pulled up the covers, switched off Dino's lamp and closed his eyes, snuggling into the pillow. Anders sat up in his bed for a few minutes, staring at him; then reached over and shut off his lamp as well. He lay down and shut his eyes.

What seemed like a very, very long time passed, and still he wouldn't doze off. He opened his eyes again, glancing at the clock. It was a little after one. He peered over at the other side of the room; Puck was curled up on his side, facing away from him, fast asleep by now. So why couldn't he get to sleep so easily? He sighed and lay back again, and stared at the ceiling for a long while.

Upon the ceiling, in the dim light cast by the streetlamps and the moon, he could just barely make out Owl in Flight. He suddenly remembered sticking it up there. Oh, well. At least it was something to look at. He traced its contours with his eyes, surprised at how well he could see considering how dark it was. He found himself thinking about it, wondering how long it had taken Puck to draw it, and exaclty [sic] what the deer in the woods had to do with it.

He was so absorbed in this that at first he didn't notice the low humming that was starting outside; he took it to be the sound of mosquitoes or moths buzzing at the lamps, until a bright light suddenly flashed through the window behind him. His eyelids, which had started to droop, immediately shot back up. There was a pause, and then the flash came again--brighter this time, and falling right across his face. He sat up abruptly and, not even bothering to look outside, whispered loudly, "Puck!"

No answer.

"Puck!"

No use; it was the same as with Dino, as if Puck were dead.

Anders could only stare at him a few moments, his mind fighting against itself, as the humming grew louder, the light brighter. Finally, he just lay back in the bed, staring at the ceiling again. Let them come, he thought.

Outside, the hum continued, and the light kept falshing [sic] through the window, in quicker intervals now. He tried to keep from shaking, trying to remain as still as possible, just like Puck; however, he could feel his arms and legs and neck growing tired from trying not to shiver. All over he felt cold, much colder than the balmy summer night would normally permit.

The hum seemed to change now, becoming higher pitched. The light, brilliant and blue, flooded the room. Anders shut his eyes tightly and swallowed, then opened them again, taking in a deep breath. He turned his head on the pillow to look off to his side, waiting...

...He was fighting to open his eyes again, his eyelids felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds! [Note--wouldn't someone like Anders be more likely to think in terms of...whatever...kilograms or something...? Meh, I don't know; I had a Victorian British character use the term kilometers instead of miles and it sounded weird plus another person said that was actually wrong. Screwy Europeans and their screwy metric system.] He murmured and swung his head from side to side; it seemed as if he'd never be able to get up. It was very light in the room now. He attempted to get his legs out of bed, only to nearly stand up, and then fall right over, nearly over Puck, who was still in bed.

He grumbled and tried to stand up, scrabbling at the sheets. "Klutz," Puck murmured, still half asleep. He felt like rejoining but his mouth wasn't working; in fact, his whole body wasn't working. He grabbed Dino's bedpost and pulled himself up, forcing his eyes open.

It was morning. The sun was shining through the windows already. With a start, he was suddenly wide awake. He glanced at the clock, and saw that the time was 10:02. Good thing it was Saturday.

"Puck!" he whispered, then, realizing it wasn't nighttime anymore, and that just about everybody should be awake by now, he spoke louder. "Puck! Wake up! Get up! Something happened!"

Puck was still in bed, apparently having gone back to sleep after Anders had awakened him; the sheets were twisted around his legs and spilling onto the floor. Anders cast a brief look at his own bed; it was the same there. Almost as if they'd spent a very rough night. Which he didn't doubt.

"Come on, Puck," he said, going over and shaking his companion's shoulder roughly. Puck grumbled and swiped at him. "Get up. Something happened last night."

"Go away."

"It was the light again, Puck. I saw it come in the window."

Puck snorted and puffed, opening his eyes and looking around groggily. It took him a moment to remember that he was in Anders's room and not his own; it was only after he'd asked, "Why's it so light in here?" that he remembered totally, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes, before Anders could answer.

"Light?" he said, all of what Anders had just said finally sinking in. "You saw a light?"

"Yeah. Coming in the window. It was after one o'clock. You were passed out."

"I don't remember a light."

"That's because you were zonked out. I tried to wake you but you were dead."

Still rubbing his eyes. "What did you see, then?"

"Well, I didn't notice it at first. But it was a humming sound. Really faint. Then this light flashed in the window and spooked me. The hum got louder and the light started flashing really fast. Then--" And he broke off, confused.

"Then what?"

"I--I don't remember. I just woke up. Just now. 10:02. It was like, I just went back to sleep!"

"Great," Puck muttered. "That went well."

"Well, there has to be some evidence that something happened," Anders insisted, pacing the room, nearly tripping over the sheets and kicking them out of the way. "I mean, I know that something--" He stopped and stared down at the sheets. "Wow," he breathed. "Bingo!"

"Huh?" Puck asked, finally taking his hands away from his eyes and looking up. His eyes grew wider.

Anders smiled triumphantly and pointed at Puck's sheets. "Look what you did to Dino's bed."

Puck could hardly tear his eyes away from Anders to look downward; there were several drops of blood on the sheets. He looked at the pillow, and saw that there was more blood.

"Your ear," Anders said, indicating his left ear.

"Yeah?" Puck said, pointing back. "Your nose."

Ander's [sic] hands shot up; he brought them down, some still-wet blood on them. He looked at his own bed, squinting now, and saw the same thing Puck had.

"Bingo!"

Puck stood up, staring at Dino's soiled pillow and rubbing his ear. Anders gathered up his own sheets and tossed them into the laundry basket, looking back in time to see Puck shudder slightly as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"I really didn't want to believe it was happening," he murmured, half to himself.

"Yeah, well, neither did I," Anders replied, gathering up Dino's sheets as well, and substituting some clean sheets of his own. "But now it seems we've got our proof."

"But what do we do now?"

"I don't know. Tell Al?"

"What can Al do? Except hypnotize us."

"Well, exactly. You do want to know what just happened, don't you?"

Puck only continued to stare at his reflection, the dried blood on his ear, his bloodshot eyes, the dark rings under them. "I'm not sure," he whispered finally.

He heard Anders sigh behind him, loud enough for him to hear, but said nothing. Puck decided not to say anything else either; he knew it would just lead to an argument, and that was the last thing he wanted this morning. He'd just turned away from the mirror when there was a knock at the door. Both he and Anders jumped; Anders, after trying to calm his jittery nerves, went to answer it.

He opened the door and there stood Dino, bright and cheerful as ever. "Good morning!" he piped. "Hope you two had a good night's..." He trailed off, noticing Anders's bloody nose, and Puck behind him, holding a paper towel to his ear, his eyes bright red. "...Something."

Anders attempted a smile to show he was all right; though Puck felt like a total idiot, he did the same. Dino smiled back, but it wasn't very convincing. "Good morning, Dino," Anders said. "How'd it go with F. M. and Helmut?"

"Oh, we didn't get much sleep last night," Dino said, quickly forgetting about the scene before him. He squeezed into the room and sat down on his bed, oblivious to the mess around him. "Y'see, when I went over there F. M. was working on some kind of science experiment and Helmut was trying to write a thesis paper, and then the experiment blew up all over the place, so we had to clean it up, and then we sat up the rest of the night talking about it." He chuckled. "It was rather funny. You should have seen it."

"What time was this?" Puck asked, ignoring the look Anders gave him.

Dino shrugged. "I guess we lost track of the time," he admitted. "But it sure was funny!"

Puck shrugged and went back to tidying up the room, including snatching Anders's sheets and pillow before Dino could set eye on them.

"That sounds interesting," Anders said, accepting the paper towel Puck handed him and rubbing his nose. Dino gave him a strange look but Anders only smiled as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Are you, uh..." he faltered, "...um--all right?"

"Yeah! Sure," Anders replied, as cheerfully as he could. In truth he felt rather nauseous. [Note--I'm pretty sure that word should be nauseated. "Nauseous" means causing nausea, as many people don't seem to understand--hence if you say, "I feel nauseous!" what you're REALLY saying is, "I feel nauseating!" and most people don't care to admit that they make others feel ill. One of my pet peeves of the English language. To put it simply--"nauseated = sickened," "nauseous/nauseating = sickening." As in, I'm nauseated by the nauseous misuse of these words! Now you know the difference--pass it on.] "Just another nosebleed."

"Oh. Gee. Hope it isn't getting to be too bad."

"Oh, no. Not at all. Hey, Dino, what's up on campus today?"

"Oh! Yeah! Did you hear?" Not bothering to wait for the obvious "no," he jumped up excitedly and answered for them. "They're having a party tonight at Adelphic Pi. They've got a D. J. and everything. It's gonna be a blast!" And he made a rocketing motion with his hands, attempting a booming noise.

"Sounds nice," Puck said, grimacing.

"Are you guys gonna be there?" Dino asked, looking from one to the other. He seemed rather anxious. "It'd be no good to miss it! Come on, Sid's making special cocktails for everybody!"

"Sure, okay," Anders said, now rubbing his temples. "Tell her we'll be there. What time?"

"Nine o'clock. It'll be great! See ya!" And he was gone.

A thick silence filled the room. Anders sighed and brushed at his mattress while Puck stared at him, still dabbing his ear.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked finally.

Anders looked at him. "What do you mean?" he retorted. "There's a party tonight. I thought you liked parties."

"Well, yeah, but after--well, you know--!"

"What? After this?" He spread his arms out. "What're we supposed to do then, Puck? Just let it get in the way of everything? We have to have lives, too."

"Sure, yeah, okay," Puck muttered. "Don't even allow some kind of cooling-down period."

Anders knew he shouldn't, and tried not to, but couldn't help it. He started laughing.

Puck only scowled at him. "I didn't mean it as a joke."

"I'm sorry," Anders laughed. "It just sounds kind of funny. You make us sound like cars."

"But don't you seriously think we should take it easy for a while?"

"Take it easy and what? Sit around? Mope? Ponder the futility of life? I don't really see the point of that."

Puck shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

Anders gave him a weird look, one corner of his mouth twitching. "Maybe for you, but then again, I'm not you."

Puck smiled tiredly and shrugged again. "Your loss."

He ducked the extra pillow Anders threw at him; it hit Dino's bedpost and fell to the floor. He stood back up, and the sudden motion made him grab the post for support as his head began to spin. Damn it, he thought. There it goes again.

Anders stopped grinning and looked at him anxiously. "You okay?" he asked. "Your ear--is it all right?"

Puck felt it; no, there was no blood coming out. Yet. "Yeah, it's okay. I'm just a little sick."

Anders sighed. "Yeah. Me too. Well, cheer up. We've got about eleven hours before that party. I'm going to go out to the Jamboree and look at the animals."

Puck felt like saying, "Wait, I'll come, too," but he just nodded. "Yeah...I think I'll go down to the creek and unwind."

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. See you at the party."

"All right. Have a nice trip."

Heck, this whole month's been nothing but a bad trip, Puck thought, but again said nothing as he sat down and put on his sandals.

* * * * *

He was sure the reason Puck didn't want to come with him was because of the noise; with how his ear had been bothering him, any loud sound was probably torture to him. But if Puck wanted to go to the stream--creek (he had to keep correcting himself on that one, and even then he couldn't tell the difference)--then that was fine with him. He really did want to check out the animals. [Note--this text is made up out of two files--the big word processor file and a much smaller printout--and the cutoff point is exactly following "torture to him. But." The rest of the text following "But" is from the printout and thus I may make typos; please point them out. Likewise, some formatting seems to be missing; I can't account for all of it (for example, "creek" above might have originally been italicized), but I'll try to mention when I'm just about positive it would have been present.]

They were all in separate barns; he stopped in the thoroughfare and glanced around, to see the buildings marked CATTLE--SWINE--POULTRY--SHEEP--HORSES. He peered into the poultry barn and saw it housed rabbits and ducks as well; he ducked inside to take a closer look. He'd raised rabbits when he was younger, back in Sweden; he smiled down at all the furry animals in their cages, and started mentally categorizing them, searching his memory to find out what breeds they were without looking at the tags.

"Hey, mister."

He turned his head; a little girl in a summer dress stood in the entrance, staring at him. He smiled uncomfortably; he didn't like being around little kids very much. They liked to stare a lot. "Hi," he said, and turned back to the rabbits.

"You got any rabbits in here?"

He turned back; she was still there, still staring at him. He bit his lip and shook his head. "No," he replied. "I used to raise them, though."

"Really?"

He nodded.

"What kind?"

"Several. Some lops and Angoras."

"I like lops."

He nodded again. Will she go away? he thought. [Note--"Will she go away?" should be italicized.]

"You from around here?"

He sighed inwardly. No, she won't. [Note--"No, she won't" should be italicized.] "No."

"Where're you from, then?"

"Sweden." He felt his jaw tighten.

"Really? That's across the ocean, isn't it?"

No duh! [Note--this would probably be italicized.] "Yeah, it is."

"I thought you were from somewhere else. You talk funny."

That got him; he'd thought he spoke like everybody else. Now the thought that he had such a thick accent bothered him. "Is it that obvious?"

"No, not really. Only a little bit."

That didn't make him feel much better. He wondered if, when he spoke, people made fun of him behind his back for sounding like a "Sveed."

"That's nice." He attempted to return his thoughts to the rabbits.

"Did you raise any cattle?"

He sighed, out loud this time, hoping she'd get the point. "No. No cows."

"Oh. I do."

"That's nice."

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. He moved away from her slightly, to another cage; inside was a batch of small black bunnies. Forgetting her for a moment, he smiled again, and poked a finger through the bars to rub one behind the ears.

"Do you go to college here?"

He tried not to growl. "Yes. I do."

"Do you know anybody else?"

He tried to contain it but a little bit of his impatience broke out. "Yes, I do know some people. Some people I don't."

She evidently sensed his annoyance, for she scuffed one foot against the ground, but didn't leave. "Do you know anybody who's good with cows?"

He looked down at her. "How would I know? What do you mean?"

"Well, a guy who likes cows. There was a funny man in the cattle barn some days ago and he was petting my bull."

Anders didn't see the connection Puck would have, had he been there; instead he shrugged, frowning at her, his face telling her to get lost. "I wouldn't know."

"He looked too young to be a student here. He was shorter than you. With this sand-colored hair. He ran out when he saw me."

Anders frowned, this time to himself, puzzled. Maybe...? [Note--this word might have been italicized.] "Where'd he run to?"

"Oh. The horse barn."

He fell silent again, and stared at the little rabbits in front of him, thinking. "He must be real good with animals," the girl said. "He was petting Stomper. Stomper's not too friendly. Even with me."

"Thanks," Anders said, absently, and turned and left by the back entrance before she could even say anything else.

As soon as he got out into the sunlight, the weird mood that had come over him vanished, as if burnt away by the sun. Whew! he thought. That was weird. [Note--"Whew!" and "That was weird" should be italicized.] He cast a look at the horse barn; for several minutes he stood there, torn, then finally turned and walked to it.

When he stepped into the wide doorway and saw all of the huge heads sticking out of their stalls, he paused, wondering if this was such a good idea; something forced his legs to move again and he went inside. Several of the horses looked at him, and wouldn't stop looking. Most of them were bays with white blazes going down their foreheads; two or three, however, were palominos, and there appeared to be a white one near the end.

He went to the white one; it lifted its head as he approached and whinnied softly. [Note--I think that would be a "whicker." But then again I just looked that up and it says it means "whinny." Uh...] He whistled to it, just as quietly, and reached out to rub its nose. It looked very much like Rosie, only not as gray; however, it had the same big, dark eyes as Rosie and

Siegfried [Note--probably italicized.]

all the other horses he'd ever seen

the one with the owls [Note--ditto.]

in his life; he smiled when it accepted some hay he picked up off of the floor, but when it moved its head closer to nudge him he backed away, suddenly afraid. The horse--he could see from its sign that it was a mare named Lucinda--neighed and bobbed its head, baring its teeth. Anders felt that strange feeling in his chest; that constricting feeling, as if someone had reached in their hand and was squeezing his heart. Someone touched his shoulder; he expected to jump and shriek, but instead all of the fear just drained out of him, and he took a deep breath and let it out. Jacob appeared from behind him, putting out a hand towards the horse's large head; it shook its head violently, then neighed again and licked him. It stomped a hoof, and fell silent.

"Th-thanks," Anders said, letting out a shaky sigh and leaning against one of the poles holding up the roof.

Jacob looked at him, seeming slightly concerned. "She wasn't going to hurt you, you know. She was just looking for more hay."

"Yeah, I know, but--well, I don't like horses too much."

"You don't? Then why were you in here?"

Anders shrugged, and sighed again. "I don't know. I used to have one once."

"Really?" He seemed a little baffled. "Oh. Did it throw you?"

"No. I don't think so." He looked up at the horse's large dark eyes, and suddenly understood. "Something different."

"What was your horse's name?" Jacob asked.

It seemed to be the stupidest question in the world. Yet Anders was willing to answer it, and more. "Siegfried," he said promptly, and he felt all the self-imposed barriers around him begin to go down as he continued. "He was a good horse--a bay with two white socks. He was pretty big too, and I guess he was getting on in years. I used to ride him all the time out into the woods by our house."

"I assume you had a lot of property."

"A big field, and some woods nearby. A lot like the terrain around here. We even had a stream--though here it's called a creek." He shrugged and smiled. Jacob smiled back. His smile made Anders think of Al.

"He was pretty smart, too, you know," he added.

Jacob nodded. "Of course."

"One time I fell down in the stream and hurt my ankle. I grabbed the reins and he pulled me right out."

"Horses are like that."

"I know. Sometimes you don't even have to tell them anything. They just know."

It was then that he suddenly realized he was on the verge of pouring his heart out to some weird kid whom he'd just met several days ago, and barely knew anything about. From what Puck thought of him he wasn't a very good person to place trust in, either. The barriers started climbing back up. "Listen," he said, standing up from the slouch he'd gone into against the pole, his voice sounding a little more stiff than he'd expected, for Jacob took a step back, "I think I should be going now. It was nice talking with you, and--"

"Wait a minute," Jacob interrupted. "They have a stable on the other side of campus. Riding horses. You liked to ride horses, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Anders admitted, uncomfortably. "But that was before--"

"Before what?" Anders didn't answer, and Jacob didn't prod. "Listen, I've got a ticket here for a free horse ride, and I don't feel like using it. Why don't you take it?" He reached out his hand, holding out a brand-new ticket.

Anders stared at it for several moments--for some reason he felt as if he were a saint being tempted by Satan--then found his own hand reaching out and taking it. He placed it in his pocket. "Thanks," he said numbly.

Jacob smiled; either he didn't hear the catch in Anders's voice, or he was ignoring it. "You're welcome. I hope you enjoy your ride." He turned around and left the barn, disappearing out into the crowded thoroughfare.

Anders stayed where he was; he pulled out the ticket and continued staring at it. His legs moved of their own accord again; he felt himself being propelled out into the thoroughfare, past the other barns and booths, towards the rides, onto the Green. [Note--rather than "of their own accord," I believe I meant "of their own volition." Though I just looked that up and it seems they both mean about the same thing. Basically what I mean is his legs seem to be taking him places without him consciously willing it. Whatever. *shrug*]

Then he felt as if something, something from above, were tugging at him; he started to jog. Then he started to run. He quickly gained speed. His feet were going faster than he ever thought they could go; he spread out his arms, and even let out a loud hoot as he dashed past the concession stands set up for refreshments, going too fast to notice the strange looks everybody gave him. He didn't care anyway. In that moment, nothing else mattered--he felt as if he could fly. [Note--WTF is with you, Anders? Are you high? Cripes how stupid.]

* * * * *

Puck sat on a ledge overlooking the creek, staring down at his reflection wavering below. He poked at it with a stick and watched his face contort, shatter, and rebuild itself in the water. His sketchpad sat beside him, unheeded; he didn't feel like drawing anything today, as he had last time he was in the woods. Indeed he didn't really feel like doing anything much. After sitting there for the longest time he heard a rustling, snapping behind him. His shoulders tensed slightly; in the water a white face appeared beside him. "Deer...?" he murmured, turning around. A large horse stretched out its neck to nuzzle him. He caught it, surprised, and saw that Anders was riding it. Anders smiled and waved down at him.

"Hi, dear, to you too," he said.

"I thought you hated horses," Puck said, patting its nose. It reminded him of Rosie, except that it was snow white with a black mane.

"Yeah. So did I," Anders said, with a shrug. "But I couldn't let the riding ticket go to waste."

"Just make sure to keep an eye on it--"

"Him."

"--Him or he might end up the same way as Rosie." Puck tried not to shudder at the memory of the horse's carcass sprawled out in the field. He noted that Anders looked uneasy too, and patted the horse's head, scratching behind its ear. "Where'd you get the ticket?"

"That Sanders kid. He saw me in the barn and gave it to me."

"Hm." He didn't say anything about the conversation he'd had with Jacob, instead continuing to pet the horse. He only wondered why he'd given up the ticket when he liked animals so much.

They were silent for a long time, the only sounds the chirping of birds and the gurgling of the creek. The horse stomped one foot, seeming impatient.

"Well," Anders said, also patting the horse, "I guess we should get going back. I've been riding around for a while. I've still got a few things to study for Monday."

"Yeah, me too. Wait, I'll come with you."

Anders turned the horse around and they walked out of the woods. Slowly the ruckus on campus grew louder, until they finally reached the stable, where Anders turned in the horse; then they continued on to the fairgrounds. Both of them looked at the Gravitron as they passed it, but said nothing. As they passed the Little Nevada station Sid yelled and waved them over; they turned and went inside to meet her.

"Hi!" she said, from behind the concession stand she was minding. "Come on over here! I was trying out some new things for tonight, and I think I've finally come up with something. I want you two to try it and give me your honest opinion."

"Okay, if you don't mind honesty," Puck said, taking one of the cups she offered him. Anders took one as well and they tried it out.

"What is this?" Anders asked, looking at it thoughtfully.

Sid shook her head. "First you have to tell me what you think."

"Why?" Puck asked. "Is it cockroach intestinal fluids?"

Anders gagged.

"No!" Sid retorted. "Just tell me what you think!"

"Well, it's a little sour," Puck replied.

Anders shrugged. "I thought it tasted okay."

"Maybe you're used to sour things in Sweden. What is it, Sid?"

"Kiwi and lime cocktail juice," Sid said; Puck and Anders finished and handed the cups back. "Maybe you're right; I thought I put in a little too much lime. Well, thanks. You'll get to taste this and some other things tonight! [Note--cripes, Sid sounds dirty.] Oh, you are coming, aren't you?" [Note--"are" might have been italicized.]

"Yeah," Puck said, looking at Anders, a little too sharply.

"Great! I'll see you then. Bye!"

"Bye," Anders said, stepping away from the stand; Puck turned around to follow him. He yawned tiredly as they walked across the Green, rubbing his eyes; they felt kind of itchy today. He just hoped he wouldn't have to wear those stupid glasses at the party.

"My head's going to fall in two once they get to the loud music," he said aloud.

Anders glanced at him briefly. "Wear earphones."

Puck snorted. But he was thinking, In truth that's not a bad idea. [Note--starting with "In truth," Puck's thought should be italicized.]

He sighed; they finally reached the administration building--he had to get some study materials from one of the instructors, though he wasn't sure exactly why Anders was going there--and let themselves inside, the wide door swinging slowly shut behind them.

* * * * *

In reality, Anders had nothing major to study; he already understood most of the principles of architecture, as it had been an interest of his for years. He went back to his dorm room to take a nap until the party, setting his clock for eight-thirty. It wasn't the clock that woke him, though; it was a deep thrumming, which started out in the back of his head, worked its way to the front, and wrapped itself around his whole body, filling the room. It took him a few minutes to actually notice it, and his eyes popped open. He lay very still, listening; it wasn't so much that he could hear anything as he could feel it, coursing through him; like a deep pounding, almost rhythmic. [Note--the words "hear" and "feel" might have been italicized.]

His mind said, Panic time. [Note--"Panic time" should be italicized.]

But he froze, and listened a little longer; the pounding actually did have a rhythm. [Note--"did" might have been italicized.] And that rhythm sounded a lot like rap.

He let out his breath and sat up, wiping his brow from where the sweat had started to collect when he hadn't recognized--or more like misrecognized--the sound. [Note--I probably italicized that "misrecognized."] He glanced at the clock. 8:24. Obviously someone had decided to start the party early.

The room was in a deep shade by now; he got out of bed and stretched out a kink in his neck. He just couldn't believe the music could be so loud as to hear it way on the other side of campus! He started to regret dragging Puck into this after all.

The air outside was balmy, the sky still rather light but fading; he jogged across the lawn, throwing on a light jacket in case it got colder. Some of the pounding was coming from the fair rides; it appeared the music being played at the frat house was being broadcast at the Jamboree as well. No wonder it was so loud. He got to the house to see a large group of people milling around outside, chattering and laughing, a couple of them even smoking. He wrinkled his nose; he hated the smell of cigarette smoke. There was a whistle which he could barely even hear; he was surprised anyone else could understand a word that was being said. He glanced around. Puck sat on the porch, waving a hand at him. Anders climbed up the steps to meet him--and nearly laughed at the sight of the large headphones covering his ears.

"Still bugging you?" he shouted, pointing to his left ear and wincing so Puck could get the picture.

Puck nodded and winced back.

"It's early!" Jabbing a hand at his watch.

Puck shrugged. Then he twirled a finger at his temple and stuck out his tongue.

Anders gave him a funny look, not quite understanding what that meant; he shrugged as well and looked around to see if there was anybody else he knew. Dino was down below, talking excitedly with a group of people; he couldn't see Sidras anywhere. He scanned the yard. Just groups of people, yammering and screaming; then he saw Gavin making his way up the walk. "Excuse me!" he yelled to Puck, who shrugged again and, picking up a stray Frisbee, tossed it and hit someone in the head.

Anders jumped from the porch and darted through the crowd to reach Gavin before he could run into anything; when he grabbed Gavin's arm, rather roughly, the blind man just turned his head and smiled at him.

"Thanks," he had to shout.

"No problem," Anders replied. "This way."

Something white and disk-shaped [sic] whistled at them; Anders gasped and ducked, Gavin doing the same, only as if he were expecting it. Anders's head shot up and he glared at Puck; Puck merely shrugged a third time and smiled helplessly.

"Sorry about that," he shouted as soon as they rejoined forces on the porch. "But somebody threw it at me and I had to toss it back."

"Huh? Never mind," Anders said. "Can we go inside?" He jerked a thumb at the door.

"Sure, guess so."

"Well, c'mon!"

Puck dropped down from his perch and followed them inside.

Now Anders found he had to cover his ears; the music was deafening. [Note--the formatting seems to pick back up here.] He craned his neck and could see that the door leading down to the Pit was open, for once. The main speaker system itself--he assumed Puck must have helped set it up--must have been down there, with extra speakers up here and outside. After several minutes, he found he could remove his hands without excessive pain, though his ears were starting to ring. He wondered how Puck was faring with those headphones of his.

He turned around and clapped his ear.

Puck shrugged and clapped the headphones.

Guess he's all right then. He continued looking around. There were lights flashing; when he peered at Puck, Puck nodded and made motions with his hands to indicate he'd helped hook them up and program them to flash to the music. Anders had figured that much.

"Downstairs!" he yelled.

Puck frowned, and cupped one of the phones.

"Pit!" Anders nearly screamed, feeling his throat getting scratchy. "Basement!" He pointed at the floor.

At first Puck looked at his feet, wondering what Anders meant. But then he apparently got it and nodded, pointing at the door.

Excusing himself to Gavin, who apparently was now blind and deaf, he slipped through the crowd towards the basement door. There were even people lounging around on the stairs! "Excuse me," he hissed, a little too snidely; the music was still very loud but not as loud as upstairs, as the room down here was bigger and not so noise-confining [sic]. A pair of coeds moved out of the way, giggling at him. He ignored them. Puck followed and they giggled at him too; when he shot them a withering look they stopped, and went back to what they'd been doing, only to start giggling when they'd reached the bottom of the stairs.

The Pit was crowded, but neither so bad as upstairs; here it was bigger and the people weren't bustling around as much. Instead several were dancing, while small groups had formed around the sides of the room. A stage had been set up in front of the fireplace, as it always did when there was a party; though for the life of him Anders couldn't understand why they'd bothered to include a fireplace in a basement. [Note--there's some awkward phrasing in this sentence, I realize.]

"Hey! Glad you could make it!" Anders turned, on hearing someone talking to Puck. Puck slapped Ozzy Lewis's hand; Ozzy was one of the student "leaders," in practice if not in title. "Y'know, you don't get out nearly enough."

"Huh. I was thinking maybe I got out too much."

Ozzy chuckled. "Yeah, well, stick around for a while. I'm still trying to find out what your favorite song is. See you later."

"Later." Ozzy moved off to talk to someone else. Anders tapped Puck's shoulder and nodded in his direction.

"How long've you two known each other?" he murmured.

"I don't know. Probably since I got here. Look, there's Sid."

A makeshift bar had been set up to the right; apparently there hadn't been enough room in the kitchen upstairs, and of course it wouldn't have been prudent to place it in one of the upstairs bedrooms--Lord knew what they might find up there after several hours. Puck pushed several students out of the way to reach her; as soon as he and Anders had made it she presented them with two of her kiwi and lime cocktails.

"Sweetened it!" she said in greeting.

"You're sweet, too," Puck replied, pretending to mishear what she'd said. At least Anders was hoping that was pretend.

Sid giggled. "Oh, shut up, you. Try it out. Oh, wait!" She ducked beneath the counter, came back up, and stuck two little umbrellas in them. "Ta-da! Okay, now try them out."

Puck and Anders did as they were told. "Pretty good," Puck said, while Anders looked at his. "You said you sweetened it?"

"Yeah. Plain ol' sugar. Except for Dino. When he heard I was making something new he had to try it out, so I used Nutrasweet on his."

"Mm-hm." Puck continued drinking his and looked around the room. Sid waved and winked at Anders and disappeared. Anders turned around to see whatever Puck was looking for.

"I wonder how long before everybody gets drunk and passes out," he wondered aloud.

Anders just looked at him.

Puck sighed. "Oh, well." He stretched his arms. "What say we go upstairs and start tossing the waterballoons?"

"The what?"

"Waterballoons." He pulled a small bag out of his pocket and produced a handful of small balloons, giving a wicked smile for good measure.

Anders shook his head. "Uh-uh. No thanks. If anybody gets trampled to death I don't want to be the one responsible."

"Suit yourself." But he put the balloons away and stretched again. "Lord, I'm tired. I should've slept some more instead of helping these morons put up their friggin' lights."

"So you did program all of this?"

"Hell, yeah. Who else do you think could do it?" Though Anders could tell by the way he said it it wasn't meant to be a boast. "Certainly not Gabe," Puck continued, startling him. "Of course you know how he'd act if he even got near one of these lights--"

"Puck."

"Can you imagine how he'd freak?" Puck put his hands up, mimicking almost exactly--though he didn't intend to--Anders's own movements during his hypnosis session. "Eeee! The lights! They're hurting my eyes! EEEEEEE!! THE LIGHTS!!"

"Puck!"

Puck only burst into laughter and looked at him. Anders tried to appear angry, though in truth he felt more anxious and a little embarrassed by Puck's behavior. What if Damon were around? "Oh, come on, A. C. It was just a joke."

"It's not a funny one. You know that."

"Yeah, I know. But he's just so flipped all the time. He should learn to chill out."

"Yeah, Puck. Chill out and wait to see the light."

"There you go! C'mon, let's go upstairs. This place bites."

Anders sighed but followed him, shooting around furtive glances. He was relieved when he didn't notice Damon.

Anders cast a look at the clock when they got upstairs; it was almost nine-thirty already. He sighed; maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to come here after all. He felt tired too. But he didn't want to give Puck the satisfaction of knowing it. So he excused himself from the dancing and sat down on one of the window ledges, listening to the music. Puck disappeared almost immediately; Anders just hoped he wasn't going to carry out his threat of waterballooning everybody.

"Hi, A. C.!"

Anders turned his head; Dino made his way to him through the crowd and climbed up beside him. "Loud, huh?" he shouted, plugging his ears. Anders nodded.

"Yeah," was all he said.

"Hey, why're you sitting over here?" Dino yelled in his ear. "Don't like this song?"

"Don't like dancing very much. Nobody to dance with anyway."

"Man, you're such a wallflower! Look over there near the hallway!"

Anders did; he could see the same two coeds that had been on the steps earlier. They were still giggling and shooting glances in his direction. As soon as he looked at them they seemed to giggle harder and started whispering.

"I think they like you!"

"I don't think so," Anders replied.

"You are a wallflower!" Dino sighed. "What, would you like me to ask one of them?"

"No!" Anders caught Dino's arm, pulling him back. "No thanks. I'm not interested."

Dino gave him another look, this one of utter disbelief. Anders felt his ears grow hot. "Wow," he said. "You really aren't interested, are you?" [Note--finally somebody who notices the too-prevalent Anders/Puck subtext...?]

"Not right now. Why don't you go find Sid? She's made some more of those cocktails."

Dino only stared at him a moment longer; Anders found himself gritting his teeth, wondering just what was so wrong about not being interested in a couple of giggling, ditzy coeds. "Okay," he said, finally. "See you later."

"Later." He watched as Dino made his way to the basement; his teeth gritted again as soon as one of the coeds grabbed Dino's arm and said something. Dino said something back, and disappeared into the basement. One of the women made a pouty face; the other one just turned back to him and winked and waved, pointing upstairs.

"God." Anders turned away abruptly, his whole face flushing, his teeth ready to break. He jumped and yelled when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Puck jumped back too, looking surprised. Anders put a hand to his chest as if to slow his heart down. "What?" he snapped.

"Just wondering if you're okay. I saw you looking kind of funny."

"Yeah, well, those two over there are showing a little too much interest in me."

"Really? What two?" Puck turned and started looking around. "Oh, them!" He waved. The woman who'd pouted waved back, and the other one blew a kiss.

"Stop that!" Anders hissed, grabbing Puck's arm and bringing it down. Puck gave him an infuriating smile. Didn't anybody take anything seriously around here? "If you'd really like to converse with them so much, tell them I'm not interested."

"Easy, chill out. Neither am I." He turned back and winked, pointing surreptitiously at Anders, and then at the ceiling. The two giggled and went upstairs together. [Note--erm--the two coeds! I swear!!] "There, you feel better now? Sometime later tonight there's going to be two heartbroken women up there sobbing their eyes out over what could have been." He started to sing. "Memory, all alone in the moonlight--" [Note--just letting you know I'm too lazy to look that up to see if the lyrics are correct. This little stunt and comment, BTW, sound a lot like something Damien or Gold Rat might do.]

"Shut up! What time is it?"

"A little after ten. God! You keeping an eye glued to the clock? Got a hot date?" He actually howled with laughter; Anders began to wonder how many of Sid's cocktails he'd been drinking.

"As a matter of fact, no," he said, stressing the "no." "At least I hope not. You should hope not either."

Puck stopped laughing to look at him; his own face grew serious. "Do you really feel like something's going to happen?" he asked. "Tonight?"

"I don't know. I just feel kind of tense."

"Well, chill out then. Come on, Sid's been mixing up some other drinks since you were down there. Let's see what other wild and wacky--"

He was cut off by several shouts and screams; the lights sputtered and something flashed over them. Both he and Anders ducked, as if the weird light would hit them; almost immediately it was gone and the electricity came back on.

"What the hell was that?" Anders squawked. Puck jumped down and went over to look out the window, pulling down on the horizontal slats. Someone had turned off the music, or else it had gone off on its own when the lights did; he squinted into the darkness outside, but could see nothing.

"I don't see anything--" he started.

The lights began blinking again. Several people shrieked. The stereo speakers started humming and hissing; Anders blinked at the ceiling as the lights browned out, still flickering. There was another bright flash from the window.

"Damn!" Puck hissed, ducking down and rubbing his eyes painfully.

"What is that? What was that?" several people were yelling. Ozzy joined Puck at the window and looked outside as well; he couldn't see anything either.

Suddenly, one of the lightbulbs popped. Someone screamed. Anders jumped back convulsively. Another bulb popped. A speaker blew out, shooting sparks all over the room. The students nearest to it jumped back as well, not wanting to get set on fire. The other speaker thrummed loudly.

"What is it?" he hissed finally, jumping down to join Puck and Ozzy.

As if in response, the flash came again, only this time it wasn't just a flash; a brilliant light came pouring through the window, streaming between the slats and landing on the students within. Now everybody started to panic, and push their ways towards the door.

Anders made it to the window despite being continually pushed back and looked outside.

"Wow," was all Ozzy said.

Anders's jaw fell. He couldn't believe what he was seeing...even though he knew he must have seen it somewhere before.

High up above the treetops out back, so far up that the three of them had to crane their necks and press their faces almost to the window to see, was some large--thing (Anders found he could think of no better word to describe it); in fact it wasn't the thing itself that they could see but rather its outline, from the stars it was blocking, and the lights flashing on it. It appeared to be triangular, but it was hard to tell as it seemed to be

moving?

flashing too brightly to tell; there were lights all over--blue ones, red ones, white ones, yellow ones. Anders had to shield his eyes too, as Puck had done.

"What do you suppose that is?" Ozzy asked, sounding very neutral for the situation.

Puck wasn't the one to answer. Instead he backed away from the window, feeling that same constricting feeling that Anders had, as if something was trying to force his heart up through his throat. Anders could swear he heard a whimper escape him, but he couldn't be sure because of the din created by the other students.

"Quiet down!" Ozzy shouted back at them, waving a hand. "I'm sure it's a helicopter."

"That's a helicopter?" Anders said with disbelief.

"I've seen some weirder looking ones, if that's what you mean."

"But it's a triangle--!" [Note--these triangular craft, named "Deltavolants," play a big part in my Men In Black series.]

"A trick of the light. They're made to do that."

"Could it be a Stealth Bomber?" Dino, from somewhere behind them, offered. [Note--er, didn't he just go downstairs--?]

Ozzy just gave him a look which said, Mind your own business. Dino cowered away.

"I wonder what it's looking for," he said out loud.

As if in response, another beam of light shot through the window and fell over them. This time everybody but Ozzy ducked; when it vanished they all popped up again, like a collective jack-in-the-box. All of the lights on the object turned off; then the sky was clear, as if nothing had ever been there.

There was an awed silence. Puck, Ozzy, and Anders continued looking out the window, seeing nothing but low clouds rolling in. There was the distant rumble of thunder.

"Holy shit," someone in the crowd said.

Ozzy snapped back to life and clapped his hands. "Okay, everybody, show's over." Puck and Anders turned around and gaped at the weird scene that greeted them. The broken speaker was still hissing and sputtering, tossing off a few sparks now and then. The other one was now emitting a very, very low fizzy hum. Everybody--everybody that was left, that is--was half crouched on the floor, looking ready to jump at the least possible provocation. They all looked bewildered.

"Come on," Ozzy said, giving them a dirty look. "If the Feds had wanted to storm the place they'd be here by now."

That seemed to reassure everybody, and they stood up, mumbling and shuffling around. Somebody muttered that they hadn't even been scared. Somebody else snorted and said "Yeah, right." [Note--the comma after "said" is missing--typo!]

"Wow!" Dino exclaimed, almost jubilantly. "That was cool!"

Now the students all started talking, heading for the door. Apparently the party was over for the night. Anders found his feet to be working and unbent his own knees, tugging on Puck's arm. The two of them stood up straight from their crouch. Anders looked down to see Gavin coming their way, his cane tap-tap-tapping upon the floor. He was panting slightly, having run upstairs from the Pit.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"You missed it," Puck replied, in a queer, flat voice.

Sid came hurrying up behind him. "Sid, you shoulda seen it, it was GREAT!" Dino screeched, near hysteria. "There was this really bright beam of light and it--"

"Come on, clear out," Ozzy yelled at the other remaining students; Anders cast a look at him but he hadn't meant them. "There's always other weekends." He stopped before the burst speaker and stared at it.

"--shooting all over the room! Everybody went nuts!" Dino was yammering to a wide-eyed, open-mouthed Sid. "The lights blew! The speaker went out! It was wild!"

By now just about everybody had left, even Ozzy, who unplugged the music system and exited, muttering, with the broken speaker; only Puck, Anders, Gavin, Sid, and Dino were left. Puck and Anders turned to look at the window; Gavin cocked his head, frowning.

"--and I mean I've never seen anything like it--"

"Do you hear something?" Gavin asked, his voice just barely audible.

"No," Puck said. "Why?"

But even as the words came out he thought he could hear something.

Sid held up a hand to halt Dino's yammering; surprisingly, he stopped. "What's that?" she asked.

No one answered. They didn't know what that strange humming sound coming from outside was. If it had been daytime, Anders would have responded by saying "Grasshoppers"; ever since he'd come to Michigan he'd heard them as the heat grew, making a weird hissing, buzzing cacophony in the woods. [Note--firstly, another comma after "saying" is missing, though that might have been intentional; unsure. Secondly, rather than grasshoppers, what Anders is referring to are cicadas. I was long ago told that it was grasshoppers making that noise, when now I know better. I don't know if they have cicadas in Sweden.] But this was lower, and it wasn't the daytime.

Instinctively, both Puck and Anders started to back away from the window. Gavin stepped forward tentatively, cocking his head, as if he might actually be able to see something, which Anders knew was crazy, but you never knew; but he could most certainly hear the strange humming-buzz, that was growing louder, appearing to swell like a balloon might underwater, until it gets so big that it-- [Note--why would a balloon be swelling underwater...? Did I mean under water, like a water balloon?]

CRASH!!

The five of them screamed and threw their arms up as the window imploded, shattering glass all over the room. They all fell down, Puck landing near the wall, Anders banging down on his elbows; his breath escaped his mouth in a sharp hiss of pain. Sid and Dino landed in a heap; Gavin had fallen just beneath the window, and he was just getting up again, shaking his head.

Puck gasped for breath, trying to get up. His ankle hurt again; he bit his lip and pulled his leg out from underneath him.

"Is everybody all right?" he called out, just realizing that now all of the electricity was out. "Is everybody all right?"

"Y-yeah, I think so," Dino said, his voice quavery and unsteady. Sid was making funny little yelping sounds; Dino helped her to her feet and she began frantically brushing the glass from her hair.

Puck stumbled to Anders and bent to help him up; Anders came up readily, but he was wincing and cupping his arms in both hands. He nodded at Puck. "I'm okay. Nothing a little BenGay [sic] can't help." [Note--*must refrain from commenting...*]

"Gavin?" Puck looked over Anders's shoulder at the blind man, who was still kneeling beneath the window, shaking his head as if dizzy. "Gavin, you okay?"

Anders went over to help him up; he bent down to look at him and see if any glass had cut him, and at the same time Gavin lifted his head and his eyes locked right on Anders's.

Eyes--?

Yes, it was his eyes, not the round glasses; the glasses had apparently fallen off when the window blew. But it wasn't that that startled him and caused him to take a breath and move back. It was the fact that Gavin's eyes were very dark. [Note--don't even ask me how anyone is able to see well in here now.]

"Hey, are you all right?" Puck came up now, taking Gavin's elbow. The stare--Anders realized now it hadn't been a real stare, only a blank look--was broken and Gavin "looked" up in Puck's direction, feeling for his hand. Anders stood up as well, rubbing his forehead. Seeing Gavin's glasses, he stooped to pick them up.

"Yeah," Gavin said finally, with more than a little bit of a quaver in his voice. "Thanks."

"Here," Anders said numbly, pressing the glasses into Gavin's hand.

"Thanks," Gavin echoed. He let out his breath in a long, shuddery sigh. "Whew! At first I thought the glass made me go blind--then I kind of realized I already am blind."

Puck offered a wary smile; from the look of it, he'd noticed the strange color of Gavin's eyes, too. "Yeah. Even you could take it for granted."

"You can say that again." Gavin stepped forward, only to crunch on some broken glass. [Note--notice that nobody helps him retrieve his cane...?] He frowned. "Who's going to clean up this mess?"

"Ozzy's sure to call somebody over for everything else," Puck said. "They've probably left a hell of a mess in the Pit."

"True." Another sigh, this one seeming somewhat relieved. "Well. I suppose we should get going before anything else explodes, huh?"

"Good idea," Sid said, taking Dino's arm and dragging him out.

Puck let go of Gavin's arm and he went tapping off, following Sid's and Dino's footsteps. Anders caught up to Puck and bent his head to the side, whispering.

"Did you see the color of Gavin's eyes?" he inquired.

"Yeah," Puck replied. Then, "It's nothing that big. Most blind people don't have white eyes like everybody thinks they do, you know."

"Yeah, but..."

"But what? Don't you think it's too late and we're too tired to be standing out here making weird guesses about everything? I think we should get going to bed." [Note--nah. Way too easy.]

"Yeah, you're right," Anders agreed, following him out of Adelphic Pi.

But as much as he kept telling himself it was just him, he still couldn't get those eyes out of his head. He thought little of what Puck might be thinking, and how Puck was mentally comparing Gavin's eyes to those of someone else he'd met recently. Someone else who seemed to have a lot to hide.