by Davis Ashura
Another figure stood nearby. He loomed large, easily the size of Sloth, but even more grotesque. His arms hung long, like a gorilla’s, and his face looked like melted wax with oversized, lipless teeth held in a perpetual sneer. From him rose the stench of rotten meat and evil. He studied William, and menace and cruelty wreathed the monster like smoke.
The figure strode toward the car, reached for William and hurled him aside. The car burst into flames. The bodies of both his parents burned to ash.
William started.
For a moment, he didn’t know where he was. He glanced around and realization came to him. He was in Mr. Zeus’ house. His friends were with him, and they were watching ‘The Goonies.’ Only a few seconds had passed. He and Serena still shared the loveseat, while the others remained scattered about the family room.
William wiped a sweaty palm across his face. The nightmare always seemed so real, but even more so this time. It had been months since he’d last had it.
“You all right?” Serena asked. Her face was filled with concern.
“Just resting my eyes,” William answered.
“You sure?” Serena asked. “For a second there, it looked like you were terrified.”
“I remembered the night my parents died,” William admitted, although he didn’t want to discuss the nightmare any further. He reached for his can of Coke on the coffee table and took a swig. Flat. He grimaced. “I’m fine now.”
Serena still seemed to study him with concern. A moment later, she squeezed his hand. “I think you might have missed some of the movie.”
“It’s all right,” William said. “I’ve seen it before.” His heart slowly settled down, and he was able to push aside the nightmare. “You like it?” he asked.
“Love it,” Serena answered. “Now shush. I want to see how it ends.”
“How was the movie?” Isha asked when Serena entered their house. He sat in his newly arrived recliner, reading the newspaper with no light on except for the lamp arching over his chair.
“It was fine,” Serena answered even as she suppressed a smile.
The movie had been better than fine. It had been wonderful, but Isha could never know that. Nor could he know the delight that coursed through Serena’s mind as she recalled it. The movie had been fun, comical, and fantastic.
“What did you see?”
“A silly movie called The Goonies.”
Isha grunted acknowledgment. “Did anything happen with William?” he asked, returning his attention to the newspaper.
“Nothing important,” Serena said. “We sat together.”
Isha glanced up and wore a pleased expression. “Good. You’ve gained his confidence and affection, then. I imagine it shouldn’t take much to convince him to join us, if he truly is what we hope he is.”
“Yes, sir.” Serena was about to tell Isha what had happened to William during the movie. The strange terror on his face. His eyes wide open but his awareness stolen away. He’d proffered an explanation that might have been true, but it hadn’t been the entire truth. In fact, if Serena didn’t know better she would have sworn William had had a vision. Which should have been impossible since his lorethasra had yet to flower.
Whatever occurred had left him shaken and terrified. It had been obvious on his face, and Serena had found herself unexpectedly worried for him. She’d even reached for William’s hand and squeezed it in support. It had been an unconscious, natural motion, unplanned and instinctual.
While it had been the right move to earn William’s ongoing trust and affection, the fact that it had occurred because of compassion rather than due to rational planning worried Serena. What if her actions and thoughts meant that she actually liked William as a person? It was a horrible thought, implying a weakness Serena couldn’t afford.
“You have something more to add?” Isha asked. “You appear troubled.”
Serena mentally cursed her lapse and schooled her features to stillness. “I was considering what will happen to William if he chooses wrongly.”
Isha’s focus sharpened on her like a raptor’s. “We’ll take him anyway. The importance of a potential raha’asra cannot be overstated.”
September 1986
Over the next few weeks, the inevitable chores of homework and study took the shine off the new school year, and summer’s endlessness blurred into a memory. Life eased into a new routine.
For William and Jason, the new routine began a few hours before school. Every morning they readied Mr. Zeus’ forge for the day’s work by straightening up the workshop. Jason’s grandfather had many wonderful attributes, but cleanliness was not one of them. Dirty dishes, soda cans, and trash always littered the workshop.
After that came school.
On one particular morning in the middle of September when fall’s blessed crispness had finally washed away summer’s humidity, William and his friends pulled into the parking lot at school.
“Don’t turn it off yet,” Lien said. She’d been belting out the song on the radio while Serena hummed along with the tune, which is what she always did: hummed and never sang.
William winced when Lien tried to hit a high note. It sounded like a cat with its tail pinched by a rocking chair.
“I think it’s sweet how she likes to sing,” Serena whispered, apparently noticing his wince.
“Yeah, but I could use some earplugs, you know,” William whispered back.
Serena chuckled, and the song, and Lien’s singing, ended.
William keyed off the engine and opened the door. He was about to step out of the car when Jake Ridley squealed into the adjacent parking spot in his new, monster-sized pickup truck. William had to slam his door shut or have it torn off.
“Jackass!” Lien shouted through the rolled-up window.
William felt the same way, and in a heartbeat his anger blazed, lava-hot and roaring through his veins like a flood. His thoughts ripped away like flotsam, and all he could feel and see was a red wave of rage.
“He’s not worth it,” Serena advised, putting a hand on his arm.
With her calming touch and words some of William’s fury bled out, and he hesitated. Anger still roiled within him, anger at Jake Ridley’s careless conceit, his years of taunts and bullying, but at least William could think clearly again. William realized that Serena was right: Jake wasn’t worth it. He forced down the anger and unclenched his fists.
Sonya got out of the passenger side of Jake’s truck and had the grace to appear embarrassed. Jake, though, grinned at William and revved his engine before hopping out of the driver’s seat. He wore not the least hint of apology on his arrogant face. Instead, he sauntered off with a cocky strut, holding hands with Sonya.
William again saw red. He threw open his car door and jumped out. “Learn to drive, asshole!”
Jake turned around. “What did you say?” he asked, in what William imagined was supposed to be a menacing tone.
“You heard me, dickhead. Learn to drive.”
Jake’s face darkened. He took a step toward William, but pulled up short when he saw Jason and Daniel standing nearby. Jake sneered. “You’re lucky you’ve got your loser friends with you, or I’d beat your face into the pavement.”
William’s boiling anger faded into icy coldness. Why had he ever let this thug push him around? William stared Jake straight in the eyes, never looking away as he marched forward, pressing into the other boy’s space. “I don’t need them to deal with someone like you.”
“William,” Lien warned.
He ignored her. Something like concern passed across Jake’s face. But then his own friends arrived and he puffed up in their presence. “Sure, you don’t, William Wilted,” Jake smirked.
“Whatever,” William said, not backing off as he stood loose-limbed and ready. “I’m right here.”
“You’re nowhere, Wilted,” Jake sneered. “See you around, loser.” He made the words sound like a threat before he withdrew, heading toward the school as he laughed in the mi
dst of his friends and their girlfriends. They sniggered with Jake, slapping him on the back as if he’d done something wonderful even as they gave William dismissive smirks.
“Who’s hiding behind his friends now?” William shouted at Jake’s retreating back. “Or maybe it’s your girlfriend you’re hiding behind.”
Jake stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around.
“You sure about this?” Jason whispered.
William didn’t bother responding.
By then the confrontation with Jake had gathered the attention of other students in the parking lot. They stopped whatever they had been doing and eyed the situation with an air of expectant curiosity.
Jake’s face darkened with anger. “One-thirty. Behind the old chapel. Just you and me.”
“Don’t tell me where and when in public, stupid!”
Jake snarled. “Fine. I’ll send you a love letter. Just be there, chickenshit.” He gave Serena a brief, contemptuous assessment. “Or bring your girlfriend, if you don’t think you can handle me on your own.”
Sonya gave Serena a withering glower. “You should have taken up my offer and become friends with me. Now my boyfriend is going to ugly up your boyfriend.”
“Your boyfriend’s a pretentious thug, which doesn’t say much about you,” Serena retorted.
Sonya’s lips curled in outrage.
“What? Do you honestly think you can take me?” Serena eyed her with a smirk. “Step back before I break you in half.”
“This is between me and Wilted,” Jake said to Serena as he moved in front of Sonya. “Just us. No one else.” He focused his attention back to William. “You better show up where and when I say, or everyone here will know you’re the little wuss I’ve always said you are.”
With that, Jake and his friends departed, but excited mutters rose from those standing about. Most shot William looks of pity.
“What are you going to do?” Jason asked.
“I’m going to beat his ass.” A large part of William anticipated the coming conflict. He couldn’t wait to shut that bully down.
“Tell us when and where,” Daniel said.
“He said just him and me.” William replied. “And that’s how it’s going to be.”
William shifted about, filled with nervous energy as he waited for Jake’s arrival.
Serena stood with him, and as she so often did, she hummed “Gloria” by U2. “He’s late,” she noted, appearing as uncertain as he felt. “Maybe he won’t show.”
William grunted and wondered if that might be the best outcome for him. Although he’d been sparring with Jason for two years, he had never actually put the training to use. Plus, Jake was big, fast, and strong. That would count for a lot.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Serena asked.
“It’s what the note I got in homeroom said,” William replied. “Ten-thirty in the garden behind the old chapel, just like he said in the parking lot.”
“I still wish you’d told Daniel and Jason about this.”
“It’s only supposed to be me and Jake,” William said. “I’m not even sure you should be here.”
Serena stood with her arms crossed over her chest and an expression of derision on her face. “You really think someone like Jake would come here by himself?”
William hesitated. While he didn’t want anyone to say that he’d only won because of his friends, the same couldn’t be said of Jake. Jake would come here with others. He wouldn’t care if anyone found out that he’d beaten William with the help of his friends. Bullies never did.
“Well, do you?” Serena pressed.
Once again, William found himself the focus of her strangely intense gaze. “No,” he finally admitted. How could he have been so stupid?
“Then it’s a good thing I made you tell me when and where Jake wanted to face you.”
William was forced to agree, and they fell quiet.
The small, walled garden in which they waited was a quiet space where the Jesuits who ran St. Francis often came for prayer or meditation. Stacked, gray stones, rising to a height of ten feet, walled the garden on all sides except the west. There the border was formed by the looming bulk of the old cathedral. A narrow wrought-iron gate served as the only entrance, and it opened on a white-gravel pathway that wended its way amongst flowers, shrubs, and ferns. A small bench faced a trickling stream and a koi pond.
William slapped at a mosquito. “Stupid motorized freckles,” he muttered.
“What?” Serena asked.
“Mosquitoes. They’re like motorized freckles.”
Serena smiled at his description, but her humor dropped away when Vice-Principal Meron entered the garden. Mr. Meron was a short, squat man with beady eyes, a permanently red face, and meaty jowls that shook whenever he spoke. But despite his orc-like appearance, Mr. Meron was fair.
“What are the two of you doing here?” he demanded.
William and Serena shared a glance.
“I was showing Serena some of the older parts of the school, sir,” William said with a quick-witted lie.
“Really? Didn’t you and Jake Ridley get into an argument this morning?”
William’s insides twisted, and he tried not to show his sudden nervousness. If Mr. Meron knew about the argument, he probably also knew about the fight that was supposed to take place here and now. And St. Francis took a dim view of fighting. “We did have an argument,” William admitted. “He almost ran me over with his monster truck and I got mad, but there wasn’t much more to it than that.”
“You’re telling me he didn’t challenge you to a fight at this exact time and place?” Mr. Meron demanded with a snort.
William’s anxiety rose, and he tried not to squirm. “Yes, but—”
“That’s why you’re really here, isn’t it? Waiting for Jake Ridley so the two of you can settle your disagreement?”
“It was my idea to come here, not William’s,” Serena answered, stepping forward. “I wanted to see the garden. My mother gardened a lot, and she used to teach me. I . . .” Serena shrugged. “I just wanted to come here and remember her.”
William held still. If he looked at her Mr. Meron would know Serena was lying, that they both were. Even now the vice-principal’s face held a distrustful frown. Still, William also saw a touch of sympathy.
“That’s the real reason you’re here?” Mr. Meron asked.
Serena shook her head, appearing reluctant. “No. I also didn’t want William to fight. I was hoping that by keeping him busy during study hall he wouldn’t have time to get into another argument with Jake. He isn’t worth it. As far as I’m concerned, if they fought, even if William won, he’d still lose because of whatever punishment you’d have given him.”
Earlier in the morning, after the heat of his anger had cooled, William had come to the same realization. However, by the time he’d figured that out, it had been too late to back down. He’d already agreed to the fight, instigated it, really, and there was no way to get out of it. Not without the entire school thinking he was a coward.
Mr. Meron’s features relaxed further, and he no longer seemed so suspicious. “I see. Well, the garden isn’t really a place for students, even seniors. Head on back to the main campus.”
“Yes, sir,” William said.
As they stepped past, Mr. Meron called after them. “Ms. Paradiso, a moment of your time, please. Before you go, since you were taught so much about gardening, maybe you can tell me the name of that plant.” He pointed to an unassuming one with green and white leaves. “I’ve always thought it was pretty.”
“It’s a variegated hosta,” Serena said, “and these have been planted in too much sunlight. It’s why their leaves are burned. Hostas like partial shade. I’d also thin them out. They’re crowded.”
Once again, William had to hold back from staring at her in shock. She’d sounded like she actually knew what she was talking about.
Mr. Meron smiled. “I’ll make sure to mention it to the pr
iests who tend the garden. It sounds like your mother taught you well.”
Serena offered a slight smile. “She taught me some, but she knew so much more.”
“Head on back,” Mr. Meron ordered.
“Yes, sir,” William replied again.
“That was some quick thinking.” William said to Serena after they left.
“I just stretched the truth a bit. That’s all.” She quirked a smile at him. “That was some quick thinking on your part, too.”
William shrugged. All he had done was lie, and poorly at that. “Did your mom really teach you all that stuff about plants?”
Serena’s expression went flat. “It was a long time ago.”
The rest of the day passed without any further incident, and the next morning, Jake thankfully wasn’t around when Serena and the others got out of the T-Bird. She made a point of lifting her nose to the air. “I don’t smell skunk, so Jake must not be here yet.”
Lien lifted her nose as well. “Me, neither.”
“But if he were here, and it came to a fight, William would take him,” Jason said. “No doubt about it.”
William gave his friend a look of appreciation, but Lien gave him a look of disgust. “Why am I not surprised,” she said.
“What?” Jason protested.
“Not all problems need to be solved by fighting.”
Serena partially shared Lien’s sentiment, but not for the reason the other girl probably thought. Fighting was sometimes necessary, but it was far better to cut an enemy from the shadows, destroy him when he couldn’t defend himself.
“Maybe in some situations, but not all,” Jason countered. “Besides, I’ve been sparring against William for two years now. Just because Jake’s a big, bad football player doesn’t mean he can fight. William would have leveled him.”
“There are ways to show up someone like Jake Ridley without resorting to violence,” Serena said. “In the end, William beating up Jake wouldn’t have proved anything.”
“Maybe not to you, but it would have proven something to everyone else,” William said. “At least the other guys in our school.”