Like Orion & Spark

21: For Once in My Life, I Did Something Noble (Not That I'm Bragging)

That night, I slept for what felt like days. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was pulled into the sleepy darkness. My dreams were vivid; I relived my teenage years and woke up wondering what year it was. Every dream ended with an empty black space that lingered like a forgotten memory, as if it were the underexposed black of a photo before it developed.

I drifted through the week on autopilot. I waded through the halls unthinkingly, my limbs moving out of memory. If anyone had read my mind, they would have been greeted by the sound of static, a commercial for an energy drink playing on repeat, and occasionally the garbled lyrics of French folk songs mixed with nonsense.

Once my classes were over on Friday, I silently packed my backpack with clothes. Doors opened and closed in the halls of the fraternity. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I turned around.

Trevor stood in the doorway, tapping against the wall repeatedly. "Before you leave." He offered his Walkman to me.

I smiled gratefully, my brain oddly focusing on the sounds coming from the lower floor. "Is something happening?"

He shrugged. "Kris just left. You didn't hear them?"

"No, I... I guess I got distracted with packing. What did she want?"

Trevor's gaze drifted to the floor. "It's hard to tell, really. All I know is that she was that girl in the newspaper. And that she broke up with Matt. He won't stop talking about that villain, whatever his name was—Shadow?"

Shortly after I'd thrown Orion out of my hideout and promptly returned home, two events had occurred. The first was a report from someone who lived in the apartment I'd crashed through, who had given an incident report to the police and appeared in the newspaper to recount the seemingly outlandish events of Halloween. The second happenstance was an interview with Orion, who, after confirming it had happened, offered to help pay the difference and clean a mistake he blamed on none other than Onyx Spark.

"Well," Trevor continued, "Matt thinks he would win that fight."

"I would pay to see him try," I said.

Once Trevor had gone downstairs, I finished getting ready and set out on my way to the bus stop.

Slipping the headphones over my ears, the world faded to a dull ache. It seemed strange to be leaving AZI for the weekend; since Trevor was the only person with family in the city, I had gotten used to spending my weekends on the couch watching German sitcoms.

But living on campus was hopelessly lonely. I passed an ocean of people every day, but it wasn't the same. There was nothing wrong about talking over the phone, but I couldn't bring myself to ask for advice through a receiver. It was too distant; too impersonal. I liked having the option to walk into Halley's room, and I could tell her anything. Everything changed in a flash, and I didn't know if I had anyone to confide in anymore.

The bus pulled up. I located a seat near the window and sat, preparing for the journey. Using the express line, it would take me somewhere around three hours to get to Astoria. But it was better than nothing.

As the bus lurched onto the road, I rested my head on the seatback. The vibrations from the movement normally made me restless, but I had recently gained the ability to succumb to exhaustion.

My eyes fluttered closed, and I let the darkness lull me into resting.

***

My cheek pressed against the window as the bus shuddered to a halt. I lowered my headphones and blearily took hold of my surroundings. I had slept for only about fifteen minutes; the tilted sign for Wisteria Street was visible through the misty windowpane. Droplets of rain collected into puddles along the roadside.