The Intrusion

Fifteen

[Jordan]

The room I enter is much bigger than the small room with the seahorses, and it is completely full of people. Families with dozens of children, couples holding hands, teenagers with nowhere better to go on a rainy Saturday. It's packed.

I scan the room and spot Andy standing off in a corner peering into a dark tank.

"Hey," I say, approaching him and taking the spot next to him right in front of the tank. He is standing off to the side of the glass and staring into it at a strange oblique angle.

"Hey Jordan," he responds, not even the slightest bit startled, as if he knew I was about to come up to him.

"What are you looking at?" I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket and lean back until my shoulders brush the glass behind me.

"Just looking at the fish," he responds, gesturing to the tank.

I glance over my shoulder halfheartedly, peeking at the tank. It's so dark in there I can't even see a single thing. I look back to Andy. "So Andy," I say to him finally. "I was thinking about last night, about what you told me..."

"I think I'm going to go check out the next room, Jordan," he interrupts me. "There are supposed to be seahorses there." He walks away without another word, leaving me with my mouth hanging open midsentence.

He must be embarrassed about last night. That's got to be why he so rudely walked out on me mid-conversation.

I'm about to turn to go after him and see if I can convince him to talk to me about his (our?) dream, but I'm halted in place by Alice's voice.

"It's nice of you to spend time with my brother, Jordan." She slinks into the spot next to me—the spot Andy just left—and gazes with ennui into the fish tank. Apparently, this tank doesn't have any bosses or bitches worth mentioning.

"What do you mean nice of me?" I narrow my eyes at her. "I like spending time with him."

She makes a sound that's either a cough or a laugh or some combination of the two. "Andy doesn't have any friends, you know."

"Last night he mentioned to me that he didn't have that many friends," I respond cautiously.

"Andy doesn't have any friends."

I don't know how to respond to this, but before I even get the chance, Alice keeps going.

"I don't know what your game is, Jordan," she continues, "spending time with him like this. But don't fuck with my brother, okay?"

My mouth falls open.

"If you fuck with him, I will fuck you up." She throws me an incongruous smile. "My brother doesn't think the same way you and I do." She shifts her eyes to meet mine quickly before looking back at the tank.

"What do you mean he doesn't think the same way?" I ask.

She lets out a sigh, maybe deciding whether she wants to continue the conversation or not, or how much she wants to tell me. "He doesn't socialize well, okay? He's autistic. He doesn't like talking to people. He just can't do it." She pauses for a second and sighs again. "So don't take advantage of him, okay?"

"I... I would never do anything to take advantage of him," I say quietly.

She nods her head again. "Yeah," she says slowly.

Memories from last night come back to me like a painful and nauseating wave. I already have taken advantage of him, and Alice is making it obvious that she is aware of that fact.

"He isn't stupid though, okay?" Alice continues, finally looking away from the tank and giving me her full attention. "So don't underestimate him."

"I don't. I didn't," I stammer. "I don't underestimate him. I think he's nice. I like him."

"Right," she draws out the word longer than necessary. "I just wanted to warn you, Jordan. Because if you are having these thoughts that you are going to have a normal relationship with him, think again. It's not going to be like that, okay? He isn't normal."

"Alice," I try to get a word in.

"Jordan," she cuts me off curtly. "If you want to be friends with him, that's fine. I think it would be great for Andy to have friends of his own—friends that I don't have to find for him. But I just want you to be aware that he's not capable of having a regular relationship with anyone. It's never going to be normal."

"I think he's sweet," I say. "I... I like spending time with him."

She nods. "All right, fine. But so you know, it's never going to be normal, so get that idea out of your head now. Because if you realize after you've already started spending time with him that this isn't something for you, Andy's going to think he's done something wrong, and I don't want you hurting him because you are expecting something from him that he isn't capable of giving you."

I don't say anything.

"But he isn't stupid, so don't underestimate him," Alice finally finishes.

"Alice, maybe you shouldn't underestimate him."

"What?" Alice gasps, like she is shocked that someone would dare to say something like this to her.

"You," I say. "You're saying he's never going to be able to have a relationship with anyone like you are damning him to it or something. Like there is something wrong with him. Maybe you should give him more credit. He doesn't need you controlling his life."

She raises both eyebrows at me. "How long have you known my brother, Jordan? A day? Not even? I've known him for 23 years, Ma'am. I know my brother better than anyone else in this world knows him. He needs me."

I have no idea what to say to her next. We are either about to go into a full-on fight right in the middle of this God-damn aquarium, or one of us is going to give in. And Alice is so strong-willed, I'm pretty sure that that one is going to be me.

Alice smirks, aware that she has won our little dispute. In this tank, she's the boss, so I guess that makes me the bitch.

"I just wanted to warn you, Jordan." She smirks, content with her victory. "That's all."

She looks back at the tank one more time. "I'm going to get Andy. I'm getting a bit bored of the aquarium. We'll meet you in the gift shop."

She wanders off to the next room, leaving me standing in front of the same tank alone with my mouth hanging open for the second time today.

I don't know what else to do, so I finally snap my jaw shut and gaze into the tank I've been standing in front of for the past ten minutes. At first, with how dimly lit it is, it appears completely empty. But then, just when I am about to write it off and head over to the gift shop, I spot one lonely octopus pulling itself out of a dark rocky crevice at the bottom of the tank.

There is not a single fish in the entire glass box.

A chill runs over me. Why did Andy tell me he was looking at the fish? Why didn't he just say he was looking at the octopus?

Out of curiosity, I adjust myself so I am standing in the same location he was before he left, and I look at the tank in that same odd, oblique way he was looking at it.

I can't even see into the tank from this vantage point. At this angle, the glass transforms into a mirror, and I see the entire room reflected back.

Andy wasn't watching the octopus—he was watching the people.