The Thorns Upon the Roses Ch. 08

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My adventures on Saturday were over, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had witnessed something that I shouldn't have in the forest. At night, I was convinced I could hear someone outside my door. In the passing hours of the day, I would look at the camera that watched me, and it felt as if it were looking back at me.

I wouldn't start work for another week, but I still went to class through the week. Boundary lines for a select few Arab Nations. How a few perfect no-hit baseball games changed the way batters watched their pitchers. Where in Paris could one find the nearest coffee shop that would have reliable internet, and how would one know if it was for free. The current expeditions in our planet's various space programs, and why it would be dangerous for certain countries to have space programs that were successful.

Truly, it felt as if the Doctor would have completely random topics built up for us. Nobody had ever heard the same lesson twice, and our lectures were always full of discussion and homework. I found myself oddly transfixed about how the Doctor spoke about current affairs, which could be in partnership with my isolation, but she spoke with such gravitas!

Maddie invited me over to talk and drink merlot, and I only left after the second bottle. Had there been a third, I probably would have shown her my knew cage. Maddie always had the best jokes about this place.

I went for a walk outside on Wednesday evening, half wondering if I might stumble upon some other grand conspiracy, but it was quiet. A nice large rock gave me a place to sit as I took in the sunset.

As the sun began to flood the world with its last light of the day, I heard steps behind me and found Blair walking up to me.

"Got room for one more?" Blair joined me on the rock. She pulled a bag of gummy worms out of her jacket pocket. We pulled them apart at the middle where the colors would meet and ate them as we talked.

"Blair, you and I don't spend much time together here. I mean, not that we need to, but I always want to come up and say something... I guess, sorry I don't."

She waved a hand, "Don't worry about it. I've got a permanent Resting Bitch Face, so I would be scared to approach me too!"

We both chuckled.

"I think I stole your job, if you haven't heard yet." I asked, "Why did you quit? Anything I should know about?"

"It was just my pills, I think. I would have days where no matter what I was doing, I felt like I was holding back tears and screams of frustration." Blair ran a hand through her short black hair. She fixed her glasses on the way down, and I realized I had never noticed her wearing them. "I spoke to Doc almost everyday about my prescription, and only after I started really losing my shit would she listen. It's really fun not knowing where the pills are hidden. Is it in my lunch? My breakfast? My shampoo? Makes it hard to dodge them... But anyway, I guess it ended well because now I have more time to just roam the halls."

"Fuck," I sympathized. "That really sucks. I didn't know much about any of that."

The sun spoke for a while, telling us about how it was going down for the night, and it apologized for the cold while it was gone.

"No way," Blair said as we sat in the dark. "No way you were at NYU two years ago! And you said you had Helwitz for Bio?"

"I swear to God." I threw my hands up as if I were truly being sworn into this, "His old disgusting combover was so distracting!"

Blair gagged a fake cough as she closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Let me think... I had his classes... Tuesday and Thursday at 11."

My eyes widened and I couldn't believe it. "We had to have been in the same class."

"We probably sat next to one another in that hall and never knew it."

I flicked some hair off my shoulder and joked, "Believe it or not, I wasn't dressing like this back then."

Blair wanted to laugh, but instead a sad huff puffed out of her chest. "I had a mustache and a pretty thick beard then." Her hand went to stroke her now incredibly smooth jaw.

"Yeah, I was trying to grow out my facial hair, but I realized pretty quickly that I did not have that ability."

She offered a smile, but her face wouldn't take it. "Hey, this was fun. I'm going to go back and turn in for the night."

"Oh here, I'll walk with you."

Blair protested. "No, don't worry about it. I would enjoy the walk alone tonight." She tried to joke through it. "You've got me all up in my feels, and I'll just walk it out."

"Okay..." I said, "You know the way back?"

She nodded. "I'll see you around."

I waved, and Blair started to walk back down the trail. Before she got too far, I shouted, "Thanks for the gummy worms!"

An echoing, "Anytime," shot back at me.

I curled my ankles around one another and breathed in the cold air.

The land was dark, and I could only hear the wind rustling through the tall Blue Ridge trees. I stayed there another hour, humming songs from 1962.