Chapter 4
November 11, 2003
Eve eyed her sister suspiciously. She knew from the look on Nerissa’s face that she wanted her to ask about it, but Eve wasn’t ready to. She had this uneasy feeling regarding the odd-looking tapestry. It neither became her nor served any practical purpose since the temperature for the evening had gotten down to the upper eighties at best. However, she was left without a choice when Nerissa walked over to her.
“My, my, Eve, you must learn how not to stare so,” Nerissa mockingly chided. “But since you seem so enchanted by my new accessory, why don’t you try it on?”
Nerissa unwrapped the blanket from around her shoulders and shoved it Eve’s way. Upon touch, Eve suddenly inhaled sharply and stepped backward involuntarily. She looked with fright into Nerissa’s eyes, and she saw something that she had not previously. Eve winced as if by reflex, then quickly deserted her sister for more light-hearted friends on the other side of the room.
Nerissa barely had time to gloat before a big, “Hullo!” came from behind her. She turned rather agitatedly to see who it was, and smiled when she recognized her good friend Rusty.
“I’ve been looking for you for the last hour, Rusty!” Nerissa scolded. “How about you tell me where you’re going to be next time?”
Rusty frowned and shook a shock of his shaggy red hair out of his eyes. “I’m here on official business, Nerissa.”
Nerissa raised an eyebrow in passive curiosity. “Is that so? What might that business be?”
“You talk funny for a sophomore, you know,” Rusty commented. “I’m here to see Shannon, anyways.”
Nerissa smiled. “I should have known. Looks like she may not be too happy to see you, judging from the look she’s giving you right now.”
Rusty wheeled around rather ungracefully and caught a fleeting glance of Shannon frowning his way before she snapped her face back to her conversation with her groupies. His half-smile was almost maniacal as he looked longingly after her.
“She will be mine again one day, Nerissa,” he said. “I swear it.”
Kim looked at Cliff dazedly. She had not heard anything he previously said, nor was all that interested in it in the first place. Her eyes were fixed on two young women across the room.
Cliff, noticing Kim’s distracted nature, snapped his fingers before her eyes. He frowned impatiently. “Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”
Kim continued staring at him, dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
“Oh, I give up!” Cliff said, throwing his hands in the air in disgust. “I’ve been trying rather unsuccessfully for the last five minutes to get you to pay attention to me, but that seems to be nearly impossible. I am curious as to know what’s grabbed your attention so that you can’t even concentrate on our conversation for even five seconds.”
Kim’s focus had drifted back to the two young women. Noticing this, Cliff sighed and conceded the evening to the two young women. Whatever had Kim’s attention must have been something much more important than anything he could have ever had to tell her, so he rose from the table and left.
Kim barely noticed when Richie sat down in Cliff’s place a few minutes later. Richie, having seen Kim’s treatment of Cliff earlier, decided to take a different method to getting her out of her trance. He latched his large hands onto her shoulder and shook her rather violently, enough to shake her dark brown hair out of her loose bun.
“Oh my God, what are you trying to do, kill me?” Kim snapped, jerking back from under Richie’s grip.
“There, that’s better. Now, would you like to tell me what’s going on?” Richie questioned.
“What do you mean?” Kim asked innocently.
“You know very well what I mean. Why are you staring at Summer and Scarlett?”
Kim leaned back in her chair and grabbed her drink. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I may be crazy, Kim, but I’m certainly not dumb—or at least I don’t think I am. Anyways, you’ve got to get over this obsession.”
“Obsession?” Kim nearly shrieked, jumping up from her chair. “What in the hell makes you think I have an obsession? I don’t have a freakin’ obsession, Richie! Please excuse me for having a hard time dealing with the fact that I’m losing my best friend, and one of the few friends I have! Excuse me for not having a heart of stone like everyone thinks I do and actually having emotions! God forbid it, after all!”
With that, Kim took off from the table into the gyrating masses in the middle of the room, leaving a stunned Richie wondering exactly what had just transpired. He scratched his head once, shrugged, then returned to searching for his missing pants.
“Why the shocked expressions? Close those open mouths, I say!” Randall laughed, slapping his knee sarcastically. He slicked back his whitish-blond hair and faced his old friends squarely. “You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Wha—how—why are you here?” Gemini stammered. For perhaps the first time in her life, she was nearly speechless.
“I don’t understand!” Sharon screamed.
“How on earth are you here?” Zeke asked quietly.
“Well, I’m not sure if earth has anything to do with it, actually, but yes, I am back,” Randall said. “Thanks to Mason here, I found out about this little shindig and decided that it was best to revisit my old groupies.”
Gemini shot a glance toward Mason. “Why didn’t you prepare us? How did you find him?” Turning to Randall, she demanded, “Why aren’t you dead?”
“My, my, what a warm welcome I’m receiving, eh?” he quipped. “Honestly, Gem, you’d think you’d have better home-training than that.”
“Answer the damn question!”
Randall smiled slyly and shrugged. “I just happened along, I suppose. I really had no intention of ever returning to Midway Prep, but my parents think it best that I finish out my secondary schooling here.”
“Cut the high-and-mighty talk and tell us how you’re alive!” Gemini demanded rather angrily, balling her fists as if she were ready to pounce on Randall on the slighest whim.
“It’s really quite simple, actually,” he said. “I never was dead.”
A gasp accompanied by a low murmur resonated through the small crowd. Slowly yet steadily, more awed students were joining their stupified ranks as they too wondered how the long-thought-to-be-dead Randall was quite alive and back to his old tricks.
Chloe turned back from the crowd. Whatever had happened and why Randall was there was beyond her concern. However, the strange look coming across the room from Luc was enough to send shivers down her spine. Luckily, she had a savior.
“Chloe, what’s wrong? Chloe!” Shannon said, gently poking her friend on the side. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Chloe said rather unforcefully, her eyes still locked with Luc’s.
Shannon followed Chloe’s gaze to Luc, and then she rolled her eyes. “I know, he’s freaky. Maybe it’s just been awhile since you’ve realized just how freaky.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Chloe said, although her tone was nowhere near convincing.
“Seriously, Chloe, are you all right? I’ve noticed that you’ve been out of it since you got back into town. We’re all getting kind of worried.”
Chloe’s attentions snapped alarmingly back to Shannon. “You all? Who constitutes all of you?”
Shannon took Chloe by the shoulders and sat her down in a nearby seat. “If you need to talk, I’m here.”
Chloe shrugged off Shannon’s hands and attempted feebly to smile. “Really, I’m fine. I guess this party’s just more than I expected it to be or something. Seriously, I’m okay.”
“Good,” Shannon said, her smile returning. “Now, you can help me figure out what to do about Rusty. He keeps staring over at me like he wants to come up and say something, and I really hope he doesn’t.”
“Oh, no! How long has this been going on?”
“For the last ten minutes or so. I don’t know, it’s really bugging me and I don’t know what to do about it. What am I going to say if he comes over here?” Shannon asked helplessly, setting her chin on top of her upturned palms.
Chloe’s expression turned dour as she looked past Shannon. “You’d better figure it out quick because here he comes.”
Cliff was just as surprised as the rest of them when he saw Randall. He and Randall had once been good friends, but greed and corruption had turned Randall into an almost unrecognizable person, thus severing their friendship. Still, he was quite interested in the sudden and miraculous turn of events.
“It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
The voice beside him startled him. He turned and saw the friendly face of Mel beside him. “It’s certainly not Saturday afternoon in the park, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah. I just wish I had brought some pen and paper; this would make for a great story,” Mel said, snapping his fingers and shaking his head.
“Sure, sure, Mr. Brokaw, but this is serious business. People don’t just return from the dead,” Cliff said, crossing his arms. “It’s strange, though. I know I should be, like, screaming and running around and stuff, but I’m not. In fact, I really don’t feel much of—well, much of anything right now.”
“I know. It’s almost like it’s common occurrence, yet this has never happened before. I don’t know what to make of it.”
Cliff turned to Mel, suddenly remembering something. “By the way, do you know what’s going on with Kim?”
Mel rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’ve given up trying to figure out what’s going on. I mean, I love the girl to death, but she’s harder to figure out than those 2000-piece jigsaw puzzles my grandmother used to do.”
“You can say that again,” Cliff said. “I just hope something’s not seriously wrong.”
Mel looked at Cliff curiously. “What’s with the sudden interest in Kim’s affairs?”
Cliff turned away. “Nothing, really. I was just wondering.”
Mel smiled and turned back to the crowd. He had a feeling something interesting was brewing with Cliff involving Kim, so he decided to stick around to be there to see it when it happened.
“Why do you look so surprised to see me?” Rusty inquired. “I’ve been giving you hints that I was going to come talk to you all evening long.”
“What do you want, Rusty?” Shannon asked, all pretenses of jollity gone from her expression. “I really don’t see anything he have to talk about.”
“Oh, but we do. I was going to ask if you still wanted to go see Joseph with me at the civic.”
Shannon looked at Rusty in amazement, then almost in fear. “I never said that I would go see the show with you.”
“Yes, you did,” Rusty replied, smiling. “Remember? It was when I called you on the phone last night.”
“You didn’t call me on the phone last night!” Shannon shouted, now overcome with a strange sense of fear. “Have you gone crazy?”
“Only if it’s for love of you.”
“You’re sick, do you know that?”
“Only sick of waiting for us to be together again.”
“We are never going to be together again!” Shannon yelled, her white cheeks now flushed crimson. “When are you going to get that through your head?”
“There’s nothing to get through my head,” Rusty said simply. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 5:30 so that we can grab a bite to eat before the show. See you then!”
Rusty gave a stunned Shannon a peck on the cheek before walking away. She wasn’t sure that she was fully awake, for she couldn’t believe that what had just happened had indeed occurred. Luckily, Chloe had witnessed it all.
“I think he’s lost it,” Chloe said, giving Shannon a hug.
Shannon was still too shocked for speech. Something wasn’t right with Rusty. She felt it in the way he had spoken to her and the way he had looked at her, but she had been too afraid to make a big deal out of it. She turned to Chloe slowly and suddenly began trembling.
“If I don’t get him away from me, he’s going to do something, Chloe.”
Chloe didn’t follow. “What?”
“He’s going to do something.”
“What is he going to do?”
“I don’t know! Something! And it’s going to be bad, Chloe. He’s not right in the head. God, it’s going to be so bad!”
Nerissa laughed at the growing group of people surrounding Randall and his friends. Oh, what niceties would soon play out on the upper floor of the Caged Bird. The night was truly turning out to be much better than she had expected, and, clutching the tapestry more tightly to her chest, she turned her attention back to her sister.
Just as she was getting ready to approach Eve again, she was interrupted by a hasty coughing noise to her left. She tried to ignore it, but it got louder and more irritating.
“Yes?” Nerissa asked sharply.
“Hey, Nerissa,” Colby said. “Can we talk?”
“What about?”
“Your sister.”
“I don’t really think I’m at liberty to discuss her with you right now?”
“You’re not ‘at liberty?’” Colby asked incredulously. “Come on, Nerissa, I thought we were better friends than that.”
“Yeah, well, you always were the deluded one, weren’t you,” Nerissa said, beginning to walk away from Eve’s ex-boyfriend.
“I want the same thing you want, Nerissa.”
Nerissa hesitated. She bit her lip and battled her common sense as to whether or not she should ask the question. “You don’t know anything about me, Colby, so don’t even pretend to.”
“I know a lot more than you want me to,” he said. “I know that you don’t like the way your sister mistreats you.”
Nerissa half-turned towards him, then after a pause said, “Go on.”
“I know that you would like her to pay for what she’s done to you.”
Nerissa turned further. “Continue.”
“I know that you’re going to need someone to help you, or you won’t be able to get anything accomplished.”
Nerissa was now fully turned, and their was a questioning look in her eye. The tapestry loosened its grip around her. “Why should I trust you?”
“Because you know how she’s been treating me these last couple of months. Hell, I just tried to talk to her now and she still blew me off. You need me to help you, and I need you to help me. Period.”
Nerissa moved unsteadily towards Colby. “So I can trust you?”
“Wholeheartedly,” he answered promptly. “Now, do you mind if I share that blanket with you? I’m feeling rather chilly tonight.”
Randall groaned and took a seat at a table across from Gemini, Sharon, and Zeke. Mason hesitantly sat down next to him, unsure as to which side he was supposed to be loyal to. “You know, these questions really are tiring,” Randall sighed.
“If you gave some answers, we wouldn’t be asking these questions,” Gemini retorted.
“Just answer them, please,” Zeke said quietly, looking more intently at Randall for any sign of emotion in his demeanor.
“I’ll answer them when I’m good and ready!”
The sudden fire that had flared up in Randall’s eyes and in his tone was enough to cause the crowd to lean away from him as if they were afraid to get burned.
“Randall, what’s going on?” Mason whispered to his friend. “This isn’t like you, and you’re really freaking us out.”
Randall looked Mason squarely in the eyes. “Good. Then my purpose has been served.”
He rose from his chair and issued a small wave to the crowd. “I’m off to bed now! However, I will be seeing you all around campus, hopefully, and most definitely at the Ides of June! I can’t wait until that festival! Until then!”
Just as quickly as he had blown in, the whirlwind known as Randall departed the Caged Bird, leaving a stunned audience in his wake. They all looked to each other for answers, but no one could give any.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this, and tonight!” Gemini vowed, rising from her seat to follow Randall.
Sharon put a hand on Gemini’s arm to stop her. “Gemini, he’s different now. He seems more—I don’t know, strange?”
“He can’t be that much different,” Gemini said. “Besides, I can handle him, no matter how crazy he may be. If he’s just going to rise from the grave like that, then I think we deserve some explanation.”
Sharon sighed heavily then rose herself. “Fine, then, I’m coming with you.”
“Me too,” Zeke said, following them as they made their way down the stairs.
Gemini scowled. “One way or another, we’re going to find out what’s been going on with him for these last three years.”