/Waves sheepishly
Uh, sorry I haven't updated in a while. Thanks for being patient with me. My inspiration to write isn't very fluid, it kind of comes in bursts. I promise another chapter will be up by Wednesday, thought, I've got it half-written already. I just didn't want to keep you guys waiting. Chapter three is when things will really start to pick up!
Altaïr was an dick.
Ella scowled at the wall, pulling the pillow back over her head. It was the crack of dawn on a Saturday. She was going back to sleep, dammit.
"Read the book," she mocked his commanding tone, her voice thick with sleep. "Well, tough shit, dude. I'm going back to bed. The book can wait."
Amy groaned in her sleep across the room.
Don't be insolent. He snapped from the back of her head. She winced at his tone.
Your face is insolent. She was mature. No, really. Just not in the mornings.
You have never seen my face.
Shut up. Go away. 'M tired.
Still, she was roused from her peaceful sleep by the ever-growing annoyance building in the back of her head, which she assumed was from Altaïr. Bastard.
"Fine. Have it your way, you prick." Ella muttered angrily, groping around on the floor until she found the rough, worn leather of the book.
Once upon a time, in a poor, grad student's head, lived a voice named Altaïr. Altaïr Was annoying as fuck-
Do not test me.
You test me on a daily basis. It's karma, you asshat.
Ella tossed the book off to the side, currently apathetic to its wellbeing. It was morning.
I care not for you ridiculous words. Read the damn book, woman.
You know what? No, no I don't think I will. As much as I'd love to get rid of you, this is still my life, dude. This is one of the few days I don't have class right away in the morning, so suck it up, because I'm going back to sleep.
Ella.
Well, that was new. Her friendly new brain-tennant had never used her actual name before- just called her "woman", or any derogatory variation thereof.
No, shut up. I'm ignoring you.
If you do not cooperate, I will be forced to take action myself.
Ella nuzzled her pillow, sighing happily. It was Saturday- she could sleep in, grab some coffee from the student center later on, maybe have a beer with some friends and relax for a while before her shift started at the bar.
While she absentmindedly pondered how the self-proclaimed master assassin would react to tucking dollar bills in bra, or having her cleavage ogled by drunk guys while she served up beer and mixed fruity cocktails.
Heh. Cocktail.
She was jolted out of her thoughts when her fist clenched of its own accord, before relaxing and inching towards the edge of her bed.
Ella sat up sharply, pulling the possessed limb to her chest to glare at.
"No," she told it firmly.
You are being particularly difficult this morning.
Right, 'cause it's such a crime to want to be in control of my own freakin' body.
If I am trapped inside of you, and if you refuse to cooperate, I must use you vicariously.
Shove it, grandpa. I'm not here for your convenience.
Ella blew a frustrated raspberry. There was no way she was getting back to sleep now, especially not that the occupants of the neighboring rooms were waking up, already starting their daily rituals with dubstep, or call of duty, or banging their head against the wall- whatever that incessant thumping noise was, next door.
She pushed herself up on her elbows and stretching her back, before straightening and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
Amy was dead to the world, an arm hanging from her lofted bed, dangling from her spread-eagled form.
Ella, being the awesome roommate she was, practiced a lesson in stealth, silently padding over to her closet and pulling out a pair of jeans and pausing at her selection of shirts to check the weather for the day on her phone.
Cold, cold, and more cold.
Ella huffed an errant blonde strand hanging over her forehead, tickling her nose, and fished a couple of layering shirts, a cardigan, and a scarf out from the depths. So, maybe she dressed a bit like a hipster sometimes. Cardigans were awesome. Everyone could just take off their judgemental hats and go back to basking in their imagined superiority- stereotypes were ridiculous, cliched tropes, and she wouldn't let them keep her from her layers and cardigans and scarves.
Also it was cold as balls here, so her critics could shiver bitterly in their mal-heated dorms and be miserable.
And she had a shining personality, if she didn't say so herself, she thought, pulling a blue tanktop over her shirt, before donning a creamy cardigan and pushing up its sleeves to expose the long-sleeves shirt underneath.
You are the only one with such a delusion, Altaïr commented helpfully.
Ella sniffed indignantly and loosely wound an attractively patterned scarf around her neck. She tucked her unruly waves into a low, lazy bun, and secured the knot with a pencil (being a broke-ass college student, she made do with what she had).
Gosh, you are just a ray of sunshine, aren't you? I'm really feeling the positive energy. What's your secret? It can't be yoga- if your rigid, winning personality is anything to go by, you are anything but flexible.
I do now know of "yoga", but I am quite agile and fit. My profession demands it of me.
You need help.
Yes. Your help, you stubborn heathen.
What are you, from the prohibitionist era?
I have no knowledge of this prohibitionism. I hail from the time of the crusades, which we are obviously no longer in.
Holy balls, you're fucking biblical. Oh my god. There's a dead guy in my head. That is so many kinds of not okay. I don't even know where to start.
The book would be a decent place, Altaïr snapped.
"It's Saturday. I don't touch anything that has to do with school with a ten foot pole on Saturdays," she informed him belligerently. "I'm getting coffee, and you're going to deal with it like a grown-ass adult."
Evidently, Altaïr was not patient. While he wasn't talkative in his anger, Ella could feel it coming off of him in waves of rage as she detoured to the cafeteria to pick up a quick breakfast, before heading to the student center for coffee.
She strolled the campus, relishing in the crisp autumn air, trying to get her zen to bleed through to her grumpy, parasitic resident.
I get why you're being pissy about this, but cut me some slack, dude. You're a voice in my head, which I am ninety-five percent certain is a lingering delusion caused by the stress of finals, or some kind of unresolved emotional trauma from my childhood, or something. I have a life, which I do not plan on abandoning at the drop of a hat for a grumpy hallucination.
I have proven myself capable of influencing your movements, yet you still question my existence?
Yeah, well. You're a disembodied voice that only I can hear. That doesn't really inspire confidence in your story, you know?
Yet, you agreed to continue reading the book. Which you have not done, he added angrily.
I never said I'd do it right this second, oh my god. But yeah- I will. I have to for a fucking paper, okay? Maybe that'll give my disturbed psyche some kind of closure.
Anger burned in the back of her skull as she strode past a row of sorority houses, and suddenly her hand released its grip on the paper coffee cup, sending it plummeting to the concrete.
She yelped in shock, jumping back from the splash of the steaming liquid, cursing.
"What the hell? You made me drop my coffee!"
You cannot disprove my control over your body. I am not a delusion in your unstable mind.
Ella clenched her fists, gritting her teeth as she searched for her rationale.
Ah, there it was.
It was so obvious-
Jack.
Jack, her dear friend Jack, a psychology major- a good psychology major. He was a natural at dissecting people, at understanding neurological quirks and piecing together symptoms.
He could definitely prove this whole voice and limb-possession deal in a way that made sense. And also proved she wasn't crazy, or harboring a crazed assassin from the fucking crusades.
"So help me, I will get rid of you one way or another." she swore vehemently, glaring viciously at the spilled beverage. No more precious caffeine would fall casualty to the presence of a stupid voice.
Feel free to review and tell me what you think! I always welcome reader input.