Chai

Chapter 6

The next morning, I rushed to Alices' door. My heart plunged. How could I have left her alone during all of this? I'm such an awful friend.

I pounded on the door, nearly crying, "Alice! Alice!"

No one replied. Her boyfriend left late last night, no one knows where he went.

The door was locked.

Jolene, a girl on my hall, poked her head out and muttered something before slamming her door. I wandered to her door and knocked on the door.

"Jolene, Jolene, Jo-lene, Joleeene, I'm begging you..." Jolene swung her door open with a glare. Her snow-white hair was tossed over one shoulder, and her small, round ears were pressed back.

Jolene growled, the waft of perfume she wore nearly killed me, "What do you want?" Always angry, but I've heard that's just weasels...

I sputtered, wings shuffling, "Um, do you know where Alice is?"

"No, aren't you her best friend or some shit?"

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out in time.

She stepped forward and spit, "Then why the fuck are you bothering me? You know better than anyone else here." She stepped back and slammed the door so hard I jumped out of my skin. The knife in my heart dug deeper. I collapsed onto my knees. Sobs tore from my throat.

How can such a simple thing hurt so much?

I never imagined this when I came back this semester.

I pulled my wings around myself and ran back to my dorm.

I slammed the door. I fell on the bed. I closed my eyes. I pulled my pillow into my arms.

Over the following weeks, everyone told me that I needed to back off. I needed to try harder to be a good friend and forgive this pain. While I appreciated the sentiment, I really just needed a hug and a good distraction. So, I went looking for distraction.

*

"How many hours have you spent on this game, Chai?"

"I dunno."

"Chai, I'm serious. Have you done ANY actual work?" Gizmo grabs my greasy, dirty face and gently turns it to face him. He raises his eyebrows. I keep my foul-smelling mouth shut.

Like he wants the truth.

Like he cares.

He sighs, making direct eye contact with me, "Have you at least taken care of yourself?" I keep my mouth shut. Why is he so pushy?

The sound of my digital demise begs for my attention.

I reach across to my keyboard.

Before I can reach it, I'm scooped off my chair and dropped onto my bed. The hard foam mat nearly caused me to bounce off the bed. I yelped as I scrambled for purchase with wings and arms flailing. I achieve safety. I glance over. I can't react before he's logged out of my game and fully shut down my computer. I manage to sit up as he pulls the plug out and storms out of my room. He comes back empty handed. He picks me up and begins to trudge down the hall.

He mutters, "This isn't healthy, Chai." I stared up at his face as the safety of my room faded into the distance. He growled, pulling me tighter to his chest, "I won't let you do this." We soon exited out of the dorm building. I shivered against the cold.

I protested, as my hands started to quake and my heart dropped, "Where... Put me down! Why are you doing this to me?" He stopped cold. He stared into my eyes, and I knew the answer. I stopped arguing.

*

In his car, we sat in silence. What do you say in this situation? He literally kidnapped me, for crying out loud!

"I'm not kidnapping you." My blood ran cold. Is he telepathic? "I'm not a telepath, I can read your facial expressions."

My wings shuffled and I grumbled, "Sounds like what a telepath would say." He rolled his eyes and played with his piercings by moving his tongue around.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I thought this man was impossible for the longest time, I tell you. He glanced over to me, and his lip twitched. Disgust was written on his face with neon sharpie.

I retorted, trying to act cool, "Take a picture." He smiled and glanced back at the road.

"Wouldn't wanna break my camera." My jaw dropped. I tried to wrap myself in my wings, but I got tangled in the seatbelt. For the rest of the drive, I tried and failed to untangle the mess of feathers and belt.

*

We pulled up to what I assumed was his place. He turned to me and laughed. No, not just a cute giggle. No, this was deafening like a jet engine getting mauled by a paper shredder. The car shook. My ear drums leapt for freedom. But I was trapped, cocooned in a seatbelt prison of my own creation, forced to endure the tsunami of laughter.

He screeched, "How did... how did you get so tangled? Let me... Let me help you..." He unbuckled me. His hands reached into my feathers and began to slowly help me untangle the mess so we could go inside.

As we sat there, I never realized how much this was worth...