Client 0013897

[Vorian]

​

Riley usually used lunch as a time to disappear for 45 minutes into the tall woods near the school. But today, as he was heading out on his usual route, some coach was blocking his path, clearly there to stop exactly what Riley had planned to do. So there he was in the school cafeteria, a festering cesspool of noise and pheromones.

He just turned the volume of Soundgarden's Jesus Christ Pose and kept his head down as he moved through the room. As he neared the back of the room, there was suddenly a person in front of him. Riley stopped and waited for the person to continue walking, but the person, the male, stayed put. Visions. Riley looked up and Generic Male #1 and #2 standing in front of him. #1 stepped forward, now scarcely a foot from Riley's chest. Heel to knee. #1 said something but Soundgarden thankfully blocked it out. Hand to head. "Why do I suddenly see you and Aspen together so much? Do you think you can make a play with her? 'Cause you've got another thing coming if you think I'm gonna let that slide, bro." Head to wall. Riley looked deep into #1's eyes. Head cracks. After a tense, hour long minute, #1 and 2 walked off. Hands stop, corpse falls.

Riley circled the back of the room and headed down the window side of the room, toward the door to the covered concrete porch. As he neared the door, he found Aspen sitting alone down the row of tables. Their eyes met and she held his gaze, then he walked outside and sat down at a table past the view of the windows

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS​

Aspen saw Brooks and his friend Xander approach Riley. Narrowing her eyes and mentally planning their deaths, Aspen watched Brooks talk to Riley. Riley left.

Aspen cursed Brooks and quickly finished her lunch. She was going to go after Riley, but she couldn't see him. Aspen dumped her tray and quickly walked out of the library. Her knee-length black skirt brushed against her pale skin, and her lacy white blouse caught at her hair as it bounced on her shoulders. With her books and laptop clutched to her chest, Aspen nearly didn't see Riley sitting at one of the outside tables. She slowed down, stopping beside his table. "Hey," she said calmly. "I saw Brooks and Xander talking to you ... they didn't give you any trouble, did they?"

 

[Vorian]

​

"#1 and 2? Yeah, it's fine." He smiled to himself as he imagined the blood stain on the wall.

Riley wondered where she was going, so soon into the lunch period. He pushed back the sleeve of his dark, pebbled pea coat and checked his watch. They still had another 30 minutes of time to kill. haha, kill.

"Would you like to sit? Are you sure you've got the project taken care of?"

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS​

Aspen shook her head as she sat down. "No, I think we covered the whole thing," she said conversationally. "And, if Brooks does give you any trouble, tell me, I'll take care of it."

Aspen looked out into the woods. She had a phobia of them; when she was very young, she and Lewis had gone exploring. Needless to say, they had gotten lost, deep in the dark trees. They had been stuck in there for two days, and the twins had spent a good week in the hospital afterwards. Along with spiders and the ocean, the woods were one of Aspen's biggest fears. It was ironic, given that she was named after the lodge in the Aspen woods in Colorado.

 

[Vorian]

​

"Fantastic, I've always wanted a might protector," Riley said in a hopefully obvious joking tone.

Following her gaze to the woods, "They're so serene. Helps me to remember that we are all just rings in the life of trees that old..." Looking at Aspen, the light hitting one side of her face and accenting the white of her blouse. His thoughts trailed away with images of her walking through the trees and looking back, smiling.

Did he want her to be looking back at him? It felt like it. Riley shivered, though certainly not from cold.

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
Aspen shook her head. "Yes, they're beautiful," she agreed, "but I couldn't last ten minutes in there. My brother and I, we're idiots, and we got ourselves lost in there when we were five. I've had a phobia since then."

Aspen tore her eyes away from the woods and looked at Riley instead. "It's hilarious, because I was named after the Aspen woods in Colorado."

She shook her head at herself, scratching at the nail polish on her thumb.

 

[Vorian]

​

"Hilarious" he said, in a slightly mocking but joking manner.

Riley wanted to reach out and touch her hand, or shoulder, or something. He wasn't sure what she was thinking or what she thought about him and not knowing was driving him crazy. Like I need help with that

Maybe he should ask what she had heard about him? About what her mother had said about him? If she agreed with either?

He needed something, some clue to what she thought about him

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
"Very hilarious," agreed Aspen, nodding while laughing a little. "I would insert some vague Nietzsche quote about irony or something, but my brain is too fixed on the terrifying woods over there to function," she joked.

Aspen wondered what he thought of her. So far, she had displayed a mindless, dumb queen bee and an energetic, hyperactive intellectual. She wanted to let the boy know that she was truly the second; she had no interest in any of the popular kids, but rather the fascinating person sitting across the table from him. She would drop all of her cool friends right there, just to know what Riley thought of her.

Aspen had no clue as to why she felt this way. She had only met him a few days earlier, at her mother's clinic, yet already she felt she needed to at least befriend him. She knew little about him, yet she realised he knew her better than Brooks, or Bronwyn or Violet or anyone else in this school, sans maybe her brother.

 

[Vorian]

​

The lunch bell rang and Riley nodded his goodbye to Aspen, then left for fourth period. Throughout the rest of the day he thought about the vision he had at lunch, not the head-into-wall one but rather the one of walking in the woods with Aspen. He had decided that yes, he did want it to be him she was looking back at. Though what weight that look would carry would wait to be seen.

Riley wanted to continue seeing and talking to Aspen, eve befriend her. But he was entirely unequipped to communicate this to her. He was pretty sure that she was much more intelligent than she let on to those around her, but she was still like many of the so-called normal people around him. He didn't know what que she was looking for, if she was looking for one, hell if she even wanted a continued interaction.

By the time of sixth period, Riley had come to a decision. Fuck it, its worth a shot. In class the various project groups were presenting their work, and Ms Oliver's stern watch for "bad audience members" kept Riley from talking to Aspen. Still, being close to her, smelling that damn perfume, wondering what was going on in her head

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
By the time psychology class ended, Riley and Aspen had not presented, because they had run out of time. Throughout the entire lesson, Aspen was hyper-aware of Riley sitting beside her. She wondered what he was thinking.

When the bell rang -- it was Friday, everyone was happy -- Aspen turned to Riley. "It's Friday," she said, stating the obvious. "Did you want to ... I don't know. Did you want to do something?"

 

[Vorian]

​

Riley laughed to himself at the pure, unadulterated awkwardness of Aspen's last question.

He looked at his watch, saying he had to head home for a few hours and take care of something. But he looked at her, smiling, and recommended that she come back up the school's outdoor porch near dusk.

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
Aspen nodded. When the time came, Aspen was right on the back porch, where Riley had told her to be.

The night air was cold and chilly, and Aspen had only thought to bring her black leather jacket. She rubbed her hands together, trying to warm them with the static as she waited for Riley.

 

[Vorian]

​

Riley watched her from just inside the forest. Aspen shivered lightly from the cold, but she looked around expectantly. Riley couldn't help but wonder how she had explained to her parents what she was doing. I guess that's one benefit of having a negligent mother.

Although he could have watched her for a long time, he circled around and came out of the forest around the corner of the school building so she wouldn't see him and walked down the narrow street that ran next to and just below the elevated porch. She was looking out into the forest and didn't seem to notice him until he was standing right under her. He politely thanked her for coming, saying he wasn't sure if she would.

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS​

Aspen smiled and jumped off the porch, landing cat-like on her feet. "Of course I came," she said, smiling.

It was cold, and she still shivered, but Aspen didn't care. "So," she said, "what are we doing?"

 

[Vorian]

​

Riley began walking toward the forest. When he reached its edge, he turned and gestured for Aspen to follow. He could feel excitement building in his chest. And fear of how she might react.

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
Aspen gasped when she realised he wanted to go into the forest. Had he not been listening? She had a fear of the woods.

You can do this, Aspen.

Aspen walked forward until she crossed the border between the open field and the woods. Fear sunk to her stomach, but she kept walking until she caught up with Riley. She took his hand and squeezed it tightly. "Sorry," she gasped, but didn't let go. "I -- it's a phobia, I guess, but I really want to see what you had planned and it might help me get over my fear -- I'll let go if you want, but it's helping me."

 

[Vorian]

​

Riley felt an intense chill grip his spine. Every hair on his body stood up straight and he fought the urge to shiver. Saying nothing, he gently pulled Aspen further into the wood, feeling her fingers grip tighter and tighter the deeper they went.

When he got to the center of the woods, the night had fully fallen. Riley debated with himself over what he wanted the night to be about. He wondered what Aspen was expecting, what she wanted.

He had an idea that could potentially end her fear of the woods, but it could also transfer the her fear to one of him.

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
Aspen was still cold, but no longer from the chilly night air; it was the fear, the intense terror in her stomach from being in the woods. The sun hadn't quite gone down yet, so there was still a little light. Aspen, shaking from head to toe, took Riley's hand in both of hers and stared at the ground.

What have I done I'm in the woods, I hate the woods, I barely know this guy, I'm so stupid, Mom would kill me, he's her PATIENT for God's sake --

No, Aspen, don't think like that. You can think of about one hundred philosophers who would slap you.

"What are we doing in here?" she whispered. Her voice shook. "What did you have planned?"

 

[Vorian]

​

Riley looked at Aspen, he hadn't realized how seriously she feared these woods. He hoped that it hadn't been for nothing.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "I know the way out, you aren't lost. They'll be out soon."

Just as he finished his sentence, Riley noticed a blink of yellowish light out of the corner of his eye. Then another. And another. He spun around and in every direction he looked, the little candles of fireflies flashed about.

He smiled at Aspen as she looked around and led her to an old, knotted tree.

"Can you climb it?" He asked. "I promise it will be worth the effort."

 

[lxngdon]

ASPEN ◊ CARSTAIRS
Aspen nodded, staring in wonder at the fireflies. She had never seen them in person before, and the beautiful sight momentarily distracted her from the fear of the woods.

When Riley began to climb, Aspen followed, glad she had worn boots that day instead of the high heels she normally wore. She climbed, keeping her eyes on the bark before her, until Riley stopped. She sat on the thick branch beside him.

"What now?"