Mary Sue - Coming Home

Vignette Stop the Presses

To say my first real impression of her was weird was underselling it. I was worried that distance made her seem charming and quirky, but that she was actually insane. Maybe she was behind the disappearances or something? But that, too, was insane. Maybe it was being around her... the chaos that was churned up in the wake of someone so... special.

That afternoon, she came to the media tech room where journalism was taught. She surveyed the room like veterans did in gritty combat movies. "No, this will never do," she muttered to herself. "Desmond, do things happen here?"

I was completely thrown. "Yes?"

She nodded curtly to herself. "Of course. Stories are broken, maybe someone shouts 'Stop the presses,' even though it's hopelessly out of date." She shook her head and grabbed my arm.

"I don't think anyone's ever said that at this school," I said as she led me away. I didn't resist, but it was a little weird to have a pretty girl dragging me down the hallway.

"Not yet," she muttered. "Give it a minute. Okay, gym is out. All kinds of things happen in there. Theater, too. Library has too much potential, too. Hallway is too public. Computer lab? That should do nicely... as long as we don't touch the computers." She abruptly turned her attention to me, who she'd walked about a hundred yards down the hallway while muttering to herself. "If we go in the computer lab, do you think you can manage to ignore the computers, not looking at them, even if they start flashing or something?" The look she gave me held concentration, a little hope, and a fierce determination. It was a look that Olympic athletes gave before attempting a particularly difficult move. It was a look that heroes gave before facing some massive monster or making a last ditch effort to save the universe. It was not a look to be taken lightly. Also, it should be obvious the kind of pop culture I had consumed up to this point.

"Um, sure... if you say so."

"Good. I say so. Come along."

The computer lab was empty except for a bored looking TA, who abruptly closed a tab and retreated to the back office when we arrived. I think I saw bare flesh before it was closed. She flopped down in one of the oversized and unmatched chairs in front of the computers studiously ignoring the screens. She looked exhausted as if leading me here had been an act of will. She wearily gestured to the seat next to her, and I sat, apprehensively.

She took a deep breath and released it, obviously trying to clear her head. "Okay, first off, I need you to tell me if you are some kind of magical thing... or even part of the local scooby gang, because I know how that trope ends, and I am not going to be killed by a god damned trope. I stopped going to summer camp when I got boobs, and I am not going to be killed by a fucking trope, ok!?"

I sat uncomfortably. "I, uh, I know what all those words mean, but I don't understand what you are saying."

She laughed, and it was a rich sound, only lightly tinged with desperation. Her face came even with mine and she looked deeply into my eyes. I wanted to look away, because those eyes were filled with such hope and longing that I was intensely uncomfortable. This was the most intimate I'd ever been with anyone, and I just wanted to hide. My hand strayed to the keyboard beside me, and her eyes jumped to my hand. I remembered my promise. I slowly withdrew my hand. She looked deeply into my eyes again. "Are you sure?" she whispered.

"What?"

"Are you sure that you don't know some secret, some delicately balanced double life or something? Are you a superhero or a zombie or a werewolf or something? Just be honest."I didn't know what to say. She nodded, mostly to herself and reached into what looked like a coin purse. She withdrew three necklaces and some coins. She had me hold each of them for a few seconds. I honestly didn't know why. I knew one was silver, another gold, the last one some metal that was heavy. She had me touch a Cross and Star of David. She put garlic in my hand and then gave me some hand sanitizer. I had no idea why she was carrying all this stuff.

After I cleaned my hands, she took them in hers. She stared at me, full of hope and was so beautiful my heart melted. "Desmond, I need to ask you a favor." I was struck dumb. What could a girl like her possibly want from me. "I want you to be my best friend. I want you to stay beside me always, and write some stuff down for me. I know it will be a wild ride, and it may end up hurting or even killing you, but I want you to be my friend, maybe my first real friend.

"I..." I didn't know what to say. It seemed insane that she wanted me to be her friend, and ridiculous that she'd never had one before. "Killing me?" That part hung up on me like a torn fingernail hangs on cloth. She nodded solemnly, and I sat, contemplating. I don't know if I was waiting for a sign, but I am now certain she was. 

Down the hallway, from the media tech room where they taught journalism, I heard a cry ring out, "Stop the presses!"

I turned to her, now certain of my own complicity in all this, "I'm in."