though the play was in full assemble. It was easy to see he was passionate about his art. “Oh, hardness to dissemble!—How do you, Desdemona?”
I faded out between the scenes, glancing at the clock on the wall somewhere between acts four and five. It told me it was already past six, meaning that I had just missed the last afternoon bus that would take me into Healdsburg. I felt like I had only been there for a few minutes, but apparently I was way off.
D’entre les morts fell out of my lap when I realized just how late I was. Fumbling like a numbskull, I dug through my bag to get my Charlie phone out, typing out a message faster than the phone could keep up with and sending it out to the only number I used other than Charlie’s.
When I looked back at the stage, it looked like the stage hands were wrapping everything up and Melinda and her drama geek friends were getting a pep talk or something from a professor.
Melinda waved down to me from the stage and mouthed, “five minutes,” before disappearing. I nodded back and waited to see what the rest of the evening would have in store for me.
We made a brief stop at the dorm so Melinda could change and I could ditch my bag. Since it was the end of the week, and all but night classes were over, people walked in groups or alone, rowdy and ready to let loose. To their credit, campus security patrolled around in medium-sized carts, discouraging tailgating and making their presence known. I watched everything as Melinda and I walked down to a house rented at the end of the block just off campus. Luckily for me, she easily carried the conversation and the occasional nod or comment satisfied her.
The building was small, appearing abandoned from the outside with open fencing and tangled weeds blossoming through semi-broken windows that were still barred enough for mild safety. The store-front advertised computer repairs though the displays were clearly out of date and the store hours barely readable. Melinda quickly informed me that the owner lost his sight and now only rented the rooms upstairs, though they too, were barely livable.
We walked through the path cleared between outdated hard-drives and bundles of tangled wires. Small mountains of blank CDs leaned against a wall and rusted out file cabinets. Other than an air freshener on the wall, the small breezeway was a disaster.
“It’s a security system,” Melinda explained when she caught me staring.
“Huh?”
“Cora’s boyfriend offered to get rid of everything when they moved in, but then everybody realized campus police technically didn’t cover this street. Kenzie thought they should get a guard dog, but Violet is allergic…anyway, they figure if they keep a bunch of junk against the windows they’ll hear anyone who tries to break in from there.”
I nodded. “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
“I know, right? That and Cora’s boyfriend spends the night once in awhile—”
I smiled politely, only reminded of how safe I felt when Charlie was around. Though it might have been demeaning, it had been my experience, that instinctively females felt safe with a guy around. I always thought it was because of what we had been through together that I trusted Charlie to protect me, but maybe other girls were hardwired the same way.
Melinda took two steps up the stairs and shouted through the music, “Are we ready or what?”
There was giggling and then a high-pitched response, “Or what!”
“And you think I take forever .” Melinda rolled her eyes before charging her way up. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow her or not, but I didn’t want to be alone anymore than I had to be in the dusty foyer of the store.
Despite the mess downstairs, the hallway above was relatively clean. The only thing blocking its way was a large refrigerator, as I quickly figured out both rooms were much too small to accommodate it. There were doors on both ends of the hall, each with fading numbers on them.
I faded out between the scenes, glancing at the clock on the wall somewhere between acts four and five. It told me it was already past six, meaning that I had just missed the last afternoon bus that would take me into Healdsburg. I felt like I had only been there for a few minutes, but apparently I was way off.
D’entre les morts fell out of my lap when I realized just how late I was. Fumbling like a numbskull, I dug through my bag to get my Charlie phone out, typing out a message faster than the phone could keep up with and sending it out to the only number I used other than Charlie’s.
When I looked back at the stage, it looked like the stage hands were wrapping everything up and Melinda and her drama geek friends were getting a pep talk or something from a professor.
Melinda waved down to me from the stage and mouthed, “five minutes,” before disappearing. I nodded back and waited to see what the rest of the evening would have in store for me.
We made a brief stop at the dorm so Melinda could change and I could ditch my bag. Since it was the end of the week, and all but night classes were over, people walked in groups or alone, rowdy and ready to let loose. To their credit, campus security patrolled around in medium-sized carts, discouraging tailgating and making their presence known. I watched everything as Melinda and I walked down to a house rented at the end of the block just off campus. Luckily for me, she easily carried the conversation and the occasional nod or comment satisfied her.
The building was small, appearing abandoned from the outside with open fencing and tangled weeds blossoming through semi-broken windows that were still barred enough for mild safety. The store-front advertised computer repairs though the displays were clearly out of date and the store hours barely readable. Melinda quickly informed me that the owner lost his sight and now only rented the rooms upstairs, though they too, were barely livable.
We walked through the path cleared between outdated hard-drives and bundles of tangled wires. Small mountains of blank CDs leaned against a wall and rusted out file cabinets. Other than an air freshener on the wall, the small breezeway was a disaster.
“It’s a security system,” Melinda explained when she caught me staring.
“Huh?”
“Cora’s boyfriend offered to get rid of everything when they moved in, but then everybody realized campus police technically didn’t cover this street. Kenzie thought they should get a guard dog, but Violet is allergic…anyway, they figure if they keep a bunch of junk against the windows they’ll hear anyone who tries to break in from there.”
I nodded. “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
“I know, right? That and Cora’s boyfriend spends the night once in awhile—”
I smiled politely, only reminded of how safe I felt when Charlie was around. Though it might have been demeaning, it had been my experience, that instinctively females felt safe with a guy around. I always thought it was because of what we had been through together that I trusted Charlie to protect me, but maybe other girls were hardwired the same way.
Melinda took two steps up the stairs and shouted through the music, “Are we ready or what?”
There was giggling and then a high-pitched response, “Or what!”
“And you think I take forever .” Melinda rolled her eyes before charging her way up. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to follow her or not, but I didn’t want to be alone anymore than I had to be in the dusty foyer of the store.
Despite the mess downstairs, the hallway above was relatively clean. The only thing blocking its way was a large refrigerator, as I quickly figured out both rooms were much too small to accommodate it. There were doors on both ends of the hall, each with fading numbers on them.
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