The Athena Effect

by Anderson, Derrolyn

  She scanned the crowd anxiously, spotting Cal’s shaggy head with a little gasp of relief. He was sitting in a plastic chair by the fire, draining a bottle of something. He looked up and smiled his crooked smile, and her heart leapt into her throat.

  A girl in a short skirt approached him, returning his smile and waving two more bottles in her hands. She handed him one and he tossed the empty over his shoulder with determination before reaching out for it. She flipped her straight blonde hair over her shoulder, and plunked down on his lap casually, playing with his hair while he drank from the second bottle, his other hand on her thigh.

  Cali’s face burned with a sudden flash of heat. She backed up, turned around and fled as fast as she could. She was stupid, she thought, going to him for help. She walked off into the dark night, looking over her shoulder anxiously, realizing that she was completely, utterly, on her own.

  ~

  Calvin got to school the next morning with a pounding headache, wondering why he even bothered. He was a senior, and had been pretty much phoning it in for the last few weeks before graduation. His grades had slipped, along with any real plans for life after high school. All around him his classmates were fired-up about college applications and prom dates, but ever since the accident, none of that stuff seemed important at all.

  Seeing his grandparents had brought back a flood of memories, and he was feeling more melancholy than usual. There was only one reason he even showed up today. The truth was, the only reason he even got out of bed was to see her.

  He looked for Caledonia in the halls around her classes, but she was missing. He searched the hidden spots behind the buildings to no avail, waiting out front after school with a heavy heart. He couldn’t reach her by phone, and he thought about going to the condo and knocking on the door. He didn’t know what he’d say after that.

  He just wanted to see her, that’s all.

  Angry with himself, he couldn’t understand why she had to be so difficult. He knew at least four or five girls he could call that would come running, happy to hook up with him at a moment’s notice. The last thing he needed was some girl that was always hiding away; he could get plenty of action without all of the head games. She was too much work.

  But try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and the images that flashed through his mind– wildly different images – were difficult to reconcile. The fierce, knife wielding girl at the cemetery, her devastated, tear-streaked face at the pound… And his favorite, the radiant girl that smiled up at him as she petted a lamb. How could she be all of them?

  She wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met, and just thinking about what to say to her made him nervous. He decided that he should drop it; he would forget all about her and move on. Deep down inside, he had to admit that he doubted he could.

  ~

  Caledonia had also dragged herself to school that morning. The weather was mild, so she’d spent the night curled in the brush next to the graveyard, getting up to pick the leaves out of her braid, trying her best to make herself presentable until she could get to the school bathroom and splash some water on her face.

  It took some doing to dodge Calvin that day; he seemed to be everywhere she had to be, and he nearly made her miss getting a school lunch. She couldn’t afford to miss her lunch. She used every trick she knew to blend in, hide out and evade him. She wondered why he even bothered hunting her.

  He may not have seen her, but she saw plenty of him. Leaning up against a bank of lockers with a bored look on his face, he was as handsome as the first time he’d caught her eye at the bus station. A girl came over and draped herself onto him, and Cali felt a little surge of annoyance. She hated that it bothered her, swearing to herself she’d never be like one of those girls.

  All of her romantic notions came from books, and the casual way he went from girl to girl disgusted her. Calvin was no gentleman like Mister Darcy, and he could never be as loyal or passionate as Heathcliff. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she must protect her heart from him. She didn’t want what he had to offer.

  She had to wait a long time after school for Calvin to leave. When she finally made her way down the street to her aunt’s, it was late afternoon, and she was feeling drained. She stepped inside the house with trepidation, wanting only to take a shower and get some fresh clothes. Her aunt heard the door, and came around the corner, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

  “Cal, can you come into the kitchen? We need to talk.”

  She followed her aunt in and stopped short when she saw Phil sitting at the kitchen table. He glowered at her, his eyes sending a warning.

  “Phil tells me that you’ve been running around with those trashy bikers while I’ve been at work. He says you got dropped off here last night on a motorcycle.”

  Cal was stunned at her accusatory tone, “I haven’t done anything wrong… I just took a ride from a friend.”

  Her aunt looked at her sadly, “You should be happy that Phil cares enough about your well-being to let me know what’s going on. Cal– I know you’re naive, but those people are trouble… I thought I warned you to stay away from them!”

  “But–”

  “Listen, you’ll be eighteen soon, and then you can move out and do whatever you please. I just want you to know I won’t tolerate any foolishness under my roof. If you’re smart, you’ll stay far away from those losers.”

  “But–”

  She smiled patronizingly, “Don’t look so upset. We wouldn’t say anything if we didn’t care.”

  Cal’s wounded eyes met Phil’s gloating ones over Angie’s shoulder, and she felt like throwing up.

  She climbed the stairs numbly, exhausted and defeated.

  Caledonia resumed her pattern, dodging Phil at night and napping in the afternoons before an increasingly harried Angie left to work her double shifts. One day she woke up to find Phil standing over her bed, watching her sleep with hungry eyes. She jumped up with a cry, running to tell her aunt.

  To her dismay, Angie believed Phil’s story about needing to get something from one of the boxes of his things that remained untouched in her room.

  “Don’t be so selfish,” she had scolded Cal. “You should be grateful that Phil was nice enough to give up his office for you! And don’t you think it’s kind of lazy for you to lay around sleeping all day?”

  Cal nodded sadly; there was no point in arguing because her Aunt Angie had no desire to believe her. Caledonia knew by Phil’s color what he’d had in mind, but unfortunately, she had no proof. Instead of waiting around for something bad to happen, she continued to avoid the house as much as possible.

  Her life became even harder now that she had someone to dodge at school too, but it pained her to see Calvin, and she was so stubborn about avoiding him that she even missed getting her lunch a couple of times. Constantly ravenous, she started wasting away, growing thinner and thinner.

  Wandering the streets at night like a ghost, she stumbled upon a little convenience store that was open all night, shocked by all the different things she saw inside it. She was forced to spend some of her precious dollars on food, taking it with her to the little clearing that she rested in at night. She stayed quiet as a mouse, fearful of attracting the frightening vagrants that sometimes shuffled by her hiding spot in the middle of the night, muttering to themselves.

  She was back to only being able to read in the daytime, curling up in the quiet recesses of the school library, usually falling asleep out of sheer exhaustion. By the end of the week, she was coming to the end of her rope.

  On Friday, Calvin finally caught up with her at school, cornering her in the cafeteria. He sidled up to her in line, getting right up next to her before he announced his presence.

  “Hey,” he said casually.

  Her head snapped up to see him, and she froze, poised to run like some wild thing. When their eyes locked, the two of them stood rooted to the spot, staring at each other. The world all around them faded into the b
ackground as he scrutinized her with deep blue concern.

  “Where have you been?” he asked her.

  “Nowhere,” she replied, her voice barely a whisper.

  She recovered, taking her food and leaving the building with him hot on her heels. She walked fast, going to the farthest bench to sit down and take out a book. His shadow fell across her.

  “Are you avoiding me?”

  She looked up at him, “What do you want from me?”

  He was startled by her directness. She was nothing like the coy, flirtatious girls he was used to. She unnerved him, and he found himself groping for words.

  “Hey Cal!” Where have you been hiding?” They both looked up to see a pair of girls approaching. One of them hooked her arm around Calvin’s in a territorial display. Caledonia recognized the girl he had been kissing.

  “Who’s she?” the girl asked, following his eyes.

  “Hillary, Debbie…This is Caledonia,” he said her name slowly, enunciating each syllable.

  “That’s a weird name,” the girl clinging to him laughed shrilly.

  “It means Scotland,” Cal said, making Caledonia’s eyes narrow up at him suspiciously.

  “Oh my Gawd!” Hillary squealed, “What is wrong with your eyes? That is so freaky!”

  Caledonia looked at Hillary coldly, “It’s called heterochromia iridium. That means they’re two different colors.”

  She laughed again, “Like, duh– I can see that! What, are you some kind of science geek or something?”

  She looked down, “I read it in Grey’s anatomy.”

  Now Hillary really laughed at her, scoffing, “Oh really? You can read a TV show?” The other girl joined in, and Caledonia looked confused.

  “It was a book first, stupid,” Calvin said, pulling his arm back from Hillary.

  Caledonia snapped her book shut and got up to leave without saying a word. Calvin stood watching her hurry away around the corner, too proud to chase after her.

  “A bunch of us are going to the fair this weekend, wanna go?” asked Debbie.

  “I don’t know,” he said, finally stalking off to look around the corner and see that Caledonia had already disappeared into the crowd.

  She’d slipped away again, like sand running through his fingers.

  Calvin found himself growing increasingly dissatisfied and depressed, thinking it must be the upcoming graduation that had him in such a funk. The never-ending party atmosphere at home was wearing thin, and he started spending more time holed up in his room, playing computer games and drawing more than he had since the accident.

  After another wild party on Friday, he spent most of Saturday in bed, nursing a hangover. He finally left the house that night, going out by himself to get some food. His heart leapt into his throat when he spotted her lonely figure walking along the dusky street, going in the opposite direction of her house.

  He pulled up on his bike, “Where you headed?”

  She looked down at her worn out shoes, “For a walk.”

  “Alone? At night?”

  She looked at him like he was the stupidest person she’d ever seen, “Why do you care?”

  He rolled his eyes at her, but he was ticking off the reasons in his head. Because I can’t stop wondering about you. Because I never felt this way before. Because I think that maybe…

  “Do you want to go for a ride somewhere?” he asked her.

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know.” He thought about what she’d said, “To get away from this place.”

  She looked at the dark woods beyond the cemetery and back at him. She knew he wouldn’t harm her, but she didn’t want to trust him. He was annoyingly persistent, but she had to admit to herself that she wanted to go with him. He was back to his glowing golden color, only now it was ringed with a shade of hopeful pink.

  No, he wasn’t scary… And a bike ride somewhere new was a whole lot more appealing than the prospect of another cold evening spent alone in the trees. He could see her struggle with something, and for a second he thought she was going to burst into tears. She took a deep breath and climbed on the back of his bike, tucking her bag between their bodies.

  They rode off into the night, leaving the neighborhood far behind. After a while, she rested her cheek against his back, and he shivered a little at the contact. He had imagined the way her touch felt all week, and her hands were on him now, making him feel strangely protective. He drove like he was carrying precious cargo.

  He climbed to the top of the highest hill in town, pulling up at a spot with a view of the entire city, laid out like a sparkling carpet of lights. She’d never seen anything like it, and she climbed off the bike to drink in the view, completely entranced.

  “Wow,” she whispered reverently, “Look at how many people there are with electricity.”

  He chuckled by her side, “Who doesn’t have electricity?”

  “I didn’t… until I came to live here,” she said, back to being defensive.

  “Really?” He looked at her incredulously.

  She turned away, walking off a few yards for a different vantage point.

  He followed her, standing by her side to watch her face in the dim light. “What’s that?” she pointed.

  “The fairgrounds,” he said, “And the race track.”

  “No,” she pointed, “That round thing.”

  “That’s a Ferris wheel.”

  “You mean… You mean it’s one of those carnival rides? Seriously? Are there people on it?”

  “Yeah, the fair’s going on this weekend.”

  She was fascinated, musing, “There are people on that right now… Do you think they’re scared?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, trying to remember the last time he was on one. “Probably not.”

  She took a deep breath, looking all around, “It looks like the stars at night. It’s prettier from far away than it is up close.”

  “Wait till you see the city,” he said softly, imagining her surprise.

  “What city?”

  “San Francisco.”

  She turned to him, her eyes shining in the moonlight, “Have you ever been to the art museum there?”

  “Which one?”

  “There’s more than one? Really?”

  He smiled, “Really.”

  She sighed, thinking that those places were so far out of reach. “My parents went to museums. Someday, I’d like to go see them too.”

  He watched her closely, “I could take you sometime… If you want.”

  She looked over at him in shock, and he could see that she didn’t even think it was a possibility. Her reactions to everything he said were so strange, he didn’t quite know what to make of her. Half the time he thought that she was joking around.

  She looked thinner to him, her skin translucent. Her delicate beauty seemed to be growing even more fragile by the day. He finally made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

  “Do you want to go get something to eat?”

  ~

  Chapter Eight – INTERNET

  ~

  He took her to the newest burger chain in town, watching her amazing eyes dart around, taking in all the details. She asked him to order for her, and then watched him do it like he was giving a speech. She followed him to a booth, sliding in and inspecting everything on the table.

  She poked at the napkin dispenser, picking up a laminated advertisement to read with her brows knit together. She squeezed the catsup in the little packets from side to side.

  “Have you ever tried this place before?” he asked.

  “I’ve never been to a restaurant before,” she said lightly, like it wasn’t the weirdest thing in the world to say. She was constantly saying the last thing he ever expected to hear.

  He looked at her in amazement, wishing that he’d taken her someplace nicer.

  “So… why didn’t you have electricity?” he asked.

  “We were too far away.”

  “Away from what?”
/>
  “From everything.”

  “So you had no TV?” he asked.

  “I had books.”

  “Where did you go to school?”

  “I didn’t,” she said defensively, getting uncomfortable. All of a sudden she clammed up, folding her arms across her chest. She felt like he was interrogating her, and she remembered her parent’s warnings. She shouldn’t trust anyone, they’d said, and she should keep her abilities to herself. He’d already seen too much of what she could do.

  She met his curious eyes, “How did you know what Caledonia means?”

  He looked sheepish, smiling, “I Googled you.”

  She looked confused, “You what-ed me?”

  “I searched you on the net.” She looked even more confused, and he realized that she really did grow up without electricity. “You know, on a computer.”

  “Oh… computers. I don’t know how to use them.”

  “It’s not that hard, and you can find out anything you want to know.”

  Her eyes flew open wide, “And you found me?”

  He smiled again, “Not you, just the meaning of your name.”

  She looked down, “The school computer said that there were no records, and they didn’t want to enroll me… It took a long time to get an identification card. My aunt got really mad.”

  “They’re a bunch of morons,” he scoffed. “There are records of everyone… They must not have looked in the right place.”

  She was quiet for a minute, and she looked up at him with the biggest, clearest, most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen, “Could you show me how to search in the nets?”

  “Sure,” he smiled. “What for?”

  “I want to see if my parents had any records.”

  “Okay,” He nodded, “We can do it after we eat.”

  Their number was called, and he got up, returning with a tray of food. He watched her scarf down her burger and fries like she hadn’t eaten in a week. He was starting to suspect that her aunt didn’t do a very good job of feeding her. She leaned back in the seat with a groan.