Lost In Purple
Chapter 7: A Golden Session
A month goes by in the blink of an eye. Most of the leaves on the trees have now fallen to the cool earth below and changed to many shades of red, orange, and yellow. The warm breeze that I learned to love here on campus has suddenly shifted to a cool and crisp gale that sweeps through the campus every few minutes, blowing the fallen leaves across the freshly cut fields of grass. The skies glow a light orange and are decorated with clouds that bring a somewhat cozy feeling as people become excited for Monstropolis's favorite month of the year. October... the spooky month. Many of the campuses schools have decorated for Halloween with lights wrapping around them along with fake pumpkins, planted orange flowers, and scarecrows. The School of Scaring, School of Door Technology, and School Of Scream Energy have even gone all out and painted various claw marks on their walls, and placed fake vines of thorns along the roofs and foundations. At this point they may as well throw in some fog machines or spider webs to fully flesh out the vibe they're going for.
Bruiser and I walk down the staircase of the Scaring School like every morning after lazily listening to the lectures of Scaring 101. Ever since the party, we've been learning about the many "Types of Scares." We'll be needing to know them for our Scare Simulator Final Exam in December. In other news, things are starting to feel generally normal now that I've been studying here for around 2 months. The only thing that's still bothering me are the occasional headaches I get every week so my Mom and I have been getting me some over the counter headache medications that have helped for the most part. I unfortunately started feeling one manifest in class today though, and feel like I ended up missing a lot of important information that I'll need for an upcoming midterm. Hopefully Bruiser will be able to help me out once things blow over.
"Another headache Miss Melanie?" He asks with worry.
"Yeah, but like all the times before it's very mild," I reply unenthusiastically.
"You're still taking medication for that right?" Bruiser twitches, "Regardless you should think about going to see a doctor or something."
While I appreciate the concern that Bruiser is showing me, I simply don't have the money for a checkup. My family has always been on the poor side, so we have to save our visits for absolute emergencies and my headaches definitely aren't emergencies. "I...I'm fine," I respond while putting on a black wool coat.
I still can't believe the PNK girls were nice enough to buy me all those clothes. This black wool coat has slowly become my new favorite piece of clothing because of how stunning it is. It's very similar to a hoodie because it has two strings that rest along my collar bone and are used to tighten the hood. The only thing that makes it different from a hoodie is that it's so irregularly long. It almost looks like I'm wearing a dress that buttons up along the left side of my body.
Bruiser twitches and starts breathing hyperactively like he usually does. "Do you need me to walk you back to the dorms Miss Melanie?"
"No, I'll be ok," I sigh.
"Ok...well how about you come eat lunch with me today. I know for a fact that eating will make you feel better!" Bruiser beams.
I smile and give Bruiser a light chuckle. "Ok, yeah, that sounds good."
Bruiser and I begin our journey towards the cafeteria where many monsters are currently eating and conversing amongst themselves. I think back to when I toured the campus and our tour guide kept on insisting that MU has the best chefs in the world. As if this cafeteria has anything on the restaurant Johnny took me to a few months ago. Now that was was good food. As for this 'restaurant', if you could even call it that, everything I see placed upon the serving tables looks mediocre at best.
Bruiser picks out an empty table in the back corner of the cafeteria that looks very dark. "This looks good."
"Really? Why not the one over by the window?" I ask with a motherly tone.
"M-meh, I like this better. People also stare at me like they're scared of me when I sit out in the open which bothers me," Bruiser pants with a smile on his face. I don't know why he's smiling since that reason sounded really depressing.
"Awwww, I'm sorry," I say giving Bruiser a hug.
He becomes tense for a seconds before relaxing. "Hehehe, it's ok. That just means I'm becoming a really good scarer right? If monsters are afraid of me then the human children will be too," Bruiser boasts while returning the hug.
Once I let go, Bruiser plops down onto the small round seat and causes the opposite end of the table to lift up a small bit. I then set my backpack and handbag down on the table only to see Bruiser grab them and set them on his lap. "I can watch your stuff while you go get something," Bruiser states.
"Oh, thank you. I'll be right back," I smile.
I walk up to the serving tables but make sure to take a couple steps back because I'm not quite sure what they have. I see various foods organized poorly in the serving tables. There's rectangular pizzas, hotdogs wrapped in tin foil, crappy looking hamburgers/cheeseburgers, corndogs, nachos, burritos, and chicken breasts. Some of them looked fresh but a majority of them looked spoiled, simply thrown in the trash and dumped back into the serving table. I can only imagine the amount of diseases I could get by ingesting all these kinds of recycled energy sources.
I give up looking for any sort of nourishment from the serving tables and go to a frozen treats section that serves all sorts of desserts pulled straight from refrigeration. There's large assortments of ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, popsicles, and fruit cups. I just settle for a fruit cup full of cherries, blueberries, apricots, and elderberries. On a side note, a lot of people say they don't like elderberries because they're bitter and sour, but I think they're one of the best fruits the monster world has. I walk up to the adorable looking cashier and pay for the cup which was about $5.00. I don't think I'll be buying anything for another week cause I'm poor and that was the hardest $5.00 to hand over.
When I turn around and head back to Bruiser, I feel a sharp pain hit the right side of my head so I close my eyes for a second. When I open them back up again, I accidently bump into a tall man wearing a tuxedo. I look up to him and see that he looks way more intimidating than I thought. He's a vantablack wolf with golden brown eyes and that tuxedo has golden floral patterns that wraps all the way up to his tie. The bottom ends of his suit are also jagged which almost make it look like a gothic trench coat. He turns his head around half way only to reveal the side of his head. It's almost like he's missing a part of his cheek because there are three slits that emit a golden glow coming from his throat as if he were some undead being.
"I...I'm so sorry sir," I squeak while pressing my hand against my temple.
This time he turns all the way around to show his young face and a caring smile.
"Why that's quite alright Miss Everett," He replies.
My heart drops when I hear him say my last name like he's known me his whole life. However, I've never seen this man...ever.
"Y-you know my name?" I ask while taking a small step back to create some distance between us.
"Yes, I understand this situation is a little unnerving, but I've heard some things about you from a couple of students of mine," he explains in a calming manner. He moves his hands behind his back and stands up straight to unveil his immaculate posture.
"Um... a couple of s-students?" I question.
"Yes. Mr. Javier Rios and Mr. Jonathon Worthington the Third," He answers while nodding his head.
"Oh...what did they say about m-me?" I yet again ask.
"Well they didn't tell me about you specifically, but they told me about how much fun they had at a party with an intriguing young lady. They vaguely described your outward appearance, and so I came to the conclusion that you were the monster they were talking about," the wolf remarked while gesturing to me.
"I'm sorry but how would you know what I looked like let alone who I am?" I ask getting a tad defensive.
"Who do you think read over your application to the scaring program Miss Everett?" the wolf mentions still enacting a calming manner.
My heart drops even more. He looked so young that I assumed he was yet another student or fraternity member I hadn't met before. Then again, maybe I should've put that together when looking at his extravagant tuxedo. "I'm Professor Blake King by the way. Pleasure to meet you," he says with a bow and a hand over his heart.
I sigh and introduce myself, "You can just call me Melanie. I-I haven't been feeling well recently so I'm sorry for being a little stand offish."
Professor King puts his hand over my shoulder. "I understand Melanie. You have every right to feel like things aren't ok. If I may ask, what exactly is happening with that clever head of yours? I'm assuming headaches?" He says while pointing to the forehead.
"Um... It's kind of a long story," I whimper after feeling another sharp pain. With every sentence I speak, it feels like my head is about to explode. I do think Professor King is nice and all, but it's hard to not feel nervous when being around his petrifying aura. I also remember Johnny saying that Professor King was one of the most amazing people he's every met and everything, but I would really like to run away and hide from him because he seems like the kind of person who could ruin my life with a snap of a finger.
Professor King crosses his arms and brings one arm up to put his fist over his mouth. "Hmm...how about we sit down and talk about it. I'm not just a scaring professor after all."
"R-really?" I ask while turning my head and raising one ear while the other lowers.
Professor King chortles and begins the totally exhausting trek toward the table that Bruiser is sitting at. He looks like he's daydreaming while looking out of the cafeteria windows that show the autumn trees swaying from a gust of wind. I follow the professor and sit down across from him. I also call out to Bruiser. "Ok Bruiser, your turn."
His daydream is interrupted, and he turns his three eyes towards me. "Huh? Oh, food food food food," he mutters while placing my bags on the table and jogging towards the serving tables with excitement.
"Hehe... interesting," Professor King laughs after watching Bruiser waddle up to serving table and begin scarfing down everything he finds satisfying.
"Yeah he's a fun one. I don't even know how he didn't notice you," I laugh. Professor King laughs once more with me as he gracefully swings around the seat and silently sits.
"As I was saying, yes, I'm not just a scaring professor. I'm also a licensed doctor and psychiatrist, as well as a door engineer. I pretty much pride myself on advancing the scaring profession as well as helping scarers with injuries, addictions, or psychologically traumatizing ailments. So tell me what happened, Melanie, from the beginning," Professor King says while taking out a notepad and pen from his pockets.
Holy mother of god Johnny was right, he's literally one of the coolest people I've ever met. When I get the chance, I'm signing up for his classes no matter what they're about. If it means I have to take a test or even kill someone to have a possibility at being in his presence, I will do it.
I make sure to keep my eyesight on Professor King as I start speaking. "U-um... well I'll just cut it a little short. I've always been an antisocial person and I only ever had one friend growing up, who also happens to be one of the JOX boys, but I simply just hated being around people and experiencing things with them." I look at him jot down some things on his notepad and look back up to me. "I ended up going to the Rush Week party and meeting Johnny. Um, we've seen each other here and there and hung out a couple of time, but anyways, he invited me to one of their parties about a month ago. Right before the party I had a little hermit breakdown and started feeling these little bursts of confidence where I would act as if I was never antisocial or nervous being around people and I can't figure out why."
Professor Knight stops me before I say anything more. "You say these bursts of confidence aren't normal for you?"
"Yes, they never happened before this semester. I would normally freeze up and feel like I would vomit if I were talking to people I don't know," I clarify.
Professor King nods his head and writes some more notes down on his notepad. "Go on..." he says.
"Ok, um, the party eventually came around and I had a good time. Everything went ok aside from some drama with my friend who's in JOX and what came around after midnight. When it came to my friend, I got really defensive and snapped at him. We eventually talked about it and made up so everything is fine for now. After midnight is when these headaches first began and ever since then I've been getting moody when talking to people," I explain.
Professor King writes even more down on his notepad only to look back up and notice that that was the end of my story. "Anything else?"
I shake my head and put my hand up to my head after feeling a lingering throb. "But I should probably mention that I haven't gone to a doctor to check it out because my family and I can't afford it right now. I've also been taking some headache medicine to relieve the pain."
"Ok," Professor King nods, "At least you have something to help you get through the pain. Keep taking that medicine for now. I'll tell you right now to not worry too much about these headaches, you are a young adult who could be going through some hormonal changes. These hormonal changes could be causing some alterations in behavior as well as body functions which tend to happen to a very small percentage of the monster population. As for professional help, I'll take this case as a personal one so don't worry about paying for anything. I'll be sure to take these findings to a database and see if maybe this is a common symptom," Professor King reassures. "Do you by chance know if either of your parents went through something similar?" He asks.
"I don't. I know my Mom went through phases where she started shedding and had painful growth spurts when she was young. She's a reptile by the way and my dad's wolven," I answer.
"And you don't know about your dad?" He reiterates.
I shake my head no. "From what I know, he went through the same changes as everyone else."
"Alright. I'll get back to you soon. If anything, this could be a genetic thing. Certain families have certain things happen to them with each generation, so again don't feel scared, this sounds very mild and temporary," Professor King reassures. "As for now, I have to get my lunch and head back to my classroom. If there are any questions you have for me that come to your mind, feel free to see me in the Scaring School during my office hours. They're listed outside my door if that does happen."
"Ok," I whimper feeling another pain hit my cranium, "Thank you Professor."
"Nice meeting you Melanie," he says while bowing to me and then walking to the frozen treats section of the cafeteria. I wonder if he's 'Spoiled Food Intolerant' too.
I hear Bruiser then come from behind me and basically slam himself onto his seat with an overflowing plate full of the many meats the cafeteria serves. "Who was that Miss Melanie?"
"Oh that was Professor King," I reply staring at the professors beautiful tuxedo. Seriously, that suit looks stunning on him.
"That's Professor King?" Bruiser asks in complete shock.
"Yeah. Has neither Johnny or Javier introduced you to him yet?" I answer with another question.
"No. All I know is that he's one of the many legends the scaring world has, almost like Dean Hardscrabble. You know he's also a doctor and door engineer right?" Bruiser stammers while inhaling his food.
"Yeah, he told me himself," I state as a matter of fact.
Bruiser and I finish eating and we both part ways afterwards. I decide it's best to head back to my dorm room and get some rest. I really need it after being in pain for the past couple of hours. I think back to my conversation with Professor King and hope he gets back to me fast, because I don't want to suffer for any longer. I also think about how smart he must be to have scaring, doctorate, and door technology credentials at such a young age. At least, I think he's young because he looked like he just graduated college himself.
I slowly take steps to the dormitory only to hear some yelling coming from over near the amphitheater. I turn around and look in between two buildings to see four monsters screaming at each others faces.
And two of them have ROR jerseys.