Hive Mind [On Hold]

Chapter 2

The next three classes passed even more quickly than the first one. I shared all of my classes with Marci, but Noel--I mean, Death--was only in my first and second period classes. I zoned out so much that I'm not even sure what those classes are yet.

When lunch came around, I made sure that my new friends sat by me. Marci kept texting and looked like she had nothing better to do anyway, so she sat down next to me right away. Death looked longingly at his little posse of goth friends a couple tables over, but he eventually he came over and sat across from me. He'd donned a hoodie since the last time I saw him, and now he pulled the hood far over his face.

I reached into my lunchbox and pulled out a chocolate muffin. My mom was too tired to pack my lunch like she usually does, so I did it myself. I may have a weight problem after this meal, but it'll be totally worth it.

"Valhalla, I am coming," I whispered into the muffin before taking a bite.

"What?" Noel asked.

Now that I thought about what I said to my muffin, I realized how weird it must sound to someone else. "Um...that's just something my dad used to say before eating something he knew he shouldn't. It's from an old Led Zeppelin song, I guess. Valhalla is a Nordic legend where men slain on the field of battle would be taken by Valkyries to--"

"I know what it is. I've always been really into Scandinavian mythology. See?" He lowered his hood for a second to reveal ear buds trailing their way down his neck. He  removed one of them and held it out for me. "Listen."

I leaned forward so that it would stretch far enough and held it near my ear. I immediately heard people with funny accents screaming out a song. Luckily I went through an obsessive screamo phase last year, so I've become an expert at translating growls into normal English. "The calling of the howling wind is raging in the realms of the North. Creations of ice rising mighty into the skies and treacherous gods shall fall!" 

I returned the ear bud to him and he pulled the hood back over his face. "What was that?" I asked.

"Scandinavian folk metal. The song was called Trecherous Gods by Ensiferum. See, these Scandinavian people take the myths and legends they grew up hearing and turn them into a metal song. I think that one was based off of an old Anglo-Saxon poem called The Wanderer."

"How does the poem go?"

He thought for a moment and closed his eyes. "Oft him anhaga are gebideð, metudes miltse, þeah þe he modcearig." He opened his eyes. "That's all I can remember."

Marci had stopped texting to listen to the poem, and now she smiled. "That's beautiful."

He blushed, which surprised me. I didn't know goths did blush. "Thanks." He turned to me. "So why did your dad say 'Valhalla, I am coming' before eating something bad?"

"Oh, right. So, like I said, Valhalla is a place where slain warriors went after they died. Well, he was a diabetic. So he figured that he should warn the people of Valhalla that he's coming in case he loses the battle with his diabetes by eating too much sugar. That way they won't be surprised at his unexpected arrival."

"Hm. I like it."

"Wait," Marci said, putting her phone away and looking at me. "You keep using the past tense. Does he not do that anymore?"

"He might...if he could talk."

"What do you mean by that?"

I set my muffin down on the table and stared at my hands. In the span of one second, the conversation took a completely different turn. I took a deep breath, knowing that I should stop, but also knowing that I couldn't. "Um, he's been in a coma for over a year. The doctors say that he might never wake up. His will says that if that happens he wants us to pull the plug b-but...we can't. He's my dad." I felt my eyes burn and suddenly I couldn't talk anymore. The words were caught in my throat as hot tears made their way down my face. I felt Marci's arm go around my shoulders and Noel's sympathetic face look at me from across the table, but I didn't acknowledge either one.