Take Me To Your Reader: An Otherworld Anthology

by Amy A. Bartol

  "Hell yeah," he said.

  "Well, I'm happy to hear that," I returned.

  "Hey, come on lovebirds. Let's get inside. I want to see everything," James said, sneaking behind Bobby and kissing him on the cheek. Bobby drew his fake sword and took off after James, who pulled out a laser gun from the holster on his thigh.

  "Come on, children. You want to go inside, or fight out here?" Tara called as she hooked her arm through mine.

  "Hey, remind me who I'm supposed to be again," I asked as we headed for the doors. I had on camouflage pants, a black tank top and mirrored aviator sunglasses. The cherry to my sundae was a fake plastic machine gun. I had nothing to do with any part of my ensemble. This was all Tara.

  "OMG, for the hundredth time, you're Sarah Connor from Terminator Two."

  "That's right. I've got it now," I said. I was just thankful she didn't try to dress me in skintight spandex or some kind of furry getup.

  I knew my friends were into this hoopla, but for the most part, it never trickled into our everyday lives. When Tara begged me to come to Ultra-Con with them, I had grudgingly agreed, figuring it would be like the Twilight convention my mom and I went to a few years ago when I was in my preteen Twilight craze. We had seen a few fake vampires, but most people simply wore tee shirts declaring which team they were on. Of course, I was Team Edward, but after I met the actor who played Carlisle, I was ready to defect. For an older dude, he definitely had a cute thing working.

  The more I looked around, it was clear this convention was far different than Twilight-Con. For one thing, it was so crowded we could barely walk without stepping on the heels of someone in front of us. Regardless, everyone seemed to share an odd camaraderie, so it felt like a big party. You would almost think the thousands of people here knew each other. I had to admit, some of the costumes were really pretty, but there were others that were downright scary. And I don't mean monster scary. I mean, "holy hell, that's just wrong for a grown man to wear that" kind of scary. Like the guy ahead of us, whose costume was so tight it left little to the imagination. I think you could literally check his pulse if you looked close enough. Not that I wanted to. Then there was another guy who had to weigh at least four hundred pounds. He was the biggest man I had ever seen in my life. Somehow he managed to fit his body into purple glittery spandex that even Bobby or James would have had a hard time fitting into. It was at that moment I realized I was going to need a mental guidebook to get through the day. Rule number one: try not to make eye contact with anyone. It only encouraged creepers like the purple spandex guy to start a conversation.

  "See, I told you it would be fun," Tara said, taking how I clutched her arm as a sign of enthusiasm.

  "Right," I answered, urging us to move forward.

  Thankfully, the crowd at the entrance of the building swallowed us up, and I was able to escape my purple spandex-covered stalker.

  "Cool, huh?" Bobby asked, taking in the large space we had entered. There were tables and brightly colored booths as far as the eye could see.

  "Wow, it's like another world in here," I said. The inside of the convention center was huge, but it seemed like every conceivable space was being used. Booth after booth, selling everything from comics and toys to shirts and memorabilia, were all crowded with people. All I could think was how much money these guys had to be making, because it didn't look like people were hesitant to buy what they wanted.

  I was still gawking at my surroundings when I noticed Tara and James had disappeared. "Where'd they go?" I asked Bobby.

  "They took off in that direction. We'll catch up," he said, pointing into a never-ending sea of people. Rule number two: never take your eyes off your friends when you're in a large crowd of people who are dressed as characters you don't know. One minute Tara was beside me, and the next, she and James were gone. I linked arms with some poor girl to my side who looked at me like I was some kind of freak. After apologizing profusely while Bobby stood and laughed, I grabbed my phone from my pocket so I could give Tara a piece of my mind. She had sworn on a box of Godiva chocolates that we were hoarding for our next sleepover movie marathon that she would not leave my side.

  Stepping out of the main traffic area, I put my finger to my free ear in an attempt to muffle the noise. It was only after the call went to voicemail that I noticed there was no signal to be had in the convention center. Great. I was going to kill Tara when I found her.

  Standing on my tiptoes, I scanned the area for a glimpse of the red costume that Tara was wearing. "You're never going to see them in all these people. Come on, let's walk around. I guarantee we'll run into them eventually," Bobby said.

  "Fine," I reluctantly agreed. It was during my third sweep of the crowd that my eyes landed on the most piercing stare I had ever seen. At first, I thought it was only my imagination—that our eyes just happened to meet as we were scanning the crowd at the same time. I pulled my eyes away momentarily, and then looked again discreetly in his direction, but this time it was clear. His eyes were deadlocked on me. It was creepy that he didn't seem to move. Even among the crowd of people jostling around him, his focus remained on where I was standing. "Bobby, look," I said, yanking on his arm to pull him close.

  "What?" he asked, not knowing what he was supposed to be looking at.

  "That guy over there. He's looking right at me."

  "Where?"

  "Over there," I pointed, but when I looked again, the stranger was gone. "He was over by that booth with the big wall of tee shirts," I said, pointing to a crowded stand about twenty yards away. "It was creepy. He was staring right at me."

  "He was probably just acting like whatever character he was dressed as. Everyone here does that. Or, it could be you were imaging it, and he was looking at someone else," he teased.

  "Why, 'cause I'm not cute enough to catch the attention of some random guy?" I asked, feigning being insulted.

  "Oh, here we go," he said, grasping my hand. "You are gorgeous, especially dressed up like Sarah Connor. It's seriously hot. I'm just saying, there's like two thousand people in here, he could have been looking at anyone. Come on. Let's go see if we can find Tara and James." I hoped he was right, but for the moment, I still felt a little weirded out.

  Chapter 2

  I couldn't get the stranger out of my mind as Bobby and I bumped our way through the herds of convention visitors. It was my own fault for breaking the first rule. After purple spandex dude, this was the second reminder why I didn't make eye contact with anyone in here. I probably wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't seemed to be studying me so intently. Even his contacts made his eyes look like they were glowing. It had to be the lights in here playing with my mind. Either that, or the convention had sucked all common sense from my brain.

  My current favorite song started playing on my phone, breaking the freaky trance I seemed to be under. "Hold up, it's Tara," I said to Bobby as I swiped the screen to answer.

  "Jenn, I'm so sorry. One minute you were there, and the next you were gone. Where are you guys?" she asked, but I could barely make out what she was saying.

  "We're by some guy selling comic books," I answered, looking around.

  "There's like a hundred of those. You're going to have to get more specific."

  If I had a flare I could have shot it up into the air. "Okay, right beside the guy selling comic books is another dude drawing big breasted women with, like, hardly any clothes."

  Tara sighed heavily on the line. "Jenn, you're not helping. Every other booth has a guy drawing girls with big melons."

  "Ew, don't call them that," I said, gagging slightly. Tara had a knack for painting a vivid picture when she talked.

  "You're such a prude. Fine, stay where you are and we'll find you," she said, disconnecting the call.

  "Goodbye to you too," I muttered, stowing my phone back in my pocket.

  "Where are they?" Bobby asked.

  "Who knows? She said to stay put and they would find us."

  I moved away
from the wall where I was leaning and debated forging ahead to look for my friends, but the crowd only seemed to have multiplied. It would be a nerd miracle if Tara and James were able to find us in this madness.

  "Let's just look around here. If we don't stray too far, they'll find us," Bobby suggested.

  We stayed in the same aisle walking from booth to booth as Bobby educated me on various action figures and graphic novels. I nodded my head every once in a while to make it appear as if I were really paying attention, but every time he looked away, I was scanning the crowd for Tara.

  "And this issue is where they show Batman naked," Bobby said.

  "That's cool," I replied without looking. "Wait, what?" I said, whipping my head around.

  "Just getting your attention," he teased. "Hey, look," Bobby said, turning my body slightly.

  "Jennnnnn," Tara greeted me like we had been separated since birth. "You would not believe how many guys are drawing chicks with big boobs," she screeched, louder than necessary. Tara had no shame. I loved her to death, but she wasn't the person to hang out with if you embarrassed easily. "Sorry about ditching you, but are you having fun?" she asked, keeping her arm around my shoulder.

  "It's all right. Hey, did you know there's a comic that shows Batman naked?" I asked, looking at Bobby who laughed.

  "Really, Bobby?" Tara said, looking at Bobby as he held up his hands in surrender. "As if it wasn't hard enough to get her to come with us today," she chastised him.

  "Dude, it's Batman. Why would you even go there? That's sacrilegious," James said, punching Bobby in the arm.

  "She knows I was kidding," Bobby said, pointing his fake laser pistol at James.

  We continued our trek around the convention, together this time. I kept my arm linked through Tara's to make sure she wouldn't leave me again. I never would have believed it, but I was actually having a good time. I had to hand it to some of the people and their costumes. It must have taken hours to put them together. We rounded a corner to an area where people lined up in single file rows in front of empty tables. "What's up with that?" I asked Tara.

  "That's where the celebrity guests sit. There's people from different movies and TV shows."

  "Really? Anybody I would know?" I asked.

  "Probably. The whole cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation is here, and I think the Weasley brothers from Harry Potter too."

  "And don't forget about Stan Lee," James piped in.

  "Who's Stan Lee?" I made the mistake of asking.

  "No freakin' way. Did she just ask who Stan Lee is? Bobby, you gotta educate your lady, bro," James said, placing his hand on his heart like I had caused him pain.

  "Stan Lee started Marvel Comics, babe. He's a legend. Well, more like a god actually," Bobby said, enlightening me per James's request.

  "Well, excuse me. It's not like it's Ryan Gosling sitting there or something," I teased.

  "Oh, yeah. Now that would be a convention. I would totally wait in line just for the chance to sniff him," Tara added.

  "I have to give you that one. I'm not even a chick, but damn, Ryan Gosling is hot," James replied.

  Bobby and James decided to wait in line for the opportunity to talk to Stan Lee while Tara and I waited close by. "So, I have something to tell you," I whispered to Tara.

  "Is it juicy?" she asked. Tara was the queen of gossip. If you needed the 411 on anyone or anything at school, she was your connection.

  "Bobby and I decided tonight's the night," I admitted.

  "What!" she screamed. I forced my hand over her mouth and looked around embarrassed as she got the attention of everyone in a twenty-foot radius.

  "Are you gonna chill?" I asked before removing my hand. Tara nodded with beaming eyes.

  "Oh my god, Jenn. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "When did you decide this? Give me the deets."

  "I did tell you, just now, and there are no real details. Things have been getting a little hot and heavy, and we just decided to do it. That's basically it," I said. I wasn't overly comfortable going any further in a crowded convention.

  "You have protection, right?" Tara asked. "I can hook you up if not."

  "Hey, remember—chill," I said, looking around again.

  "Sorry?" she said, bouncing in place. "I'm just making sure."

  "Trust me. We've got it covered."

  "That's one way to put it," she said, wagging her eyebrows.

  "What?" I asked confused. It took a second for her joke to register in my head. "Nice, Tara."

  "I'm kidding. Bobby seems to be acting cool though," she observed.

  "What do you want him to do, wear a shirt that says 'I'm getting some tonight,'" I asked, looking over my shoulder. I had an eerie feeling I was being watched again.

  I turned around and my eyes zeroed in on the same stranger as before. He was standing near a booth about two rows over, looking directly at me again. I pulled Tara close so I was standing behind her.

  "What's wrong?" she asked.

  "There's a weird guy about two rows over who is looking at me," I said.

  "Ooh, I want to see. Where is he?" she asked, scanning the crowd.

  "Wait, don't look. I saw him watching me earlier when you guys ditched me. Bobby said it was my imagination, but this is too much of a coincidence. This guy is, like, stalking me or something."

  "You mean Tall, Dark and Dreamy over there, looking right at us?" Tara asked, spotting the stranger, who just like before, stood without moving.

  "Yeah, but don't point. I don't want to draw his attention," I said.

  "Point? I'm going to go see what his deal is," Tara said, strolling purposefully in the stranger's direction.

  "Tara, no!" I said, reaching for her arm. I reacted too late. Before I could stop her, Tara was weaving her way through the crowd.

  A large group of costumed people walked in between the rows, and my view of the stranger became somewhat obstructed. I tried stretching my neck, catching a quick view of his eyes that were glowing like they had before, but he became swallowed by the endless sea of people. By the time there was a break in the crowd again, he was gone. Tara, who had reached the spot where he was standing, turned around in a circle to try and spot him. She looked back in my direction, holding up her arms for my confirmation. Shrugging my shoulders, I waved her back over.

  "There were too many people in the way. I didn't see which way he went," I said to Tara as I grabbed her arm.

  "Wow, ease up on the death grip. I think you're worried over nothing. He probably just thinks you're cute and is too much of a wuss to talk to you, you know? Besides, look at all the eye witnesses around if he really is a creeper," she said, trying to make me feel better in her own way.

  "Oh, that makes me feel a whole lot better."

  "I'm just trying to loosen you up. Look, as soon as the guys get through the Stan Lee line, we'll take a break to get something to eat, cool?"

  "Yeah, maybe I just need something to eat," I said, although I still had myself convinced some freako was out to get me.

  It took another thirty minutes, but Bobby and James finally approached us, proudly carrying their autographed photos. As we made our way to the food court, they chattered on in a star-struck manner. I gripped Bobby's hand tightly, scanning the crowd in every direction as we walked.

  "So, Jenn is convinced some dude is stalking her," Tara announced.

  "Ha, you told Tara about your admirer?" Bobby joked. "She was convinced he was looking right at her when we couldn't find you guys earlier."

  "Yeah, well, when you and James were waiting in line for whoever's autograph, I saw him watching me again. Tara saw him," I replied, feeling like I was on trial.

  "Don't worry, Jenn. If he tries anything, it'll be off with his head," James declared, patting the fake sword hanging off his belt.

  "It's not funny. His eyes were creepy, the way they glowed," I said.

  "Glowing eyes?" Bobby asked, stopping.

  "Yeah. At first I thought it was contacts or ma
ybe the lights, but the second time I saw him, I could tell they were definitely glowing. What's wrong?" I asked Bobby, who looked more concerned than I had ever seen him.

  "Huh? It's nothing. Come on, let's get some pizza," he answered.

  The food court was as busy as I expected, considering the number of people at the convention. We waited in the pizza line for what felt like forever. Tara and James passed the time by stopping people with extravagant costumes to take pictures. Bobby was unusually quiet and looked tense, which only kept me on edge. I was beginning to think we should call it a day and head home.

  "Is anything wrong?" I asked, wondering if he was more worried about my stalker than he had let on.

  "No, babe. It's cool. I'm just starving," he answered, rubbing my shoulders to try to reassure me. Tara and James waved to get my attention. They had seized the opportunity to grab an empty table that had just become available near an emergency exit door. I jumped slightly when Bobby removed his hands from my shoulders to order our food.

  "Four pepperoni slices and four Cokes," he said to an elderly gentleman working the pizza stand. After paying, we each carried a tray as we walked to join Tara and James at the table.

  "Sweet," James said, rubbing his hands together. "I should have told you to get me two slices. I'm freaking starving."

  The others began to devour their pizza as I sat anxiously watching the crowds of people in every direction. It was like looking at a Where's Waldo picture, except I was searching for a set of glowing eyes. When I didn't see anything, I began to think that maybe everyone was right, and that my imagination was getting the best of me. It was easy to do here in this type of environment. I picked at the crust of my pizza, taking one last scan of the crowd.

  "I'll eat that if you're not going to," James piped in, breaking my concentration.

  "Jeez, sweets, why don't you go ask some of the other people sitting around if they are going to finish their food too," Tara teased him.

  "No, it's cool," I said, sliding my plate in his direction. "Actually, I have to go to the bathroom. Will you come with?" I asked Tara, standing up from the table.