Even though two years is a while to be away from someone, it didn’t take long for Creed and Genesis to rekindle that affection they had for one another. Once again, they were spending almost every waking minute together. Two weeks into his newly acquired post at the Woods’ residence, a letter came in the mail for Creed from the University of Arizona. Paquala left it for him on the dinner table. The next morning when he awoke, he noticed the letter and opened it immediately. Creed didn’t receive much mail at all, so it was exciting for him to even get anything. In the middle of reading the letter he smiled from ear to ear and instantly marched down to Genesis’ room. Creed banged on the door with his fist but couldn’t wait for a response. He quickly turned the knob and entered the room. Genesis was still turning underneath her sheets; her eyes weren’t even opened yet.
“Hey, guess what?”
“What time is it?”
“I don’t know, but guess what?”
“Just answer me something really quick. Is it a reasonable time to be up?”
“Are you going to guess or not?”
“Do I have to?”
“Look.” Creed held out the letter even though Genesis was turned away with her eyes still closed. “Looks like I’ll be going to school with you in the fall.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, check it out.”
Genesis slowly sat up on the bed and grabbed the letter. She faintly smiled as her eyes continued to adjust to the morning light blazing through the window.
“I can’t believe it.”
“They’re basically saying I can just finish up my high school diploma there and once I’m finished I can start taking classes immediately. So now we don’t have to wait for each other.”
“That’s awesome.”
“I wonder if it’s all due to my celebrity status?”
“Shut up.”
“Hey, wonder what else I could squeeze out of them?”
“Alright, let’s not get a big head just yet.”
“I know, I’m just stoked.”
“Well I’m proud of you.”
“You’re proud of me?”
“Of course.”
“I haven’t done anything just yet.”
“Oh, that’s true. Never mind then, I take it back.”
Creed smiled as Genesis handed the letter back to him and quickly jumped out of her bed.
“Alright, well let’s go then. We got some shopping to do.”
“Shopping?”
“Yeah, you’re going to need stuff for your dorm room. And if I remember correctly, you don’t have the greatest sense of style.”
“Excuse me?”
“But first, get out. I have to change.” Genesis began shoving Creed off her bed and out of her room. She swiftly shut the door and left him stranded in the hallway clenching on to his letter. While out in the hallway, Kuruk opened the door to his room and noticed Creed just standing there in the hallway.
“Oh, hey Superman.”
“Morning.”
Kuruk paused there awkwardly peering at his sister’s door and then back at Creed. He nodded his head and patted him on the shoulder as he walked by.
“Girl problems eh? I know how that goes.”
“It’s not –” Creed could only get out two words of his proposed retort before Kuruk was already down the hallway.
Later that morning, Genesis and Creed were on the road, making their way to the mall in Phoenix. They spent most of their time there perusing through various stores, looking at stuff for their dorm rooms. Genesis did most of the browsing for the two of them while Creed just went with the flow. After a couple of hours, they both eventually diverted to Charley’s Philly steaks for a quick bite to eat. The food court was mostly empty except for an older couple and a middle aged woman sitting with her three year old daughter.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Genesis began.
“What’s that?”
“Well since you died and were technically raised from the dead when you were still sixteen. Are you still sixteen?”
“What?”
“I’m serious, this is a very important question. I’m not sure if I can be dating a younger man. It will hurt my reputation, I’ll be called a cougar. It would just be a mess. Don’t you think?”
“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just say any of that.”
Genesis chuckled. “Alright fine, we don’t have to tell anyone.”
“Very funny.”
“Well, so have you found anything you might like?”
“I don’t know. Whatever happened to a couple outfits, and possibly a Nirvana poster for the wall?”
“Are you being serious right now?”
Creed snickered. “I’m just saying. What’s the point of lava lamps, tea pot warmers, and unnecessary wall decor?”
“Creed, this is practically going to be your home away from home. It’s necessary to be comfortable.”
“I get that, but that’s the thing. I’m comfortable with a good pillow, books on the shelves, and Kurt Cobain staring at my progress for added inspiration.”
“Really?”
“Maybe some eye candy?”
“Excuse me?”
Creed’s lips creased as Genesis satirically stared back at him. Creed just shrugged while he took a sip of his drink.
“I mean, isn’t that the whole reason to go to college?”
Genesis swatted at Creed, hitting him in the elbow while it rested on the table. His elbow jerked in an awkward motion, initiating a burst of laughter from the couple.
“You know I’m just kidding with you, right?”
“You better be.”
“Alright fine, after we eat we can go find me a nice lava lamp.”
“Shut up, that’s not what I meant.”
Creed sat there with an amused expression while Genesis shook her head. She suddenly looked down at her watch before peering towards the restaurant to see if the food was ready.
“Hey, would you mind if I went to check on something really quick?”
“You’re leaving me right now? The food’s going to be ready any second.”
“It will be really quick, I promise. I just want to see if Encore still has those shoes I saw the last time I was here. I’ll just go look and come back. Unless you want to come with me after we eat?”
“Shoes? No way. Knock yourself out.”
“Thanks babe. I’ll be right back.” Genesis promptly stood up from her chair and gave Creed a quick peck before walking off. As he waited, Creed pulled out his phone and browsed through it while he waited. After a couple minutes he peered towards Charlie’s but noticed the counter was empty.
“Hello Creed, it’s good to see you again.” Creed heard a familiar voice coming from directly behind him. A deeply troubling voice he never thought he’d ever hear again. A chill went down his spine as he closed his eyes hoping it was all just a dream.
“I know what you’re probably thinking Creed. And don’t worry, you don’t have to talk or do anything. I’m not here for anything other than I wanted to see the miracle for myself, and just make sure you’re doing okay.”
Creed turned his head and affirmed his inevitable fear as his eyes were quickly met with Col. Posey’s; sitting at the table right behind him. “Well you’ve seen me, now you can go.”
“Oh, come on Creed. I know we had our differences. I agree things might’ve gone a little too far with what happened to you, but I hope we can all move past that and just start fresh.”
“Might have gone too far? Tell me you’re joking.”
“Hey now, why the hostilities?”
“Why the hostilities?”
“I mean look at you, you’re alive and well. That’s awesome. You really are a super hero, aren’t you?”
“I’m no super hero. I just want to be left alone.”
“Well I can understand that, I really can. I don’t want to bother you, seriously. I mean we won the war; you serve
d your country and a lot of people owe you a debt of gratitude. You should be really proud of yourself.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Sure you did.”
Creed couldn’t help but notice The colonel wasn’t pausing like he normally did.
“Well hey, I don’t want to waste anymore of your time. I’ll leave you to it, I just wanted to stop by and say hi.” Col. Posey stood up from his seat, pushed his chair in and turned to face Creed. “Oh, and hey. Just know that if you ever want to talk about anything, feel free to stop by my office. Trust me when I say we’re all very curious about how you were able to come back from the dead.”
“I don’t think so.” Creed wasted no time to respond.
“It would just be a simple Q and A, that’s it. Your parents are welcome to come with you. And that little girlfriend of yours.”
“Leave me alone Colonel.”
“Alright, well you have a nice afternoon. Take care of yourself.” The colonel began to walk off but paused midway through the food court. “Oh, and one more thing.”
Posey made his way over towards Creed’s table and leaned forward, whispering in the young man’s ear.
“There’s talk of another war coming. I doubt it myself, but some are saying it’s going to be a lot worse than the last one. I just wanted you to know because if it is true, you can bet your sorry little punk ass that I will come after you once again.”
Instinctively Creed let his emotions out and decisively swiped his face against the colonel before rising to his feet. Posey fell backwards, shoving a chair behind him in the process. The old couple and young mother shot a worried glance over towards the commotion.
“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay. Everything’s alright. No worries Creed.”
Posey began to fix the scruff in his uniform before turning to walk away.
“Oh by the way, good call with that Capt. Romano comment. You think anyone’s really going to care?”
Creed stood there cautiously staring with an insipidus glare while the colonel finally trotted out of the food court and out of sight.
“Ticket 62? Ticket 62, your order is up.” A random employee at Charlie’s was finally calling out their order number, but Creed couldn’t hear anything past the daze from his daunting interaction with the past.
“Hello? Sir?”
Just then, Genesis came walking up to Creed who didn’t even recognize her at first.
“Creed? You okay? Our order is ready.”
Creed finally snapped out of it and peered towards the counter.
“Hey babe, you okay?” Genesis repeated.
“Yeah I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, well I’ll go get our food then. Why don’t you sit down?”
Genesis knew something was amiss but figured she wouldn’t continue to press him. Creed took a seat and attempted to compose himself before Genesis returned.
Later that evening, Creed wondered if he should tell Genesis about what had happened back at the mall. He didn’t want to ruin the fun time they were having together lately. Creed knew there wasn’t much that could’ve been done about it anyway, except worrying. But Creed knew that more trouble could possibly be on the horizon for him once more. He now wondered if he would ever be able to rest with the colonel once again aware of his location. Creed was hoping Posey was full of shit about the country being thrusted back into war. Why would the Chinese or any country for that matter, risk losing more men? And for what? Creed went to bed that night with the colonel’s threat playing in his head.
“I will come after you once again… He practically fell asleep with the colonel’s words on a loop. “…you can bet your sorry little punk ass....”
“…talk of another war coming...”
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
For eight months out of the year in Arizona, it literally feels like an African desert. The usual four seasons that you might experience in the north, does not exist here. If one was to look up real estate in Arizona, you would most likely find that the first detail on the subsequent listings would be the adequate A/C systems. The exact opposite is true when looking up real estate in New England. There you would find heating topping the list of accommodations. Of course, you might’ve also heard that in Arizona, it’s more of a dry heat, but who are we trying to fool here? One hundred and twenty-three degrees is still one hundred and twenty-three degrees, dry or not. That following fall when Creed began college, the devilish sun was still pounding out insidious heat rays upon the earth. Creed was able to attain enough high school credits two weeks prior to the start of the following college semester.
Before school began that autumn however, the couple spent almost every waking moment together, just like they had done during previous summer vacations. They even spent some quality time back at the Fort McDowell reservation with Kushala. As soon as the semester began however, their contrastive schedules made it a tad more difficult to spend time together at all. It was a convoluted adjustment that they were both having to get used to. Despite this though, they were both just happy to be there with each other, especially with everything that had happened in the past. Occasionally on the weekends, the two of them would jump in Paquala’s truck that he had leant his daughter, and head back home to Mesa to visit everyone.
A few weeks into that first semester at college, Creed got accustomed to spending most of his down time lounging around the dorm room before his classes. Genesis was constantly busy in another part of the college studying law. Although Creed miraculously returned, and things were perfect at the moment, Genesis never regressed from that passion for helping people who found themselves in misfortune, as she once did.
One unsuspecting afternoon, Creed had been comfortably relaxing on the couch in his dorm room alongside his roommate Philip, playing Call of Duty. Philip Schultz ended up being probably the most idealistic roommate for Creed. Even past their similar interest in writing, Philip and Creed found similar interest in music and an endless need to stay under the radar throughout their college pilgrimage. Philip was one of those quiet genius types. He never said much, but when he did, it all sounded so astute and impertinent. Even while ordering pizza, he made it seem like he was back in class, giving a thesis on bio-nuclear engineering. To the common individual, this characteristic could easily get annoying, but Creed knew it wasn’t on purpose; it was just the way he was. Most of the roommates’ downtime was spent playing video games or writing papers for class and allocating with each other. Giving each other pointers and sharing notes. Genesis admired Philip quite a bit. She thought he had quite an intellectually stoic presence. Not like those nagging grammar police professor’s you would find at some community college, but more Hemingway like. Philip might’ve been smart, but he never acted superior to anyone.
As time got closer for Creed to depart he sighed and stood up from the couch. As Philip turned the game console off, there happened to be a news break on the television. Creed caught a glimpse of the bulletin before he noticed Philip getting up to turn off the television.
“Wait, keep it on.”
He watched closely as the moving scroll at the bottom of the screen read United States is under attack once again.
“Turn it up a little.”
Philip turned the volume up until they both could hear the news anchor clearly.
“This is clearly not a test from what we are being told; we have multiple sources now confirming reports originally coming in from our sister station this morning, that the United States is currently under attack. We cannot confirm specific details just yet, but we are being told that it appears this sophisticated attack must have been planned since there were coinciding system and communication failures all throughout the country.”
The woman on the television paused midway through the report; visibly shaken. She quickly gathered herself before continuing.
“Again, these are mostly initial reports now flooding in, and it’s not
certain how much can be confirmed officially, but what is now certain is that the United States is under attack. The United States government –”
“What the fuck?” Philip interrupted the woman on the television and turned towards Creed.
“Turn it off man.”
Creed sat back down on the couch and pondered his thoughts very delicately. The bad dreams he had been having for the last few weeks were coming true. The colonel’s inauspicious promises were all running fluently in his mind. For a moment Creed had turned into a frozen incubus attempting to formulate his next move. He knew he was now on borrowed time, and that any moment certain factions would be on their way after him. Creed additionally figured they’d attempt to go after Genesis as well, so Creed knew his first move would be to find her before they did. But then what?
“Creed, you okay?” Philip was glaring at him from the living room.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just have to think for a second.”
“Should we pack our bags or something? Head back to Phoenix?”
“I’m not going anywhere without Genesis.”
Creed finally stood up from the couch with new found aspiration and left the apartment as Philip watched on helplessly.
By the time Creed reached the end of the hallway, he noticed the place was now in a panicked uproar. There were some students on the phone with their parents while others were huddled together, talking anxiously amongst themselves. He wondered if Genesis had heard the reports yet and happened to already be on her way to find him. Creed could hear the distinct sound of helicopter propellers as he neared the exit. Once he opened the door, he was immediately greeted by a multitude of Humvee’s, and a modestly sized platoon all lined up about a half mile in front of him. Flocks of students went running out of the building and past Creed, completely ignoring the heavy military assembly set up across the University’s lawn. Creed finally spotted Col. Posey who was co-piloting the hovering helicopter, whirling just above the ground. The colonel was smiling quite triumphantly while looking straight on towards Creed.
“Damn it.”
“Creed!”
Genesis was calling out to him from just beyond the Army’s formation. At first, her voice sent a sense of relief through Creed before that quickly turned into a baneful realization. Creed peered back at the helicopter and noticed the colonel had already become aware of her presence. He shifted his attention and began pointing in her general direction. He was obviously giving them orders to detain her, as a few of his men started running in her direction.
Goodbye Sky Harbor Page 21