Watchers of the Night

by Matthew Keith

  * * *

  “So you think that shrink dude’s going to be able to figure out your issues. Really? My ass. You’re reaching, dude. Reaching. He’s a high school counselor, man. That’s, like, a substance abuse group leader calling himself a psychologist.”

  With his usual eloquence, Steven expressed his opinion of Jeff’s offer. Steven was a short guy, a born-and-bred Kentucky redneck and proud of it. His parents were both working class, with chemical dependencies that Steven didn’t apologize for or deny. He was loud, somehow always in a great mood, and had big blue Chihuahua eyes that landed him more dates than he deserved. Other than the bond he shared with Paul and Stephanie, Steven never forged any long-term relationships with anyone. He spent very little time at home. As far as he was concerned, the three of them were his family.

  Paul, Stephanie and Steven were seated at their usual table in the cafeteria.

  “Yeah, well, you’d know all about the qualifications of a substance abuse counselor, wouldn’t you, Steven?” Paul quipped.

  Steven’s shrug was his only answer to the gibe. It was pretty much true. He began to hum the lines to the song Sober.

  “I don’t know, guys,” Paul said, “From the sounds of it, this place Jeff knows about seems like the real deal. They specialize in people like me, people with sleep issues. I guess most people have the opposite problem as me—you know, most people don’t get enough sleep. But still, it’s worth a shot isn’t it? If Jeff can get them to see me and get it done without it costing my mom big money, the only thing it’ll really cost is time. So what, right?”

  “What if they’re not legit?” asked Stephanie. “What if they’re into experimental treatments and they want to inject you with all kinds of crap that’s only been tested on monkeys? You want to take the chance of having strangers poking and prodding you without your parents there? I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Look, I’m a …” Paul began to say, but lost his train of thought. The girl with the big brown eyes, the one he’d seen in the main office, walked past their table with a lunch tray in her hands. She was staring directly into his eyes, and this time she was the one smiling. Smiling at him! There was no doubt. His mouth went dry and his mind went blank. He was completely tongued-tied. He shook his head in an attempt to put some clarity to his thoughts and continue the conversation, but he couldn’t get the words out. He just stared back, smiling his goofy smile with that same wonderful warm feeling in his belly.

  And then the moment passed.

  The girl with the big brown eyes continued past and joined a group of girls, immediately falling into discussion with them.

  “Hel-lo?” Stephanie was leaning into his field of vision, waving her hand, looking from Paul to the brown-eyed girl and back again.

  “A legal adult,” Paul finally managed to blurt out. “I’m a legal adult. Yes.” He stared blankly into space for a moment. “What were we talking about, again?”

  Stephanie snorted and turned away. Steven, his mouth crammed full of Ho-Ho’s, said, “That hack counselor’s plan to send you away to a loony bin for people who sleep walk. Who’s the hottie?”

  “Yeah. Anyway, I’m eighteen. That makes me an adult and that means I can make my own choices, which means I can choose to go there if that’s what I … choose. Right? So I’ll check it out and if it seems legit, I’ll let them take a look at me. I mean, that makes sense doesn’t it?” Paul turned and looked back at the brown-eyed girl’s table. “I have no idea who she is. I think she’s new. I saw her in the office the day Paine busted me.”

  “She’s freakin’ smokin’ hot.” Steven said. “And against all odds, she looked like she might be into you.” He smirked and punched Paul in the shoulder. “’Git some.”

  Without warning, Steven’s head lurched forward, clipped from behind by someone walking past. The person’s elbow had hit the back of Steven’s head hard enough to make his whole upper body lunge forward, forcing him to slap his hands against the table top in order to stop his forehead from hitting it.

  Before Paul or Stephanie knew what was happening, Steven jumped out of his chair, reached around and grabbed the arm of the person whose elbow had hit him. A lunch tray fell to the floor in a clatter and spray of salad dressing and spaghetti.

  Steven spun in a full three-sixty, yanked the offending arm up behind the person’s back, and pushed their face down hard on the table. It was Cory Boone—a guy that was notorious for starting trouble.

  “You got a problem, Boone?!” Steven yelled directly into Boone’s ear, leaning bodily over him. “How about instead of clipping me from behind, you be a real man and try messing with me to my face! Or you too much of a wimp to do that? Huh?”

  “Hey, man, easy! It was an accident,” Boone lied.

  Steven yanked harder on the arm. Boone winced and decided it would be smarter to stay quiet. Aside from a few gasps of pain, he said nothing more. He stared wide-eyed at the pitted table top.

  Steven held him there a few more beats and then let go with a push. Boone stumbled a little against the table as he worked to regain his balance. Steven, all five foot seven inches of him, stood staring up at Boone like he was ten feet tall, daring with his eyes for Boone to try something, anything. A few people at nearby tables snickered.

  Boone slowly edged away from the table, leaving the mess of his fallen lunch behind.

  Steven stared after him, shaking his head a little as he picked up the overturned chair and sat back down.

  “Animal,” Stephanie said, giving Steven a withering look. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for Steven to have people mess with him. He was like a magnet for abuse.

  “I know, right?” exclaimed Steven.

  “I meant you, you Neanderthal! You don’t have to be such a brute.” She sniffed and turned away from him. “So, Paul—how about if we hang out after school today and talk about this thing a little more? I mean, do you even know the name of the place? Shouldn’t we try and look it up on the internet or something? If it’s a real place that does real research and has a good reputation, I’m sure there’ll be a website with reviews and stuff.”

  “Wow, yeah,” Steven said sarcastically and yawned theatrically, the fact that he’d physically assaulted and humiliated one of their classmates less than thirty seconds ago completely forgotten. “Holy crap, I’m tired just thinking about it. Research. Internet. What a night. Sounds like that’s right up your guys’s alley. Me, I think I’ll find something a little more fun to do, like maybe gargling ice shards.”

  “Since you weren’t invited, I guess that works out just fine, you intellectual dwarf,” Stephanie said primly. “What do you say, Paul? For me? Just so I don’t worry.”

  Smiling and raising his hands in surrender, Paul agreed to meet at Stephanie’s house at five that evening.

  He saw the brown-eyed girl one more time as he was leaving school that day, and again she noticed him. She was leaning against a telephone pole by the road, presumably waiting on her ride home. She was facing the school, watching as everyone came out. Once he’d left the building, her gaze followed him. She didn’t smile this time, but didn’t look away either. She just stared with those big, liquid brown eyes of hers.

  Paul almost waved, but then stopped. She might be looking past him at someone else. He thought about going to say hello, and almost got the nerve, but not quite. He didn’t want to take the chance of making a fool of himself. Instead he gave her a quick, nervous smile and hurried across the parking lot.