Episode 101

[Invocation]

Nights in White Satin

Distorted lights flickered on and off as the roaring train rushed by. A slim, dark brown haired young man glanced out the window at the dark night and fields of green. He failed to suppress a small smile before nudging the auburn haired girl next to him. She stirred a little bit but refused to wake up. The young man looked up and slowly inhaled, thinking about what he would be leaving behind by attending a college so far from everything familiar.

He had slightly slanted green eyes, whose hue was so faint that they sometimes appeared teal. His hair was short and a bit messy, almost too dark to be honestly called brown, and his lips were thin and waning, worn away by years of not saying what he meant. His companion on the train was a slender young woman, with equally tinted green eyes. Her hair was slightly red and usually tied into a simple ponytail. Like his, her skin was fairly pale and had often been on the butt end of many a friendly joke. Beside him, the girl's eyes fluttered open and she opened her mouth in a yawn not unlike a cat's.

"Are we almost there, Nick?" asked the girl as she stretched her arms from her seat.

Nick nodded and wore a slight smile, "I tried to wake you, but then again so do earthquakes."

The flame-headed girl broke out into a playful grin, "Very funny, Nick. I do recall you not letting me in your room after the last big one."

Nick looked down, humor lost, "I was… busy." He hastily checked his watch and looked outside once again before changing the subject, "You excited to start college, Alice?"

Alice brushed her bangs out of her face with her left hand, "Loads more than you." She checked her purse to make sure that everything was in place and she hadn't left anything at the last hotel they stayed at. "It's going to be fun, Nick. Lighten up. College is when you get total freedom. Mom and Dad's not going to be there to bug you every five seconds. This is what you've always wanted, wasn't it?"

A part of Nick agreed with Alice. High school had generally been rewarding, but the constant pressure from his parents to do well and be a model for his twin sister was suffocating. The other part of him kept reminding him that college would just end up being more work, and then what would happen after? Jobs were so hard to get that he would probably end up living in a studio with four people he didn't know eating ramen every night. While he did feel a certain level of animosity towards his parents' strict nature, he appreciated all that they had done for him- namely give him food and a place to sleep every night.

The train slowly ground itself to a halt as the announcements blared. Nick and Alice picked up their bags and suitcases and made their way to the train exit. It seemed like they were the only ones in the train, and as they stepped outside, all of their personal belongings with them, it trudged off, tired from a long day's work.

It was almost midnight, and the outdoor train station's streetlamps provided the only substantial light. Alice shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her while Nick took out a map of the area.

"It's freaking freezing here, Nick. How far is our dorm?"

Nick took a step towards his sister and put an arm around her, pulling her into his body heat. "Dad said it'd only be about a forty minute drive. We should get a taxi."

Alice silently agreed. "Funny how they try to trick you into thinking it's such a natural place with all the grass and trees by the station, but most of it is just a cleaner version of a city."

Nick hailed a taxi and the two fit their suitcases and bags into the back seat before clambering in. The taxi driver was a middle-aged man wearing a button up shirt and a tie. A lean cigarette stuck out of the corner of his mouth and dangled precariously whenever he talked. He seemed to have been athletic when he was younger, but the years had eroded his physique, leaving him only a percentage of the muscle he once had.

"Where you headed off to at this time of night?"

"Our train just got here," Alice replied handing him a short stack of bills, "This should be enough to bring us to the dorm of Wolfridge."

The man grunted in reply and without warning, the car was off. The ride was uncomfortably silent for at least twenty minutes. The radio was sleeping and nothing of interest to speak of was happening outside on the streets. A handful of pedestrians were milling around every once in a while, but the majority of the suburb-city hybrid was tucked in and oblivious to its surroundings. After what seemed like forever, the taxi driver perked up.

"You two going to school at Wolfridge?" Nick nodded. The driver continued, "You know why it's called Wolfridge?"

"Isn't it because of an old story around here about a pack of wolves that used to hang around the area?" Alice questioned.

The man nodded. "Rumor has it that once this place became the half-assed industrial town it is, there was no place for the wildlife to live. A pack of wolves circled around the place for weeks before settling where the university would be now. They were right there out in the open and became a sort of attraction around here for months." He took a drag from his cigarette, "After the pack died off some time later, the school was built. A bunch of people petitioned to have it named after the pack and now there's a stone statue of a bunch of wolves in the front gate."

"Do you believe it?" Alice asked as she snuck a secret exchanged glance with her brother.

"Not for a second," the man snorted, "People here will jump at any opportunity to make this place seem more interesting than it is. Good education, sure, but don't let anyone fool you by telling you that hardcore scholars or anything famous ever comes out of here."

Nick almost laughed but a fluttering blue strobe light dashed across the windshield and the force of impact lodged it in his throat.

The car had abruptly stopped.

Nick turned to make sure Alice was okay, but stopped and stared at what was once a middle-aged taxi driver. A solid black coffin rested on the driver's seat, covered by a crimson aura that flowed around it like water defying gravity. He yelped and instinctively grabbed the door handle behind him, forcing the door to open and pushing him roughly out of the vehicle by his own body weight. Alice quickly hurried out of the taxi as well and ran to Nick.

"Nick! Are you okay?"

Nick looked up at the strangely tinted green sky, "What the fuck is going on?"

Alice helped Nick up and the two looked around the area. They were well into the city of Lakeridge and all around then were moderately sized buildings, dark with shadow. The sky was a strange vomit green color and the moon enveloped the sky in an ivory satin. With an unspoken agreement, the twins opened the back door of the taxi and hurriedly grabbed their belongings before heading as far away from the taxi and its mysterious coffin resident as possible.

"We were headed in this direction, Nick, so let's just keep going this way. Maybe we'll run into the dorm."

The two walked in utter stunned silence, together for protection, with the wheels on their suitcases being the only noise. It was cold enough that their breath dispersed in the air like a cloud of white frost. Something glowing red was a ways off in front of them, and Nick nodded at Alice's questioning expression prompting the two of them to head off towards the light.

As the red lights got closer and closer, Alice gasped at the sight of a huddle of similar black coffins with red flaming auras all around them. She backed up into Nick who grabbed her with one arm and willfully looked the other way.

"Shit, Alice… Maybe we should go the other way."

Just then, a tan car honked behind the two and pulled up nearby. A neatly dressed woman stepped out of the car, wearing a white suit and slacks, briefcase in hand. She had a pencil resting on her ear and had light brown hair to her shoulders. The woman hastily made her way to the twins and placed her suitcase on the ground before checking to make sure they were fine.

"Are you two Nick and Alice Walker? How long have you been here?"

Nick nodded. Alice's eyes widened, "You're not a coffin!"

The woman looked at Alice as if she was delirious. "Of course I'm not a coffin. I'm Professor Duncan, mythology professor at Wolfridge University." She took out her staff identification card as if the two would not believe her. "Students shouldn't be out at this time of night." Nick remembered his sister and he signing up for Duncan's class.

Professor Duncan began helping Alice put suitcases in the trunk of her car while Nick looked frantically around at the bizarre scene around him. "What's going on, Professor? Why is everything so still?"

The teacher didn't seem to know how to answer his question but glanced at him in an all-knowing way. After all of their luggage was packed into her car, Alice and Nick got into the tan car and Duncan drove off. The streets were still empty and strangely still, as if a perpetual state of absolute zero had enveloped the area. The occasional glowing coffin was stationed around the area but Nick could find no other human being outside of his sister, Professor Duncan, and of course himself.

They passed a moderately large lake with a old shrine seeming to float on the water, which now reflected a nauseous shade of green. Something was odd about finding a distinctly Japanese shrine in the middle of a semi-suburban British city. Nick made a mental note to take a closer look at it in the future.

Duncan fidgeted slightly at the wheel and turned her turn signal on, the clicking of the signal rhythmically invading the silence. Within a few minutes, the small vehicle turned into the staff parking lot of Wolfridge University and the Professor led Alice and Nick to the dorms, suitcases trailing behind them.

"Now, I know that your dorm assignments say otherwise, but I… I think you would do better in my dorm." The Professor took a deep breath and checked her watch almost instinctively, "It's a dorm for Gifted Students. Something about your applications really impressed me and I'd like to give you an honorary position in our little club before we decide if you two are up for the… academic challenge."

Nick was too tired to say otherwise and Alice immediately accepted the opportunity, wanting to be anywhere but in the streets with glowing coffins.

As the professor opened the door to the dorm and began cleaning things up in its lobby, the twins exchanged looks. Something was definitely not right about Lakeridge but both Nick and Alice were too physically and emotionally exhausted to ask any questions.

Duncan locked the large dorm double doors, hung the keys on a door hook, and led the two towards the stairs. "This is a three story dormitory. The first floor is the lounge, kitchen, and dining room, the second is the living spaces themselves, with males on the right wing and females on the left, and the third floor is strictly prohibited for honorary members to enter." She helped them haul the suitcases up the several flights of stairs. "It's where we do our work and we have to adhere by a strict schedule, so we won't have time to clue in honorary members."

Alice nodded and thanked the professor without really paying attention to what she was saying. Duncan lead them to their rooms, which were indeed in separate wings of the second floor, and wished them a good night. Alice hugged Nick in silence for what seemed like eternity before working up the courage to leave him.

"Night, Nick. It's going to be fine."

Nick fabricated a smile, "Yeah…"

When Alice entered her small dorm, all she could see was the eerily green sky glowing outside of her window. She closed the blinds quickly and looked away. Nearby, a clock read that it was midnight and the second hand failed to move despite a constant ticking sound that emanated from it. She figured the clock was broken but didn't dare to go back outside in her current state. As she lay in bed, flashing images of her horrific day perverted her dreams and she found herself dozing into a disturbing restless sleep.