Otherworld: Station One. - 3. Winter 3

“And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? / And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.”

Mel didn’t show up for school the next day, or the next. And by the weekend the four calls I had made to her mobile had been met with an automated message telling me some bullshit story about her phone being ‘out of range.’

Or, in modern speak. I was being stonewalled.

That’s why I was waiting at her house, the ‘letter’ in my hand, while Mel was out shopping with her Mum.

As soon as their white Commodore pulled into their driveway Mel’s smiling face dropped in record time. I was standing before she had even gotten out of the car.

“Eli!” Her mother at least was happy to see me. “You haven’t been around for so long, how have you been, you’re eating healthy right, how about those cats any new ones?”

I grinned; Mel’s mum had the tendency to trail off on about a trillion different strands of consciousness. “I’m good, probably not as healthy as I should be and we have a new one, she’s a kitten.” I said ticking off the list she had rattled out.

“Good, good…Did you want to stay for lunch; I’m making roast chicken sandwiches?” I was going to refuse but my stomach rumbled answering for me. “Okay, good I’ll make up a few.”

She was gone into the house without another word and left Mel and I standing together silently. She picked up one of the bags in the backseat and headed inside. I didn’t know if I was allowed to follow or not until she stopped at the doorway.

“Coming?” she asked, a memory of her usual smile on her face. I stuffed my hands into my pockets and followed her.

Mel’s place was one of those modern units I mentioned before, white rendered walls and a dark grey roof. Manicured gardens and small black steel fences adorned the front. Inside it was a little more home-y. All the artworks on the walls were either Mel’s or her Dad’s.

Her dad was an art teacher at our school, he was pretty cool, and I had smoked the occasional joint with him when I was over at her place for the night. He wasn’t home, probably at his guitar lessons, he was a true hippie that just bloomed a little late.

Mel’s’ Mum, Alison, was in the kitchen, already making the food. If she wasn’t so erratic and wild-eyed all the time she would have been the picture of a Stepford Wife.

“C’mon” Mel muttered titling her head towards her room. It was at the back of the house, so our conversations were usually safe.

She shut the door behind me but didn’t turn to face me. “What… am I cursed or something?” I snapped.

She turned to me then, and she looked absolutely terrified. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re friends… I was worried about you, why haven’t you been at school?”

“I’ve been sick.” She said.

“Why haven’t you answered my calls?” I tried.

“I can’t find my phone,” she said quickly. Her eyes flickered to her bedside table and I glanced over there. It was her phone.

“Oh?” I said raising an eyebrow. I snatched it off the desk and watched her as I flicked through the missed calls. Four from me. “What’s going on Mel?”

Again, her eyes flickered to her desk. “Nothing.”

“Oh come on, I’m…” I sighed, “When have we ever had secrets?” she stared at me for a moment.

“We aren’t that close Eli,” she grinned. I slugged her on the arm and looked over at the desk again -there was a folded piece of paper - and grimaced.

Pulling out my own folded note I tossed it next to hers and looked back to her. “You got one too?” I nodded and then flung myself back onto her pillows. I had always liked her room.

It was light purple, like grapes with a white border. There was a fan overhead that I could remember hanging off in suspenders spinning around until I was flung into the wall when we were five.

I smiled at the memory and was lost there until Mel cleared her throat. “Eli, what does it mean?”

Shrugging I sat back up and met her eyes. “How am I supposed to know, you’re the one whose probably been analyzing it for the last three days?” Her mouth formed a hard line.

“And I suppose you haven’t been at all worried, or at least curious?” Of course I had, I hadn’t stopped obsessing over it at all. Everything I had been repressing, the mist, and the weird oasis and everything in-between all broke through my mental block when the idea that someone else had seen it too surfaced.

Instead of saying that to her I just said, “Sort of, I have other things to worry about.”

“‘The mist will claim you?’ how is that not cause for concern?” She sat down next to me then lay back too. “None of this makes sense.”

“I know, all this means is that someone saw what happened and saw how freaked out we got and is just messing around.” I said, turning my head to face her.

“You don’t really believe that do you..?” She asked softly.

I didn’t answer, I didn’t need too. We were quiet for a while until there was a knock on her door. “Guys, food’s ready.” Her Mum called.

We both sat up and Mel held out her arms. I hugged her and she held me tight. “It’s alright; look I don’t really know what to say…” I tried.

“Its fine, I don’t really know either.” She whispered.

We separated and headed into the kitchen where her Mum was waiting for us. In the centre of the dining table was a plate with a selection of sandwiches. “Nice…” I said seating myself and devouring one after another.

Mel smiled and joined in. Just as we finished the front door opened and her dad came in. “Hey Troy!” I called out.

“Is that Eli?” he shouted back. I grinned and stood up as he came in. Her dad was just as tall as me, with a round nose but not as round as him. He was lugging his guitar on his back and his hair had been shaved back to almost bald.

He wrapped his fingers around my much smaller hand and shook it. “How’ve you been kiddo,” He asked.

“Better now,” I joked back. He barked out a laugh and then spotted the sandwiches; he zoned in on them and stuffed one into his mouth. With his free hand, he pointed to his breast pocket where his cigarettes were.

“Sure.” I agreed, we both headed out to the backyard and lit up. “How’s the guitar going old man?”

He grinned. “Not bad, Lee says I’m getting really good, but I don’t believe him.” He chuckled. “He keeps talking about going out to get a drink; I think he’s trying to hint at something.”

I shook my head smiling, “And?”

“Well I was going to see what Alison thought, if she doesn’t mind I probably will.” I had never quite gotten used to the idea of swinging parents. Especially Troy and Alison. Funnily, Mel never complained about it and sometimes even joked around too.

“Cool.” I murmured, taking another puff.

“How are things anyway?” He asked.

I sighed. “It’s been alright, schools a lot harder than I thought it would be.” I laughed bitterly.

“Hmm, too much wagging, not enough attendance.” Troy said sagely. I glared at him and he broke into a laugh. “Calm down, like I care.” He grinned and slapped me on the back.

I grimaced and he just laughed harder. “I should be getting home old man.” I said standing up, I dropped the butt into the ashtray and waited for Troy to stand up.

“Mkay, well I’m just going to sit here for a moment.”

“Whatever, catch you later Troy,” he waved me off and I went back inside. “Okay I’m off guys.” Mel and her Mum looked up as I came in.

“Okay, don’t be a stranger alright?” Her mum said, she then turned back to the book in her hand titled, ‘Your guide to group sex.’

If my eyes could scream, that’s what they would have been doing. Mel rolled her eyes and stood up too. “C’mon I’ll walk you out.”

She took me to the front door and waited for a second. She seemed like she was going to say something but thought better of it so instead I filled the silence. “Awkward huh?” I grinned.

Mel said nothing. “Well, see you?” She gave a start, then smiled and breathed out.

“Yeah...” she hugged me briefly and I turned to walk away. “Eli,” I stopped. “What if it happens again?”

“Come find me.”

***

The ringing was the first warning, the ever present dull far-off echo that had started after I left Mel’s and stuck with me throughout the day tripled in magnitude, still manageable but I brushed it off when I shouldn’t have.

Surfing the net passed most of the afternoon for me. I would have liked to say that I was doing my homework, but who was I kidding?

It was around seven pm as I was indulging in my latest downloaded song when it happened. At first it was just a prickling in my back, like a thousand needles slowly tapping their way along my spine.

Then everything started to go cold, a gathering chill that worked its way from my toes up my legs.

My lamp flickered and the screen of my computer decided to have a fit. Ever since I was little, I had always had this irrational fear that when a screen died a face would appear and try to kill me, this was sort of like that.

I pushed my chair back as quickly as I could and watched in a stunned silence as everything in my room continued to go postal. Mum was out, drinking and gambling the night away, so I was home alone.

Typical.

Slowly, colour started to fade from the room and everything became shades of white and black with every grey in-between.

The computer was probably the worst. The screen was constantly flashing in fits of static and black. My mobile was next, it started flashing and vibrating, dropping from its perch on my drawers to the ground, I stooped down and picked it up. There was a message I opened it and groaned.

‘Look Outside...” I moved to the curtain with a sinking feeling and peeled it back, and cracked the Venetian blinds so I could see and I felt my heart flutter.

The phone vibrated in my hands again. There were two now.

The first one was from Mel. “Eli what do we do, something’s wrong this time, I can feel it. Someone sent me a message did you get it too?”

The second was from an unknown number. “I will be waiting, come find me, bring your computer.” And that was all it said. I quickly jabbed out a message for Mel.

“I’m coming for you, stay there.” I stuffed my laptop into my shoulder bag, threw on my brown lace up hoodie and I bolted out the door. Mel was right, something was wrong despite the blaring obvious.

I was nervous and tense all over and I felt strangely vulnerable, and I had reason to be.

The mist was back.