Story: Two students and a cat (chapter 3)

Authors: Anarya

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Chapter 3

Title: Chapter 3: The Past bites

[Author's notes:

I'm playing with images in this chapter. Mostly because this is how Lyn thinks ~ she sees patterns in things probably because of her music background. To see the patterns in the music, to capture them and share it with the audience. She does it a bit too often in her own life, can you tell?

 

EDIT:  Since I placed the flashback into chapter two, this chapter is shorter than it used to be, but otherwise nothing big has been altered. 

]

The knock at her door startled her. She dropped her brush and poked her head around the bathroom’s door. Again the knock sounded. She sighed, knowing that staring at the door wasn’t going to open it. Her cat raised his head from where he napped on her bed. His green eyes blinked at her as she walked past him, pausing to stroke his head, peering through the peephole. Shari’s blonde hair could be seen on the other side, and so Lyn unlocked and opened the door with a shy smile.

“Hey.” Shari grinned and hobbled into the room with crutches. Lyn stared at them. “Yeah, yeah. You were right.” She shrugged. “I started walking home and the pain was too much. So called a cab, went to the emergency room, and well, I fractured it.”

“Oh.” Lyn frowned. “Glad you listened.”

Shari laughed. “Not until I about killed myself trying to walk home.” She gestured to Lyn’s desk. “You ready to head to class?”

The question startled her, and Lyn turned to her desk. Papers from last night were still scattered, some under her music theory textbook. Her backpack leaned against her bed, and although she had made her bed the moment she got up, her cat had knocked a pillow onto the floor already. She shifted from foot to foot unsure really what to do. Last night had been terrible long, filled with vivid dreams of Shari, and horrible nightmares of what might happen if her parents found out that she wasn’t healed from these attractions. A part of her just wanted to go back to sleep and shut off her mind permanently, but another part very much wanted to spend time with Shari, as much time as possible. Yet she knew that in the end this friendship would not last as long as she struggled with these attractions.

“Lyn?”

She shook herself and forced a smile. “Sorry. Spaced out.” She picked up her backpack, glanced inside to make sure her cultural notebook hadn’t moved from the day before, and stroked her cat’s head. Grabbing her jacket, she slid the backpack over her shoulders. “Water for Rumi,” she explained as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed his water bowl from the floor. She washed it, refilled it, and placed it by the food bowl, which still held some dry cat food from his breakfast. The half eaten food lay in the blue bowl and it seemed unnaturally empty to her. She pulled open a drawer and took out one kitty treat that she normally saved for special occasions. After comforting her all night, she felt Rumi deserved this. She placed it in the bowl, and for some reason that empty look vanished. Tears stung her eyes, for she wished that the empty feeling inside of her could be so easy to fill.

Straightening, she sighed and forced a smile. It was a new day, a new beginning as Bart would say. She had to believe and have faith, then everything would be alright. “Ready?” She walked over to the door and held it open for Shari, who had stood by the bed, petting Rumi.

“Of course!” Shari smiled and swung herself toward the door. She moved surprisingly fast in the crutches. “Used them before,” she explained as she led the way out of the apartment. She paused by the stairs as Lyn locked her door. “I was a wild child, you could say. I loved to run and climb.” She laughed. “Don’t know how many bruises I’ve had. Though I’ve had at least four broken bones. Guess you can say this is my fifth.”

“Fifth?” Lyn hurried down the stairs to grab the door for Shari.

Her friend laughed again. “Oh yes. Like I said. I was wild.” She easily maneuvered down the stairs, only occasionally glancing down at her feet. Lyn held the door open and Shari swung through it, that smile of hers still plastered on her face.

The pair walked in silence down the street toward the campus buildings. Only the hum of the cars, the chirps of birds, and the specks of conversations that floated by from passing students broke the silence between them. Lyn didn’t mind since as long as she didn’t have to talk, she wouldn’t be incriminating herself, and she could enjoy Shari’s presence a little bit longer.

“You know.” Shari’s sudden speech exploded in Lyn’s eardrums. She jumped and almost tripped over her own feet, but she caught herself just in time. “Heh.” Shari’s eyebrows rose. “You’re easy to startle.”

“Em.” Lyn wasn’t sure what to say in reply.

To her relief, Shari just smiled and continued with her thought. “I was thinking. Our class is right next to the music building, you know? And don’t you practice sometime today?”

Lyn nodded.

“Thought so. This is my lazy day for me. Just this class today. How about you? When’s your next class? You know, after culture?”

“Two.” She always felt odd saying that. A ten o’clock class, and then nothing until two, but then she had always spent those free hours practicing in the piano rooms. She’d always go home for lunch to eat with her cat, but other than that, she never wandered beyond the Lyon building, where their culture class was, and Demp, the Music building. It seemed almost as if God had purposely placed her classes in those two buildings, which were only a ten minute walk from her apartment. Like it was a part of her punishment for having these attractions, to live this lonely existence.

“Lyn? You alright?”

She blinked and realized that they were standing outside the Lyon’s building. Shari’s brows were crunched together with what was either annoyance or worry. Lyn blushed and looked down at her feet. Meeting Shari’s gaze gave her butterflies in her stomach, and that wasn’t something she wanted to deal with right now. Especially since she couldn't seem to shake this overwhelming urge to cry. That in of itself almost took all her energy to combat.

“Spaced out again?” Shari kept her tone light, but her furrowed brows told differently. When Lyn nodded, she sighed. “Alright, girl. Do you really want me to leave you alone?”

The sudden question felt like a stab in Lyn’s heart. “No!” The words escaped her lips, and it was too late to pull them back. No matter how much easier her life would be if Shari left her alone, part of her didn’t want to be alone anymore. She shivered and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. “Please, no. I… I…” The words spilled out of her in a rush. “Would you like to listen to me practice?” She stiffened at her own question in dismay. What was she doing? The less time with Shari the better, otherwise these emotions would never go away, and her parents might take her away. She didn’t want to go back to the program. This university, no matter how big, felt right to her. It was one of the few places she had felt at home.

“Sure!” Shari smiled and poked the side of Lyn’s leg with her crutch. “Now come on, we’ll be late to class!” Her enthusiasm and gentle smile elicited a faint smile from Lyn. She thought of Rumi’s half empty bowl and how one small treat had turned it into a half full one. Now she felt, as she walked with Shari into the building, that her empty heart had suddenly become half full. She knew later she would have to face the consequences, but for now, she wanted to hold onto that blissful feeling.

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