My Name Is Not Alexa Pearce

by Kerri McLoone

  “You okay?” he asks. “You seem a little out of it.”

  “Yeah,” I answer, turning to face him. I put my arms around his neck. “Long day,” I say as I pull him in for a kiss. It’s a sweet kiss, I take comfort in him being so strong and so close to me. I feel some of the stress of the day melt away a little.

  “And the next couple days will be more of the same. Jeff asked me to stay late tomorrow and Friday, see if I can get more of this project done.”

  “Oh,” Matt seems disappointed. Then slightly hopeful, he asks, “What about Saturday night? Are you working then?”

  “No,” I say missing his point. “Sam’s got the weekend shift.”

  “So then you’re free Saturday?”

  Ohhhh. “Yes,” it comes out a squeak. I clear my throat, all hopes of being suave gone, and try again. “Yes, I am.”

  “In that case,” Matt smirks. He opens his mouth to continue, but he’s interrupted before he even begins.

  “Hey lovebirds!” Cali calls. “Can we get our pizza over here already?”

  “Oh my god, Cali,” Mickey laughs. “Way to ruin their moment.”

  “But I’m hungry,” Cali whines in response.

  I hold a finger to Matt and bring Mickey and Cali their slices of pizza making sure to bow obnoxiously to my roommate. I come back to the kitchen and wrap my arms around his neck again. His fingers interlock at the small of my back. Our bodies are flush to each other.

  “I believe you were saying something about Saturday?” I ask coyly.

  “I was,” he replies. “I was wondering if I could take you out.”

  I don’t hesitate for a second before I answer, “Definitely.”

  The smile that lights up Matt’s face is the best thing that has happened all day. His eyes twinkle and he nods his head once. “Great, then it’s a date.”

  “Definitely,” I say again.

  **********

  It’s three in the morning. Milo is sound asleep, snoring at the foot of my bed. I’m sitting up, my pillows stacked behind me, and I have the pages from the notepad spread around me. I numbered them so I wouldn’t lose the order they’re in. I borrowed Cali’s tablet and have the browser open to a page that will translate from one language to another. I would use my phone but the screen obviously isn’t as big. I’m fighting off sleep as it is, so I need all the help I can get.

  It’s sitting on top of the notebook I had brought to the laundromat that I used to write down what I could remember about the princess and the demon. The box with my mother’s letter is safely tucked away under my mattress.

  Matt had gone home shortly after the pizza was finished, but not without an invigorating make-out session just outside my front door. An hour later, Mickey got a call from Jack at her studio that one of the pipes in the ceiling was leaking. She left to handle it but came back when it was fixed.

  While Mickey was out, Cali asked if I would snuggle with her on the couch and watch some reality TV. I can hardly say no to Cali on a regular day, but especially not today. We watched three episodes of a celebrity cooking competition, Cali and I tucked in under a blanket with Milo on top of it between us.

  When Mickey came back, I took Milo for his nighttime walk and then took a long, hot shower. Fresh-faced and comfy in my pajamas, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of my favorite soda. I would need the caffeine and sugar boost for the night.

  Mickey and Cali were still watching TV, so I asked Cali if I could borrow her tablet on my way back to my room. Thinking nothing of it, Cali said, “sure, no problem.” It was on the coffee table, so I picked it up as I said my thanks and goodnights.

  Now, my soda has been drunk and I have only a few pages left to translate.

  I had started with the part on Extensios. The term literally means extension. I would be creating an expansion of myself and my ability, specifically my telekinesis power.

  The person has to be willing, I can’t force anyone into becoming an Extensios. It’s one of the many things that separates me from Darius.

  “So who would I ask for help?” I say out loud. Milo shifts a little on the bed and raises his head to look at me. I drop my voice to be sure I’m not overheard by anyone possibly still awake in the apartment. “It would have to be someone I trust, right?

  “Obviously, it would be someone I feel safe with. But that’s a lot to ask of anyone. ‘I need your help, so drop everything you’re doing so I can give you a magical power and you can help me rid the world of its greatest evil.’ God Milo, that even sounds crazy to me, and I know it’s all entirely true.

  “It would be amazing if you could learn how to speak right now and tell me what you think I should do.” Or I just use my powers to read your mind.

  Milo just yawns as a response.

  I take off my glasses and drop my head into my hands. I rub my eyes with the heels of my palms, trying and failing to wipe away the heaviness and desire to close them. Milo’s head snaps to my closed bedroom door and a second later I hear the creak of Cali’s door opening followed shortly by a soft knock on mine.

  “Yeah?” I say quietly but loudly enough to be heard.

  The door opens and Cali pokes her head in. My brain is too sluggish to gather up the papers spread across my bed, so as Cali comes in and sits next to Milo, they’re left exposed.

  “What are you doing still up?” she asks.

  “I, uh, I’m just—” I sputter trying to tell her anything but the truth. I realize the papers are still spread out in front of me and gather them into a pile and put them face down on top of the tablet.

  “What’s all this?” Cali’s look of innocent curiosity and how much she’s proven I can trust her almost makes me spill the beans.

  “Oh, it’s just some old papers I found. I must have lost track of time. What are you doing up?” I try to deflect the attention back to her.

  “I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see those two guys,” she says absentmindedly rubbing her arms where she was grabbed.

  “I can’t explain it, but I just got this feeling that they were…” She trails off. I know which word she’s looking for, but I let her get to it on her own. I need her to get to it on her own.

  “Evil,” she finally says. “But not just that they were like bad news or anything like they were actually evil. Plus the way Milo reacted to them, nothing else makes sense. But even this doesn’t make sense.

  “I don’t know,” she shakes her head.

  This is an opening, I think. Talk to her about it, see if she’s open to good and evil in the literal sense.

  “Do you believe in evil?” I ask gently.

  Cali pets Milo, taking a minute before she answers.

  “Yeah, I think I do,” she says. “I mean, I know bad people exist, and there are some people who are only happy making others miserable. But, I don’t know, I guess I also think that there is something worse out there?”

  She sounds unsure, her expression matches her words. Cali looks from the papers on my bed to Milo before looking up at me.

  “Go on,” I nod my head to encourage her to continue.

  “Yes,” she says after a pause, looking me dead in the eye. “I believe that there is evil in the world that can’t be explained in natural terms.”

  “So, you mean there is something out there that is supernatural.” I carefully phrase my statement in a way that coaxes Cali to talk further about what she thinks.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m saying. Do you think there could be something like that in the world?”

  My roommate doesn’t know just how right she is. I take a deep breath before I answer her and heavily say, “Yes, I do.”

  Cali and I spend the next hour talking about what kind of beings we think are out there. I mean, I actually already know, but I phrase everything in an “I think” manner to test Cali’s reaction to things. It’s not every day you have this kind of conversation.

  At 4:15 in the morning, I close the notebook with the p
apers tucked inside, and put it and Cali’s tablet on my nightstand. I lay down on top of my comforter and Cali lays down next to me. We talk a little more, but before long my eyes are too heavy to keep open.

  I’ve just closed my eyes when I hear Cali say, “Sometimes I think about what it would be like to have, like, powers or something of my own. It’d be so cool. Imagine all the good things I could do with them, you know?”

  I don’t answer her and stay completely still pretending to be asleep, allowing what Cali just said to sink in.

  “Lex?” she asks, then whispers, “are you asleep?” I stay quiet and feel the bed shift as Cali settles herself closer to me. The last thing I hear before I actually do fall asleep is Cali say to herself, “I think it would be amazing.”

  ● 37 ●

  My alarm goes off at seven playing the same popular radio morning show. The current segment’s topic is about videos online posted by a dermatologist and whether the contents are gross or fascinating. Cali groans next to me and reaches over to turn it off. Her arm doesn’t quite make it, and she ends up tapping me on the forehead a bunch of times. Through my groggy haze, I swat her away but leave the radio on so I don’t fall back to sleep.

  I want to get to the library early today and get a jump on the entries. If I can make five entries before lunch, then I’ll have eight —hopefully uninterrupted — hours with The Book.

  Cali, still mostly asleep, mumbles into the pillow next to me and her hand comes down on my forehead again. I huff and shake my head at my roommate and reach over to actually turn off my alarm. I roll out of bed and click my tongue for Milo to come with me.

  I go right to the front door and pick up the leash and harness. Milo either senses my exhaustion, or he’s just as tired as I am and lets me hook him in without a fuss. We leave the building and circle the block before making our daily stop at Roast.

  The barista, Charlotte, gives me an amused smile as I come up to the counter. She looks me up and down then raises one eyebrow. I look at myself and see I’m still wearing my green plaid pajama pants and a heather gray pullover. I catch my distorted reflection in the vintage copper espresso machine. My hair looks like a nest, my glasses aren’t on my face completely straight, and my eyes underneath are puffy slits. But at least I’m wearing shoes not slippers.

  I shrug at my appearance, too tired this morning to really worry about it, and place my order through a large yawn.

  “Two scrambled eggs with cheese on a multigrain bagel. Oh, and I know it’s an unusual request Char, but could you put a double shot of espresso in my hot chocolate, please?” I hear a whine come from the area around my knee, so I quickly add, “Also a pup-cup for Milo.”

  Charlotte tells me my total and I open my wallet to pay. I’m running low on cash so I use my debit card. I haven’t stopped at the ATM in a few days so that means I haven’t added money to my box lately. It’s not going to happen this morning with Cali sleeping in my bed right now, but I make a mental note to get some cash soon.

  My name is called, so I take my order and walk over to a small table in the window. I sit down for a minute to give Milo a couple of licks of whipped cream. I feel my eyes starting to close so I quickly stand up, make sure I have everything, and head back to my apartment.

  When I get home, I unhook Milo and give him food and water. I go through my usual routine and pour the hot chocolate into a travel container, rinse the top and cup, and put them both in the recycling bin. I push the bagel back out of Milo’s reach and go toward my room.

  The door to Cali’s room is open so I peak in and see Mickey sprawled across the bed sound asleep. When I go through my own door, Cali is the mirror image of her girlfriend, except she’s also snoring. I quietly grab my towel and clothes for the day, careful not to disturb my roommate.

  In the bathroom, I put my hair up in a top knot to keep it dry and turn the shower on. When I see the steam curling over the curtain rod, I hop in to quickly rinse, then soap, then rinse myself. After I wash my face, I turn the knobs to shut off the hot water and leave the cold on. I let the water spray on my body as long as I can stand and then shut off the shower completely.

  It’s safe to say that stepping out onto the fluffy bath mat, I am finally one-hundred percent awake. I dry myself off and get dressed with measurably more energy than I’ve had since waking.

  As quietly as possible I go back into my room to grab Cali’s tablet and my notebook with the papers tucked inside it. I go back to the living room and see Mickey standing at the closed refrigerator drinking some orange juice straight from the carton.

  “You’re up early,” I say. “I was just going to leave a note reminding Cali I’m working late.”

  Mickey wipes her mouth with her arm and says, “I’ll tell her.” She burps and her eyes widen before she laughs and says, “Excuse me.”

  I laugh with Mickey as I say, “I grew up with two brothers, trust me I’ve heard worse.”

  “Huh, I didn’t know you had brothers.”

  Crap, I think. It’s getting more difficult to remember what I’ve mentioned — or lied about — and what I haven’t. Maybe I’m not as awake right now as I think I am.

  “Mm-hmm,” I walk past Mickey to get my leaded hot chocolate. I pop my bagel in the microwave for thirty seconds to reheat it.

  “I have three,” Mickey says. “All older. If they weren’t messing with me, they were kicking the ass of whoever else was dumb enough to.”

  I turn around to face her and half her mouth is curled up in a smile. “That sounds familiar,” I admit. The microwave beeps, so I take out my bagel and grab my travel mug.

  “Hey, Mick?”

  Mickey’s in the middle of another swig of orange juice but is able to say through a swallow, “Hmm?”

  “I was wondering if you had any tips for improving speed? My endurance has gotten really good, but I want to be faster.”

  “Faster? For what?”

  “I don’t know,” I say trying to be as nonchalant as possible. “Just faster, I guess.”

  She folds her arms and leans against the fridge thinking. “Well, Jack does the sports specific training, so I’ll ask him if there’s something in particular. If you have the endurance, it could be that you just need to work on a more explosive start. But Jack would know for sure.”

  “Cool, thanks,” I say as I gather my things for the day. Before picking up my bike helmet and leaving, I go over to the couch and give Milo a bunch of kisses and tell him to be good.

  “Oh, by the way,” I say straightening up. “Your girlfriend is drooling all over my pillows. You think you and Milo can take care of that for me?”

  Mickey grins devilishly. “Oh yeah, I think so. Come on, Milo.”

  Mickey walks past me and puts down the orange juice carton on the coffee table. Milo hops off the couch to follow her. A few seconds pass between Mickey and my dog entering my bedroom and me hearing her gently call Cali’s name.

  Mickey’s voice gradually gets louder and louder with no response from my roommate. There’s a pause before I hear Mickey quietly count to three. Then Milo barks and Mickey yells “Cali!”

  When I hear Cali scream followed by a thud which could only be her falling out of my bed, I open the door to my apartment and call out, “Thank you!” over my shoulder as I close the door behind me.

  **********

  Because I’m not a coffee drinker, the few sips of my espresso charged hot chocolate goes right to my head. It takes me three tries to get the bike lock through the ends of the heavy chain, my fingers are trembling so much.

  I take off my helmet and tuck it under my arm. I pull my lanyard with my ID out of my bag and walk up to the main door of the library. It isn’t even 8:30, so not even Jeff should be here yet. If the magnetic strip on the back of my card does in fact open all the doors like it should, I will be the only person in the library for the next half hour.

  I swipe my card through the reader with my left hand and take hold of the door handle with my righ
t. The solid red light on the reader turns to green and I hear the familiar thunk as the lock is electrically turned. I step into the library and the door closes loudly behind me.

  When the echo of the door fades, an uneasy silence fills its place. Libraries are inherently quiet but this feels different. I know I am completely alone in this well-over-a-century-old building, but it still feels like something’s off.

  I look around before moving from my spot. All the lights except the security ones are off, meaning nothing has tripped the motion sensors in at least fifteen minutes.