Evilution
Page 8
To hear Lily describe us as having a developing friendship was like words from a dream. As soon as I thought this, an image from my dream of Lily and I embracing in this kitchen, flashed before my eyes. “I like spending time with you Lily. I hope we can become good friends.” I said as I picked up my tea and took a slow sip. I smiled at Lily over my cup’s rim. Here we were at a crossroads. It seemed, undoubtedly, that I was drawn to this woman and my greatest desire for her to return my favor seemed a possibility. I finished my tea and placed my mug in the sink. When I turned to face Lily she was gingerly trying to test out her ankle. “How does it feel?” I ask. “Much better, a few Advil and I’ll be a new woman.” She replied as she took a few tentative steps. It seemed she would be fine. I glanced at the clock and saw I had five minutes to “catch my bus”. I would continue with the charade. When the bus leaves I will make my way back to my fully functioning car.
“Thank you for the tea Lily. I enjoyed being here with you tonight.” I said as I made my way to the mud room to retrieve my coat and boots. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow. Oh, I forgot to mention, I signed up for the New Zealand trip. Perhaps we can have coffee after class tomorrow and you can fill me in on the details of the trip?” I asked. “I have a meeting after class tomorrow, but could you come for dinner tomorrow night? Say around 6:00?” She returned. “I would like nothing better. Until tomorrow, good night.” She surprised me as she leaned into me and gave my cheek a peck. “Thanks for saving me tonight.” As she pulled back, her fingers reflexively touched her lips. She felt it. She must have. For when her lips touched my cheek it was as if a generator had been turned on. The area where our flesh touched hummed with energy. I have never felt anything like it. I was momentarily stunned, like a deer caught in a headlight. “My pleasure” was all I could manage to utter.
I slipped through the door into the cold dark night. I watched Lily close the door behind me and I made my way toward the bus stop. As I came up to the stop, the bus was just pulling up. I walked behind the bus and back up the cul-de-sac toward the path. As I made my way back up toward the library I found myself unconsciously touching my cheek. I don’t understand what just happened. In all my years no one has ever caused a reaction like that in me. It also seemed that what ever passed from me to her was different than what normally happens when my skin touches another humans’. And did I just dream about her asking me over for dinner? I made my way back to my car, got in and it turned over immediately. I feel slightly guilty for the lie that led to our chance encounter this evening but what transpired tonight makes me think there are greater forces at work. Lily and I belong together. I can feel it and I’m almost certain she feels it too.
I drive back home and head straight to the barn. It is after midnight, but the thought of sleep is the furthest thing from my mind at the moment. I sit in the barn atop a cushion of hay. I lay back and stare up at the bats that roost in the rafters, their nocturnal activity in full swing. I am surrounded by the sounds of night in a barn. The rustle of bat wing, the call of the barn owl as it returns to its nest in the hay loft, alerting its young chick that it is dinner time. Even the rustle of the hay and its sweet sent as I lie down atop it all help to soothe me.
That simple kiss is all I can think about. My cheek still tingles at the thought of it, as if the cells themselves are remembering the exquisite sensation. In that instant, I felt pure joy and contentment. The internal drive that has been propelling me forward in my existence for the last 122 years seemed to have found what it has been searching for. A sense of completeness and peace enveloped me, much like the feelings that a human would feel at my touch.
I awake to the sound of my own voice crying out for Lily, the sounds of her screams still echo in my head. Her cry is so full of pain and anguish that even now as I lie here amidst the hay of my barn, knowing that it was just a dream, I can’t shake the sense of dread it has left me with. From the look of the angle of light coming through the barn window I guess it is close to 5: 00am. I will go back to the house, clean up and head to class. My mood is lifted by a hot shower and thoughts of spending an evening with Lily.
Chapter 12
A Much Anticipated Day Unfolds
I arrive to class 10 minutes early and take my customary seat. To amuse myself as I wait for Lily to arrive, I observe the humans filing into the lecture hall. I guess at the cause for their outward demeanors. One young frat boy type comes in with clothes that looked slept in, hair strewn crazily atop his head, and dark shades covering his presumably bloodshot eyes. The stench of stale beer, vomit and tequila assault my senses as he stumbles to his seat two rows down. No special powers needed to discern the reason for his demeanor this morning, but the young blond woman who just entered the room catches my eye. She looks upset, almost frightened. Her eyes search pleadingly through the growing crowd seated before her. Her eyes lock on another young woman’s who frowns with concern at the site of her friend. I know I should not eaves drop but I feel genuinely concerned for this woman. Her eyes register great pain as she sits next to her friend. Quickly, they bow their heads, foreheads practically touching, and the blond unleashes her story in a torrent of words. I listen in.
“Oh my God Jenny I had the scariest fucking night of my life! I’m still shaking.” “What happened to you last night Diane? You left me sitting by the keg next to that total jack ass from ITK!” “I know Jen, and believe me I am so sorry I left. I should have stayed with you. I left with Chris and his friend Jason and some girl named Janice who I never met before last night. Anyway we went to Janice’s house, she’s a “townie”, she grew up in Hills. The four of us were all just hanging out and Chris lights up a jay and everything was nice and mellow when all of a sudden, Janice jumps up and runs into her room. She comes out a few minutes later in a red silk robe and little else underneath, dangling a plastic baggie from her fingers. She smiles and winks toward Jason who seems to smile knowingly. Chris and I look at each other and he seems as clueless as me when Janice says “Its magical mushroom time!” I look back to Chris who seems to know what Janice means but doesn’t seem too thrilled with what he knows. I, on the other hand, still clueless, say “Come again?” To which Janice just laughs and says “I hope so sweetie.” Blondie, Diane, pauses to take a breath. Jenny waits expectantly for her friend to continue.
“Next thing I know Janice is fixing four piles of mushrooms on the table. I sit closer to Chris so he can explain to me that the mushrooms are psychedelic mushrooms and when you eat them they give you a trip like acid. I ask him, what does acid do? I only smoke pot so what the hell do I know. So he explains it to me and asks me if I’m cool with this, glancing over towards Jason. I think he is trying to impress Jason and I don’t want to fuck anything up with that, plus I really like Chris, and like an ass I go against my gut and follow along. We all eat the mushrooms, which taste like shit; literally, they are grown on shit I come to learn. “How long until you start to feel something?” I ask. Janice, ever the expert tells me in about 30 minutes to an hour. Aside from wanting to puke from the shit after taste I had in my mouth, at first I didn’t feel anything. Then everyone started to get a little giggly. Jason breaks out a deck of cards and says “Strip poker?” Now I am starting to get a little freaked. Janice has been sitting here this entire time nearly naked. I have seen her looking at me when she thought I wasn’t looking. The look creeped me out. It was almost predatory. Chris sees my discomfort and says “Ok we play, but just down to the draws, no full frontal!” As he says this he looks over at me with a pleading look and I caved again. Stupid decision number three for the night. It gets worse.
Janice and Jason are making new rules up as we go. If you don’t want to take off your clothes you can take a truth or dare, all this bullshit. I realize Janice and him are looking to turn this night into something bizarre. By now the mushrooms are kicking in and everyone is partly dressed. Its Chris’s turn and he picks a dare since he has only socks and boxers on. Ja
son says to Chris to make out with me in front of them. Now here I am tripping hard on the mushrooms, colors and sounds distort my perception, it feels like every one of my senses is on over drive. As Chris kisses me, I close my eyes and sort of melt into him. I felt better with my eyes closed and reassured by his warm strong body. The next thing that happened was so fucking bizarre I don’t know if I will ever be able to show my face at ITK ever again.” “What happened?” asked Jenny breathlessly. “We were kissing and it felt great and then I feel what I think is Chris rubbing my thigh. It felt nice so I thought ok, then I feel a hand stroking my hair and another hand groping my breast. I open my eyes and Janice has my tit cupped in her hand and one hand stroking Jason’s knob while Jason is inching his hand up my thigh. I jumped up too fast for my trippy legs to adjust, and end up with Janice catching me and planting a lip lock on me. I push away from her in time to see Chris deliver a right hook to Jason’s face sending him flying on his ass with blood gushing from what was left of his mangled nose. Janice starts freaking out at the site of the blood, it was beyond fucked up! Chris and I wound up walking back to ITK and passed out in his bed. I woke up around six feeling like utter shit, a hangover like I have never had, and left Chris asleep in bed. I left him a note to call me when he gets up if he wants to get together later and made my way up to campus through that cow path. Lucky for me some other lunatic took the path last night and I was able to follow in the tracks.”
“Holy shit Diane! Jason is a tool and Janice sounds like a freak. Are you ok?” “Yea, I’ll be ok. I’m lucky. I made many stupid decisions last night, things could have gone worse. It makes me feel a little better knowing Chris thought it was fucked up too and hit Jason. He probably broke his nose.” “He fucking deserves it, the creep.” chimed Jenny. “If she is not here in five minutes I am outta here, I feel like I could puke.” finished Diane.
I glance up at the clock, the dramatic story having ended. I conclude that Diane will be ok, and possibly smarter for the experience. I notice it is ten after 8:00, so caught up in the drama of the co-eds that I lost track of time. Just as I start to feel concern for where Lily is, the lecture hall door opens. In hobbles Lily, leather backpack over both shoulders, ankle in some type of brace and walking with a cane. “Good morning! Sorry for the late start, as you can see I am a little slowed down today. May I say to anyone thinking of taking the cow path to town, from campus at night, in the snow, find another option!” Diane and Janice glanced at each other at the mention of the cow path as if to say, lunatic identified. As she finished unpacking her back pack, Lily looked over at me with a wide smile then sheepishly glanced at her foot and cane. I returned the smile and laughed good naturedly at her embarrassment.
Lily picked up her lecture on vampires were we left off on Monday. Much of the class was spent with discussions of supposed vampire traits and the possible genetic component that may explain that trait. Lily mentioned that she was currently involved in work on her Doctoral thesis on the very topic. She mentioned how she is following the work her great grandfather completed before his mysterious disappearance and presumed death seventy two years ago. She told the class the story of how she obtained his research and journals and how she retraced many of her great grandfather’s steps during the course of her research. She mentioned that the internship to New Zealand, which I so recently signed up for, was following another lead of her great grandfathers. She hoped to interview a survivor of a purported vampire attack.
Those last words left me feeling uneasy. But before I could dwell on it Lily reminded the class that Friday was the half way point for the class. We would be taking our midterm exam on Monday. She set out the guidelines for the exam, an essay. We could pick any myth or mystery we wanted to research. One we have discussed, or a new one and explain, using scientific rational, our stance of belief or disbelief in that particular myth. “New topics tend to receive better grades, and your topic must be approved by me. Submit three possible topics with your stance outlined by Friday. We will be watching some video footage of various mythological sightings, trying to determine if they look real or contrived. While you watch the footage, I will look at your proposed topics and select one from your list. If you do not turn in a list on Friday, or if your topic choices are not appropriate, you will be assigned a topic from me. You will have the weekend to do your research and you may come to class with three 5x7 index cards outlining your essays. You will get the full hour and a half class on Monday to complete your essay in a blue book. Bring a blue or black ink pen for the test. If you forget your index cards, you’re out of luck.”
The class started packing up; a few grumbles could be heard about the displeasure of the test. A few students were excited at the ability to bring in a “cheat sheet” for the exam. I over heard one student bragging about his ability to write so small that he was confident he could put his entire essay on the three index cards. Lily faced the class again and reminded us that she had office hours later today and Thursday if anyone needed some help in getting their topics together. I made my way down toward Lily, the smelly frat boy was asking her some question or other. When he and his stench were finally gone, I stepped up to Lily as she was slinging her back pack over her shoulder.
“How does it feel?” I ask gesturing to her ankle. “Not so bad, the slushy snow this morning made me think a brace and the cane were a safe bet. Are you still free tonight?” She asked with a look of hope in her eyes. “Absolutely, if your still up for cooking on that foot. Would you rather I pick you up and we go out to eat? “No, don’t worry I’ll be fine. I’m just going to whip up a quick marinara and a salad with some garlic bread and tofu cutlets. I remember you mentioned you were a vegetarian. That sound ok?” “That sounds delicious” I lied, having no desire for food. “See you at six then. I’m off to my department meeting.” She said as she made her way slowly to the door. “See you later.” I replied as she shuffled off to her meeting.
I would take a run into town to buy a nice bottle of red wine and some flowers for our date. So much about tonight excited me, the possibility to talk to her more about her great grandfathers work, the chance to learn more about our pending trip to New Zealand, but most of all the chance to learn more about her feelings for me. The memory of her chaste kiss has me reflexively bring my hand up to my cheek. The unexpected effect she had on me has left me intrigued.
Chapter 13
A Date with Lily
After class I shot over to the library to complete my midterm topic proposal. The three topics I have chosen are Witches, Aliens and the Legend of Atlantis. We have not covered any of them yet so my chance at a good grade is better. From the library I head to town to get the wine and flowers. To kill some time until 6:00pm I do a little window shopping along Main Street. Main Street as the name implies, is the central shopping area for town. The street is lined with a variety of shops and eateries. As I continue down the street, I peer into the dusty window of the antique shop. I decide to browse. The first thing I notice as I open the door is the smell. The smells associated with old linens, musty attics, and the aged proprietor, mingle in the air. Combined they convey a sense of entering a bygone era.
As I make my way through the shop, passing between cluttered tables, and narrow, congested aisles, I stop to admire an old lace tablecloth that reminds me of Genevieve and a lifetime ago, or an old sepia print faded, yet still clearly showing the solemn faced young man in the photo. From the clothes, I would date the picture early 1940’s. Suddenly I come across a necklace hanging from a mannequin. The mannequin is dressed in a 1930’s dress. The necklace looks to be much older. The simple pendant is of pewter and it has a vague cross shape to it. Thicker at the middle the four arms quickly taper to sharp points. Embedded at the center is a ruby, deep crimson, polished like a marble. The chain is woven pewter strands. It is beautiful in its simplicity just like Lily.
I turn to find the shops proprietor observing me as I admire the necklace. �
�That ones a real beauty, one of a kind.” said the old gentleman as he walked over towards me. “It is quite intriguing.” I replied. “It belonged originally to my great, great grandmother. It’s made of pewter and ruby. I was told she made it herself. My wife wore it till she died. It is called “Evening Star”. The story is that the stone has extraordinary powers when it is worn by a worthy woman. My mother wore it till she died. I was her only child, and my father gave the stone to my wife when we got married. We never had children, so when my wife passed, I resorted to carrying it in my pocket every day. It looks nicer on the mannequin. It reminds me of my Lilly.”
“How coincidental, that I should be admiring this necklace for a Lily of my own.” I replied. “Is it for sale then?” I asked gently. “Well that depends.” He replied. “This Lily, is she special?” He asked me. “Like the necklace, she is one of a kind, a simple understated beauty, strong, yet capable of connecting deeply. We have a destiny together, of that I am sure.” The man looked at me with rheumy eyes. He seemed to be trying to look into my soul, to decide if I was worthy of this most personal memento of his life.
“What do you think Lilly?” He said, glancing at a photo on a side table. As if in answer an extinguished bulb in the chandelier above our heads flickered on. The old man must have taken this as his dead wife’s answer and replied “I couldn’t agree more.” Well young man, I hope your Lily brings you as much riches as my Lilly brought to me.” Looking around I knew the man referred to riches other than the monetary sort. “Sir, just having met her has changed me. If I am fortunate to have her as my companion on our life’s journey, I will treasure every day with her.” He smiled at me, a tear in his eye not permitted to fall. After purchasing the necklace for more than the man asked, I took my treasure home, wrapped in a satin lined antique silver jewelry box. A beautiful piece on its own, purchased to make the right presentation when the time comes.