Meridias

by Ryan Hodgson

  “True but you did better than me.” After studying music terms they studied math for awhile. Elunduil wasn’t as good at it but he attributed it to not really paying attention in class and after Alicia helped explain how she did things he quickly grasped the concepts and did pretty well. Elunduil’s mom came home from work and seemed pleased that Elunduil was studying for school for once. “I almost never see him doing school work,” she said and Alicia chuckled. Elunduil looked annoyed but didn’t comment. “Who’s your friend?” Mrs. Redrilo asked Elunduil. “This is Alicia,” he said in a low voice.

  “Hi!” Alicia said embarrassedly while shaking his mom’s hand. Mrs. Redrilo smiled warmly. “It’s getting pretty late but you can stay and eat if you want,” she said. Alicia looked at the clock on the wall. It was nearly six. “Oh, um sure!” she replied nervously. Mrs. Redrilo smiled and told Elunduil to prepare dinner. He made no verbal response and went to the kitchen to get all the ingredients together while his mom went upstairs to change out of her work clothes. She came back down moments later and went into the kitchen to help Elunduil with dinner. Alicia decided to study on her own for awhile but was distracted by invasive thoughts. She was worried about how Elunduil’s mom perceived her and hoped she was making a good impression.

  About 30 minutes later dinner was done and Elunduil set up the table and the dishes. “Mmm, spaghetti!” Alicia said as she took a seat.

  “It’s the last meal I had before... 'the kidnapping’.” Elunduil said in a low voice. Alicia nodded in understanding and heard Mrs. Redrilo call Felras down to eat. Elunduil sat at the head of the table with the living room to his back and his mom was on his right side. Alicia sat to his left and Felras sat on her left. She wondered why Elunduil sat at the head of the table since usually the father in a family would sit in the spot. “Where’s your dad?” she asked.

  “Work, also step-dad,” Elunduil replied. She wondered what happened to his dad but didn’t vocalize the thought. She could ask Elunduil about it some other time. Mrs. Redrilo bowed down her head and said a quick prayer over the meal and then they ate. Alicia was a bit surprised that Elunduil’s family was religious. He’d never mentioned anything about going to church. Though he never really volunteered any information about himself unless asked about it directly. For her it was actually a pleasant surprise since her and her dad were also religious. She wondered which group they identified with. “Christian.” she looked at Elunduil with blank surprise. “We’re Christian. That’s what you were wondering about, right?” he said. Alicia let out a chuckle. “Yeah. So am I.” Elunduil grunted and went back to eating while she basked in the fact that Elunduil had been able to tell what she was thinking.

  The rest of the meal was uneventful and there was little talk other than the occasional question from Elunduil’s mom. When they were finished eating Elunduil cleared the table and Alicia called her dad to come pick her up. While waiting she found herself alone with Elunduil who was watching TV. She decided that now was going to be the best time she was going to get to confess to Elunduil she just wasn’t quite sure how to say it. “Um, Elunduil?”

  “Yeah?” he said while turning his head to look at her. She could feel her pulse racing and was suddenly very aware of her proximity to Elunduil. “I... well umm... I just-” Suddenly her cell phone rang and she felt herself jerk in surprise. She had been so close too! She managed to not vocalize her disappointment and answered the call. “My dad’s here,” she said as she closed the phone. Her heart was still racing and it felt like there were butterflies in her stomach. If only her dad had been a little slower. Alicia nervously looked at Elunduil to say goodbye and was surprised by what she saw.

  His eyes were completely focused on her and appeared to be waiting for her to speak like he was completely aware of what she was trying to say. Actually his gaze seemed to be staring right into her soul almost like... Angurvadel. The moment Alicia had made that comparison she couldn’t help but laughing. “What?” Elunduil asked at the sudden outburst.

  “Sorry right now you reminded me of...” her voice dropped to a whisper. “Angurvadel.” Elunduil frowned and said, “Really? I can’t imagine how.” Alicia laughed again and Elunduil joined in. Although she was laughing she couldn’t help but feeling like the moment had passed. The thought of Elunduil reminding her of Angurvadel had changed the atmosphere too much. “Well I better go. My dad’s waiting outside,” she said and got up from the recliner. Elunduil followed her to the door where they shared parting words and then she went to where her dad was waiting and they went home.

  When she got home Alicia went upstairs to her room and let her bags fall on the ground. She laid down on top of her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her thoughts were racing as she thought about the way Elunduil had been looking at her. The thought of him actually being aware of her feelings was thrilling. She was hopeful that this meant that he also had feelings for her. She vowed that on Monday she would talk to him and went to get ready for bed. When she was done with her pre-sleep business she got into bed and closed her eyes. As she fell asleep various hopeful scenarios for Monday played out in her mind.

  Chapter 3

  Summer Vacation?

  Elunduil drifted into consciousness and looked at the clock from his bed. Since he wasn’t wearing his glasses it was hard to tell the time but finally he managed to determine that it was a little past 7:30. He yawned and reached down from the top bunk to his glasses case which was sitting on top of a TV then took out his glasses and put them on. He’d been anticipating this day ever since Alicia had come over last Friday. Everything went better than he had expected, especially dinner, then Alicia had been about to say something but was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. He had a feeling about what she was going to tell him but she never did and went home. Maybe today she would try again? Regardless of what happened he was prepared and at the end of this week he’d finally be able to leave the house. Frankly it didn’t bother him but it meant that he couldn’t hang out with friends or... go somewhere with Alicia. Though he wasn’t sure what the heck they would even do.

  He got out of bed, went to the bathroom, got dressed, ate some cereal, and then waited downstairs. Felras came down when it was getting close to the time that Elunduil would be leaving for his bus stop and ate breakfast. Felras’ school started a bit later than Elunduil’s so he could get up later. Elunduil left a few minutes later and went to his stop. As usual there were already other teenagers waiting at the stop and a few more stragglers showed up moments later. The bus came and everyone got on. Elunduil found Joel and took his usual seat next to him. “Hey Elunduil!” Joel greeted with his usual enthusiasm. “Ready for finals?”

  “Heh, you bet. I’ll probably end up doing better since Alicia helped me study,” Elunduil replied. “How did that go?” Joel asked. Elunduil shrugged.

  “Fine. It got a little strange towards the end though,” he said truthfully.

  “Strange? Good strange or bad strange?” Joel queried.

  “Uhh, not good or bad really. She was trying to tell me something but got interrupted by her phone ringing. She dropped it after that.” Joel gave Elunduil a knowing look and went.

  “Ah.” The rest of the trip was spent talking about The Comic. This time they were going back and forth about a scenario involving a magic nullification machine (magic barrier). Sean managed to be useful for once and somehow managed to get past the barrier surrounding the machine and destroyed it. Of course he still got killed in the process so Joel went rage mode and destroyed the clones they’d been fighting (which was a heck of alot easier now that their magic wasn’t being suppressed). The bus arrived at school and Elunduil and Joel went to the cafeteria since the library was closed during the last week.

  Joel spent his time drawing some new scenes in The Comic and Elunduil helped give him comedic input as to what should transpire in these scenes. When it was close to the time the first bell would ring Elunduil told Joel so that he could pack up his things. They left the
cafeteria and said a brief farewell as they went their separate ways. Elunduil quickly made his way to the band room and felt tension and anticipation rising as he got near. He’d decided that he would at least try and see if Alicia wanted to do something with him at the end of the week so his stomach was a knot. He didn’t see her when he got into the band room but that was to be expected since she usually got there after him.

  He took his seat as the first bell rang and waited anxiously. About a minute later Alicia and Stephanie came through the door and he gave them a wave. Alicia smiled shyly and waved back. She took her seat as Mr. Evans came in from the band office with the test and the multiple choice sheets. “All right let’s get things started,” he said and had a couple of students pass out the materials to each row and those students passed it down the row. Elunduil pulled out his mechanical pencil from his inner jacket pocket and waited for his test sheet. He wrote his name down and when the test came around he started answering the questions.

  He had to admit that studying had made the test go much faster than when he took the test his freshman year. Before he knew it he was done and looked around the room to find that everyone else was still taking the test. In his other classes he was usually the first one done with his test but that hadn’t happened yet in band. Elunduil decided that he would try and study for his other tests in the future... which would be his next class and then his other tests this week. He did doubt that he would be able to study for his health class but most of it was straight forward so he wasn’t worried.

  While waiting patiently for everyone else to finish he mused about what he would say to Alicia. He still had no idea what kind of place they should go to and few options came to mind. He gave up and let his thoughts drift. His mind wandered to Ark and he found himself wondering how Ark had gotten into that virtual world from his mind. He imagined that the world somehow was able to change and adapt to people that entered it but he wondered how it had pulled the images from his mind. Was the technology used for the virtual reality able to read their thoughts to some degree? Elunduil sighed. He’d probably learn the answers to his questions when Mr. Elden and Scott Howard went public with their machine.

  His thoughts shifted outward as Alicia got up from her seat to turn in her test. He could feel tension rising up throughout his body and warily watched Alicia as she sat back down. Since everyone else was still taking the test they couldn’t talk just yet which was a blessing and a curse for Elunduil. It gave him a little more time to prepare but it also gave him more time to let his nerves get to him and get cold feet. He watched with trepidation as every minute or so more people got up to turn in their test up front. Mr. Evans stood there and gave people a smile when they finished their test as well as carefully watching for cheating.

  Eventually almost everyone was done with the test and they were allowed to talk for the remainder of the time. Mr. Evans put on a movie for people to watch while they waited for the bell to ring. Friends gathered together to talk and joke around and Alicia came to where Elunduil was sitting. “Hey,” she said as she sat down. She brushed her hair aside and seemed subdued to Elunduil. “How do you think you did?” he asked as casually as he could.

  “I remembered most of them but there were a few that I ended up guessing on,” she replied. “You were really fast though! I was barely half-way done when you turned your test in!” She seemed genuinely impressed and he couldn’t help but feeling pleased. “So... what are your plans for the summer?” he asked as casually as he could. Alicia looked away as she thought about it then said, “Uh... I’m not really sure. Me and my dad will probably go somewhere in July but I’ll mostly be hanging out with Stephanie and sitting around at home. What about you?” Elunduil grinned.

  “I’ll probably be going to the beach with my family at some point. I’ll also finally be free from house arrest so... I’m free to hang out with everyone again.” It wasn’t quite what he’d meant to say but he panicked at the end. Blasted nerves. Hopefully Alicia understood that he wanted to hang with her. “That’s be good. I’ve heard Tim complaining about you not being able to come over to his house this entire time,” she said. Elunduil sighed inwardly. His misspoken words had been far too subtle for Alicia to notice his real meaning. That’s what he got for letting his nerves get to him. “Um, Elunduil...” Alicia nervously brushed her hair aside. Elunduil recognized that look. It was the same one she’d had last Friday. “I’ve got something to tell you,” she said.

  “I do like knowing things.” She laughed nervously at Elunduil’s remark.

  “I, um... well I-”

  “Elunduil!” Mr. Evans called out startling Alicia and Elunduil. “I want to see you for a moment,” he said and Elunduil nodded. Another interruption! If this keeps up I’ll start to wonder if fate is conspiring against us. He thought with slight irritation as he followed Mr. Evans into the band office. His heart was still pounding against his chest but was returning to normal now that he was away from Alicia.

  Inside the office Mr. Evans put the tests on his desk while Elunduil looked around the room. There were all sorts of sheet music lying about and a computer for Mr. Evans to work on. “So how did you think you did?” he asked.

  “I’m pretty sure I got all the answers right,” Elunduil replied. Mr. Evans smiled warmly.

  “Good, that’s good. You know I was glad when I’d heard that you’d been found. I was pretty worried.” The bell rang. “Oh, the time’s all gone! You better hurry along. Have a good summer!” Elunduil reciprocated Mr. Evans sentiment and rushed to grab his backpack. Alicia was waiting for him as he grabbed his things. “What did he want?” she asked as he slung his backpack over his shoulders. “He just wanted to wish me a good summer,” he replied with a shrug. Alicia got up and the two left the room together. The atmosphere between them was awkward and Elunduil wasn’t quite sure if he should bring up their earlier conversation. Alicia didn’t seem inclined to bring the topic up either and they ended up parting with a few sparse words.

  Elunduil hurried to his next class, health and took a seat. While waiting for the test to start he thought a little bit about how Alicia was acting during band today and hoped that they’d get a chance to talk again before school was out. Soon enough the test arrived and Elunduil quickly went through it. Since he hadn’t really studied for this test he found himself guessing on a few things but for the most part he was confident that he did well. He then waited patiently for the bell to ring and then went to catch the bus ride home.

  Over the course of the next few days Elunduil and everyone else were busy with their finals. Elunduil had Math, Biology, English, and German tests that he had to take and he always tended to wait for the bell to ring when the he finished so that he could leave for his next class or go home for the day. Unfortunately he didn’t run into Alicia before or after school and felt in his heart that he wouldn’t get the chance to talk to her again until September. He only saw her once between classes but she had been a way down the hall and he had needed to go in the other direction.

  On Thursday Elunduil, Joel, and Tim got together before school to spar. Each of them had brought a plastic lightsaber which was a weapon from a popular science-fiction movie and went down to the track so that they could be undisturbed. Elunduil typically picked the one with the green blade since green was one of his favorite colors while Tim had a blue one. Joel liked to use the red lightsaber. They didn’t normally spar but Tim brought up the idea the day before when they were waiting for the buses. Elunduil had thought it would be fun and Joel had agreed.

  Before starting they each took up a safe distance from the others on the track. Once everyone had their places they eyed each other warily and waited for someone to make the first move. Joel was the first to move and he took a swipe at Tim. Tim took a couple steps back and brought up his weapon. He lunged with a “Hah!” at Joel who parried the lunge with a swing of his weapon. Tim and Joel crossed blades for a bit while Elunduil watched curiously. He had expected Tim to simply bea
t up Joel with ease but Tim was holding back his abilities. He guessed that Tim didn’t want to reveal the swordsman skills he had learned in Meridias openly, especially considering that he didn’t come off as a very coordinated person. Though Meridias was a virtual world it was feasible for Tim to have learned actual swordplay while he’d been there.

  Joel and Tim backed off from each other and then Joel made an attack against Elunduil. He held his ground and blocked Joel’s first strike then took a step to his left and swung at Joel with his saber. Joel knocked the strike away but was forced to block as Elunduil struck again. The two went back and forth for a bit until Tim interrupted the duel by attacking Joel while he was distracted. Joel managed to avoid Tim’s strike and turned to engage him. Tim let out a cry and charged at Joel with his saber in front of him and ended up getting smacked in the back by Joel’s lightsaber as he went by Joel. “I wasn’t expecting that,” Tim said.

  “Whoo that was awesome!” Joel said excitedly. Elunduil was impressed by Joel’s maneuver. He’d stepped to the side as Tim had been passing by and slashed at his back with his weapon. It was one of those rare times where Joel managed to do something pretty skillful. Elunduil wasn’t sure if he could’ve been able to do the same thing but he wouldn’t make the same mistake as Tim had. “Come, Elunduil! It’s just you and me now!” Joel said with exaggeration. Elunduil smirked slightly in response and took his stance; blade held low to the side with both hands on the grip. Joel attacked first with powerful strikes and Elunduil was forced to back up several steps to keep a safe distance from his friends strikes. He almost got hit in the legs when Joel suddenly swept low but he managed to hop out of the way. He quickly rushed in and unleashed a flurry of blows that caused Joel to quickly back up. After a few more moments Joel ended up running away and called out, “What the heck!”