Allegiant (3 page)

“
Hey there.”

I look over and see my neighbor, Garrett,
leaving his place as well. We haven’t spoken since I first moved
in; since the day he told me his name and I acted all shocked and
flustered. I’ve never met another Garrett in my life; the odds of
my neighbor having the same name as James’ Guardian mentor had to
be a thousand to one.

Garrett looks overdressed, even though I
have no idea where he is headed. He’s wearing pressed khaki’s and a
blue button-down shirt, which make his odd turquoise eyes really
stand out. He looks like he just came from the barber; his brown
hair is cut neatly on the sides but still wavy on the top. His skin
also looks more tan than I remember. “Hey,” I give him a small
smile.

“
Headed to class?” he
asks.

“
Yep.”

“
Which one?”

“
Intro to Ethics,” I say as
I walk toward him and the front door. “You?”

He smiles. “The same. Who’ve you got?”

I reach into my bag and pull out my
schedule. I didn’t memorize my instructor’s names. “Johnson.”

“
Well, that’s a
coincidence. So do I.”

My mind unwillingly flashes to Patrick, the
lab partner that decided he liked me a bit too much and signed up
for all the same classes as me. The same person that James changed
schools to protect me from. The exact same person that attacked me
over the summer. I push the image away. This is a coincidence. Not
all people are psychos. Just to make sure, I ask Garrett what other
classes he has this semester.

“
American Military History,
Entrepreneurship, and Small Business Management.”

I breathe easier. He opens the front door
and stands aside. “After you.”

“
Thanks.”

We head to campus together. On a nice day
like today it’s about a ten minute walk, but when winter hits I’ll
be driving for sure. “So, where are you from?” I ask.

“
Hope Mills, North
Carolina.”

“
Oh.” I was expecting him
to say a city in Michigan. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“
It’s a small
town.”

“
What made you choose
Western?”

“
I heard it’s an excellent
school for business majors.”

We reach the street corner and pause for the
light to change. “My major is Management. Have you had Pittinger
for Organizational Behavior yet?”

Garrett shakes his head. “Nope, I just
transferred. This is my first semester here.”

“
Well, avoid her,” I give
him words of advice. “Like the plague.”

He laughs as the light changes, and we cross
the street.

“
So,” he asks me, “did you
get a cat or do you have some sort of mewling alarm
clock?”

I shoot him an apologetic look. “You can
hear her? I’m sorry. She’s just a kitten.”

“
Only in the morning,” he
says, “before I’ve had my coffee. I thought I was hearing things
without the caffeine.”

“
No, that would be LB.” I
shake my head. “She’s quite demanding when she’s
hungry.”

“
LB?” he asks.

“
Little Booger.” I look at
him sheepishly. “It’s the best name Shel and I could come up with.
Obviously she’s living up to the title.”

He chuckles. “Is Shel your friend with the
red in her hair?”

His question makes me pause. How would he
have seen Shel?

“
And Matt’s her
boyfriend?”

I stop on the sidewalk. “How…how do you know
my friends?”

He stops a few steps ahead of me. “I don’t.
They were over last week, right? I ran into the guy carrying some
bags and let him in. He introduced himself.” He walks back toward
me. The expression on my face must alarm him because he says, “I
didn’t mean to startle you. Again.”

I blink and resume walking. “Sorry.” I feel
like an idiot.

He falls into step beside me, and we make it
to the next corner. We wait for the signal to change and then cross
the street in silence. Halfway up the block, he clears his throat.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“
You didn’t.” I give him a
reassuring look and, wanting to shift the focus off me, ask, “Do
you go home to visit often?”

Garrett’s jaw tenses. “I don’t think I’ll be
going home anytime soon. I left for a reason. No one knows where I
am.”

That sounds serious. “Are you in the witness
protection program?” I half-heartedly joke.

One side of his mouth quirks up. “No.”

I don’t know why, but I feel sorry for
Garrett. It must be rough without having any friends or family to
talk to. “Well, if you need anything, I’m right next door.”

He flashes me a smile.

We make it to the edge of campus and start
to cross over to the main building. Out of the corner of my eye, I
think I see James. Surprised, I inhale sharply and turn to my left,
my heart skipping a beat. My eyes search the bench where I thought
he was seated and find it empty. I frown as disappointment washes
over me.

“
Everything all right?”
Garrett asks.

I nod and continue to walk, giving him a
lame smile. Suddenly, to my right, I see James again, casually
leaning against a light post. I catch myself smiling and take a
step to rush and greet him. He appears to ignore me, and I stop in
my tracks. I blink, and he vanishes.

“
Are you sure?” Garrett
asks.

I’m starting to wonder. My gaze shifts to
the left. James is there, walking in my direction, although he
doesn’t appear to notice me. I close my eyes, then open them to
look forward. Sure enough, I see him again, but now he is standing
several feet away beneath a maple tree, oblivious to my presence.
If he were truly here, he would at least make eye contact or speak.
My breathing becomes erratic as I realize I’m seeing things.

Garrett steps into my line of vision. “You
look pale. Did you eat this morning?”

I nod. I had a banana and a granola bar.

All of a sudden, blood starts to pound
behind my ears, and I’m having a hard time hearing and focusing.
Garrett’s face blurs before my eyes. I don’t understand what’s
happening. Is this some sort of post-traumatic stress
breakdown?

I feel Garrett grab ahold of my elbow. “I
think you need to sit down.” He leads me over to a nearby planter
box where I gratefully take a seat. I hold my head in my hands in
an attempt to make the pulsating stop. It only grows worse and more
painful.

“
What’s wrong?” he
worriedly asks. His voice sounds muffled to me.

“
I think I’m getting a
headache,” I say as I lean forward to rest my elbows on my knees.
James’ face appears in front of me, even as I stare at the ground.
When his image is the only thing that will stay in focus, I close
my eyes. My first time back on campus without him is messing with
my head.

“
Do you have a
fever?”

It sounds like Garrett has moved to crouch
in front of me. I feel his hand rest against my forehead to check
my temperature. It’s freezing cold. Maybe I do have a fever.

“
Okay, now you’re shaking,”
he observes as he removes his hand.

I sit up and attempt to open my eyes. Things
are hazy, my ears feel hot, and with every beat of my heart my
temples pulse in pain.

“
Does it hurt?” he asks as
he sits on his heels in front of me.

I nod.

“
Do you trust
me?”

I narrow my eyes in confusion. Do I trust
him? I barely know him. But the longer he stares at me with those
odd turquoise eyes the calmer I feel. “Do you wear contacts?” I ask
absentmindedly.

“
That’s not what I asked,”
he says.

Right. Trust. “I guess I trust you.”

He nods decisively and stands. He looks
around, as if making sure no one is watching, and then places his
hands on either side of my head, just above my ears.

“
What are you…?”

“
Quiet,” he tells
me.

He closes his eyes as he applies gentle
pressure to my head. When he does this, it feels like all the pain
and fuzziness gathers at the top, like he’s pushing it there. A
moment later, frigid air blasts through my body, traveling from the
top of my head down through my toes, taking my pain with it. It
happens so fast I don’t have time to react.

Garrett opens his eyes and releases my head.
“How do you feel?”

I look at him in awe. I feel good. Actually,
I feel better than good. I feel amazing. I feel energized, like I
could run a marathon. My blood sings in my veins.

“
How did you…what was
that?” I ask him, shocked. “The pain is gone.”

He glances at his watch, like what he did
was no big deal. “We have to get moving or we’re going to be
late.”

I stand, and we head toward the main
building. I feel like skipping; I have so much energy. I try to
contain myself. “How did you do that?” I whisper.

He holds the door open for me. “It’s called
reiki.”

“
Reiki? I’ve never heard of
anything like it.”

When we find our classroom, Garrett takes a
seat next to me. I fish my textbook out of my bag, set it on the
desk, and then look over at him. “Thank you. I don’t know how I
would have made it through this class without your help.”

He nods and then opens his book, pretending
to be interested in the first few pages. I get the feeling that he
doesn’t want to discuss it anymore, so I drop the subject.

Eventually, Ms. Johnson arrives to begin
class. I have to force myself to concentrate on what she’s telling
us. I make a mental note to research reiki when I get home. I’m
finding it hard to focus, but in a good way. My body still feels
like it’s humming.

Intro to Ethics is my only class on
Tuesdays. Afterward, I stop and get a significantly more
substantial lunch compared to what I ate for breakfast. I also stop
by the library to reserve two of the recommended reading books
assigned by Ms. Johnson. Better to be safe than sorry. I get caught
up in the fiction books for a while, and before I know it, it’s
almost four o’clock. By now, LB may have very well torn up the
place.

I make my way back across campus toward my
apartment. The feeling from the reiki has subsided to an almost
non-existence, and I’m starting to feel a little tired. I make it
off campus and to the first cross street without any reoccurrence
of my James-induced trauma fit. I silently pray that it will never
happen again.

As I approach my place, I see a large
industrial van parked in the street. Two men are busy at the back,
setting up a ramp for a delivery. As I get closer, I notice the
truck appears to be full of furniture. The front door to my
building is propped open, so I maneuver around them with a smile
and head inside.

“
Excuse me?”

I turn around.

“
Are you Emma
Donohue?”

I hesitate as I make eye contact with the
burly delivery man. “Yes.”

“
We have a delivery for
you.” He grabs a clipboard off the back of the truck and walks
toward the door. “I need you to sign here and here.” He marks each
spot with an X.

I take the clipboard from him, confused. I
read the invoice. It’s for a couch and a television. An expensive
couch and television. And it’s marked PAID IN FULL. “I didn’t order
these things.” I hand the clipboard back to him. “There must be
some mistake.”

The man looks over the billing. “Hmm. Let me
see.”

Just then my cell beeps, letting me know I
have a voicemail. Funny, I didn’t hear it ring. While the delivery
men try to figure out the mistake, I pull my phone from my bag.
There’s a missed call from my parents, probably my mom. I touch the
screen to clear the alert, and notice I have a missed text as well.
My phone must not get a signal in the library. Since Jim Bob and
Darryl haven’t figured out the problem yet, I decide to read the
text.

Someone told me you needed a few things.
They should be delivered today. Happy belated birthday.

It’s from Dane.

Awestruck, I stare at my phone. Are you
kidding me? There’s no way I can accept his gift. It’s way too
much, and besides, my saggy loveseat and tube TV work just
fine.

I look up, and the two delivery men are
still mulling over the supposed error. “I’m sorry,” I interrupt
them. “I guess the items really are for me.” I hold out my phone,
indicating the message. “But I won’t be accepting the
delivery.”

One of the men looks at the invoice and then
back at me. “Sorry, but whoever purchased these items paid a
surcharge for a confirmed delivery,” he says. “We’re obligated to
leave the merchandise.”

I frown in frustration. Of course Dane would
realize I wouldn’t want to accept such an extravagant gift. The
delivery man hands the clipboard to me again, and under duress I
sign by the X’s. “I’ll go open my door.”

He nods and turns to help his coworker
finish setting up the ramp. I head to my apartment and make my way
inside. LB comes running the minute she hears my entrance.

“
Hey there, fuzz ball,” I
say affectionately as I scoop her up with one hand. I kiss her head
and snuggle her to my chest. “I’m going to have to keep you in the
bedroom for a minute. Apparently you just got a new scratching
post.” I walk into the bedroom, set her on the bed, and throw my
bag on the floor. “I’ll be right back,” I say as I close the door
behind me.

Voices carry into my apartment, and when I
stick my head out the door, I see Garrett attempting to help guide
the delivery men down the hallway. I step out of the way as Garrett
enters my place first.