Chapter 7: Chapter 2: Zavier (Version 1.1) Part 3

6:45. Zavier felt a sense of relief seeing those three numbers in big block font when his phone lit up. He almost never slept past his first alarm at 6:45 on school days, much less 8:00. But the consequences of sleeping late were disastrous today. He had set numerous alarms in five minute intervals starting at 6:45 before he fell asleep when he had gotten home the night prior. He would be in the business of overkill on safety for the foreseeable future. He scrolled through his alarms and turned all the ones before 7:30 off. Now that he had woken up the first time he was confident he would not fall back into deep sleep before that alarm. Zavier was going to rest his eyes until then. He wasn’t going to talk to May or do anything else until eight anyways. It did not make sense to sit around and stress for seventy-five minutes. He needed thirty minutes max to get himself ready to face the day.

He rolled over in bed and closed his eyes, reaching for the embrace of inactivity and sensation reduction. He was unable to grab it. He lay motionless for a few minutes in vain before ripping his covers off and getting out of bed. His body was covered in sweat from the night before and he had a feeling of mustiness he couldn’t shake. As he lumbered to his bathroom, he kept trying to figure out why he felt so gross. This trivial matter was suddenly incredibly important to him. As he reached the bathroom and flipped on the light, he took a good look into his mirror.

Zavier was an average height with a bit of a wide baby face. He had no real facial hair yet and kept his auburn hair short but messy. His nose was small and gently sloping and while he was not blessed with a particularly chiseled jaw or angular facial structure he had a near perfect set of straightened white teeth. He had always been told he had a beautiful smile growing up. This was sometimes a compliment in absence of another obvious one but it was true nonetheless. He stared intently and intensely into his wide green eyes, giving himself an awkward look he only reserved for when he was alone with a mirror. In a split second, a realization came over him and he gave his reflection a wide smile. He had not showered at all last night when he had come home. The mystery of his gross feeling was now solved. It was likely because he was rushing to fall asleep given how the evening had gone and his own exhaustion. Zavier did not have any other insights as to how he had forgotten to shower as his memory of his cognitive process after he drove off from May was murky at best. A very simplistic but pleasant feeling washed over him as he picked out a towel and started up the shower. At least one issue solves itself today.

Zavier stayed in the shower for much longer than the typical five minutes he would spend on a typical morning. He wasn’t going to school so he had much more time and the warm water and the hot steam it produced was particularly relaxing for him. He also hated the cold feeling of having to step out of a warm shower before he dried himself off and put on clothes. Leaving the warmth of the shower today was particularly taxing on his willpower and he was fine with indulging himself a bit. Zavier just had to be out by 7:50 or so in theory he could be in here for an hour.

He did not end up taking an hour. It was 7:25 on his phone after he dried off and checked it again. He flipped off the rest of his alarms. There was no point in trying to steal a few more minutes of sleep. He wouldn’t be able to anyway. Zavier quickly got dressed in one of his typical spring outfits: a plain white t-shirt, an orange flannel, some standard jeans, nike white socks, and plain black tennis shoes. He was very much a box checker when it came to his fashion.

He gave himself one more quick look in the mirror to make sure everything was in order and went across the room to grab his phone. As he reached to pick it up, he froze. It was only 7:40 and he had a missed call from May about two minutes ago. Zavier had expected nothing until eight from her. As trivial as twenty minutes was, the disruption from expectations for Zavier had the effect of snapping him back to reality. His adrenaline spiked and the feeling of morning energy and renewal gave way to nerves and a returning deep sense of tiredness. He was not ready for this.

Quickly he tapped the call back option. Hopefully she just was jumpy and wanted to touch base as early as possible. The phone rang once before it was picked up.

“May.” Zavier spoke with a calmness that masked his real feelings.

“Zavee.” May’s tone was frightened.

“What’s going on? You called early, I could have been asleep.”

“Please come over now, hurry!” May maintained a frantic tone.

“What’s going on, you didn’t tell your parents did you? You told me you’d wait for-” 

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“I didn’t tell anyone.” May snapped back with some palpable resentment in her voice. “I did exactly what you said. Even though you left me last night to drive home on my own. You really need to come over right now. I’ll explain things in person when you get here.”

May’s emphasis on in person sent a clear signal to Zavier. She was not going to tolerate anything else from him and she would not share anything until he was with her. He took a deep breath and collected himself. “I’ll come over now, just wait for me to get there.”

May affirmed the course of action and Zavier hung up and went into the kitchen to grab his keys. Both of his parents were already on their commutes to work so he didn’t have to worry about prying questions about missing school. They definitely saw his car still in the driveway and heard the shower in his room running way too long but Zavier was at an age where he did not get the scolding or concern he would have gotten in years past. He walked into the garage, started the car, and made his way to May’s house.

May lived across the main road in an adjacent subdivision so it only took Zavier a few minutes to reach her house. He parked on the curb and got out. Here he texted to May, slowly making his way up her driveway with his eye on their text chat so as to not miss any sudden special instructions. May’s front door swung open and May stood in the doorway and motioned Zavier inside. He obliged this request.

May’s mother sat at the kitchen table, methodically working on the morning crossword. Zavier's heart skipped a beat. Did she tell her parents?

“Mom, I’m going to the basement with my friend Zavier. He’s the guy who works the late shifts with me.” May’s mother looked up from her crossword at the sound of her daughter’s voice. Her eyes locked in on Zavier and she smiled.

“That’s fine, honey. Just let me know when you two are done so I know when it’s ok to come downstairs later this morning.” With that, the middle aged housewife returned to her puzzles and May opened the door to her basement and began walking down.

Zavier was very relieved. There was no way her mother knew. Clearly she was a much more casual parent with May than his own parents were with him as evidenced by her disregard for May seemingly missing school to bring a boy over. It would be asinine though to ignore her daughter’s activities in the same way if she knew the happenings of the prior night. Zavier’s mind then wandered briefly to the implications of May’s mother being unfazed by her daughter needing the basement for a boy who May’s mother had not met prior. It definitely was not something Zavier wanted to think through further.

He would not have to dwell on these matters either way. The second he had reached the bottom of the stairs, May turned around and put her phone into his face. The light from May’s phone took Zavier a second to adjust to. He always instinctively conserved the battery on his phone by keeping the brightness down. May did not take similar precautions. Once his eyes adjusted he saw a conversation opened with an unnamed number. The most recent message had been sent at 7:32 this morning. It read: Need to meet and talk about last night. Respond ASAP.

“Who sent this?” Zavier asked in a hushed tone

May responded in a similarly discreet and quiet manner, “It’s from the Spider.”

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