Vision Quest

11. The Following Monday Part 1 Morning Before Class

POV: Ritu

    At least something good came out of the weekend fiasco. Despite a hangover that lasted most of the day Saturday I was able to get caught up on all my studies. I had our room all to myself. Marie spent the weekend hanging out with Donny. I didn't see her until she came back to the room late Sunday night, and we didn't talk much then.

I'd gotten to our indigenous people's culture class early because it had become a habit. I didn't really want to talk to Roger about Friday. Or maybe subconsciously I did. Speak of the devil and in he walked.

"Good morning sunshine. Did you recover from Friday?"

"I did and with Marie otherwise occupied all weekend, I actually got some studying done."

"Yeah, me too. I've been planning part two of our vision quest. Yesterday I went to the sporting goods store and bought a tent, backpacks for each of us and some sleeping bags..."

"Whoa. Slow down Daniel Boone. I never agreed to an overnight camping trip."

"What's the problem? It's not like we haven't already spent a night together."

"I didn't agree to that one either by the way. And let's not talk about that so loud. I don't really want to advertise what happened and give people the wrong idea.=

Roger scrunched his lips together in annoyance. "Come on, what these guys think doesn't matter." Then ignoring my objections, he went on. "Look, the guy at the sporting goods store told me about this great overnight hike that not many people know about, so it is almost always deserted. He gave me maps and everything we'd need. He said it has some great scenery, waterfalls, mountain vistas, and that it was perfect for a vision quest. He should know because he said he was part native American himself."

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you he was a Shaman himself and I bet he sold you top of the line everything," I cynically offered.

"It wasn't like that. He is actually a friend of Donny's." Roger paused to reconsider. It was beginning to dawn on him that the salesman might have told him anything to make a sale. "At least he said he was when I mentioned that Donny was the one who told me about the store. By the way did Marie and Donny go somewhere last night? They didn't spend the night at our place, and I didn't see either of them this morning. I assumed they went to a hotel or something."

"No, Marie spent the night at the dorm last night. I'm meeting her for lunch today. I'll ask her about Donny when I see her." So, Donny did not spend the night at his apartment. I was getting a bad feeling about this. Was there something to his paranoia and those guys who were following us the other night? Or was he just cheating on Marie?