Sitting in the grass -hearing its fresh crisp as I sat on it- was soothing. I has so content that I began to Meditate. So when a disembodied voice said "Hey." I almost leaped out of my skin.
"Calm down Nan. It's Just me." Jason slid out of the tree and coolly lighted down next to me. My name is really Shannon, but he's called me Nan since the day we met.
I still remember that day. I had skipped 4th Period to get out of a boring lecture and note-taking lesson in Mrs. Wilbert's class and was chilling behind the Portables. As I was skittering around behind them, I suddenly bumped into him; thinking he was a security guard I was going to scream until he clapped one hand over my mouth and whispered " Shh. Don't scream. Security Guard, 5 O'Clock." After the danger had passed he let go of my mouth and asked "What's you're name? I'm Jason. Most call me J.J. though." I murmured "My name's Shannon."
" Nannon? What a weird name. I'll call you Nan, okay?"
" Not 'Nannon'. Shannon. With a 'Shh' sound in the front."
He stared for a minute, as if processing this. Then said "I like Nan Better." and smirked.
I delivered the "Are-You-Kidding-Me-Face" to him but he didn't seem to notice, if he did, he didn't care.
"Kay... Well... What are you doin' out here? Never seen you before." I sassed.
" Same as you-I'm guessing- ditching class. I just transferred here from Northeast high and I hate it here. So I've been hanging out back here." He shrugged and flipped his jet black hair from the strong frame of his face. His amber eyes caught the light and shown gold. He was attractive, I'll admit. " What about you?"
"W-Well," I stammered, "I've been here since 9th grade and I just hate my teachers, they hate me too. So I came out here." I pushed my dark brown bangs farther to the side, out of my eyes. Just plain old chocolate brown with lighter specks. Nothing special.
" Right then Mr. Striggles caught us. We became friends after having 4 days of Before and after school detention together to make up all our missing work.
" Oh Hey JJ. Have you seen Allison lately? She's been acting super creepy. My Mom and sister weren't around this morning either.." I confided.
" I couldn't find my brother or parents this morning either...She did however say when I asked "You're mother is a very busy person, Jason, ' and went inside this morning. " He added.
oh so it's not just me who noticed. Okay good.
"Uhh.. that's not creepy at all. Anyways. Wanna go down to Rosemary's with me? I don't think Kay's is home but we can check if you want. I haven't seen her for days and I kinda miss her." I asked anxiously. Rosemary is my Best friend and Kays is Jason's.
" I dunno... I kinda just wanted to like, go to 7 eleven and get slurpee's maybe hangout at the skatepark with just you today..." He picked at the grass and wouldn't look me in the eye while saying this, almost as if he were ...shy.
" Sure," I smiled, "Sounds like tons of fun." He beamed at me, grabbing my hand and taking off towards his car. What's going on with him today? Why is everyone acting so damn weird?!
Once in the car, we started cruising along the highway, passing exit after exit, until we were upstate in farmland. " Um. Jason? Where are me going...?" My voice wavered and gave off a little more insecurity then I wanted.
He only smiled his crooked smile and squeezed my hand, whispering "I'll tell you when we get there." Reassuring me. A warm feeling crossed over me for just a moment.
***
Three hours and Two arguments later, he finally pulled over on the side of the road in front of a Field of wild flowers and prairie grasses.
" We're here!" He announced.
" Exactly where is here?" I asked bitterly.
Ignoring my question and getting out of the car he said "C'mon. Lets go sit." He then proceeded to start stomping through the thigh-high grass and towards the horizon where a single, large tree loomed.
Seeing no other choice, I began to follow him in the path that was already semi squashed, requiring less effort for me. I followed him out where he sat under the enormous tree. If it looked large before, it definitely was huge now. Its winding knots looping its trunk and its thick branches reaching up to heaven and spreading out as if trying to cover the Earth itself. It was beautiful.
He patted the ground next to him, where I willingly sat.
His smiled looked so fake. So desperate.
" Listen, I don't know exactly what'sgoing on but, I was performing an experiment on how the rotation of the Earth affects how fast an objects gravitational force is on another object that is smaller, and I realized... this isn't our.. world. We don't belong here. I think we might have somehow affected time itself and sent ourselves into another dimension. An Alternate reality if you will. Something is wrong and our being here is setting things out of whack. Allison is part of the scheme and we need to keep a close surveilance on her." He whispered this slowly, letting the reality of it sink in. Wincing when I took a deep breathe as if to call him crazy. But I didn't.
I completely believed him.
People could say what they wanted about Jason, but for one this, he was a Genius at Quantum Physics. So I completely trusted him.
" Okay.. but how do we get out of here?" I Questioned.
"And how do we watch her? She was absolutely vicious to me this morning, and I was having a normal conversation with her. Even after I gave her flowers! Let's just go back and start our watching. Then we'll get together and figure out what to do. Okay?" I leaned over and nudged his shoulder with my elbow.
He did nothing. Just sat there stalk still. Unblinking. Unmoving.
I groaned a loud, holding back tears. Not him too. They can't take Jason too.
"Jason?" I questioned slowly.
He slowly turned his head, still smiling, but not really at me, almost through me.
" Shannon, let us go home. Go to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day that you do not want to miss." He monotoned.
Desperately trying not to vomit with disgust or sob with despair, I stood up smiling and blankly walked to the car. Feeling so numb and violated. I had to figure out what was going on and how Jason had been affected so suddenly.
