Watchers of the Night

by Matthew Keith

  * * *

  “Dude, seriously. You look like ass.”

  Steven was always helpful, always willing to lend his point of view to anyone or any situation, even when it wasn’t asked for. Especially when it wasn’t asked for. He probably thought it was one of his more endearing traits, but for Paul, especially today, it wasn’t helping.

  “Dude, seriously,” Paul answered wearily. “You always look like ass. So kiss mine.” He felt even worse than usual, having woken up after another eight hours on his bench, waiting and hoping that the brown-eyed girl would come back, but she didn’t. No one had ever spoken to him in his dream before.

  The three of them were back in the cafeteria at their usual table.

  “Well,” Stephanie tickled his ribs with two fingers. “Are you going to tell us about your big meeting with the scientist guys yesterday, or what?”

  She and Paul hadn’t discussed their hug, but ever since that night she’d more often put her arm through his when they walked down the hall or draped it over his shoulder when they talked at their lockers. Generally, she seemed more comfortable being physically close to him than before. Or maybe not. Maybe he was just more aware of it and thought of it differently now that he knew that there might be something between them.

  “Guy,” Paul corrected. “Scientist guy. One guy. And he wasn’t a scientist. He wasn’t even a doctor. He was just a scout, I guess. Someone who screens people for the clinic.”

  Steven began humming Blinding Me with Science.

  “Ok, whatever you want to call him,” Stephanie answered and slugged Steven in the arm. “Will you stop humming for once? So what did he say? What do you think now that you’ve talked to him? Are you going to go?”

  Paul told them all the details of the meeting, explaining how the clinic worked and that there were other people being treated for the same problem. Going over everything out loud, he heard himself describing Astralis from a positive point of view. He didn’t realize he was doing it until the words were already out. Last night’s dream had unnerved and distracted him to such an extent that he hadn’t really analyzed the way he felt about Dittrich’s offer. As he spoke, he realized he was leaning toward going for it.

  “Sounds like a no-brainer to me,” Steven said. “Hard to beat the price and you can leave any time you want. What’s to think about?”

  “Plenty!” Stephanie replied, flashing Steven a disgusted look. “Everything is a no-brainer to you.” She turned back to Paul. “First of all, it’s all the way in Virginia, tucked up in the mountains! What about your parents? They’re going to have something to say about you being gone for—how long? Do you even know that? You said they’ve been working on finding a cure for people like you for decades. Does that mean you could be there for years? And school. Do you really want to apply to colleges and have home-schooling listed on your transcripts? You know how that will look to a university.”

  “Look,” Paul said tiredly, leaning his forehead on one hand. “I haven’t made a final decision. I told Mr. Dittrich that I needed to discuss it first with family and friends—and that’s exactly what the three of us are doing right now. At this point, yes, to me it sounds like an amazing chance to get a grip on my life. I think being around other people like me could help a lot. But I just talked to this guy for the first time yesterday, so I’m not totally committed and I could use some real input. Take some time to think about what I told you, and let me do the same. I would really like to take a trip to the clinic with mom, maybe dad, and you guys. I want to know what you all think.

  “So,” Paul looked at Steven, “before you decide it’s a no-brainer, give it some thought. And,” turning to Stephanie, he said, “before you come up with all the reasons why I shouldn’t go, take some time and weigh them against the reasons I should. Please. This might be the biggest decision I’ve ever made and I don’t want to make it without you two.”

  “Wow,” Steven said, looking serious. “When you put it that way…” He opened his eyes wide, looking a little emotional.

  But then he cracked a smirk “… you sound like a total douche bag.”

  Stephanie punched Steven in the arm and made a disgusted sound.

  Paul laughed and said, “Thanks, you guys. I’m going to think about it some more too, talk to my parents, and maybe in the next few days I will call and try to set up a tour for us to take.”

  As both his friends nodded their agreement, Stephanie looked up and waved, smiling as she said, “Hey Lisa!”

  Paul followed her gaze and almost choked on his nacho chip. It was the brown-eyed girl. The girl from last night’s dream. She was walking their way.

  Lisa? Her name was Lisa? How did Stephanie know that?

  “Hey girl,” Stephanie said as Lisa reached their table, standing between Stephanie and Paul with her lunch tray. “You want to eat here with us? These are my friends Paul and Steven.”

  Lisa set her tray down on the table next to Paul’s tray, but remained standing. She said hi to Steven, who gave her his best ‘whats up’ with a nod, and then she turned to Paul. “Hi Paul. It’s very nice to finally meet you. Stephanie told me all about you.”

  “Really?” Paul blurted, stunned and blushing. “So it was short conversation, huh?”

  Lisa laughed like she’d never heard anything so funny. “No, in fact it wasn’t. You sound like a super interesting guy.”

  Paul was at a loss for words, memories of his dream from the night before making it hard for him to come up with anything coherent.

  “Well, nice to meet you both,” Lisa smiled. “I’m afraid I already told my usual posse that I would sit with them today and catch up on the latest gossip, but thanks for the invitation. Stephanie, I hope we can hang out again soon, and thanks for yesterday!”

  Picking up her tray and smiling a farewell, Lisa headed off toward her normal table and group of friends.

  “Lisa got ditched by her ride home yesterday and needed a lift,” Stephanie explained. “I felt bad, so I gave her a ride. We ended up talking so much on the way that we just went to my house instead and hung out for a few hours. We talked so much.”

  Steven leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers together on his belly. He smirked at Paul. “Dude,” he said. “You’re totally in.”

  Stephanie narrowed her eyes and snaked her head forward a little.

  “What?” Paul asked. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Oh Paul, I’ve heard so much about you,” Steven mimicked in high-pitched voice, “Stephanie told me alllll about you.” He let his chair fall forward and slapped his hands on the table. “You. Sir. Are in.” He grabbed his lunch tray and stood up, saying to Stephanie, “You going to make it to Ethan’s party tonight? Should be plenty of good music, dancing… bumpage… grindgage.”

  Steven made some suggestive moves with his hips, holding his lunch tray out in front of him.

  “Ummm, yeah I guess I probably will,” Stephanie answered. “Not much else to do in this Podunk town. Just don’t try and feed me drinks again, Steven.”

  Steven gave her a parting grin and walked away.

  “I mean it!” Stephanie called after him.

  Paul shook his head, watching his friend walk away. If there was one thing you always knew was on Steven’s mind, it was girls. And if there was a second thing, it was that he always thought he knew what girls wanted. Paul was thinking it would be nice if Steven happened to be right about Lisa.

  Stephanie abruptly stood up. “Well,” she said crisply. “I can see that you have plenty on your mind now, so I’ll just go and make sure I have everything I need from my locker. Bye.”

  Without waiting for a reply, she stalked off, her back rigid and shoulders set.

  “Bye…” Paul answered meekly, knowing she wasn’t listening.

  Sighing, he stood up grabbed his tray. As he did, a folded piece of paper fell out from underneath and landed on the floor. He put his tray back down and picked up the fallen page, unfolding it.
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br />   A single line was printed in neat handwriting:

  CASEY’S CEMETARY. MIDNIGHT. I HAD A FEELING ABOUT YOU.

  Stunned, he dropped heavily back into his chair. He stared at the note, expecting it to vanish or burst into flame or… something. He pinched himself and looked around. No gray tint. He wasn’t dreaming. What the hell?! He looked over at the table where Lisa sat, but she wasn’t paying him any attention. She was chatting it up with her friends, eating and laughing and carrying on like any normal teenage girl.