Chapter 119: [36] Close Encounters of the Bus Kind 36 [From Beyond Arc]

Close Encounters of the Bus Kind

[36]

“Nadi? Nadia! Are you alright?!”

Nadia jerked up with her father’s frantic questions. Amidst his panicked concern, she could hear Erin and others, even though their words were mostly lost between her dad‘s pleas.

It took her several moments to draw together an understanding of what happened to her. Firstly, she was sprawled on the floor. Secondly, her hand really stung. Picking it up, she quickly noticed that the knuckles were smeared with fresh blood. She lost a bit of skin around the forefinger where it appeared her hand had scraped against her chair or the table. Her father was quick to squeeze one of the table napkins against her hand even though the scrape didn’t even hurt that much.

Duman diligently attended to his daughter until one of the cooks hurried over and explained that he was a med student. They checked Nadia carefully before moving her. She felt embarrassed that everyone’s attention was on her. It didn’t take long before Duman was satisfied that she was okay. But he still wanted to know what happened.

Nadia mentally played through what she could say. There was no sign of the monster. She speculated that she stood up too fast. Duman quietly confirmed that she didn’t accidentally hit herself on the chest, recalling memories from recent sports matches where young people went down due to an arrhythmia. The cook briefly listened to her heart, which embarrassed Nadia even further, but soon deduced that she seemed fine. Only then did her father carefully allow her to stand up.

Meanwhile, someone had placed some pillows underneath her and adjusted them to support her in the chair. Nadia knew that “princess“ was the thing that her family liked to call her, but they didn’t need to treat her like one. Of course, they gave her even more food.

It took far too long before she was allowed some privacy with the others. An awkward bandage was wrapped around her hand with triple antibiotic ointment.

Erin urgently wanted to know what happened as she puzzled over the missing monster. Nadia explained that she had briefly seen it when Erin defended her. The girls speculated about why it was briefly visible. She could’ve told her about the older woman and Beyond, but she was still processing exactly what the encounter meant.

Messes. All this is real. Rocking the boat. Things getting worse. Second warning.

It was Audrey who actually speculated that Nadia may have had some sort of vision, referencing yet another anime. Some chatter passed around when Nadia didn’t immediately deny this possibility but instead stuffed a couple of dolmas in her mouth. Thessaly was the one who effortlessly lifted her up and put her back in her chair. Nadia wanted to protest about such a prominent display of her power but no one else seemed concerned and none of the servers or her father found it strange.

Elsa checked up on her and so did Tatiana, calling upon vague medical knowledge and referencing family members in health careers. She was being swarmed.

“I am fine,” she firmly reassured them. “It was probably that thing. Tried to grab me or made me pass out or something.”

Fury flared in Erin’s brown eyes as she turned them against the spot where the creature had been. She confirmed for Nadia that it just seemed to vanish soon after she’d gotten it away from her.

Focusing on controlling her anger and her voice, Erin responded through clenched teeth, “It looked like it was trying to chew on you. And your eyes. It was like the light went out of them. Even though it just grazed the back of your neck, I feared it was sucking your soul out. Or something worse. I felt so sick, so angry. I reacted. I don’t know if it’s dead, but I hope it at least learned a lesson.”

Gina lingered around the spot where the creature had been. She fanned the air with her hands. Erin readily confirmed the exact spot where the creature had fallen. Gina probed further and soon resolved, “There’s a cold and dusty spot. If only I had a nice infrared camera, but they’re all over $1000.” Despite not seeing anything in the spot, Gina still pulled out her cell phone and filmed in a careful circle.

Grumbling to herself, Gina covertly recounted, “With everything that’s happened to us, I can’t believe the only documentation I have is a flower.” Eva loudly cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes at Gina, who raised her hand in surrender and didn’t elaborate. Erin actually didn’t have any problem with the rest of the group knowing about the flower. She didn’t have it with her, but Gina shared about the video she captured with the girls not in the know. Thessaly was the most cutely affected by the image, squeaking about how pretty it would look in her hair. There were a couple pristine napkins on the table that Nadia knew she could use.

She floated the idea of commissioning a flower for Thessaly, like creating a piece of art. While mentioning it, she checked on Erin, to make sure she didn’t have a look of disapproval. Her expression was flat but not averse. Thessaly was willing to pay nicely. With servers and others coming and going from the kitchen so regularly, Nadia doubted she could work on it the way she wanted.

Fortunately, the bathroom was empty and also had a nice variety of other paper to work with. Marisol raised an eyebrow and proposed the idea that Nadia‘s skill had something to do with the manipulation of paper products or bringing to life of inanimate objects. To test this, Nadia folded her napkin into a little stick figure and propped them up on the table. And then she stared at it.

It didn’t do anything. She reflected on what actions she may have done yesterday in the ramen shop that compelled the simple paper to become living. Nothing jumped out at her as unique or distinct from her simple manipulations of paper any time before. It was just a matter of focus.

Despite wielding her will on the little thing, it remained where it was. The only movement it did was to slip down and flop over when a waft of air shifted it. Marisol shrugged.

Gathering together all the materials she figured she would need, Nadia made her way to the ladies' room alone. That felt strange. It shouldn’t have. Go in there, do the thing you need to do, and get out. And Paul appreciated the privacy and being able to sit and reflect. But it felt wrong now, despite the fact she had already gone once with the group after the abandoned Sears. Going alone bothered her more than anything. The dim lighting in the junction hallway leading to the restrooms didn’t help.

Her imagination conjured up and then slapped away an image of another one of those monsters waiting for her in the shadows. The bathroom was quite nice for a sit-down restaurant. It was a bit stark and utilitarian with supplies pushed to the side and a soap pump awkwardly fashioned into the tile sink as though her father had done the modification himself. And an industrial-sized canister of hand soap supplemented the pump. An old metal and glass one which needed to be pushed in with a plunger was dejected and empty at the end of the counter.

Nadia felt a flare of anxiety that the door couldn’t be locked but was also surprised that being in here didn’t bother her that much. It wasn’t as though she needed to pass a check or that anyone who came in would be bothered. She was a girl, she looked like a girl, and…everything else like a girl. At least that didn’t need to be complicated.

It would be a different matter entirely if being a girl didn’t have alien augmentation. If Paul had to figure out how to contort being a girl into a Paul-shaped life. He never really considered the idea of being a girl. Mom would’ve been an even bigger Hell. Dad was sure to do his usual screaming. And grandparents would’ve just beat her.

She still would’ve done it, if it truly meant something to her like being with Erin. Stunned, bewildered, curious, having a little fun, having a lot of confusion, adapting, and figuring it out. That was how her last two days went. But with the benefit of knowing others understood that this wasn’t the usual for her.

The amount of adaptation still confused her though. Like that strange podcast episode with a young man possibly kicked through quantum immortality into the nearest available slot, which just happened to be his female version. And he got used to being and growing up as a normal woman. Just like Nadia was doing. Rationally, she suspected that she should’ve had dysphoria. Horror at the shape of her body, rejection of the soft and empty spaces, suffering at how her body didn’t fit her mind, slashing and screaming at reality, and trying to compensate.

At least, that was what she imagined. But she was so boring. Oh, some aliens turned my world upside down and made me the combination of a bunch of girls. Well, better grab some cheesecake and a shower.

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By now, it wasn’t shell shock or denial. She had thought about all of this. Was this just her? Different sex? Oh well, have to deal with it. New family? Oh well, at least there’s good food. Superpowers? Oh well, make some flowers. Destroying the world because of love? Oh well, better figure that out.

Passivity. Acceptance. Routine. Complacency. Sleepwalk through being a caregiver. Wander through the adulation of a crush. Go through the motions of ferrying people from one place to another. Take on the label of girl without complaint. Watch others do everything.

Nadia looked up in the mirror. She was crying. Dammit, she was crying, and she didn’t know the reason why. It was stupid to mope and dwell on the things she couldn’t change. And she had a flower to make.

Poking around at the available paper, Nadia discovered a surprising range of colors. There was the usual white and tan but also some blue and pink from packaging. Pooling together everything she had made for a pile of far too much paper.

The flower Paul made in high school was lost to the distant mists of her memory and she couldn’t just make another copy of the one she gave Erin. There was a paper-folding podcast she subscribed to with a website full of templates. But she didn’t have any clearer sense of the combination of exact steps compared to how she had played piano. Each just happened though.

She resolved to create a fun and fancy corsage. It would’ve been a nice bonus to have known something deeply symbolic to Greek culture, but all she could think of was the laurel from the Olympics. The process got pretty far without her thinking about it. She had the basic bloom structure and simplistic outline already assembled when the door popped open behind her.

Nadia prepared to clear away and apologize for hoarding the sink when she realized that Erin was standing in the doorway.

“Hey. You okay?” Erin gazed at her with sincere uncertainty. Nadia nodded enthusiastically, a little too much. She smiled and urged that she was fine.

It was impossible to hide the flinch when Erin put her arms around her shoulders. Instead of trying to shape the warnings from Beyond into something that didn’t sound crazy, Nadia talked about last night. About her mother. Erin stared sharply.

“They’re not your family. Sharon isn’t my mom either, but it’s what I have to deal with. Better than stepping back into the past. What they think about your life is not only wrong, but it’s fucked up. You said you love me. I’ve made sure you know that I love you. You asked if we’re girlfriends and we are. Do you want us to be together?"

Setting aside her flower work, Nadia urgently pressed, “I love you and I want to be together with you. You killed a horrifying monster to keep me safe, and I would do the same if talking in their language and making flowers worked on them.“

Erin shifted her lips to the side of her mouth and reflected on what she wanted to say. “Yeah. That was a moment and an emotion. Same as driving home together was fear and clinging. And cheesecake on the couch was tiredness and hope. And you embracing me is fear and sympathy. But do we have love? You’ve given me such beautiful flowers. And I gave you that cute necklace and I know… It’s at home. Same with my flower. But between how crazy our lives have become and the moments of fear and uncertainty, do you love me when it’s just a normal day with normal stuff to take care of?”

Nadia scrunched up her eyebrows. Was she doing something wrong? Of course, she was anxious because of Beyond. Could Erin really see that in her body language and feel that or was something else bothering her?

“Yes. I love you. No monsters, no aliens, no superpowers. No trip back to high school. I swear. I’m just afraid. Of saying the wrong thing, of assuming more than I should, of being a jackass, of not making you feel loved. I am so stupid when it comes to other people and myself. I had no idea all through high school that you showed any interest in me and I am still a little uncertain.”

Stretching forward, Erin bent and whispered in Nadia‘s soft ear. They were vivid, detailed, rich words full of all sorts of naughty things not merely hinted at but grabbed and gripped with fervor. Nadia kissed her and squeezed as tightly as she could. There wasn’t a whole lot more than that they could do in the ladies' restroom, but their eyes focused with intent.

There was still a wall between them. Erin knew. She sensed the distance. She remembered the separation. And she wanted the truth out of Nadia.

“There is something on your mind. What is it? If you want me to just fuck off about it, that’s fine. I respect your emotions. If it’s just about your mom and a lot of shit you still have to process, that’s fine too. But we need to talk, and I need to know that we can talk to one another. I had to keep so much locked away inside from my family for so long that if you want to be close to me, then we can’t do things the same way. I don’t care if it’s a secret where you hate me or you’re full of feelings of broken glass that’ll cut me up. I accept you as you are. Can you accept that?”

Why was dealing with another person, even one you could talk to easily, so desperately complicated, painful, and uncertain? Nadia didn’t understand. The best she could do as Paul was create a wall. Nothing said hurt, and he projected distant unwavering confidence. Could she really tell Erin about all this fucked up stuff with Beyond?

Fine. The old woman may be mad at her, but she was madder still. Time for the truth.

Nadia opened her mouth. Before the words could flow, she suddenly realized she was somewhere else. Outside, with a bunch of other people. The shopping plaza from yesterday.

It was far more overcast than she remembered it being. Gina, Odessa, and Eva were nearby. But Luna and Erin were gone. They weren’t too far from the abandoned Sears.

The words finally came. “Oh, God…” 

 

 

 

[I have a question at the end of the chapter again to help with suggestions for where the story should go. I'm actually not that far ahead this time and I am wide open for possibilities for this particular story. Feel free to add an idea which doesn't show up in the options. Also, if you see any random typos or uncapitalized starts of sentences, please pass them along. I have to cut down on my editing due to release speed and my programs don't seem to be catching lowercase sentences. Thank you for reading!]

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