Down End Road

I had woken up with a throbbing headache the next day. My stomach grumbled for food, and my hands were sore from all the notes I had written the previous night.

On Friday night, I had decided to get a jump start on Harris’ project. Little did I know, that three snack bars and a Gatorade later, I would be using my gift to study until two in the morning. I checked my phone and saw it was nine fifteen. Breakfast was served for two hours on the weekends, from eight till ten.

At the weekends you would have time off to visit any family or friends, maybe explore the town a little bit. I groggily put on some tracksuits and a clean shirt then made my way down to the breakfast hall with heavy eyelids.

After, I loaded my plate with four pieces of bacon, two scoops of scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, one muffin, a sausage, fruit salad and three pancakes, I bee-lined to Ally’s table. Surprisingly she was talking with Maverick and Alex, only a faint shade of rose on her cheeks. I smiled at her progress.

Alex spotted me first, and smiled at my rough appearance. I was too tired and hungry to acknowledge the butterflies in my stomach. I slumped down into my seat and tiredly placed my tray on the table.

Maverick laughed and Ally looked a mix between sympathetic and in hysterics. I glared at the both of them. Ally let out a tiny choked laugh but coughed to cover it up. I rolled my eyes and stabbed at my food.

“So... What’s with the... look?” Ally asked, “and the appetite, man you can eat.” She continued, I ignored her last comment and gave her a tired look. I ran a hand down my face, and blew a strand of hair away from my eyes.

“Well, let’s see. Harris being the gentlemen he is, is determined to make my life miserable by asking me to correct and redo George Washington’s battle plans for the battle of Fort necessity.” I grumpily explained.

“So, me being me, I decided to get a jump start on the project. You know so that I wouldn’t have to do it next week, plus I was bored.” I said.

“But, and here’s the kicker I ended up using the smarty pants gift or whatever you call it, to study extra well. Here’s the funny part, my brain was so focused on the project that I didn’t realise that it was two in the morning, until I decided to google something.” I finished.

There was silence, until everyone burst out laughing. I glared at all of them and sat there moodily eating my muffin. “That’s why you’re in such a state?” Alex joked. “You really are a newbie aren’t you.” I kicked his shin hard, under the table and he winced. I smirked, satisfied with my petty retaliation.

“Myra, did no one warn you about that?” Ally asked, I shook my head and continued to chomp on my muffin. “That’s the issue with our gifts, it enhances our intelligence yes, but also our focus. So, that means we get very lost in our work sometimes, well at the beginning. That’s why whenever we used that particular gift in the beginning we would set an alarm so that we could take breaks. Over time you will be able to use it naturally and not at full force like you probably did last night.” She clarified. I nodded my head.

“That information would have been a life saver last night, but what do you mean that it will come naturally?” I questioned. Ally had piqued my interest, I had not known about the side effects of using our gifts, not until my friends told me.

“I mean we can have it on all the time, kind of like having a light bulb on all the time, but to save power we dim it.” She described, “you would still be able to use your gifts at full speed like that but that would only be occasionally and afterwards you would be very tired and hungry, and really you wouldn’t have enough energy to use it for a while.”

I sat there and contemplated her explanation. I compared my symptoms to the ones she described and realised I had probably gone too far last night. “But, moving on, we are still going to the pit tonight right Myra?” Ally asked.

I stared at her blankly. “huh?” I faintly recalled Genevieve mentioning something like that but I couldn’t remember for sure. “What do you mean?”

“You know the party Genevieve basically dared you to go to, we are still going to that right?” I looked down at my attire and grimaced at the slow heaviness that weighed me down.

“I don’t know Ally I might just sleep through it or something like that.” I responded.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Lemme’ re-phrase that for ya’ hon, we are going to that party, we are going to show up Genevieve and we are going to have fun.” She commanded, Ally tapped her nails on the wooden tables and gave me a stern look.

“But a party sounds like so much effort,” I whined.

“We’re going, and we are also going to go into town. And your driving.” Ally said.

“Does this ‘we’ include me and Alex.” Maverick asked.

“I am not going shopping.” Alex stated with wide eyes. I chuckled at his reluctance and looked at Ally expectantly, she smiled sheepishly, a blush covered her cheeks. Progress out the window, I thought.

“W-well only I-if you want to, l-like you g-guys do-don’t have to c-come.” She stuttered, I snorted in amusement and slouched lower into my seat.

Alex stared at me as he said, “why not? I haven’t seen the town in a while, plus that smoothie store in a while.” I looked at him in disbelief as he completely changed his mind.

“G-great, s-see you g-guys at two. We’ll meet you by the front doors.” She suggested, they shrugged in agreement but Alex’s eyes remained on me.

-------------------------

After we parked the car, the four of us made our way to a small café, I had been meaning to try. It was a rustic Columbian coffee shop, with vivid greenery and copper brick-a-brack scattered around the small two-story storefront.

Although, despite the vibrant and earthy air to the café there was a slight heaviness to the air. It was like a shadow of damp that blanketed the place. The smell of coffee was prominent and vibrant, but an underlying stench of dampness coated the thick air.

A small shiver ran up my spine, the metal on my ring and medallion warmed. A sense of unease creeped into my thoughts and soured my jovial mood. I was pulled out of my disquiet when the whistle of the coffee machine resonated throughout the room. I felt faint and nauseated as the pitch spiked higher and higher until the unnaturalsound, turned into a hiss.

I looked around my jewelry became hotter and hotter as the fear of... something, overshadowed everything. The dark shadows around the room,seemed to elongate and crawl like tendrils of black towards me. The relentless roil in my stomach and pressure in my head grew worse as the walls seemed to shift along with the shadows.

I winced and whimpered as movement in the corner took shape into a form, but it completely disappeared when the tinker of the doorbell sounded. I let out a broken sigh of relief as the awful clench in my stomach and pressure in my head subsided and the temperature of my jewelry cooled.

The world shifted back into focus and I was suddenly bombarded with sound, however it wasn’t the awful shrill screech, but the voices of my new found friends. “Myra, Myra... Myra what do you want.” I whipped my head to face Ally and the waiter and asked for a herbal tea, I hoped it would calm my nerves, from whatever had just happened.

Dark skin and colorful fabric flashed in my peripheral vision as Miss Wilson strode towards us. She gave me a concerned once over, her golden eyes flashed me a look of sympathy before her lips upturned in a bright, perky smile and addressed our small group.

“Myra, it’s good to see a new student making so many friends.” Miss Wilson commented cordially. I smiled at her weakly, my fogged up mind not up for making conversation. She frowned in uncertainty.

“Myra, are you feeling quite alright dear, you look quite... out of sorts.” Ally looked over to me and furrowed her brows in scrutiny. A look of worry shadowed her features and she winced.

“Yeah, sorry to say this, but you don’t look too good there girl.” Ally assessed. I smiled in a, I hoped, reassuring manner. I couldn’t bring myself to speak. My body still felt disorganized and skittish from what had happened only moments earlier.

Miss Wilson sighed, muttered something under her breath, and looked back at us ready to say something when Alex interrupted. “Maybe you should get back to the manner, after studying so much last night you probably just need some rest.”

Miss Wilson eyed him curiously, the hint of a smile played at her lips. Her penetrating gaze moved from him to me then back again. “I wouldn’t want to ruin your guys’ day, plus aren’t I your ride home.” I choked out hesitantly. Alex eyed me with a passive look, I was too shaken to decipher, then shook his head.

“I’m sure these two will be fine.” He said and gestured to Maverick and Ally. “Plus I was planning to pick up my bike from the shop and ride it home.” Alex explained, “just give Mavy your keys and I’m sure he’ll bring your car back home in one piece.”

I was skeptical but nodded mutely in agreement. I drew out my keys and passed them over Mavericks awaiting outstretched palms and into Allys grasp. She grinned at him triumphantly. Their bickering was heard over the hiss’ of the coffee machine as me and Alex exited the, now, creepy café and walked to the garage.

The silence that stretched between us wasn’t tense, awkward or heavy, but rather comforting. His presence was a strong and it made me feel safe and reassured that he would be there when I needed him.

“What happened back there? You looked as pale as the ghost of Christmas past.” He asked, nudging me with his elbow. I stayed mute for a long time as we walked through the cobbled streets of the town.

“You’re going to think I’m a teensy bit crazy, but I just got a bad feeling. Like something was there that shouldn’t of been. Something bad, and I’m not talking bad milk bad, I’m talking like Disney villain evil type bad. I don’t know maybe all the sun is getting to me or something.” I said, swallowing the rising acid bile in my throat at the memory of it.

“I believe you.” He states. I look at him my eyes widened in shock. I had expected him to shrug me off or laugh at me and call me crazy. Not believe me. I looked up at him with hopeful and relieved eyes. Relieved that someone else had felt it. Hopeful, he would have a rational (or as rational as the society can get) answer.

“It was that weird stench and... I don’t know what it was. The vibe was just so... off.” He said. “The more connected you are to the portals the more you will find that you get weird feelings about certain things connected to them. It just happens. You learn to deal with it over time, but it never stops really.” He explained remorsefully. “It kind of makes me wish I was normal, never having to deal with all the burdens of knowing that there are things out there that are... different and more dangerous than us.”

I brushed my hand against his, the contact released a burst of tingles in my hand. “But that’s only sometimes, with all the perks that come along with the Society it makes all the weird vibes worth it. Like this for example...” he trailed off. He ran out of my sight and suddenly two large hands grip my waist and I’m slung over a broad shoulder.

I shriek and pound against the back of Alex’s bomber jacket. “Come to think of it this is one of the perks.” Alex explained thoughtfully. I laugh and pinch his back, mainly grabbing a fist full of his bomber jacket.

“What is? Being able to sling me over your shoulders.” I teased playfully. He loosens his grip on my waist and slows his pace and placed me back down on the ground.

“Well... not entirely no... Not having human limitations is. Knowing that everyone around you, whilst unique in their own ways, is nothing like you are.” He described. His eyes bored into mine, the air between us crackled with an intensity that wasn’t suffocating but exhilarating. His lips quirked up in a full, bright smile and I felt my knees almost quake.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” He jutted his chin in the direction of the garage and led me down the cobbled streets of McBurr