Merton glared at his skull and bone clock, the morbid hands, ticking
hands drumming behind his ears. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, fifteen
minutes. She had fifteen minutes. She still had fifteen minutes. She would
come, there were still fifteen minutes. His feet rested, crossed on his
heavy black desk, twitching. He glanced at his computer. Boring. His eyes
returned to the clock.okay, now it was fourteen minutes. The clicks echoed
in the empty room. Merton glanced at his albino rock python, what had Tommy
wanted to call it? Fluffy? Merton shook his head. Someone should see to it
that time sped up. He closed his eyes, letting his head drop over the top
of his chair. Jade was burned on the back of his eyelids. Torture. Thirteen
more minutes. She would come. She wouldn't leave, she wouldn't laugh at
him, she wouldn't rip out his chest and throw salt in his face. Merton
swallowed, sending a wish that the damn clock would speed the hell up. The
sound of scuffling shoes down a stairway caught his attention.
Jade rushed down the stairs to Merton's door. She had to hurry, if Jason saw. NO. No good to think of such things, it only makes one nervous, and nervous people are caught. Jade took a deep breath before pounding her clammy fist on the old door. The gray peeling paint flaked off onto her skin. She brushed the offending scraps off the back of her knuckles, quickly. No need to have the paleness of her skin offset by the weathered paint. That was a pointless risk. Jason would yell at her for that. NO. No Jason tonight. No anything. She would work, just like a normal person on this. Just two kids, working on a dumb project together. They would bitch later about how inane it was in a vain attempt to cover what they had learned. It was always more impressive to appear intelligent and bored. Always. And beautiful. And thin. And happy. Always smiling. She swallowed. The seconds before the door snapped open seemed like months etching by. Jade was there. It was Jade. She hadn't stood him up; there were no other guys with her. She hadn't come to steal another snippet of his soul. She wasn't a hoax, a flitting dream. She was standing before him, real as ever. "Evening," a murmur slipped from between her lips. "Hey," Merton smiled back opening the door wider, gesturing for her to enter. "Thank you," Just forget Jason for tonight. Just forget what you have to do later. That's later. That's not now. Later. "How are you doing this evening?" "Fine, just fine." She smiled, Merton all but melted. He scuttled to the other side of the room to grab her a chair. "Here, ehh, sit." Merton scooted the high-backed medieval style chair next to his behind the large desk. "Thank you." She floated to the chair, seating herself. Her posture was stiff as board. Her eyes followed his every movement. Every single movement. Merton smiled meekly, attempting to stealthily wipe the film of sweat that had accumulated on his palms onto his pants. "Do you need anything to eat? Drink?" Merton brought his trembling hands together with a slap. Jade winced. "No thank you, I ate before I left. But I wouldn't say no to some water." "Okay, just you wait, right there, and I'll be back with the batter, er, no, water, I'll be back with the water." Merton's hands scraped behind him to find that damn door that led up stairs. Jade nodded slowly. Her inward smile widened as she heard him trip up the steps. This was going to be an entertaining night. Merton fumbled around the cabinets. Why is it whenever you're nervous, everything moves from where it's supposed to be? Once the elusive glasses had been hunted down, another problem arose.Ice or no ice? Merton was stumped, staring helplessly at the empty glasses before him. "Gaa! Which one? To ice or not to ice? That is the question!" "What are you talking about?" The nasal teenage tone sent a rod up Merton's spine. "Nothing you're concerned with, Becky," He attempted to return the vitriolic tone. And failed, as usual. "Well, freaker, Tommy Dawkins is on the line. You know, I still don't know why he even talks to you. Anyways, can you ask him to call on the other line, Michelle and I are talking." "About something very important, I'm sure." Merton snatched the phone from his little sister's grasp. A few moments of grunting and failed button- pushes later, Becky grabbed back the phone. "This one, dumbass." "This one, dumbass," Merton mouthed as he brought the phone to his ear. "Tommy?" "Merton, I'm so sorry she stood you up man, she was just a bitch, and you shouldn't think about her anymore." "Tommy." "No, I know what you're gonna say, she'll never leave your head, and I'm just saying you'll get over her eventually." "Tommy!" "Don't you worry, Lori and I will always be here for you, okay man?"
"Tommy, she's here." "Really?" a female voice clicked in. "Lori? You were listening?" Merton flopped into a dinning room chair. "Well, uhh, we just both wanted to be here for you if she ditched." "Great, just great, not even my friends believe I can get a girl." "That's not it, it's just Lori and I care."
"Yeah, uh huh, whatever Tommy, I just have one thing to say." "Yes?" Lori and Tommy answered simultaneously. "Do girls like ice in their drinks?"
************************************************************************
Jade was already in the computer system by the time Merton had returned with the water. With ice. So much for that safety guard being infallible. Merton winced, Lori had hacked it, Jade had hacked it, heck, and Tommy could probably hack it if he wanted to. "Sorry, that took so long, Tommy and Lori called with a question on their project." Jade looked up from the computer screen with her eyebrow raised. "Uh huh." Merton felt his cheeks flame. Jade cocked her head to the side. "Is everything alright?" That quizzical eyebrow had not yet gone down. Her deep purple eyes were boring holes into his face. Merton could have sworn it. "Yes, yes fine. I see you got into my computer. It's supposed to be locked." "Actually, this time, it wasn't. You left it on this were-wolf page, "Lupis-lover-2000." A smile slid from her lips. Could it even be considered coy? "Oh, oops." Merton slightly panicked. "So, you have an interest in were-wolves?" "Uh, a little bit, yeah." Where had the trembling, shaking, delicate thing of so few hours ago gone? And who brought this threat into his house? If she saw his journal, there was no telling what she might surmise. "A little bit, 43 files on documented cases of were-wolves is a little more of an intense study. Not really casual sniffing around." "OH that," Merton laughed, forcing a smile to hide the fear brewing in his forebrain. "I just, you know, collect stories. They're all just raving lunatics." "They are." Jade trailed off, her eyes scanning the computer screen quickly. "But that's not what we're here to discuss." "Right, we're here to refute Lamarck." "Shouldn't take too long," Jade smiled easily as Merton pulled himself up next to her in his roll-y chair. "So, where should we start?" ************************************************************************ Jade strolled home, the inky night closing in on her, wrapping a satin embrace around her troubled form. The research had gone well, too well. These nights of watching the hazy glow of a computer screen and scanning dusty books that threw up puffy clouds with every page turn were going by so quickly. Soon she would run out of excuses to be near Merton. Jason, She winced. Arrogant, stuffy, snobby, and cruel. She stopped by a dying rose bush, fingering one of the dry petals. They were withering, like her heart was withering. Jason, controlling, vengeful, intelligent. Jealous. She let a petal fall between her fingers, grinding it to a cerise powder. He would want to know what happened that night, and when something else would happen. Jade glanced at the powder caking her fingertips now; silver in the faint street light. If Merton knew where I lived, he'd never let me walk home alone like this. "Jason will though," she murmured in her quietest singsong voice she almost never used. It sounded like her mother's voice dripping honey from Jade's lips. "Jason doesn't care." Jason loves Seika. Jade had known it before the day they came here. She had known ever since she could remember meeting Jason. Politics are weird things, forcing people together due to bloodlines and birthrights. This place had evolved beyond this hierarchical society, beyond feudal conquest and knotted strings of allegiances. Jade shook her head, throwing the thoughts accumulating there to the dusty ground as she turned onto an alleyway. She'd go in the back, and go straight to her room and sleep. That way no one would bother her. She could escape her companions' cold glares, she could avoid Jason's spotlight. She knew this was all a lie, building up in her head as she hastily pulled open the creaky screen door in the back of the shack they called home. At least Jason wouldn't be foolish enough to hit her again. He was extraordinarily lucky no one had noticed how quickly the bruise had disappeared. He wouldn't risk that again. A hazy light swung from a thin chain, electrical wiring curling down as a dragon crawling downward for the elusive pearl light bulb. It cast a yellowish glare on the round card table, currently crowded with figures, hum-singing in a language anyone who didn't know better would swear was a mere breath coming from the group. The tones echoed off greasy, age grayed walls that enclosed the tiny kitchen. One of Seika's stooges was banging aimlessly in a pot, cooking up some random brown liquid the infused the air with a warm, luscious scent. Jade paused a moment in her daring escape from their glances to sample the air again. "You're late," one of the drones hummed. His white hair glew in the yellow-lamplight, softening Jade's view of the crowded room. "I know, studying went late." "Studying, or fucking," Seika smiled, her eyes flicking over Jade as though she was a nude marble statue. Jade wrapped her arm around herself, shielding her susceptible figure from their gaze. "Studying." "Do you want something to eat or drink?" The stooge had begun pouring the smooth, bronze fluid into mismatched cups. "No thanks, I'll leave you to indulge in your sticky ichor in peace." "Why are you so tired? With what have you exhausted yourself?" Jade knew his voice the second it ricocheted into her alabaster ear. "Nothing, I've just been thinking a lot." "About when you're going to do it." Jason placed his heavy hands on Jade's petite shoulders, trapping her in the very space she had wanted to be free of. "Which it?" Seika's other worshiper interjected. "Silence," Jason snarled, "Let Jade speak." "Soon, very soon," Jade stalled. "She's weak, just like her mother," Geremy whispered loudly leering at Jade over the back off his chair. "No more of this," Jason spat, Geremy recoiled, sullenly facing the table yet again. "Jade is nothing like her mother. Her mother was a fault, a crack." "A weakling," "A traitor," A chorus of insults churned around the table as the ill-matched cups dispersed through the huddle of stooges and drones. "And Jade is not," Jason finished, taking a draught from his chipped robin egg blue mug. The thick fluid coated the white inner porcelain with bronze. Jason offered the cup to Jade, forcing the dirty vessel under her lips. Jade slapped it away. "I need to go to my room," her tiny voice quavered as she wrenched herself from Jason's grasp. She swallowed a sob as she chased her shadow up the rickety staircase, throwing herself into her closet-sized room. Jason glared at the top of the stair where Jade disappeared, sipping his drink in silence. ************************************************************************
Jade rushed down the stairs to Merton's door. She had to hurry, if Jason saw. NO. No good to think of such things, it only makes one nervous, and nervous people are caught. Jade took a deep breath before pounding her clammy fist on the old door. The gray peeling paint flaked off onto her skin. She brushed the offending scraps off the back of her knuckles, quickly. No need to have the paleness of her skin offset by the weathered paint. That was a pointless risk. Jason would yell at her for that. NO. No Jason tonight. No anything. She would work, just like a normal person on this. Just two kids, working on a dumb project together. They would bitch later about how inane it was in a vain attempt to cover what they had learned. It was always more impressive to appear intelligent and bored. Always. And beautiful. And thin. And happy. Always smiling. She swallowed. The seconds before the door snapped open seemed like months etching by. Jade was there. It was Jade. She hadn't stood him up; there were no other guys with her. She hadn't come to steal another snippet of his soul. She wasn't a hoax, a flitting dream. She was standing before him, real as ever. "Evening," a murmur slipped from between her lips. "Hey," Merton smiled back opening the door wider, gesturing for her to enter. "Thank you," Just forget Jason for tonight. Just forget what you have to do later. That's later. That's not now. Later. "How are you doing this evening?" "Fine, just fine." She smiled, Merton all but melted. He scuttled to the other side of the room to grab her a chair. "Here, ehh, sit." Merton scooted the high-backed medieval style chair next to his behind the large desk. "Thank you." She floated to the chair, seating herself. Her posture was stiff as board. Her eyes followed his every movement. Every single movement. Merton smiled meekly, attempting to stealthily wipe the film of sweat that had accumulated on his palms onto his pants. "Do you need anything to eat? Drink?" Merton brought his trembling hands together with a slap. Jade winced. "No thank you, I ate before I left. But I wouldn't say no to some water." "Okay, just you wait, right there, and I'll be back with the batter, er, no, water, I'll be back with the water." Merton's hands scraped behind him to find that damn door that led up stairs. Jade nodded slowly. Her inward smile widened as she heard him trip up the steps. This was going to be an entertaining night. Merton fumbled around the cabinets. Why is it whenever you're nervous, everything moves from where it's supposed to be? Once the elusive glasses had been hunted down, another problem arose.Ice or no ice? Merton was stumped, staring helplessly at the empty glasses before him. "Gaa! Which one? To ice or not to ice? That is the question!" "What are you talking about?" The nasal teenage tone sent a rod up Merton's spine. "Nothing you're concerned with, Becky," He attempted to return the vitriolic tone. And failed, as usual. "Well, freaker, Tommy Dawkins is on the line. You know, I still don't know why he even talks to you. Anyways, can you ask him to call on the other line, Michelle and I are talking." "About something very important, I'm sure." Merton snatched the phone from his little sister's grasp. A few moments of grunting and failed button- pushes later, Becky grabbed back the phone. "This one, dumbass." "This one, dumbass," Merton mouthed as he brought the phone to his ear. "Tommy?" "Merton, I'm so sorry she stood you up man, she was just a bitch, and you shouldn't think about her anymore." "Tommy." "No, I know what you're gonna say, she'll never leave your head, and I'm just saying you'll get over her eventually." "Tommy!" "Don't you worry, Lori and I will always be here for you, okay man?"
"Tommy, she's here." "Really?" a female voice clicked in. "Lori? You were listening?" Merton flopped into a dinning room chair. "Well, uhh, we just both wanted to be here for you if she ditched." "Great, just great, not even my friends believe I can get a girl." "That's not it, it's just Lori and I care."
"Yeah, uh huh, whatever Tommy, I just have one thing to say." "Yes?" Lori and Tommy answered simultaneously. "Do girls like ice in their drinks?"
************************************************************************
Jade was already in the computer system by the time Merton had returned with the water. With ice. So much for that safety guard being infallible. Merton winced, Lori had hacked it, Jade had hacked it, heck, and Tommy could probably hack it if he wanted to. "Sorry, that took so long, Tommy and Lori called with a question on their project." Jade looked up from the computer screen with her eyebrow raised. "Uh huh." Merton felt his cheeks flame. Jade cocked her head to the side. "Is everything alright?" That quizzical eyebrow had not yet gone down. Her deep purple eyes were boring holes into his face. Merton could have sworn it. "Yes, yes fine. I see you got into my computer. It's supposed to be locked." "Actually, this time, it wasn't. You left it on this were-wolf page, "Lupis-lover-2000." A smile slid from her lips. Could it even be considered coy? "Oh, oops." Merton slightly panicked. "So, you have an interest in were-wolves?" "Uh, a little bit, yeah." Where had the trembling, shaking, delicate thing of so few hours ago gone? And who brought this threat into his house? If she saw his journal, there was no telling what she might surmise. "A little bit, 43 files on documented cases of were-wolves is a little more of an intense study. Not really casual sniffing around." "OH that," Merton laughed, forcing a smile to hide the fear brewing in his forebrain. "I just, you know, collect stories. They're all just raving lunatics." "They are." Jade trailed off, her eyes scanning the computer screen quickly. "But that's not what we're here to discuss." "Right, we're here to refute Lamarck." "Shouldn't take too long," Jade smiled easily as Merton pulled himself up next to her in his roll-y chair. "So, where should we start?" ************************************************************************ Jade strolled home, the inky night closing in on her, wrapping a satin embrace around her troubled form. The research had gone well, too well. These nights of watching the hazy glow of a computer screen and scanning dusty books that threw up puffy clouds with every page turn were going by so quickly. Soon she would run out of excuses to be near Merton. Jason, She winced. Arrogant, stuffy, snobby, and cruel. She stopped by a dying rose bush, fingering one of the dry petals. They were withering, like her heart was withering. Jason, controlling, vengeful, intelligent. Jealous. She let a petal fall between her fingers, grinding it to a cerise powder. He would want to know what happened that night, and when something else would happen. Jade glanced at the powder caking her fingertips now; silver in the faint street light. If Merton knew where I lived, he'd never let me walk home alone like this. "Jason will though," she murmured in her quietest singsong voice she almost never used. It sounded like her mother's voice dripping honey from Jade's lips. "Jason doesn't care." Jason loves Seika. Jade had known it before the day they came here. She had known ever since she could remember meeting Jason. Politics are weird things, forcing people together due to bloodlines and birthrights. This place had evolved beyond this hierarchical society, beyond feudal conquest and knotted strings of allegiances. Jade shook her head, throwing the thoughts accumulating there to the dusty ground as she turned onto an alleyway. She'd go in the back, and go straight to her room and sleep. That way no one would bother her. She could escape her companions' cold glares, she could avoid Jason's spotlight. She knew this was all a lie, building up in her head as she hastily pulled open the creaky screen door in the back of the shack they called home. At least Jason wouldn't be foolish enough to hit her again. He was extraordinarily lucky no one had noticed how quickly the bruise had disappeared. He wouldn't risk that again. A hazy light swung from a thin chain, electrical wiring curling down as a dragon crawling downward for the elusive pearl light bulb. It cast a yellowish glare on the round card table, currently crowded with figures, hum-singing in a language anyone who didn't know better would swear was a mere breath coming from the group. The tones echoed off greasy, age grayed walls that enclosed the tiny kitchen. One of Seika's stooges was banging aimlessly in a pot, cooking up some random brown liquid the infused the air with a warm, luscious scent. Jade paused a moment in her daring escape from their glances to sample the air again. "You're late," one of the drones hummed. His white hair glew in the yellow-lamplight, softening Jade's view of the crowded room. "I know, studying went late." "Studying, or fucking," Seika smiled, her eyes flicking over Jade as though she was a nude marble statue. Jade wrapped her arm around herself, shielding her susceptible figure from their gaze. "Studying." "Do you want something to eat or drink?" The stooge had begun pouring the smooth, bronze fluid into mismatched cups. "No thanks, I'll leave you to indulge in your sticky ichor in peace." "Why are you so tired? With what have you exhausted yourself?" Jade knew his voice the second it ricocheted into her alabaster ear. "Nothing, I've just been thinking a lot." "About when you're going to do it." Jason placed his heavy hands on Jade's petite shoulders, trapping her in the very space she had wanted to be free of. "Which it?" Seika's other worshiper interjected. "Silence," Jason snarled, "Let Jade speak." "Soon, very soon," Jade stalled. "She's weak, just like her mother," Geremy whispered loudly leering at Jade over the back off his chair. "No more of this," Jason spat, Geremy recoiled, sullenly facing the table yet again. "Jade is nothing like her mother. Her mother was a fault, a crack." "A weakling," "A traitor," A chorus of insults churned around the table as the ill-matched cups dispersed through the huddle of stooges and drones. "And Jade is not," Jason finished, taking a draught from his chipped robin egg blue mug. The thick fluid coated the white inner porcelain with bronze. Jason offered the cup to Jade, forcing the dirty vessel under her lips. Jade slapped it away. "I need to go to my room," her tiny voice quavered as she wrenched herself from Jason's grasp. She swallowed a sob as she chased her shadow up the rickety staircase, throwing herself into her closet-sized room. Jason glared at the top of the stair where Jade disappeared, sipping his drink in silence. ************************************************************************