The Mortal Fringe (2 page)

"Already missing you back home, huh?"
I don't think I am ready for that much level of confidence
yet.

I smile politely, not knowing what or
how to answer. I pick up the cell phone and call home. The first
thing I hear are sobs, then a somewhat controlled enthusiastic
scream, and finally mom's voice. "Hey there".

"Thank god Alex! How was the flight?
How do you like the city?" she keeps going on and on, asking thinks
to which I can hardly answer. Finally, she takes a break and I can
talk.

"Mom, take it easy, everything's fine.
I slept all the way through the flight and I just got here, I
really don't know how I do like the city yet, I guess I'll need
some time for that."

"Oh darling, of course! You sound so
happy, I really like that."

"Yeah" I say, starting to feel bad,
remembering.

"I'm really proud of you Alex, be nice
will you? Don't forget about your mother!" I like how she hides her
sadness with jokes.

"Thanks mom, I won't, talk to you
later. Love you, bye", and she is gone again.

I lie on my back, my phone is still on
my hand and all I can hear is Jay moving some of his stuff up and
down the room.

"So, where are you from?"

"Bay shore", how on earth does he do
it? I need months to start talking to someone I don't know. I guess
that I am the strange one, it's just a simple question, everyone
should be able to do that. Everyone but me.

"That's great, I'm from New York. But
I moved to London some years ago to live with my
sister."

"Lucky you, that sounds nice" I lie, I
never liked New York, and this is the first time I am away from
home, so I know nothing of the world other than what I've seen in
postcards. I would ask something about him moving without his
parents, he seems barely older than me. Nothing about him tells me
so, but he must come from a wealthy family.

"So, what brings you here?"

I pretend I have not heard him, but he
asks again, so even though I'd rather stop the talking right now, I
answer.

"I'm here for the semester, doing
classic studies, you know: Greek, Latin, all that."

"No way! I'm taking some of those
classes too!" «No way! » that's exactly my first
thought.

I don't know if Jay is talking to me
again, because I have my headphones on and the music is loud enough
to avoid hearing my own thoughts. He looks like a nice and cool
guy, but today I really need to arrange everything that's on my
mind. Tomorrow I'll be more willing to talk to him, or that's what
I promise to myself. At least I already know someone in the city.
Making friends has never been my thing, that's why I left just one
back home.

I pick up my phone again, I look for
Richard's number and I send him a text.

I'm here, it looks really cool,
drive safe. Alex.

He drove me to the airport, it would
have been hard for anyone in my family to do so, and he offered to
do it himself. It was a long, silent ride, something felt like
broken between us.

I wake up in the middle of the night,
I've had the same dream again, not the one from the plane, but the
one that has been haunting me for the last moths. I only remember
that I die by the end of it. I hate this feeling.

I get off my bed slowly, I don't want
to wake Jay. After drinking some water and staring into the wall
for a short while I'm back on my bed. I check the time and I still
have a couple of hours before I have to get up. I have a new
message.

Good.

That must be the easiest message to
analyze ever. Anyway, Richard has always been one of a kind, I'm
not surprised, but I am not going to feel guilty for being here and
doing what I have wanted to do for so long. Last year did not stop
me, nor will he.

I can't sleep, I am terrified of it. I
spend the next three hours awake and when the alarm goes off I am
already off the bed. I walk to the bathroom and when I take off my
clothes y see another mark on my chest, as if something had hit me
very hard and broke some of my ribs. This time though, I have not
even dreamed. It doesn't hurt, but the simple sight of it makes me
shake again.

CHAPTER 3

I can't believe this is the
university. This building looks like a monastery! Everything looks
ancient, like a keeper of time. That's what I call architecture. As
I enter the building I go straight to the panel in front of me, my
first class is in room 113, and I obviously have no Idea of where
it is. I wish they would sent the students a map of the place or
something like that. Finally, I find it. As I go inside I am
literally speechless, it's like a cloisters, there is a huge
corridor around it and the classes are along the way. I find room
113, which looks like the classrooms I am used to see on TV. Stairs
like rooms. I sit on the front row, the class is supposed to be in
English but I won't risk it, if it is in Spanish I need to catch
every single word of it.

As everyone begins to enter the class
I feel their fingers pointing at me, like if I had the word
stranger written on my face. Finally, a small, thin red headed
woman with some streaks of white and orange comes into the room and
puts all her stuff in the teacher's table. That's going to be
interesting. She looks at me and smiles, two seconds later, she is
already talking.

"My name is Constance Adkins", and she
is a native speaker "I'll be your teacher for this course of
Ancient Mythology, but don't worry, we are going to talk about much
more. I'm a literature lover so we'll talk about books, movies,
anything you want”, she says in a mysterious voice. "So, why don't
we start right away, let's see", she takes a quick look to the
students list "is Ingrid here? oh yes you are, great. Ingrid, tell
me, what are you currently reading"

"To Kill a Mockingbird" The soft and
tender voice comes from my behind.

"No, but seriously, you don't need to
impress me. Come on, you wouldn't read that book ever in your life,
would you? What is it? How to dye your hair at home, or something
like that? Come on, be honest". Ok, that was quite something. "Who
has read those books by G.R.R. Martin?” I know I shouldn't , but I
raise my hand slowly. "What's your name young man?"

"A…." I clear my throat "Alex
Stills."

She opens her eyes widely enough to
scare me when I say my name.

"And have you finished reading the
last one? I'm half way through it, don't you love it?"

I nod, being so shy to speak
again.

"That's great, that's great. You see,
Ingrid? Honesty. One of the things I value most", and the strange
look she gives me when saying that scares me.

The girl, Ingrid, packs her stuff in
her bag, which she had just placed on the floor, and leaves. She
gives the teacher a rude smile as she walks past her. She surely is
not one to mess with. Ms. Adkins looks at her and smiles, as if she
also valued the courage Ingrid just showed.

There's a knock on the door, and after
Ms. Adkins gives her approval, it opens. Shit, no. Jay comes in
dressed as if he was in Hawaii, he sees me in the front
row.

"Hello, flat mate!"

I want to die. He sits right next to
me. Constance smiles and goes on with the class. I look at Jay, he
is taking a notebook from his bag. Deep inside, I'm glad I know
someone in the class.

"So, as I was telling you. This is
ancient mythology. Now, who wants to enlighten us all and tell us
something about it?" She waits for an answer that does not come.
"No? Well, you won't be shy in a couple of weeks", for some reason
I think that the reference is intended for me. "We are not going to
study the myths but what lies behind them, why where they created?
By whom? When? How much of what we know is truth? How much isn't?
It's hard to know, right?"

By that point, I know that I will love
that class.

"One step back, that's it. We are
going to focus on one step back of Mythology. You'd be
surprised."

The hour goes on, I feel like I am the
only one in the room paying some attention to what the teacher is
saying. There is a buzz in the back rows that has been going on for
half an hour and somehow I know that the topic of discussion is the
rather funny hairstyle of Ms. Adkins. By the end of the class, I
have filled up a couple of pages on my notebook, and before I stand
up with the rest of the class, Ms. Adkins writes something on the
board. «Hand in Essay, Tuesday November 13th».

"I'll give you all a topic for the
essay next week. That's all."

She packs all her stuff and she is out
of class in less than a second. Before I walk out the door Jay
comes straight to me. I think that living with this strange guy is
going to be quite an adventure.

"What class are you going?"

I check my calendar, I have all the
classes written down because I don't want to be late. My next class
is Latin. I could have taken a quick look on the map when I had the
chance, I don't know how to get there. I feel really uncomfortable
talking to people I have just met, but I guess this is the right
moment to work on that.

"I have no idea. This place is a great
mess" I say it as a joke, but it doesn't seem to work. Jay picks my
timetable and points straight to the room right in front of me.
Great.

"What are your plans for lunch? We
could meet up in the bar and make the proper introductions, after
all, we are condemned to live together". Luckily, I can tell he is
joking. Alright Alex, time to make some friends.

"Yeah, right", that didn't sound very
enthusiastic. "See you there after class"

"Don’t get lost" he jokes as he
leaves.

I get in the room, pick a sit near the
teacher's table and wait for the next class to begin. As happened
before, people begin to enter only after the clock has reached the
exact hour in which the class is set to start.

And among all those new faces, I see
her.

Her chestnut hair drops beautifully
onto her shoulders and cover part of her face. I can't see her eyes
but I know they are green, it's like they shed some strange light
that I am the only one who is able to see. She walks past me and
doesn't even notice me. I am completely invisible.

This class is hell, the most boring
thing I have ever been taught, and the teacher is not particularly
good either. The class is in Spanish and even though I can get most
of it, my mind is focusing on something else, or someone, sitting
four seats away.

Those eyes have cast a spell upon me.
The moment the class ends I stand up and leave the room, I don't
feel very well. I need to breathe. This is one of those moments you
see in films and think «come on, how on earth can that happen»
well, I guess I have just figured it out.

I manage to get to the bar without
losing myself more than twice. Jay is already waiting for me. I
reach the table and put my stuff on the floor. My head is between
my arms and after a minute of silence I realize that I am not at
home, nor alone. Jay is giving me quite a strange look and I try to
cloak that action.

We have a quick meal, he keeps talking
and talking. In less than an hour I already know more about him
than I know about Richard, and I have known Richard for years. Jay
comes from a rather wealthy family in New York, his father is an
established thriller writer who sells about two million books per
year, and his mum used to be a doctor up until she decided that she
wanted some time for herself. He loves movies, even though I have
known that from the moment I walked into our room. I would like to
tell him about myself but I simple can't, I hate being like this,
but there is nothing to do about it.

All I manage to tell him is that I
live with my mother and grandfather in a normal house away from
civilization.

"How come you ended up here?" that's a
good question.

"I decided that I wanted to move out
for a semester some months ago, so I saved as much as I could, and
with that and the money that I got from my mother I paid for it,
and here I am". I keep the real reason to myself, although thinking
about it is as painful as talking about it.

The talking goes on for another half
an hour, I'm getting more comfortable as time goes by, but
suddenly, those green eyes are in my mind again and I can't
remember how to talk or even think, and all I fear is that those
eyes might my the cause of my dying dreams, for I'm quite sure I
have seen them before

CHAPTER 4

It's been a week already, and I have
seen the girl with the green eyes over and over, ending up
shivering every time she walks near me. Life away from home seems
to be what I desired; life away from self-punishment, although I
still have my moments. I haven't told Jay about her, but I am
managing to be more open than I used to be and we are becoming, I
hope, friends.

It's ancient mythology again.
Jay is sitting right next to me, and the girls in the back keep
talking as they have been doing in every class. Ms. Adkins writes
something on the board pretending not to notice about the talking,
and when she is done she waits for us to read what she has
written.
You
can either be a real God, or make up a story about you that will
live forever.