River's Journey

by Arthurs, Nia

Shifting uneasily, Tess continued to express her gratitude.

  “I appreciated it. I didn’t even see you open your door, you moved so fast.”

  “It was open,” I replied gruffly.

  “O-kay...”

  This was ridiculous. It was time for them to leave. I could not allow anyone close to me.

  Especially someone that had a chance of discovering my secret.

  These two were sniffing around where they didn’t belong. I’d had my fill of the Hardey sisters for one day.

  “If you’ve caught your breath, I would like it if you both left now,” I said.

  “But-” Dani stuttered.

  Tess held up her hand. The aggravation in her voice as she spoke was potent. I had not gained her favor today either.

  “We’ll go,” she said with a hard edge.

  With that, they packed up and stormed out in the same manner that they had come in.

  Chapter 10

  On Monday morning, I stood in Jones’s office at the University of Sacred Lights.

  My friend wore a blue shirt rolled up at the cuffs. His khaki’s were wrinkled and his shoes scuffed. Since Jones’s divorce, he was less inclined to keep up appearances.

  I sat in the plush wingback chair. Along the walls rested frames of Jones’s certifications. On the mahogany desk were pictures of his daughter and his parents.

  Bright Caribbean sunshine streamed through the windows. The air conditioner buzzed and seemed especially loud in the quiet.

  Jones appraised me with a skilled eye. I sat stiffly, waiting for him to speak.

  He brushed the moustache above his lip and cleared his throat.

  “Let me get this straight,” he shifted in the chair. “This girl was getting attacked and you rescued her.”

  I nodded.

  He leaned forward.

  “Now she’s your next door neighbor.”

  That was all I’d spoke n of. Jones didn’t need to know that Tess Hardey had seen me appear in front of her without opening my front door.

  He would only worry and grumble. Jones was not the best under pressure.

  “Are you crazy?” Jones leaned over the desk and swatted me across the head with a rolled up newspaper. “You choose now to step in and reveal your abilities to random people?”

  I held a hand to my head.

  “That hurt!”

  “How much do you think it’s going to hurt if this girl remembers your face and starts causing a ruckus? Do you think aliens can just walk around on earth without someone coming to experiment or interrogate them?”

  “She … doesn’t seem to remember me.”

  Jones’s sharp eyes focused on my words.

  “What do you mean? Have you spoken to her since you moved in?”

  My expression must have provided an answer. Jones groaned and pressed his hands against his head. The Caribbean twang in his words was very pronounced as he railed.

  “You did! You did!”

  “She and her sister stopped by on Saturday. It was entirely innocent. I have no desire to come in contact with her in the future.”

  “Really?” Jones pressed his fingers together to form a tent with his hands. “Alright, move.”

  “Move?”

  “Yes,” his dark brown eyes drilled into my head. “I’ll make the arrangements. We’ll do it quickly and quietly like we did when you relocated to Belize from the States.”

  My eyes cast downward, I shook my head.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “I knew it!” Jones shouted and pointed a finger at my face. “You’re interested in her.”

  I stared at my friend, certain he had spoken without thinking his words through.

  “River, I’ve known you since university days. Not once have you ever used your abilities in front of anyone. Now you’ve employed them twice. For her. You think I don’t know what that means?”

  “She was simply a girl in need.”

  Like Ivy.

  “Calling the police wouldn’t have solved it?”

  “I didn’t have the time. I needed to act fast before she was hurt.”

  “You should have thrown some stones or used a stick you found on the ground. Anything but your powers. Do you know how dangerous that is?”

  “I know!” I snapped.

  Jones didn’t even blink. I sighed and leaned my head back.

  “I’m not sure what got into me.”

  “I don’t hear you agreeing to move out.”

  “I just purchased the house…”

  “This is ridiculous!” He threw his hands into the air. “When I joked around about love, it was with the understanding that you would never fall into that trap.”

  “I don’t love her.”

  “Not yet, but it starts like this.” Jones said.

  I stood and fixed my blazer. My friend was not making any sense. Annoyance burned in my chest. Before it blazed into full blown anger, I saw it fit to remove myself from the office.

  “We’re obviously not getting anywhere with this conversation.”

  “Go,” Jones flung his hand. “Take your high horse and gallop outta here.”

  I shook my head and walked toward the door.

  “But know this,” Jones’s voice stopped me in my tracks, “those who don’t believe in love are the ones who fall the hardest.”

  It was a warning and I took it as such. Without another word, I pulled the door knob and left Jones’s office.

  His advice was unwarranted. I had spent over five hundred years on this planet and the only female that had ever pulled at my heartstrings was Ivy.

  The small slave girl was long gone. Even after searching far and wide for her, it seemed she had been erased from existence.

  Though I had not kept my promise to Ivy, I had managed to keep her memory alive for all this time.

  Ivy was the only female that could claim to hold my affection. Even then, the way I had regarded her was nothing close to the intense, stupid, reason-erasing sensations that humans called ‘love’.

  I would never stoop to such degrading lows.

  I did not want to move from the house because I felt there was no need to.

  Packing up and fleeing would mean that Tess Hardey and her uncanny ability to put herself in dangerous positions was somehow a threat.

  I was scared of nothing. Death had not touched me for five hundred years. I had faced situations that most humans would find incomprehensible.

  Should I then turn and tuck my tail for a human girl with a dog named after a sandwich cookie?

  Jones’s anger would cool and at that point I would return and converse with him. I knew my friend well.

  He was often impulsive which led him to making rash decisions. I only needed to wait him out.

  I checked the time. It was nearly five o’clock. My class was due to begin. My steps were steady and determined as I walked down the hallways.

  Jones had landed me a job as a psychology professor at the University. My long life experiences made me an exceptional student.

  Learning anything only required discipline. Preserving a human body for five hundred years required loads of that.

  I picked things up quickly and quite enjoyed discovering new things. It was the main reason I had been chosen for the expedition from my star.

  Pushing the wooden doors open, I strode confidently forward. The large lecture hall was brightly lit. A handful of students sat in the chairs.

  I bid them a good evening and walked toward the desk at the front. The art of human psychology was one that I looked forward to instructing. Humans were such strange creatures.

  As much as I knew about them, they could change in the blink of an eye. They were equal parts predictable and impetuous.

  No matter how effectively I studied them, their motivations were as numerous as the stars.

  I set my books on the table and waited patiently. The doors flew open and a group of fifteen or so students flooded in.

  Their chatter stopped
abruptly when they saw me. The females stared and the men grumbled.

  I paid them little heed. When the long hand on my watch ticked to five, I strode to the podium at the front of the room. My gaze swept across the classroom.

  From the very first glance, I could deduce the students that were serious about the course and those that would find it a challenge.

  I was looking forward to the results.

  “Greetings,” I dipped my head, “I am Professor Yi. You’re interim instructor.”

  The class time was over before it had begun.

  As the students trailed out, I realized that several of the girls were staring at me. I held my head down, focusing on the wooden table.

  In the beginning of my life on earth, I spent much of my time travelling.

  Though females regarded me with curiosity, the traditions of the day prevented many human girls from being forward.

  In this present day, women were as aggressive as their male counterparts when they became interested in someone. It was highly uncomfortable.

  The few times I had found myself in strange situations were both embarrassing and discomfiting.

  I had learned that simply ignoring the girls before they felt courage to approach me was best.

  “Excuse me, excuse me.” I walked down the hallways.

  Young women giggled in my wake and formed huddles as I breezed past. It was all unnecessary. Had they never seen a man before?

  The realization that my day job would have its own set of complications was unwelcome.

  Females became more brazen when they roamed in packs. I recognized the look in their eyes.

  The annoyance I had felt in Jones’s office returned as I drove home.

  Dusk painted the sky in strokes of dark pink and purple. The moon had already claimed its place in the sky and the stars would soon follow. I parked in the driveway and exited the car.

  Slamming the door shut, I stormed the front of my lot. Why did humans have to be such needy creatures?

  Connections, it was all they wanted. Especially the females.

  As I strode up the walk, Tess Hardey’s front door opened. She was living alone. Her sister had returned to Barbados to continue her studies.

  I had not been eavesdropping. Dani Hardey spoke so loudly, even the people on my planet could understand her.

  Since then, Tess Hardey and I did not meet. I was rather grateful to live quietly.

  “Hm hum hm,” Tess sang under her breath, “I ap-re-ci-ate it.”

  I recognized the lyrics as the song that had blared quite loudly this past Saturday morning. Hearing the words from her mouth amused me.

  With great restraint, I wiped the smirk from my face and turned my eyes away as she struggled to her car while hefting herself on the crutches.

  “Goodnight…”

  Her voice trailed when I marched right past her without slowing down or responding to her greeting.

  “Jerk!” Tess Hardey muttered.

  I caught the words and stiffened my back. There was nothing I could do about it. In order to draw the lines between us, I had to show her that I was not interested in her. Not in any sense.

  Jones warning, though completely unfounded, was not altogether impossible.

  My deep regard for Ivy proved that I was capable of connecting with a human. Our tragic separation also meant that I never wanted to experience such sensations again.

  It would be easy to prove Jones wrong. Any desire to draw close to me would be expunged each time I behaved rudely toward my neighbor.

  Eventually, Tess Hardey would treat me just as coldly.

  Nothing would make me happier.

  I opened my front door and waved my fingers. Immediately, the lights switched on. Sighing deeply, I slipped out of my shoes and padded to the sofa.

  The sounds of the night surrounded me. My neighbor’s dog barked happily. Tess Hardey muttered to him and he responded with enthusiastic howling.

  I pressed my hands over my ears. Why was I listening in to my neighbor again? I had much to do, beginning with my investigation into Paul Sterm’s murder.

  Who was the man in the car? How did he know about Paul’s research?

  These matters were more pressing than how much Tess Hardey ‘adored’ her dog.

  “I could just eat you up, yes I could,” she cooed.

  “Ah!” I threw the pillow at the side of the wall. It bounced harmlessly to the floor.

  Perhaps I should take Jones’s advice and move to another neighborhood. If I was this aware of my neighbor now, how far would my regard go in the future?

  I shook my head and grabbed my laptop from my bedroom. The thoughts running through my meant had no basis.

  My consciousness of Tess Hardey’s movements resulted from her nearness to me.

  It was nothing more.

  Nothing.

  Chapter 11

  I knew my quiet existence would be disrupted when the cars began to arrive next door on Friday night.

  I had lived in the peaceful neighborhood of Berkley Street for nearly a week and none of my other elderly neighbors had gotten to me the way Tess Hardey had.

  Despite my assurances that my awareness of her resulted from our close proximity, I learned that this was not the truth.

  Each night, when she experienced nightmares, I remained restless with her. Sleep eluded me each time she cried out in fear.

  I was very close to calling Jones and pleading defeat. Because of my stubbornness, Tess Hardey had become the focal point of my evenings.

  I was torn in two, divided by my desire to calm her down so that I could get a good night’s rest and the desire to ignore her so that she had no interest in pursuing an acquaintance with me.

  I leaned toward the latter.

  Yesterday she, once again, tried to greet me. I walked right past her.

  As our faces rested side by side for the space of a second, my eyes drew to hers of their own accord.

  Are you okay?

  Are the nightmares very frightening?

  Are you getting enough rest?

  I locked the questions deep inside and returned my eyes to the horizon. The look of distaste on her face had been evidence.

  Tess Hardey wanted nothing to do with me.

  The feeling was supposed to be mutual. I was working on that.

  “I will enduuure! I will endure!”

  I held my hand over my ears at the howling coming from the house next door. The tinny sounds of pop music from a stereo accompanied the noise.

  “I will enduuure!”

  Was a lion cub dying in the Hardey residence?

  Determined to ignore the tortured sounds, I returned to my appraisal of Sterm’s documents. For the past few days, I had been studying the notes the meteorologist left.

  Searching for the key to the meteor showers exact location was as difficult as it always was. The probabilities were endless. Without Sterm’s technology and know-how, I was stumbling in the dark.

  “I will endure, as long as I know how to live I know I’m still alive!”

  I grimaced. This was ridiculous! How did Tess Hardey expect anyone to focus with that kind of racket?

  Unable to withstand a second more, I stalked out of my house and slammed the door behind me.

  The night was cool. The wind rustled the leaves on the tree branches as I pushed my gate open and marched down the sidewalk.

  Female laughter assailed my ears and one of the women in the neighboring house yelled for an ‘encore’.

  Was she mentally disturbed? Who would ask for a second helping of that?

  The singer obliged and the song began again. I managed to get to the front door without falling to my knees from auditory pain.

  “Hey!” I yelled and knocked on the door.

  The song continued. I fisted my hands to pound on the door again when it flew open. Tess Hardey stood in the opening.

  Well, Tess Hardey’s rear end stood in the opening.

  The woman was shaking
her derriere like a tornado. I gawked, momentarily stunned by the uninhibited display.

  “Ms. Hardey?” I called attention to her wonton dance moves.

  She froze. Tess Hardey recognized my voice and stepped back.

  “River?”

  She gave me a once-over. I held myself stiffly as her friend inside continued to sing with a voice meant for torment and misery.

  “D-did you need something?”

  “I was petrified!”

  The singing reminded me of what I was here for.

  “Do you know what time it is?” I said.

  Tess Hardey glanced at her watch. The pull of her lips said that she had heard the scolding in my tone.

  “It’s eleven.”

  “Exactly,” I grumbled, “too late to be disturbing the neighborhood like this.”

  Tess Hardey stepped completely out of the house and pulled the door. She looked genuinely confused.

  “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I honestly thought we were being quiet.”

  “Well, you weren’t.”

  “Okay. I’m sorry,” she licked her full bottom lip. “Is that it?”

  The move disturbed me. I found it oddly fascinating and continued to stare at her mouth. The strains of the chorus filled my ears and jarred me back to reality.

  It was time to leave. Tess Hardey was stirring feelings that I had never experienced. I donned my haughty air, aware that it would annoy her.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Good.”

  I was successful! With a disgusted expression, Tess stepped toward her door. I moved to walk away when a woman’s voice prompted me to turn around.

  “Hey, Tess. Who was... at... the...”

  A tall woman with short brown hair and grey eyes gawked at me. Her mouth hung open. I looked over my shoulder, searching for the object of her rapt attention.

  “Pam, this is River,” Tess Hardey introduced us.

  I realized that the woman was ogling me. Before I could dismiss further polite conversation, another girl joined the first in the space of the door.

  “Riley, the song is don...” she said.

  I nervously shifted from one foot to the other. Was something on my face? Had I regressed to the form I’d arrived on earth with?

  I glanced down at my hands. They were still pale. I had five fingers. Five nails. Perhaps the ladies were drunk.