Endeca (The Escapism Series) (3 page)

We arrived on campus and all I thought about was how awkward it’d be to run into Orion, even Kiran. I sympathized for Kiran because his sister returned without any sentiment toward him, as though she were a complete stranger.

“I really hope I do well on this paper.  I spent hours researching,” said Marla.

“Paper? Oh no, where was I?” I freaked, pressing my eyelids together, searching for any recollection of the assignment description.
Diddlysquat.

“Here’s the assignment info. I knew you were daydreaming. You do that a lot these days. What gives?”

Calliope intercepted, while I read the information dismayed. “There’s no ‘A for effort’ here, guys. Statistically speaking, students in first year average a C or B at best. The markers are such tight-asses.”

Marla sighed, taking a big bite out of her danish.

“Shit shit shit! It must have slipped my mind. I’ll have to work on it during my break.”

“
Chill
. I still need to do one so I’ll join you. It’ll be fun. You and me in the library getting our scholarly-on.”

“Sure.
Fun
,” I sighed, annoyed with myself for sharing.
So much for ganking my off-source for research.

We arrived at Vari Hall, entering the noisy lecture room.  Students were scrambling for seats and once we were settled, Orion sauntered in.  He spoke briefly with another TA and announced, “Good day, I’m Mr. Nordstrom and I’ll be filling in...for the next while,” he looked over in my direction and flashed a sideways grin. I averted my eyes as though I were staring at an eclipse.
Psychology one-oh-one with Orion? Sweet Jesus, the irony was just too much to handle.

He started the lecture succinctly diving in where we left off. Words poured out of his mouth, but all I heard were his subliminal advances.

“
Xenia, can you hear me
?” Orion whispered, in my mind.

My eyes widened, and I shook my head.
Marbles splayed all at once.
I looked around at an unaffected Marla and Calliope. I looked down and feigned note taking.

“
I know you hear me
,” he persisted. What I saw next were a series of flashes of us doing ungodly things.

“
Stop it!
” I shouted, putting my hands over my face. Once I lowered them, I realized I had cried aloud.  The entire lecture hall stared at me. Orion’s deadpan face leered in my direction. Before I knew it, I dashed out of the room, mortified.

I jogged down the hall, quickly turning the corner where I bumped into Landon, knocking over his books.

“Oh! So sorry, Landon…
Hi
. I’ve been meaning to bump into you…not literally of course.”

“As long as you didn’t swipe any of my memories, I’m good,” he kidded, picking up his books.
What if I did?
I grimaced at my unknown power.

“You know, like the-” he gestured to his phone, awkwardly simulating the colliding motion. “Never mind, it was stupid. Is there a bounty on you? Why so rushed?”

“I-I’m just late for something,” I lied. With a glimpse of Orion in my periphery, I quickly picked up pace once again. “Talk later? Call me.”

“W-wait, you dropped your…
phone
,” he shouted after me. “So much for calling.”

Just as I thought I had ditched Orion, he appeared before me around the south exit of the building.

“Why are you running?” he asked, composure intact.

“Why are you following?”

“Because you dropped your phone—here,” he devilishly grinned, handing it back. “I swiped it from that human—it was too easy. I didn’t expect for you to react that way.”

“What were you thinking? I’d raise a hand and ask you to stop undressing me with your mind?  I’d look like a total basket case!”

“As long as you withhold the goods,” he grazed my cheek with his finger, “from Endeca that is, I’ll have to bombard your mind with images alike. With an open portal anything goes. We can even hear each other’s unconscious desires if permitted.”

“They’re unconscious desires for a reason.  Forbidden, and somewhere in my twisted psyche, you’ve wheeled your way in, but that’s all it is, and ever will be.”

Orion was visibly infuriated by my response. His darkened eyes looked deeper into mine, searching for an in. I shut them, and pushed him away.

“The immorta of Endeca are pissed and you better think of something fast or they’ll be after you, one by one; you’ll wish for my version of torture after you’ve met them all,” he warned, discolored by my shut down. “You’re not the only one inconvenienced here, you know. Do you have any idea how many fragments are displaced and how much overtime we’ve been putting through these days?”

“I’m aware but while I’m on campus, I’m your average girl who’s all about her academia and less about shuttling fragments. Nyxta let me go, why can’t you?”

“I’ve known Nyxta for centuries and she isn’t in your favor, Xenia. She is up to something and where your safety is concerned, I’d highly reconsider uniting Endeca.”

Calliope and Marla were in eyesight.

“I-I should go. My friends are waiting.”

“If you cared about your friends, you’d—”

Rage boiled from within me and this unknown power allowed me to shove him against the wall, breaking his train of thought. “Don’t…
ever
…mention my friends again, Orion,” I violently said.

“Did you just rough me up? I think I quite enjoyed that,” his wry smile grew with every second my hand remained on his chest. He furrowed his brow in wonderment. “Do it.”

I shook my wayward head.
Get out of my head!

“Go.
Now
,” I whispered, as the girls approached from around the corner.

Orion smirked, fixing his jacket before leaving.

“Geez, why’d you bounce?” Marla asked, quizzically.

“I-I had a…panic attack. About the paper that I have yet to write.”

“Speaking of which, let’s get to it, sister,” said an endearing Calliope.

“I can help too, Xeni. Lessen the research load for ya.”

“That’d be fantastic! I’d never ask you to spend your free time helping me with my paper that’s due before five, but if you insist,” I feigned innocence, pouting.

It was nice living in the present. The thought of yesterday and tomorrow were virtually nonexistent, while we worked under pressure to pump out a two thousand-word paper on any topic relating to mental health and the socioeconomical impact. I researched generalized anxiety and workdays lost.  Marla helped with the annotated bibliography and I sighed in utter relief.

“Finally. I’d finished and with twenty minutes to spare. You done, Cal?”

“I’ve been done for the past half hour,” she scoffed, flashing her pearly whites. “I was filling my cart with shoes.”

“How nice. Then you wouldn’t mind handing in the hard copies?”

“Yes, I’d mind—very much so. I have someplace to be.  Marla can hand them in.”

“Nuh-uh. Sorry, I’m meeting with Landon,” she stood up, sliding on her jacket and motioning to Landon waiting by the entrance. “You’re officially done. Bibliography attached and the document is delivered. Just drop off the hard copy in the psych office.”

The thought of dropping it off was making my stomach churn. The prospects of running into Orion were against my favor.

“Lates,” Marla chirped, with an extra kick in her step.

“Ciao bitches,” Calliope followed suit, sauntering off.

I cringed, and reminded myself to take slow, even breaths.
The worst had past…I hoped. Would Orion really keep mentally harassing me?

Feeling on edge, I transitioned to the middle world, Styx, for a much-needed retreat. While there, I was painfully disturbed. My safe escape quickly turned into a nightmare. Images of Corlissa’s eerie doll resurfaced as I rested in a meadow of beautiful flowers. Green leaves slowly fell from the sky grazing my body before thundering flashes of Daisy consumed me.
These images came from within me
. I gasped unable to sit up as vines wrapped around my wrists, pinning me to the earth. The next image panned in so close, leading me into the darkness of Daisy’s glass eye. I held my breath, petrified with what I saw next. It was a little girl shrieking for help before the glass eye shattered leaving a hollow black space.

I sat up in trepidation, gasping for air, quickly transitioning back online to the only world I had known to be true. The transition was very quick and painful—something I had never endured the likes of. My insides felt a gravitational pull to what I would’ve imagined being a trip to the moon and back. As I re-inhabited my body online, I shuttered and immediately felt my stomach rise into my mouth. The churned contents of my stomach came up in a painful eruption. My hair was tied back, fortunately. I rested on my trembling hands and knees, steadying my rampant mind and stomach. Shortly after my breath steadied, my fragile fragment attained solace in every cell in my body once more.

‘
Find the window to her fragment and you’ll see what I mean.’
Yes. It was all becoming clear to me. However, if Corlissa’s fragment was trapped in the doll, who was residing in Corlissa’s body? A succession of shivers travelled down my spine rendering my legs wobbly. I feared for the repercussion of it all.

It was definitely an omen of some sort and the only person with whom I could share this with was Kiran. Only meters away from the drop off office, Orion was nowhere to be seen, thankfully. In an instant, I dropped off the hard copy in the designated slot and quickly rushed out of the room, while others poured in behind me. The looks I received were those of concern and alarm.
What? Try looking presentable after vomiting your guts out and succumbing to panic
. Frantic and disheveled, I pressed on, averting the eyes of the few around me.

The cold air caressed my face and the bright sunlight quickly faded. I looked at my Cyclopod and dialed his number. It was time to settle things.
Shit. Stupid voicemail
. I left a discrete message, while I strolled through a busy campus.

“Kiran, where have you been? Call me when you get this.  It’s about…Corlissa.”

Just as I approached my car, I got in and Kiran appeared in a snap. His face was somber as he swiftly slid into the passenger side. “I just got your message, but not through here,” he smirked, staring down at his phone. “Through here,” he said, signaling to his temple.

“
Oh
. Yes, Orion demonstrated that earlier today.”

“An open portal is pretty freaking fantastic, huh?” he said in his usual upbeat way.

“Listen, Kiran. I saw something…
someone
actually….in Corlissa’s doll.”

“This is about a doll?” he snorted, perplexed.

“Trust me. This isn’t just any old doll. It’s
special
. There’s some kind of energy force inside it that is undeniably important to
her
.”
Whoever she…he…it was.

Kiran stood observing my divided, frantic self. I was immensely shaken up by
it
. Yeah
, it
seemed fitted.

“Don’t you see? Corlissa returned but not as herself. Whatever is in that doll could be the reason why.”

“A doll? That’s…”

“Crazy, I know, but why else would your own sister snub you at the summoning of Endeca? It’s not really her and you know it.”

Kiran sighed, equally confounded. It was evident, even at the summoning that his sister was irretrievable. He quietly welcomed the denial and isolation that set in, and it appeared he had progressed to the next stage of loss and grief.
Anger
.

“Don’t mention this to anyone,” he cautioned.  He quickly exited my car and I followed.

“Kiran, wait.  I can show you what I saw and then you’ll see that I’m not lying.” I forced the images through his thick skull to only have them propelled back. We stood in an impasse, while flocks of students passed us by.

No access permitted?

Back. Off. Xenia.

You need to see this, Kiran!

“Why are you leaving?” I shouted after him. Maybe denial better suited Kiran but not for me—I had to uncover the darkness to find the light again or at least do it for my friend. Maybe what I saw was an illusion of the middle world, toying with my senses and getting back at me for not bringing unity to Endeca. Too many maybes filled my head, and I hoped that Kiran would one day soon, ask me to share my recollections, however frayed they were. Just in the event…

Nicholas was right about Kiran’s devastation. He appeared stark but the look in his eyes revealed he had lost his sister for good. On the surface, denial was proving to be more powerful than I had ever imagined. While Kiran refused to acknowledge his denial, I was well aware of my own; however, it seemed easier to help someone else deal with his or her demons than to address my own.

It was a beautiful day and I decided to immerse myself in the present, letting go of everything on my mind and the weight on my shoulders. I started to walk home and I knew Calliope and Marla would pick me up along the way, however far I got. I VT’d Marla and walked through campus exiting by a very busy street.