“You!” I exclaimed when I recognized the individual hiding behind the stall.
“Shh!” Mrithan beseeched me as he squatted behind some boxes of lemons. “Can you pretend that I’m not here?”
I leaned against the adjacent elm and relayed to him, “That entirely depends on why you’re doing this! I won’t lie to the cops…”
Mrithan explained, “Imelda wanted a second date, and I told her I was spending the day giving my dog a sanitation trim…”
“You’re afraid of dogs!” I pointed out.
“She doesn’t know that! Besides, I had to say something that she wasn’t interested in. Previously, I said I was gonna hang out with my mom at her rest home, and she seemed really eager to join me in that! I think she thought I was ready to commit after one date! One half, really- I bolted out after 20 minutes! She’s insane, and yes, that’s coming from a guy who used to listen to voices in his head!” Mrithan agitatedly expressed.
I wasn’t certain if I was prepared to believe that story or not. Sure, Imelda seemed a little overly passionate about healthy eating, but other than that, she didn’t act irrationally. Mrithan, however, frequently behaved like he was on edge, and we often found him near the sites where otherworldly incidents occurred. Okay, so he worked at the school and a lot of it happened there, but still! His claim seemed plausible, but something still felt off… “Why are you seeking refuge here then? Do you expect her to be stalking you by your house or something?”
Mrithan illuminated me, “No! I was planning to buy honey! If it’s sourced locally, it helps reduce your allergies. I didn’t get a chance to get it today- this week is gonna be a mess! But anyway, she saw me here and wanted to know why I wasn’t being truthful. So, I ran, and here we are!”
“If all you’re doing is hiding from a girl, then why did you give Peter a soda?” I challenged him. I could understand wanting to remain unseen from someone who might present an awkward conversation, but if that’s all it was, then why give a student something to consume? His rationalization didn’t come across as, well, rational!
“He saw me go back here. He thought I worked here, and when I said I didn’t, he wouldn’t stop babbling about the stupid prom!” Mrithan regaled me.
Phoebe took exception to that, “Hey! My committee is working hard on that!”
Mrithan apologized, “I didn’t intend to disparage your efforts! I was just upset ‘cause I could hear Imelda coming and he wouldn’t leave me alone! I gave him that drink so he’d go away! That was mine, and now I’m thirsty!”
“Why didn’t you just tell her you’re not interested?” Aleck questioned him.
“Because I’m a coward! Happy?” Mrithan spat.
Ellie opined, “That’s dumb! It’d solve all your problems if you quit being a crybaby for one second!”
Mrithan disagreed, “I’m not positive she’d accept that! Connor already told her I didn’t want to go out with her again, but she kept trying to get me to change my mind! She’s obsessed! Do you have any idea what it’s like to have someone who relentlessly pursues you like that?”
I spotted Roxy peeking her head over some bushes in the distance, and I reluctantly empathized with Mrithan, “Yeah! Yeah, I do!”
“Oh, this is hogwash!” Fletcher snapped. “Be a man and have the balls to tell her you guys aren’t gonna be a thing!”
“You’re right! I can’t shield myself from her forever! I’ll simply have to bite the bullet and-!” Mrithan started to emerge, but when he beheld Spike nearby, he dashed back to his safe-haven. “On the other hand, maybe if I keep ignoring her, she’ll get the hint! I didn’t really give that method much of a shot…”
Fletcher, Ellie, and Aleck showed signs of wanting to critique his gutlessness, but Ginger steered them away from that discourse, “So, what do we wanna do?”
Phoebe whispered, “We can’t prove he did anything based off of what we have so far. If we wanna prove he did more than act like a big chicken, we’ll need further evidence! Like, if Peter’s eyes turn into a kaleidoscope… Hey, where’d he go?”
“What are we talking so quietly for?” Brielle interjected into our discussion. None of us were confident about what excuse we were supposed to offer her- we were just openly chatting about a colleague who is striving to remain obscured, so I could understand why she would get perplexed by our current activity! The longer we went without giving her a response, the more suspicious it would appear to her. I was about to blurt out something dumb (since it was all I could think of), but then…
“Pardon me! Have any of you seen Mrithan?” Imelda canvassed us.
I glanced behind me and seriously considered revealing his whereabouts to punish him for his scaredy-cat choices (or possibly more serious crimes), but I realized that I would have been throwing a campus official right at my prime suspect for these interdimensional ambushes! It would’ve been foolish to hand ammunition to an enemy ready to strike! So, I begrudgingly fibbed, “Not today! Last I saw him, he was stuck in the water fountain at the quad.”
Imelda asked, “How does one get stuck-?”
“No clue! I didn’t delve into it ‘cause I was rushing to class,” I answered her.
“Oh, I see. Well, if you see him, can you let me know?” Imelda requested.
I worded my statement so that technically I wasn’t displaying dishonesty, “Yes, I certainly could!”
Once she was out of the vicinity, Mrithan gratefully relayed to me, “Thank you!”
It irked me that he got the impression that I had done that for his benefit, but there really wasn’t a minute to spare in this scenario for further discourse with him, so instead, I directed the other, “Let’s go find Peter!”
“Is he in trouble?” Brielle wondered.
“That’s what we’re attempting to figure out!” I affirmed. Clearly, she found that remark cryptic, but she didn’t investigate the issue beyond that as we explored the Farmer’s Market more.
We rounded the corner, and we beheld a plethora of people shopping for various products in these quarters, but we didn’t espy anyone from Rosemary King… unless you count Roxy! I was starting to give up on locating anyone, but then Ellie gasped, “Look over there!” She raced to a stall filled with handicrafts, and we all eagerly followed her. We anxiously glanced around for Peter or possibly one of his peers with food or a beverage in their hands, but there didn’t seem to be a teenager in the area. Preceding anyone enquiring about her abrupt interest in something unknown, Ellie cooed, “I love these potholders! I was just telling Victor we needed a new set!”
I was annoyed by this distraction until Peter abruptly popped up and chimed in, “We used to have a set like that! I accidentally caused one to catch on fire a few months ago though. Apparently, you’re supposed to turn the pot off before you take it off the burner!”
“Even if it was on, I still don’t get how you got it close enough to the flame to singe it!” Aleck commented.
“That’s what my dad said!” Peter recalled. “Now, I’m not allowed in the kitchen unless my parents or the cook is there to supervise me! Maybe I should replace them for… Yes?”
Roxy had gotten uncomfortably close to Peter, and she resolutely declared, “Whatever you guys are up to, you can’t do it without me! If you so much as budge an inch towards ruining my Day-Day’s scheme, I’ll be right there to stop you!”
Brielle became baffled, but prior to her getting to speculate about it, Ginger assured Roxy, “We’re only here to have a good time! Nothing is going to happen!” Precisely after uttering those words, the air around us flashed like a computer preparing to glitch, and we all gave her hard stares in admonishment. Ginger insisted, “That would have taken place whether I uttered that or not!”
The sky flickered once more, and the gathered populace began to panic. I grew curious by it- if we were destined to travel to another realm, undoubtedly, the swirly vortex would manifest above us… The atmosphere quivered again, and I wasn’t absolute on the provocation of this phenomenon, but the sunshine got shrouded by dark storm clouds and it poured rain! Everybody fled to their vehicles, and one concept was obvious to me- the universe’s fabric really was getting torn apart! Not that I didn’t believe my ancestors when they divulged this to us, this merely reiterated their proclamation!
After school the next day, I went up to the counter where a stern, older woman with her gray hair in a bun was thumbing through a very girly magazine. I decided to break the ice with her by amusedly noting, “Business is slow, eh?”
“No, this is my business!” she sharply shot back. “I have to ensure we only shelve quality selections! Earlier, I caught one with a female’s anatomy drawn on an ad that was only supposed to have a head! Would you want one of your students to see that?”
“I wouldn’t, no!” I stated with a slight snicker at the premise. She glowered at me, so I defended myself, “Oh, come on! Boys will be boys!”
The librarian notified me, “It was on a cat!”
I furrowed my brows at that image. “Huh…!” I shook it off, and then I cordially addressed her, “Well, I’m sorry to interrupt your work, but I could use your assistance in finding something…”
“Bah! It’s probably something strange!” she muttered.
“Hey! That’s hurtful!” I hesitated in revealing my request, but after a few seconds, I admitted, “I need a book that describes how to disguise the taste of rocks inside of food…”
The librarian’s visage somehow soured even more than it already had been! “Remind me to R.S.V.P. no to your wedding reception!”
I denied that allegation, “It’s not for that!” She didn’t believe me, and I would’ve argued the point further, but it wasn’t as though I was eager to have her attend the celebration! Besides, there really wasn’t a moment to spare for bickering! “Alright, fine! Whatever! Can you help me or not?”
She exasperatedly indicated to one of the aisles, “It would most likely be over there with the rare recipes and cookbooks!”
I politely regarded her, “Thanks!” She merely sniffed as a response. I should have left it there, but with her cantankerous disposition needling me, I couldn’t resist jesting, “And don’t worry if you can’t make it to the wedding- Phoebe and I will see to it a slice of cake gets sent to your office!” She glanced up and stared at me incredulously, and I tittered as I went to retrieve a publication with the information I sought in it.
Ellie and Aleck each read through a couple of tomes while I perused through a title that once gave off a hint of promise. I dismally reported to them, “Wow! Apparently, we eat rocks all the time! Iron, calcium, zinc… And it’s easy to grind rocks into a powder and hide them in frosting and stuff!”
“Did you know tektites have an atmospheric entry count of two?” Aleck inquired.
“I don’t even know what that means!” I replied.
Ellie catechized, “Is that relevant to our cause?” Aleck signaled that it probably didn’t, so Ellie determined, “Then zip it!” She then slammed the text in her hands down and grumped, “Ugh! This is no use! It doesn’t matter about the history of these stones on Earth- they don’t come from here! We’re wasting our afternoon here! I really need to vacuum my carpets- Victor has taken up gardening during his retirement, and I guess he doesn’t realize dirt is involved with the process!”
I encouraged them, “Don’t give up, guys! Somewhere, someone wrote something useful for us, and that might assist us in saving our entire existence from collapsing, so we can’t quit!”
They didn’t appear entirely convinced, but they relented to my avidity. I was relieved to view this, but a couple of paragraphs later, I began to inwardly acknowledge the truth of their assessment. To keep their spirits up, I brought up, “Apparently, some people eat chalk! It’s lucky we switched to whiteboards, huh?”
Ellie’s lips twitched as though she were trying to feign a smile but couldn’t quite get it out, and Aleck let out an exasperated exhale. He continued to scan his pages, but he leaned back in an unamused manner. In so doing, he unintentionally bumped into someone behind him, which prompted him to ask for their pardon, “Oh, forgive me! It’s been a long day!” He recognized the individual he offended, and he pondered, “Yurei! How… How much of that conversation did you hear?”
“Did you say something?” Yurei took off her headphones and posed to him.
“Nope!” Aleck’s expression was alleviated until he peered at her face more closely, and then his eyes went wide. “Uh-oh!”
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