ODDILY (6 page)

“
Give it back!” Oddily chased after him through the rear door and around the corner. She found Kip standing in front of the trash bin, and his hands were empty.

“
Where’s my backpack?” Oddily glared at him.

Kip nodded at the dumpster as his smile took on the likeness of a sneer.

“
Will you please give it back to me?”

“
Yeah, right!” he started to bark, but calmed himself. “Get it yourself.”

Before Oddily could think, Kip grabbed hold of her waist and threw her, head first into discarded trash; soggy, smelly food, and paper waste.

“
Ewww!” Oddily shrieked. While listening to Kip’s horsy chuckle, the strangest thing happened. All of a sudden he sounded startled and unnerved.

“
Hey man—back off!” Kip’s agitated voice and heavy footsteps began to fade until her surroundings became eerily quiet.

Oddily grabbed her backpack from the trash and was about to climb out of the dumpster when she overheard someone say, “Hello?”

She froze for a long moment and waited, holding her breath. The magical sound of the voice wasn’t familiar to her, except maybe in her dreams.

“
Do you need some help?” She overheard the comforting tone again.

Oddily slowly raised her head above the edge of the garbage bin and looked into the most exquisite face she had ever seen. Vibrant sky blue eyes stared at her while the boy’s mouth remained unresponsive to any smile. Inch by inch, Oddily lowered herself back down into the trash.

The stranger’s brooding eyes grew wide with surprise. “Does this mean you want to be left alone?” he tried not to express amusement, but he couldn’t fully contain himself. A strangled laugh caught in his throat.

Oddily raised her head again—enough to peek over the rim and couldn’t help but stare at his now parted lips. She got a glimpse of his perfect, white teeth while he smirked at her. Oddily’s gaze moved up to the hood of his sweatshirt, catching a hint of blonde hair, and then back to his pale blue eyes.

He reached over and removed a piece of lettuce from her hair, and the befuddled redhead gave him a goofy grin in return. He took note of how her smile began far down in her eyes and flowed outward to her face as if it were a shadow coming into sunshine. She was enchanting.

“
Will you please help me out of here?” Oddily stood up and stretched out her arms to him. Her innocent, trusting gesture caught him off guard, and he staggered a little while helping her from the dumpster. The closeness of her body sent a wave of sensation through him like none he had ever experienced. There was an unfamiliar physical connection with her he couldn’t define—nor wanted to accept.

Jack, the school custodian, arrived to throw away more stinky food when he spotted the stranger lift Oddily from the dumpster.

“
Well, hello again, Missy,” the old man chuckled as he glanced from one to the other. “What are yah two doing?”

“
I accidentally threw away my backpack,” Oddily’s cheeks flushed into a deeper pink under the janitor’s stare.

Jack’s eyes were full of kindness as he studied her face from under her hair. “Did ya get it back?”

Oddily held out her bag, and with a knowing wink, the custodian dumped the trash and left.

“
Why did you lie to the old man?” the stranger asked. He had been staring in another direction as if he were hiding his face from the janitor, but returned his gaze upon Oddily when they were alone.

“
I didn’t want to,” she lowered her head shyly and then peeked up at him.

Before he spoke, Maxim hesitated as he studied her demure, timid nature. “Do you always let people treat you like that?”

“
Sort of.” She bit her lip from saying more. By the expression on his face, she suspected he must think of her as some freak of nature.

“
I will walk with you to your next class,” the stranger spoke just before his sister’s voice rang loudly through his mind.

What are you doing?

The intensity of her tone startled him, bringing him back to his senses. He needed to shrug off this strange compulsion to protect this girl, and reminded himself that his original purpose was to retrieve his sister’s childhood game.

He believed this shy girl had his device on her, or somewhere close by. He was both worried and relieved when he overheard two students laughing over the incident in history class. From his observation, Oddily didn’t seem to be adversely affected by playing the game, and that pleased him. She also hadn’t breathed a word to anyone about what she experienced, which was both a relief and somewhat puzzling.

“
Okay, if you want to,” Oddily shrugged.

“
Where is your class?” He asked after eyeing the bits and pieces of garbage still clinging to her clothes.

You’re being foolish!

Sis, I’m aware of what I’m doing, so stop interrupting me!

Oddily pointed to the north end of the campus and awkwardly started to walk across a patch of grass. The stranger strolled along next to her, both remaining silent until he introduced himself. “My name is Maxim.”

“
Maxim,” she repeated the name to herself. It brought to mind something both strong and powerful, like thunder during a storm. Maxim caught the hint of a frown on her partially hidden face as she appeared to be intensely preoccupied.

“
Are you going to tell me who you are, or shall we keep it a mystery?”

“
Oh, I’m sorry! I’m Oddily.” She would much rather have said something more beautiful, like Jasmine or Felicity, but she didn’t. Oddily blushed, feeling somewhat like an oaf due to her lack of social manners.

“
Hello, Oddily,” Maxim already knew who she was, but she had no recollection of their first encounter. “Your name is unusual.”

“
I know,” she shrugged her shoulders. Oddily’s sudden gesture caused her backpack to slip from her arm, but Maxim quickly caught it up for her.

“
Here, let me carry that for you.” Maxim glimpsed a small crease form between her delicate brows hidden under her massive head of hair.

“
Leave my backpack alone!” Her voice sounded distressed as she snatched her backpack from him and took a step back. “Starla put you up to this, didn‘t she?!”

Maxim watched her bottom lip quiver while she protectively hugged her schoolbag.

“
What are you talking about?” He started to reach for her, but changed his mind when it appeared as though she was about to run. “Nobody put me up to anything.”

Oddily blinked up at him in a disbelieving way and shook her head. “I caught Starla and the others whispering under their breath in the locker room.”

“
I’m sure that has nothing to do with me.” Maxim lowered his head, pulling his hood further down over his face. He listened to her accusing words all the while noticing her outburst had drawn too much unwanted attention to him. It was time to leave, but not before one last question. “Who is Starla?”

Oddily abruptly spun around and ran off towards her classroom; but instead of going inside, she slipped around the side of the building leaving Maxim staring after the unhappy girl.

“
What just happened?” His brows knitted together in confusion. At this point, it didn’t matter because he had messed up and chided himself for his stupidity. This wasn’t the way he intended to get the game glasses back. His plan was to keep an eye on her from afar until school was over, and then follow her home; but when he saw the oversized bully toss her into the dumpster, he couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. After he had pondered over the incident, Maxim decided that no harm was done and chose to stay with his original plan.

10

After showering, Oddily flopped onto her bed—drumming up enough courage to use the glasses again. If she needed to escape from the giants, all she had to do was remove the device from her eyes, and like magic, she would return to this world.

On the count of three, she slipped them on. After the blur and whirl of many colors, she was back, standing on a dirt path in the middle of giant woods. The trees, foliage—everything appeared humongous!

While Oddily headed down the trail marveling at her surroundings, she bumped into a huge, furry tree—or at least she believed it to be a tree. In fact, she discovered two of them! She took a few steps back, but instead of staring up at a canopy of leaves, she eyed the huge brown mutt with a pink rhinestone collar from the history class encounter. Precious towered over her, and the dog didn’t look too happy. The canine’s lip curled up into a snarl, showing sharp teeth, and a low-rumble sounding like thunder in the distance erupted from its throat.

“
E-e-easy b-b-boy!” she tried to steady her terrified voice. Oddily started to back away, not daring to move too fast—hardly wanting to breathe. She slowly reached up to take off the glasses from her eyes before the giant dog attacked, but she found no glasses to remove.

Oddily knew she was in serious trouble, believing she would be eaten alive! She hedged her way towards the high foliage to her right until she sensed the nearness of the dense plant life. Like a flash, she tried to flee for safety in an attempt to plunge underneath the thick undergrowth; but, she didn’t move fast enough and her surroundings went blank, except for a flashing sign with the words: Game Over.

A new set of words appeared. Start Again.

Oddily realized the sleek, peculiar looking glasses were a virtual game designed to entertain kids!

“
Start again.” Oddily echoed the command, not remembering if her request came from her thoughts or she had said it out loud. To her surprise the game started over, the towering woods reappearing just like before.

Oddily was acting brave this time and ready for the dog when he came down the trail. Instead of walking along the path, she chose to stand right next to the dense foliage and wait. Obviously, she couldn’t be hurt, so let the fun begin!

It didn’t take long before the large brown mutt came into view. Its lip curled up in a snarl with the threatening low growl sounding like thunder. As expected, the animal lunged, missing Oddily’s leg by an inch. The frantic barking hurt her ears, and the loud sniffing amidst the shrubbery wasn’t much better. One of the dog’s paws stretched out under the bush, trying to catch her, but she retreated deeper into the growth—giggling at the dogs failed attempts.

“
Precious! I found you, you silly dog.”

Oddily knew right away that the voice belonged to the young giantess, Bobbitt.

“
Come puppy—let us go for a walk.” The dog whined, scratching at the dirt a few inches from where Oddily hid. “What’s wrong?”

Oddily peeked through the foliage. The ferocious dog began to wag its broom like tail while its tongue lolled from its jaws. Precious enjoyed having her head stroked until the animal caught sight of her staring through the leaves and another resounding snarl ripped from his throat.

“
What did you find?” Bobbitt began to rummage through the foliage until she spotted Oddily. “So this is where you’ve been hiding!”

With one quick motion, Bobbitt scooped Oddily up out of her hiding place and dangled her out in front of the dog. The mutt’s keen eyes, half shut with satisfaction, turned his immense shaggy head up at her and licked his chops.

“
Have patience my furry friend. You may play with the naughty doll after I’m through with her.” The dog either gave a snort or sneeze as the mutt followed the giantess carrying his next meal home.

Bobbitt placed Oddily on an oversized sink counter, in front of a mirror, and began to play with her messy golden, red hair. Oddily squirmed when her hair was pulled away from her face to expose her large hazel eyes.

“
Keep still,” Bobbitt complained, while she tried to put Oddily’s hair up in a ponytail. “Your hair is so thick!”

Oddily suddenly found the whole situation amusing while viewing the giantess yank and tug at her hair. Her whole head should have been sore by then, but her scalp felt fine!

“
Can’t we leave my hair down?” Oddily volunteered.

“
I’ve got a better idea,” Bobbitt cooed.

Bobbitt’s idea was the craziest idea Oddily had ever seen. Not only did she get her ponytail, but she got seven of them in all! She placed one on the top of her head, one on each side, and four in the back.

“
Finished,” Bobbitt grinned with appreciation.

Oddily stared in the mirror at her reflection, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Her hair wasn’t the only thing making her act this way, but the dress she was forced to wear that came from one of Bobbitt’s baby dolls. It was too cute, and a bright shade of orange. It clashed terribly with her golden-red hair, one color fighting to escape the other colors company. Thank goodness the youngster became too distracted to monitor Oddily while she slipped on the garment. Game or not, she was still self-conscious about her body.

“
It’s time to play now!” Bobbitt scooped Oddily up and headed back to her frilly bedroom.

Oddily’s heart skipped a beat when she remembered her first, terrifying moment in the giant bedroom. Then she smiled, knowing this to be an extremely bizarre game. She considered it ‘high-tech’ kid stuff that she had heard about through the news media, and could hardly imagine until then.