No Place Like Home

by Erik Schubach

  I realized I was blushing, from head to toe, as I heated up. I was supposed to do something? Was it talking? Breathing? Her smile widened at my silence as I stood there like a platypus at a duck farm.

  Oh God, I was going to die... right in front of her. I couldn't have been more awkward if you paid me.

  She reached out and gently tugged the welcome packet from my hands. “You ok, sweetie?” She thumbed through the packet, “Hmm. Dorothy Gale?” She glanced up from the paperwork and offered an apologetic smile, “Parents did you no favors I see. Who does that to their kid?”

  I lifted a hand. God no, don't wave! I waved to add to my awkwardness. My body obviously wasn't listening to my brain.

  She perked up, “Frosh. Oh, English major? Oh wow, four-point friggin' O GPA? Nice. Good on you! I may have to pick your brain from time to time, English is my worst subject.”

  She offered a hand. “Antoinette Tomlinson. Everyone just calls me Toni or Toto.”

  She cocked her head as I tried to figure out the overly complex thing called breathing. I knew I knew how it was supposed to work.

  Toni offered, “And you are Dorothy. No need to be nervous, sweetie, I got your back. I drew the short straw, so I'm the welcoming committee for Block B this year.”

  I heard myself saying. “Dorothy. I'm Dorothy Gale.” Just shoot me now. I exhaled and inhaled.

  Oh, that's how it works.

  She half chuckled, and half giggled. “We've established that already. Want me to help you bring your stuff up to your room? Only one other newbie is supposed to show today.”

  She hopped to her feet, bouncing on her toes. I finally got control of myself when she broke eye contact, looking past me to the parking lot. Oh yeah, that cinched it, I was gay. And a cheerleader?

  Really? How cliché were my hormones? But God, she was cute.

  I pushed my glasses back up from where they had slid to the tip of my nose, and rushed out, “No.

  No... thank you umm... Antoinette.” She even had a pretty name. The part of me not drooling was jealous that she seemed to have it all.

  She seemed confused as she cocked her head at me and tried to get my attention with her eyes. I knew better than that, it was a trap. I looked at her chin instead as she spoke. “Really, you can call me Toni, I don't bite. Especially the brainy ones, they're what gets me through my classes.” She was smiling at that admission, and I found myself grinning until I realized she was holding out a pen and a clipboard.

  Oh. I took it and saw it was a check-in form. There were only four names in the freshman column.

  Ok, so it wasn't a very big college, but it was a college. They had a cap of eight hundred students there at Central Kansas College. Less than ten percent of that number stayed on campus in the dorms for fear of full moons. But for those of us not adverse to living outside the walled cities, I was a lucky frosh to get one of the rooms, it came with the partial scholarship.

  I signed in and handed her the clipboard and felt awkward and just rocked on my heels. I realized

  she was holding out a key marked 6B and my welcome packet with another set of papers. I took them quickly, as I pushed my hair out of my face, trying not to look at the girl again.

  I squeaked out, “Thanks.” Then headed to the door grumbling to myself, “Smooth Dot, real smooth.”

  She called out to me in an amused tone – just great I was amusing her – “Once this, Dave Ross checks in, I'll come up and grab ya for the campus tour.”

  I nodded and as the door was closing she called out, “What's your favorite book, Brains?”

  I held the door for a moment and smiled at my shoes and said down to them in a private joke,

  “Wizard of Oz.” My smile was huge as I heard her giggling cut off by the closing of the door. The real answer is Don Quixote, in case you were wondering.

  I grabbed two of my three suitcases and box of personal belongings and hauled them inside. I tried not to grin at the silly faces Toni was making at me as I headed up the stairs. I didn't have any big stuff, so the elevator seemed ridiculous to me.

  I went to put the key in the lock just to find the door already unlocked. I hoisted the suitcases and dragged them into the room, shutting the door behind me. Then I turned around to look at my cell for the next four years.

  And cell it was.

  The space couldn't have been more than seven feet wide and nine feet deep. With stacked bunk beds built into one wall and a built-in counter that doubled as a desk running the length of the other wall to the small curtained window. I knew there was a shared bathroom with showers on each floor.

  The lower bunk was a mess of blankets and pillows, and there were some suitcases stuffed under the beds. That and the laptop charging on the counter told me that my roommate must be on campus already. I set my suitcases under the counter, I'd unpack into the tiny closet at the end of the beds once I got the rest of my stuff in.

  The musty smell of the place spoke of countless other students who had lived in the slightly rundown room. But I didn't care, because to me, it smelled like freedom, like the exciting future that lay ahead of me.

  I stepped on the rail of the lower bunk and started to pull myself up to look at the top bunk, when I wound up screaming in surprise and falling back onto the ground on my butt when the mass of blankets sat up, blurting out, “I'm up! I'm... oh, hello.”

  I looked up from where I sat on the ground at the little brunette looking at me in embarrassment.

  She had a slightly rounded face that still had a bit of baby fat. She looked down at me and offered a hand down like it was normal to scare the shit out of someone and shake their hand while they sat on

  the ground. “Molly Stevens. You must be Dorothy? They said they had another victim... um, roommate for me this year.”

  The toothy grin on her face along with the bedhead matted hair made me smile. I reached up and shook her hand and said in a sardonic tone tinged with embarrassed amusement, “Charmed, I'm sure.”

  She got a smug look on her face and laid back on the bed with her arms behind her head. “I'm not the frosh this year, so I got first choice of bunks.” She nodded to herself with a satisfied smirk.

  I was still smiling at the silly woman as I capitulated with a mock bow. “As it should be.” This girl was fun, reminding me of everyone's mischievous little sister.

  I got back to my feet as she yawned. “You got more stuff to move in? I ask out of curiosity, not out of any desire to exert myself and help.” She was moving off the bed indicating her willingness despite her words. Then her puppy dog brown eyes brightened as she whispered a hopeful, “A mini fridge perchance?”

  I shook my head. “Sorry. Just a box and another suitcase.”

  She sighed as she ran she fingers through her hair to get the mats out. “Drat. I suppose neither are edible? I forgot to eat breakfast.”

  Again I shook my head as I headed out with her on my heels. “No, nothing edible except maybe a candy bar in the box.”

  She brightened. “Dibs! You owe me for my help.”

  Ok, the woman was funny, and I felt really odd, like maybe we could be friends. Things were already looking up.

  After we moved my stuff in, we divvied up the sparse space in the room. She showed me the tiny recessed shelf with built-in USB and power connectors in the wall in each of our bunks to charge our phones and offered to set up my laptop or tablet on the campus wifi. I was a bit embarrassed when I shared, “Umm... I don't have one. We couldn't afford that kind of stuff.”

  She squawked in distress, sounding like someone had just kicked a duck. “Hang on...” She slid a box out from under her bunk and dug around in it. “Ah, here. Use this. You're going to be lost in class without the web. Most of the research material is online. It isn't an Ivy League college here, and books are spendy otherwise. I just brought it for the fashion statement, I have a Mini now.”

  I looked at the old iPad which had it's back case spray painted silver and pink, with a big unicorn
sticker on it that said “Horny Horse.”

  I was grateful for her generosity in helping a complete stranger, though my eyebrow may have been permanently cocked, as the thing would draw attention everywhere. She chuckled at my dubious look and said, “I didn't say exactly what fashion it was stating.”

  I sighed, then grinned and held it up in thanks. We had an old PC at home in the living room that we all shared. It was so old that it didn't even have a flat screen monitor, but it got me through high school and any assignments I needed to Google up some reference material. And I may or may not have run the battery out every day online on the new, used iPhone, which Em and Henry got me last week for school.

  I plugged it in to charge on my side of the counter by the non-operable window. I was sort of excited that she was letting me have the window until she said as she ate my chocolate bar, “It leaks cold air like a sieve in the winter.”

  I jumped when someone knocked on the door and a familiar voice, which had me panicking like a rabbit, called out, “Knock knock, Dorothy. I'm free to bring you on that campus tour.”

  Molly headed to the door then paused and furrowed her brow when she saw my panic, as I absently touched my hair and smoothed my shirt. She cocked her head then her eyes widened when she guessed correctly. She grinned and bit her tongue as she called out, “Just a sec!”

  She opened the door, and she looked ready to burst as she looked back at me, “Cheerleaders?

  Really?” Then to Antoinette, she said in a perky manner, bouncing on her toes, “Toto.”

  The tall blonde responded in kind, “Molls.”

  Then my roommate chirped out, “Dorothy would LOVE to go on a campus tour with you,”

  stressing the word love. My eyes widened at the evil girl. What was she doing?

  When those ice blue eyes captured mine, I figured rather than trying to form complex sentences it was better to just nod. She prompted, “Then let's get a move on. We're burning daylight here.”

  I gave a well reasoned and articulated nod again as I started for the door, my feet moving of their own accord. I grumped at Molly as I passed by her smug smile, “I hate you already.”

  She added in an amused and cheery tone, “No you don't. You gave me chocolate. We're

  practically BFFs already. Have fun, don't do anything I wouldn't do.”

  Ok, I smiled at her as I left to my awkward doom. And I had no clue what she wouldn't do...

  I stopped as I followed the girl who moved in a feminine sway that I'd never be able to duplicate.

  “Wait, shit!”

  She swung around like she was tethered on a string, her face showing an odd mix of amusement and concern. I blurted as I dug the cell from my pocket, “I was supposed to call home as soon as I hit the big city.”

  The alarm washed away into that amusement of hers as she asked, “Topeka? Big city? You really are a farm girl, aren't you?”

  Ok, the tease helped me get my equilibrium back, I was used to people teasing me, and it put me on

  familiar ground, even though her teasing was in fun instead of something hurtful. I gave her a mock derisive look and smiled as I flipped her off.

  Then I was trying to figure out how to make the call on my smartphone. I could surf the web like a pro on the phone already. I found the contact list and tapped 'home.' On the first ring, Emily picked up the landline at the farm. “Dorothy? Did you make it ok? What took so long?”

  I blushed and said quietly as I turned away from the girl who was hopping on her toes, burning off some of that excess energy cheerleaders have, “Emmm, I'm fine. I just forgot to call. I'm all moved in at the dorm. Antoinette is giving me a tour of the campus.”

  She was so full of... of something when she oooed, “Ooo Antoinette? Is she cute?”

  I was so glad the cheerleader couldn't hear her. I whispered, “Emmm!” Then felt a burn on my cheeks as I admitted, “God yes.” Then in a normal tone. “I'm here, I'm fine, and I'll call you tonight.

  Love you.”

  She chuckled then tutted out, “Ok Ladybug, love you too, so does your uncle. Call when you're supposed to next time, we were worried sick.”

  “Yeah, yeah, bye.” I hung up with a smile on my face. I was in such a better mood after talking to home, oddly relieved that it hadn't disappeared just because I moved out for the school year.

  With a bit of confidence, I prompted Toni, “Lead on.”

  She shared, likely to ease the redness on my cheeks from the call, “Parents are that way.”

  I nodded. Though I saw my aunt and uncle as my big brother and sister, they technically were my parents now.

  So I did what would become second nature to me the next couple centuries of my life, I followed Toto.

  Chapter 6 – Tornado

  These strange girls from home who shared one soul looked as though they were almost,

  mesmerized by the story I told while I kept an eye on the explosive magics in the one they called Ella.

  If I had only the power of a single Cardinal Witch, any one of her blows would have been my end. It was because I had the four Cardinal Points surging inside me that I was able to survive.

  I took a deep breath and continued.

  # # #

  That year was the most magical of my life. Toto, Molls, and I were thick as thieves from the very start. I was amazed that someone as cute and funny and popular as Antoinette would want to hang around with me. I helped her with most of her coursework, and she helped me... smile.

  It was like Toni had become my spirit animal. And I had to chuckle that she, being the most limber of the three cheerleaders at the CKC, had to wear the school mascot uniform at the games. Yes, we only had three cheerleaders. We barely had enough guys for the football team, and their kicker was a leggy girl, Monica Stratford, with gams that wouldn't quit. They found a loophole in the rules that let her play on the men's team.

  And to my chagrin, that man insisting he was Frank Baum showed up almost on a weekly basis, trying to get me to go with him... to Oz. Nutbag. I was starting to believe that maybe Viv and the other kids back home hadn't put the man up to it.

  I had an inexplicable scare when my civics class went to a lecture at the Capitol Building in November. I was looking forward to heading home for Thanksgiving in a couple days. Molls would be coming along. She sort of attached herself to my family like a nice pair of comfy shoes and had been accompanying me on my weekend trips home... with my dirty laundry. Yeah, Uncle Henry was smug about that. And I'm pretty sure Molly tags along just to pine after him. Eww, he's my Uncle.

  She had the hetero bug bad, and it was cute as sin.

  Having my friend over unfortunately had the unintended side effect of Emily getting all the juicy gossip about how I acted like a puppy on a string around Toto. Grr. And aunt Em doted over Antoinette when she had tagged along with us the prior weekend. I wanted to die from embarrassment when Em would grin and nudge her chin toward the cheerleader whenever the object of my coed fantasies wasn't looking.

  Well anyway, when my class visited the Capitol, they took a group of us who were interested, on a tour of the building. I'd never turn down the opportunity to learn more trivia about a fascinating

  structure. We were escorted through some of the more interesting areas of the building and then were treated to a visit to the switchback stairs above the inner glass dome, to see the majesty of the upper dome. It was not much more than a metal fire escape style set of stairs that were suspended high above the inner dome. It was surreal the way they seemed to just hang in the air over the center of the dome, with not many anchor points around the perimeter.

  I was in awe of the demonstration in the practical application of physics of the massive dome above us. Gravity can be a bitch unless you're using it in compression to allow a fifty-foot clear span of open space. As we moved along toward the central ladder, which our guide, Miss Sommers, said we couldn't go up, she pointed. “You see that copper box up there, with the heavy verdigris, fastened to
the top of the ascent ladder, on the dome's viewing platform?”

  The five of us who braved the stairs looked up at the green metal box that looked to be riveted closed with pewter studs and nodded in interest. She smiled and said with the smoothness that spoke of how many times she had shared this information with others she has brought on tours of the place, “It contains the original, handwritten manuscript of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. It was sealed and placed in the dome when it was completed in 1903.”

  I felt a little odd as I looked up at the box, it felt as if it was calling out to me, tugging me toward it with some sort of urgency I couldn't explain. I stepped to the base of the ascent ladder, leaning over the chain blocking it off with a little metal sign that said 'maintenance personnel only.'

  I gazed up at the box and got a sense of vertigo, like I was somehow falling toward it, only it felt upward, not down. I shook my head, and the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come. I was about to turn back when the ladder and suspended stairs started to shake like we were experiencing a minor quake.

  Everyone scrambled to grab onto the railing, but I was sure-footed for the first time in my life. All my clumsiness had washed away as I stared at the box, my eyes transfixed on it as it started to glow an emerald green. Static arcing in green flashes of light across its surface.

  Our guide was telling everyone, “Stay calm everyone. I'm sure the quake will be over soon. Hold tight to the railing.”

  I could hear the wavering in her voice. She looked back at me and then followed my gaze. I heard a sharp intake of breath when she saw what I was watching.

  Then with a horrendous explosion of sound and fury, the box burst open, dozens of yellowed, handwritten sheets of paper flew out of it, being consumed by the emerald green lightning that shot from it and struck me full in the chest, throwing me backward into the group.

  Then it was silent, and my ears were ringing in the suddenness of that silence. The world had