by Laurie Lyons
The cry had been waiting all day to arrive and it was violent and relentless when she allowed it to flow through her. It shook Lucy to the core and she thought her chest might break open with the force of it. She sobbed and wailed into her hands. Suddenly, Nathaniel was kneeling in front of her. He wrapped his arms over her shoulders and tucked her head into his neck. The warmth enveloped Lucy and despite her better judgement, she leaned into him and cried. He held her, strong and supporting, willing to wait forever for the bawling to cease. She allowed herself to get swept away with him for a moment - permitting herself to need him so much that it hurt.
But the bottom line here was that Nathaniel was the reason for her crying. This could not go on. She could not allow it. With every bit of strength she could muster, Lucy pushed against his chest as hard as she could, "NO!" she growled at him. Nathaniel leaned back on his heels looking uneasy but not upset.
"Lucy," he said softly with so much caring that she almost faltered.
"No!" she increased her resolve, "No, you don't get to do this! I want my life back. Do you hear me? I want my brain, my emotions and my life back in my own control. I want you to get out of here and leave me alone!" she snarled at him, "Get out!" Nathaniel immediately stood up and stepped back from her.
"If that is what you want Lucy," he said with sadness in his voice, "then you will never see me again."
"Go away," she said with more conviction then she felt. Nathaniel moved to the door. He opened it but paused and looked back at her. She jutted her jaw out defiantly and looked him directly in the eye. "I said GO!" she yelled.
"If you ever need me," he said.
"I won't," she shot back, her voice was full of disgust.
"But if you do," he sounded so hurt that Lucy wanted to die, "you just have to call me." He walked out the door without waiting for a response and closed it quietly behind him.
"Hate to break it to you pal," Lucy yelled at the now closed door, "but you don't have a phone!"
Nathaniel was gone and the emptiness in the room was overwhelming. It felt as if the lights had dimmed and the heat had shut down. Lucy fought the urge to run after him and tell him she didn't care that he was invisible or imaginary or anything at all. She just wanted him to hold her again, hold her forever and never let go. She couldn't do that though, it had to be wrong. He was gone forever, Lucy would never see Nathaniel again and despite the fact that she had know him only a little more than twenty four hours, the impact of that was devastating. He was gone and a new wave of pain hit Lucy's chest. She fell over on her couch and cried. What had she done?
Chapter Four
Answers
"The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one
whose answers I accept."
~George Carlin
Lucy woke up the next morning. She was lying on her couch and wearing the same thing she had been wearing last night. She sat up and crumpled tissues fell off her like snow. Lucy rubbed her arms. She had pulled a thin blanket over herself at some point in the night but it was no replacement for her cozy comforter. It was early, just past dawn and Lucy wrapped the blanket around her and waddled over to the door to check the thermostat. She turned it up knowing full well the effects would not be felt for several hours. Lucy stood for a moment and took stock of herself. Surprisingly, she felt ok. She had to come to terms with the fact that there were no answers and no amount of crying would change that. She didn't acknowledge the twinge of pain she felt thinking of Nathaniel walking out the door. Her life was back in control and that was what mattered. Lucy resolved not to think about him, she wouldn't even think his name. If she didn't think about him then this pain would pass, eventually.
Lucy took a deep breath. Keep busy. Don't think about it. She resolved to herself. The first order of business was a much-needed shower and (her stomach growled in protest) some food. She picked out a clean set of clothes, grabbed her shower bag and headed to the bathroom. It was far too early for any of the other girls to be awake on a Saturday so Lucy had the bathroom to herself. She took her time showering, drying her hair and applying a little makeup. Looking at herself in the mirror, Lucy noted that she looked and felt much better. Her stomach growled again, "ok, ok," she muttered.
The cafeteria was fairly empty. Lucy loaded her plate with eggs, bacon and toast. She grabbed a coffee and an orange juice, took a seat and tucked in. While eating her monstrous meal she considered what to do with her day. Keep busy. Keep busy. Don't think about him. There was laundry to do and she could go to the library. There was also the party at the boy's dorm that night which should offer plenty of distraction. She finished her breakfast, deposited her plate on the rack and headed back to her room. She collected up her dirty laundry and walked back down the stairs and one floor down to the basement laundry room.
The laundry room was the same décor as the rest of the dorm. There were rows of Harvest gold colored washers and dryers and the counter tops were covered in peeling Formica. The floors were layered in an avocado green peel and stick tile but it was clean and the room brightly lit. Lucy loaded two washers and sat down to wait. The two armchairs, couch and TV were obviously donations and also from the seventies. Lucy leaned over and turned on the TV which was a huge wooden box that you had to physically turn a dial. She watched the news half hoping to hear about a missing young man who might have amnesia. No such luck. The weather man came on with his bright smile and wacky tie.
"Ok folks, it appears as though we have all moved to Florida!" He bellowed as he stood in front of a map of Illinois. "Here's the thing, and I have never seen anything like this before. The town of Mulbridge and surrounding area continue to have unexpected, unseasonably warm temperatures. This time last year, we were having a snow storm and today, the mayor has authorized the water park to be opened! It is a great time to live in Mulbridge everyone! And look at this," the satellite imagery changed slightly, "we SHOULD be a part of this massive precipitation front that is currently overtaking Chicago, but nope, it is slipping north and avoiding us all together. So get out there and enjoy it Mulbridge because I have NO idea how long it is going to last!"
"The weather man doesn't know how long the weather is going to last," Lucy mused moodily while shaking her head. The flowers in the quad popped into her head. Could Nathaniel really have anything to do with all this? Could it hurt to do a little research on him? Her inner voice gently prodded. Lucy felt like a drug addict. She needed to keep herself busy and stop thinking about him.
Lucy was folding her laundry a little while later as her mind wandered over and over the same thoughts. Stop thinking about him. She urged herself. Suddenly, the fluorescent lights above her began to flicker. Lucy winced at them.
"This place is falling apart," she murmured as two of the lights went out altogether. Then all the others started to flicker and Lucy stopped what she was doing. Was there some sort of power surge? Was there a problem with one of the circuits? Then Lucy could hear a light squeaking sound from off in the corner of the room, from behind the washing machines by the door. The room was half dark and the other half was flashing on and off. The noise got louder and multiplied. Lucy went up on her tip toes to peek over the row of machines and squealed in fear at what she saw. It was rats. They were streaming in a line from between two washing machines. There were at least ten of them and more were coming. Lucy scrambled on top of the washing machines and screamed again as they came closer. They weren't ordinary rats either. They were huge, some the size of cats with large red eyes. Terror gripped her when she realized that they surrounded the machine she was crouched upon. They weren't just passing through, they seemed to be after her. The rodents clambered at the washing machine, trying to climb up, their claws leaving huge gouges in the harvest gold paint. Lucy looked toward the door.
"Help!" she screamed. "Somebody help!" The rats seemed to respond to her yelling and became even more intent to get to her. They scrambled over each other; their small squeaks had become full screeches. They began c
limbing on top of one another and were creating ladders of rat bodies for others to climb up higher. Soon they would reach the top of the washing machine. Lucy started jumping from one machine to the other, making her way toward the door but this was where most of the rats were and the door opened inward. The sea of huge rodent bodies would block the door from opening even if she could lean over and reach the handle which she couldn't.
Lucy was trapped.
Her mind worked quickly thinking of option after option for escape. She scanned the room again, trying to think of a way out. The flow of rats had stopped and now they were either climbing on top of each other or running in a track around the washers trying to find a way to get to her. Lucy's eye caught a sight of red off in the far corner. It was the fire alarm. But how to get to it? It was over where the couch and TV were and there would be no way to reach it from the safety of the washing machines. But she could reach them from the TV.
Silently thanking the solidity and heartiness of 1970 electronics, Lucy ran to the end of the row of washers and made the easy jump to the top of the large oak TV. She crouched there for a minute to make sure that it would indeed hold her weight. When the rats realized where she was, they abandoned their previous ladder technique at the washers and started a similar process at the base of the TV. The TV was lower though and Lucy had to kick at a rat as she leaned over and pulled the red handle. It screamed in protest and fell back, only to get back up and try again. The bell exploded into the air and muted the squealing rats. Lucy jumped back to the washing machine and crouched waiting, hoping, praying that someone would come.
The rats did not like the raging clanging of the fire bell and started to migrate back to their point of entry. More than half of them were gone but the other half were still clawing fervently at the washing machine when the door flew open and a maintenance man burst into the room with a fire extinguisher in his hand.
"Fire?" he yelled over the bell looking at Lucy.
She shook her head, pointed at the ground and yelled, "Rats!"
The maintenance man looked down at the ground and hollered at the swarms of rats at his feet. Using the only weapon he had, he blasted the fire extinguisher at the hoard and they quickly began to disperse, crawling back over each other to go out the way they came. Finally, the last one ran its now white tail out between the two machines. The repair man, whose nametag on his sweat-stained uniform said, "Cliff" looked up at Lucy in shock. His hair was thin and greying but his shocked eyes were a bright blue.
"What the hell was that? I've never seen so many rats!" he yelled while pulling out a walkie talkie and yelling into it. "All good Jim, call off the alarm." The bell immediately stopped.
"You should have been here three minutes earlier, there were twice as much!" Lucy exclaimed as he helped her down off the machine.
"Are you hurt?" he asked as he examined the runnels of chipped paint on the side of the washing machines.
"No, fine really," Lucy said being somewhat surprised herself to find that she was unhurt and relatively not upset.
"It must be the warm weather." Cliff said, "They must be having trouble finding dens because it's been so dry. But really so strange though." He looked around and shook his head, "What room are you in so I can put it in the report?" He pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, licked the pencil and looked at her expectantly.
"4B Lucy Bower," she replied while walking back and retrieving her basket of clothes. "And you can tell them that there were at least fifty of those things in here. They gotta get someone in."
"Yeah," Cliff said as he tucked away the paper and ran a weary hand across the back of his neck, "just do me a favor and don't spread this around. The last thing I need is massive panic in the girl's dorms."
"I can do that," Lucy agreed as she moved to the door, "as long as you promise to take care of it. That was seriously creepy. It felt like they were after me."
Cliff laughed, "Stupid animals, they were probably trying to get to the water in the machines."
Lucy shuddered lightly as she looked at the floor, immediately the image of all those rats popped into her head. She shook it off.
"You sure you're ok?" Cliff asked. He leaned towards her in that nice Uncle way. He was concerned and Lucy didn't need him to be.
"I am fine." she smiled at him in a reassuring way and headed out the door.
She brought her laundry up to her room, put it away, cleaned her room and sat down on her futon. She thought about what Cliff said about the weather. This was the third time that someone had talked about odd occurrences due to the climate. The third occurrence since she 'bumped' into the invisible Nathaniel that doesn't know who he is. Lucy sat back and tapped her finger over her lips as she thought. It just didn't add up and Lucy could not accept something that didn't add up. With determination, she stood quickly and took a sharp breath. Lucy would go to the one place that was full of answers. Grabbing her bag, Lucy decided to go to the library.
The library foyer was dark, especially compared to the blinding morning sun outside. Lucy paused to allow her eyes to adjust. Then she glanced around and took it all in. Despite the strangeness of her mission, Lucy still felt a thrill when she walked in the library even though she had been there a million times. The term 'kid in a candy store' applied. Lucy loved the library and the information it held. She loved books.
The library was the oldest building on campus and by far the best cared for. Restorations had been done every decade to ensure the building's historic integrity. The efforts showed. Lucy looked around at the dark mahogany walls, shelves and tables and marveled at the grandeur of it all. To her left was the massive curved circulation desk. The entire wall behind the desk was covered in hundreds of pigeonholes that were once used for storing circulation cards. Now, however, they were mostly empty because the library had become computerized several years ago. In front of Lucy were five huge tables surrounded by twenty spindle chairs. To her right were the books. About fifty shelves in three rows were jam packed with books. Behind the shelves, on the far right wall was a door that led to an attached computer lab. The lab had been added in an effort to modernize the University. It was tucked away to still maintain the library's historical vibe. On the left wall beside the circulation desk was a pair of mahogany French doors that led to the stairway to the second floor. The second floor held shelves and study carols ran the outside walls to allow for private study sessions. Lucy took a deep breath- this was exactly where she should be.
"Hi Lucy!" came an energetic voice from behind the desk. Lucy smiled at Ruth, the head librarian. Ruth was the happiest person Lucy had ever met. She was a round woman with black curly hair, rosy cheeks and a smile that would melt an iceberg.
"Pretty dead in here," Lucy observed noticing that she was the only student in the room.
"Well," Ruth replied grinning, "it is Saturday dear. No one comes in on Saturdays when it's not finals, no one except for you that is." She winked kindly.
"I just have to do some research," Lucy said.
"You know where everything is doll. Let me know if you need anything." Ruth turned and went back to her paperwork.
Lucy headed for the computer lab. She sat at the first computer in the row and wiggled the mouse so it came to life. She typed in her ID number and password to log in. Lucy rarely used the Internet. She preferred to rely on books and her own knowledge for research. She was sure she was the last person in North America to prefer to use snail mail. Well, other than…him. She mailed handwritten letters to her mother who was much annoyed with this. Even Lucy's mom Sandra was far more computer savvy than her daughter and used her computer for everything from shopping to socializing with friends. "Ten minutes," Lucy promised herself as she wiggled in her chair, "that's all you get pal. I have a life to lead."
She began with the state missing person's website. She searched through every picture of every person that had gone missing in the last week and then extended her search to a month and a year before. She looked thr
ough every face and every profile but found nothing. She looked through newspaper articles in the area concerning accidents involving falls at construction zones or skydiving accidents – nothing. Lucy had gone well past her ten-minute limit but she was so wrapped up in it that she didn't notice or care. She looked through the crime stoppers website and the FBI's most wanted list feeling slightly relieved that he wasn't a serial killer. She looked up alien abductions but nothing fit the bill. She even searched for things like "invisibility" but found nothing but a website for a girdle that hid panty lines.
Lucy sat back and stretched. She glanced at her watch; it was two in the afternoon. Ten minutes had turned into three hours and she had no more information then when she started. She had tried her best and it appeared that he was to remain a mystery forever. Lucy felt her usual twinge of discomfort at mysteries but she pushed herself to move on. She had done everything she could and she had to let it go.
This whole situation was taking way too much time and effort on her part. She decided there was no connection between the warm weather and the invisible man. Lucy still thought that he could certainly still be a figment of her imagination or some kind of manifestation of an exhausted brain. The rats? Well the rats were the by-product of poor building maintenance and warm weather. She sucked in a deep breath and stretched. Enough was enough.