Ortai Legacy: Arrival

3 - Ritual (L)

Five months later, and I was still relying on a hallucination in stressful situations. I'd certainly considered asking my Mom or another psychiatrist about treatment, but a quick Google search on antipsychotics changed my mind. So long as my hallucination remained friendly and strictly auditory, the negative side effects of treatment outweighed the benefits.

When Olivia and I arrived at the site of her birthday hike through the woods, I was doubly glad that I hadn't banished my emotional support hallucination.

This whole time, I'd hoped I would never see James again. We didn't have the same major, and he was two years older than me, so he'd already finished all the gen Ed courses I was taking. We didn't have any mutual friends besides Olivia, and she'd apparently been avoiding him outside of the classes they shared. There was no reason I would need to see him. After I blocked him on everything and he hadn't contacted me in five months, I'd assumed I would never have to see him again. At least, that was what I'd thought before Olivia and I got out of the car at our campsite.

I'd expected a handful of people from Olivia's hiking club to attend her camping-style birthday party, but it had completely slipped my mind that James and Rowan were also in the club. Even if it'd just been Rowan, it would've been awkward; he'd blocked me after the alcohol incident, and he even ignored me in art class—despite the fact that we were in the same project group for a whole semester.

Unfortunately, the awkwardness of Rowan avoiding my gaze was nothing compared to the skin-crawling feeling that occurred whenever James looked my way. My heart thudded in time with a memory of the song that'd been playing five months ago. Turning away, I touched Olivia's arm to get her attention. She rapidly moved away with Rowan.

"Oliv-"

"Long time no see." James's voice sent ice water down my spine. "I'm finally out of the hospital. Thought you'd at least say hi."

If he reached out, he could grab me. Too close. I hurried after Olivia.

Before I could catch up, James grabbed my arm. I wrenched it out of his grip, but he caught me with his other hand.

"Don't you want to know why I didn't press charges?"

Because he knew he'd done something awful? Unlikely, given the fact that he'd done it in the first place. I pulled away from him. "Let go."

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me. Relax."

My whole body trembled at the reminder of what he'd said before slamming my inebriated body against a desk. "Let- let go."

"Don't be scared. I'm not mad." A thin layer of steel in his voice said otherwise. "It was just an accident. We can get through this together."

My foot itched to kick him, but the thought of ending up in jail again made my blood run cold. Last time, I'd only been there a few hours. If James didn't pardon me again, I could be stuck there permanently. Why wouldn't Olivia just look back and see what was happening? Surely, Rowan was strong enough to physically shove James away. He was a good enough guy to do that much, wasn't he? Or had he planned this with Olivia to get back at me? It wasn't like I'd really done anything to them; I just said some weird stuff when I was drunk.

If only Mar'kost were real. If only he were here, he could resolve this situation without getting me in trouble. Or at the very least, he would support me while I was in trouble.

A yawn sounded in my mind. [Do people on your planet not sleep?]

[I'm a little busy right now for anthropology questions.]

[Hey, you called me.] Mar'kost's warmth grew more acute, something I'd come to recognize as him looking through my eyes. [Depths below, what is his problem? Didn't you break enough bones the first time?]