Catastrophic

Chapter Nine

    This time I’m expecting the nausea, so when the dizziness threatens to crash over me, I resist. Noticing my victory, Ryan grins his congratulations, and I feel accomplished in the midst of a rotating chair. I force myself to close my eyes, and a tingling sensation runs through me as I feel Ryan’s hand slide into mine.

    The ruckus ends at last, and I force myself not to barf all over the white tile floor. I glance around to see four gray walls and darkness, mirroring the landscape back in the Storm Society.

    I jump off the Throne and land in a crouch, imitating a hardcore spy. Checking over my shoulder, I rise to my feet and swing a “Coast is all clear,” at the calm Ryan and press my back up against the wall containing the stall door. Part of me is taking this seriously, while the other is living for the moment.

    On cue (as always), Ryan sighs dramatically. “Could you take this seriously, please? You’re not on this mission to be a goofball.”

    With mock innocence, I retort, “This is as serious as it gets. Would a goofball check all around her for enemies? I think not!”

    Ryan steps down off the Throne with a practiced grace and joins me with his back against the wall. I guess someone wanted to be a spy too.

I inch closer to the door, struggling not to giggle, or worse—snort—as Ryan obediently mimics my moves. With a trembling hand, I reach over and slide open the lock, with a cautious intake of breath. My head pops out from behind the door, and I end up hitting it when I come back on the corner of the stall entrance. My imitation wears off, and I start to rub my head as I giggle quietly to myself, just as Ryan mutters a “Smooth.”

“Ok, let’s go for real, Ninja,” Ryan monotones, and I give him a look. “What? Did I embarrass your motives?”

“It’s a spy, Ryan. Get it right, would ya?” I sass, and I sashay out of the stall. Light fills my vision, and for sure we have left all trace of the storm group. The coast really is clear, and we exit the bathroom without any harm done. The halls of my old school are desolate and abandoned, but through the glass of the doors I can see students in class. Hoping to avoid eye contact, I train my eyes to the ground and shuffle at a quick pace to a direction I think we should be going. To make sure Ryan didn’t abandon me, I glance behind me to see him trudging in the opposite direction. “It’s this way, sweetie.”

With a stream of curses, I jog back towards him in time to see him heading down a flight of stairs. Catching up to him, I follow him down and down and down, until we reach a door at the end of a hall. The hallway itself looks like something out of a horror movie, and I push Ryan in the back so if anyone gets murdered, it’s him.

At a brisk walk this time, Ryan strides over to the middle of the hallway and stops. He turns to his right and runs his hand along the wall for something, and in one of the cracks between the bricks, he presses a microscopic button. A section of the wall slides open, revealing a dark staircase that winds up.

“After you,” Ryan says with a tilt of his head. With slight hesitation, I start to heave myself up the back-breaking stairs that aren’t really that painful but are normal in reality.

I hear Ryan’s heavy footsteps behind me after he shuts the sliding doors. Up ahead is an open door with light shining through it. A woman sits behind a desk typing on a computer. Boxes are stacked up against the portion of wall I can see from here, and when I actually enter the room, I see more boxes on every other wall.

        The lady turns around in her spinning chair with a warm smile and stands up. After smoothing her long white skirt down, she holds out her hand in greeting.She’s got short, cropped black hair and deep brown eyes. Her face is narrow, and she could pass for a twig in both height and weight. Along with her skirt, she has a bright pink fitted tee on that’s tucked into her skirt, and a long feather necklace loops around her neck. She’s cute, but she looks like she’s ten, all decked out in braces and glasses as well.  Checking that Ryan has entered, I reach for her hand and give it a firm shake.