Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1)

by Barry Chaison

  “I had to be absolutely sure she wouldn’t remember any of it,” he countered smoothly, stopping about a foot away from my face.

  All of a sudden, I knew what he was talking about. He had warned me that Annie wouldn’t remember any of it, but I didn’t want to believe that.

  “That was a very important night to us. Why would you do that?”

  “Just one of the added bonuses of being who I am,” he sighed jokingly, still smiling widely. He took another step towards me and I could smell the familiar rosy scented cologne fill the miniscule space between us.

  “But-“I wearily replied.

  “Huh, figures,” Annie abruptly scoffed from behind me.

  In an instant, I tumbled directly into Liam’s chest and felt a jolt of electricity dash through me. A sudden desire to keep holding him overtook me and I grasped his arms for an extra second longer, unsure of what to do. He didn’t push me away immediately and it wasn’t until Annie spoke again that the feeling began to subside.

  “Can you give us a minute?” she asked Liam.

  “I’ll be outside,” he responded coolly, finally pushing me away.

  His gaze didn’t fall away from me until he turned around the corner and out of sight. Hearing the door shut brought a feeling of both relief and dread. Having him gone broke whatever spell he put on me, but he also left me alone with Annie, something I was unprepared to deal with.

  “So,” Annie said, folding her arms after an awkward moment of silence.

  “Annie look-” I started.

  “Don’t,” she snapped back. “I don’t want to hear any more of your excuses. I’m tired of it. You thought I’d just forget that you stood me up on Friday night? I thought we were supposed to work things out. But no, you ditched me for that bitch Simi.”

  I couldn’t think straight. Every word was like poison in my veins, burning my heart. None of it made sense.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked innocently. “I didn’t stand you up!”

  “Oh don’t play stupid Zoe. I remember everything. You wanted to meet here at 6:00 and I was here, waiting at 6:00 and you never showed up. Next thing I know, there you are with her, eating dinner at The Pit. I saw you two when I walked back to the Beta house.”

  I’d never felt more angry at Liam than I did at that moment. Making sure Annie didn’t remember almost dying was one thing, replacing her memories with lies was another.

  “Annie, that didn’t really happen. You have to believe me,” I begged.

  “I don’t,” she said coldly.

  She then bent down, picked up her overflowing gym bag and spoke again. “My parents wanted me to remind you about our trip home for Thanksgiving in two weeks. Try not to stand me up for that one too, okay?”

  What originally sounded like a great vacation didn’t seem so appealing anymore. Being at home for a long weekend, not talking to Annie was worse than any other possible scenario. There was no doubt that Marie would pick up on the tension.

  “Great,” I mumbled, looking away from her while tears started to well up in my eyes. “Four days of us not talking around your parents should make for a fun holiday.”

  Annie gave a little half smile. “Actually, you won’t have to worry because it’s not just the two of us going.”

  My head jerked back in surprise at her comment. For years, our Thanksgivings included only her family and mine. I’d never even met any of her extended family. An uncomfortable anticipation grew inside at the possibilities.

  “Steph?” I asked hopefully.

  She shook her head, holding her half smile.

  “Liam was invited also,” she said, filling in the last half of her smile.

  I couldn’t find the right words to tell her how stupid that sounded. Just the idea of Liam being in the same house as Mark made it even more ridiculous.

  “No way, your dad would never allow it,” I rebuked immediately. “He’s never liked any guy you’ve brought home, and the fact he’d be staying at the house? I don’t believe it.”

  Annie shook her head slowly and gave me a look of antagonizing sympathy. She appeared to be enjoying every moment because her anger from the false memory had finally been released. With each passing second, her nonchalant attitude started to eerily resemble Liam’s.

  “Oh, it wasn’t hard to persuade them. I just told them that Liam doesn’t have any family and spends his holidays at school. My mom felt so bad for him, she invited him up before I could even ask. And my dad had to accept, you know how quickly he folds,” she said victoriously.

  Without a response, my legs carried me to the futon where I collapsed in stunned silence. Annie’s blatant joy from my misery was the hardest feeling to stomach. She was getting pleasure from my gloom and there was no way to fix things. My best friend was being brainwashed and I was helpless to stop it. In a last ditch effort, I tried to repair as much damage as possible.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked dejectedly.

  Annie leaned against the wall, still keeping her arms crossed. It looked like her rough, aggressive expression had lessened somewhat.

  “Zoe, this is hard for me to say but I’m gonna say it anyway,” she started. My body stiffened up and I braced for the worst. “I’ve realized that I can’t be around you as long as Liam and I are together. The way you two act around each other scares me. Call it jealousy if you want, but I finally found someone who really likes me and I’ll be damned if you steal him away!”

  The last part of her repeated monologue made me jump when her voice got aggressive again. My depressed mood was immediately replaced by an untraceable anger. Annie’s cluelessness, although not her fault, was starting to get annoying.

  “Oh geez, Annie,” I sighed. “You really don’t remember anything from our time together on Friday night?”

  “I don’t know what you’re on Zoe, but there was no trip on Friday night,” she said. “Maybe it was another one of your stupid dreams.”

  “Look!” I bellowed, popping up from the futon so fast that Annie jumped back. “Last Friday, you and I went to the Strip to reconnect. We went to dinner and talked about everything. You brought up these same fears to me then. I told you then and I’ll tell you now, there is NOTHING going on between Liam and me and there will never be anything. You seem very happy, why would I want to ruin that?”

  I realized that there was nothing else I could say or do that would be able to convince her. At that moment, Annie’s defenses lowered and it appeared that something I said had gotten through. She stared at me with a look of fear in her eyes.

  “I’ve…I’ve gotta go, Liam’s waiting for me,” Annie mumbled, taking a few steps back. She looked uncomfortable and confused.

  “Oh please Annie, put your arms down, I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, slowly walking towards her.

  “I’ll see ya later,” she said. She then turned on the spot and sprinted out the door without another word.

  For a moment, I stood in the middle of the living room and stared at the front door. My heart was pounding and my body shook with rage. There wasn’t a time I could remember ever getting that upset at Annie or in general for that matter, and it was all because of him. Liam was gradually destroying my life and yet I couldn’t get him off my mind. I couldn’t help but think that if he had the power to alter her memory from that night, maybe he modified some of her older, happier ones of us too? I didn’t know what was going on, but Liam was the key to it all. His apparent ability to alter minds had me thinking that maybe he was hiding something powerful, something we both shared. Shaking the horrifying thought from my mind, I retreated back to my bedroom. The confrontation had gotten me so upset that the thought of sleep seemed pointless. I took out a few books and started to study in a vain attempt to clear my head of the growing craziness that was becoming my life.

  **************************************

  The next week dragged on painfully slowly. Annie was practically invisible, except for the brief hour we saw each other
in Perspectives class every other day. She continued to ignore my existence and her attitude reminded me of my high school life. Being disregarded was something I had gotten used to, but not by my best friend. My loneliness had gotten so bad that if it wasn’t for Hope, I would have considered packing up and leaving Las Vegas.

  “Maybe today will be the day,” Hope said optimistically when we left the Pit the following Friday and headed towards our own Perspectives classes.

  “Right, and maybe I’ll become class president,” I joked. “She hasn’t spoken to me all week Hope. What makes you think this next class will be any different?”

  “I dunno,” she shrugged. “But it is the holiday season Zoe. People are always in a better mood around the holidays. You guys are going home together on Wednesday right?”

  I nodded.

  “Well maybe she’ll just forgive and forget in the spirit of Thanksgiving?”

  “Not likely,” I replied. “She’s pretty mad. Besides, Liam is coming with us too, remember? It’s going to be an awful trip, I know it.”

  “Cheer up,” she encouraged. “Look at the positives at least. It’s Friday! That always makes me happy.”

  Hope’s optimistic attitude was a huge shift from her normal, self conscious demeanor. Her loyalty was endearing and it helped. My friendships were changing and loyalty was becoming my new favorite characteristic in people. I smiled feebly while we continued on.

  “So, I haven’t seen Steph around much lately either. You guys fighting too?” I joked.

  “No,” she sighed. “She spends all of her time with Damien now. It’s actually pretty disgusting. He really freaks me out and he’s such a jerk. How did you ever make it through just one date with him?”

  “You’re guess is as good as mine,” I laughed. “Are they really spending that much time together? She was pretty excited about it when she told me last week, but I thought maybe it was just a fling.”

  Hope shook her head. “Believe me when I tell you, they are going strong. Let’s just say I hear it all the time…”

  A cold shiver ran down my spine and disgusting images started popping up in my head. Envisioning Steph and Damien together was almost as bad as picturing Annie and Liam together.

  “I guess opposites attract then huh? He’s gross, she’s beautiful. In a weird, twisted way, it makes sense.”

  “Sure, easy for you to say. You don’t have to see him constantly. He’s so disgusting and rude; I don’t know what she sees in him.”

  “True, I feel bad for you on that. I know exactly how it feels to be around a guy that ruins everything. At least Annie being gone keeps Liam away for me.”

  “Maybe you and I should live together next semester, that would be much better for everyone I think,” she smiled hopefully.

  The thought of not living with Annie was too painful to think about. I still held out hope that she would eventually see the light and come back. My only realistic shot was having Liam screw it up in the end, which wasn’t so far-fetched. It was a matter of patience and perseverance, two skills I was quickly mastering.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I laughed uneasily.

  We walked on for another few minutes before we went our separate ways. When I walked into Perspectives, Annie still hadn’t arrived. I took a seat close to the front and began taking my supplies out. Right before class started, Annie came sauntering in and took a seat in the far back corner, as far away from me as possible.

  Professor Franklin lectured for an hour straight, which was his customary method of teaching. Every time I looked over at Annie, her eyes were squarely focused on Professor Franklin and she was halfheartedly scribbling notes while he spoke. Spending more time studying Annie than taking notes made class drag on slower than normal. Once it was over, and students started scurrying out the door, Professor Franklin surprisingly called me over.

  “Zoe, do you have a moment?” he asked while filing papers away in his briefcase.

  “Um, sure,” I said nervously, rising from my desk.

  My eyes glanced over at Annie who was packing up her bag alone, when a sudden urge to talk to her came over me. Biting my lip, I exchanged glances between Annie and Professor Franklin, not sure what to do. He normally never spoke to students at the end of class so it had to be important. Annie threw her bag over her shoulder and started walking to the door. Realizing that there wasn’t going to be a better time to speak to her until Thanksgiving, I took a brief step towards her. But Professor Franklin had taken off his glasses and motioned for me to come to the front.

  “This won’t take long,” he said.

  I begrudgingly walked over to the front table and waited for him to speak again.

  “I wanted to speak with you about your recent work in class,” he started.

  My stomach dropped instantly and my eyes widened in fear while all thoughts of Annie vanished. I’d never been held after class for my work before. I felt nervous, not sure what to expect.

  “Oh, don’t worry, you’re not in trouble!” he backpedaled. “I just wanted to say how impressive your work has been this semester, especially the last few weeks. You’ve been quite active in class discussions; you write exceptional papers and have a strong knowledge of religious topics. I’ve never seen a student with such natural ability!”

  “Um, thanks,” I said, calming down a bit.

  “Now, the Religious Studies department is in need of a reliable tutor for next semester. I’ve been speaking with some of your other professors and there seems to be a general consensus regarding your aptitude. After conferring with the rest of my department, we’d like to gauge your interest in being our tutor. Normally, we don’t offer such jobs to freshmen, but your work has been so outstanding recently that we feel you could easily handle it,” he said proudly.

  Annie walked by at that moment and our eyes met for a brief second. She studied the scene in front of her and continued on her way. My gaze remained on her for an extra few seconds until Professor Franklin gave a subtle cough. Refocusing back, the reality of something normal happening for a change caught me off guard.

  “Wow,” I breathed. “All of my professors said good things?”

  “Indeed they did,” he smiled, “especially Professor Woodward. He was the person to actually recommend you for the position. He would have offered it you himself, but he had to leave campus early for the holiday and wanted to make sure we signed you up before anyone else could get you!”

  My thoughts shifted directly to Professor Woodward, wondering where exactly he went. It didn’t seem like him to leave before vacation started. I stared blankly ahead, trying to sift through the possibilities.

  “The department will pay you of course,” Professor Franklin interjected. “And it only requires three hours a week. You’ll provide three, one hour tutoring sessions during the week at night. That way, you won’t have to give up much of your free time and should still be able to maintain your current academic status.”

  Even though money wasn’t a huge deal to me, making a few extra bucks didn’t sound like a bad idea. The Johnsons treated me like a daughter with everything, including money. But, my parents left enough money for me to survive on my own in case something happened. I wasn’t rich, but it was sufficient enough to survive. The combination of money and having a normal job away from the insanity that was my life sounded too good to pass up.

  “Sure, I’d be happy to do it,” I said happily.

  “Great!” he exclaimed victoriously, picking up his briefcase. “We’ll work out all the details at the beginning of next semester.”

  “Thank you Professor,” I said.

  I turned on my heels and left the room, my spirits gradually rising for the first time in weeks.

  Campus was almost deserted as I walked towards the library that evening. The late autumn sun was setting slowly along the horizon, illuminating the campus with tranquil colors. A swift, cool breeze flowed through campus, causing me to shudder slightly. Professor Franklin’s job offer had emblaz
ed within me a newfound desire to study. Having extra responsibilities was the perfect way to maintain a seemingly normal life.

  When I finally reached the library and entered, it was even more abandoned than campus. Still wanting a sense of privacy, I headed back past the periodicals and computer stations to a small table that was nicely settled in a peaceful corner. My backpack made a resounding thud when it hit the ground before my hands reached into it and pulled out the main culprit. Professor Woodward’s book shined beautifully under the glaring library lights. Finding my most recent bookmark, I opened it up and flipped to Chapter 19: Angels, Demons and the Human Connection.

  It was surreal, reading about a world that I knew existed, but many others didn’t. I’d refocused my reading ever since Professor Woodward divulged the secret, and it all felt dreamlike. How much of what was written down in his book was real? Was I supposed to discover more of it on my own?

  The stuffy library started to impose its will on me while my eyes reread the same sentence about guardian angels, rogue demons and their supposed battle for the souls of mankind. It had only been a handful of minutes, but my eyes slowly began to droop closed.

  When they opened, the warm, stagnant library had been supplanted by a very familiar place. I let out a muffled scream when my room at the Johnsons’ house appeared below my floating body. My eyes scanned the familiar room that lied beneath me. The light yellow walls and old fashioned hardwood floors were in their normal, pristine condition. Our old fashioned, cream colored shutters were closed shut, giving the room a secure and private feel. Two beds were situated on opposite ends of the bedroom, and it was then I realized why the shutters were closed. My gaze rested upon the most disturbing scene in my life, and every dirty word that was being spoken filled my ears unwillingly.

  “Are you ready?” Liam said passionately to Annie while he kissed her neck.

  She was lying flat on her bed and he was positioned over her, with her legs stretched out in between his. Her hands were running through his thick, dark curls and her face displayed pure ecstasy.