Crissa's Mate

Chapter Forty-Two

Late that evening Crissa was uneasy in her dormitory room. It happened that Trisha was out most of the time and returned to the room at 11:30 PM, finding Crissa sitting at her desk with her computer open to a weather site. 

"Hey, girlfriend," Trisha greeted her, throwing her heavy sweater and book bag on her bed. She still had her exercise clothing on—black lycra tights and a hot-pink Danskin top. She slipped off her matching colored trainers and walked over to Crissa who was still studying the laptop screen for the seven-day weather forcast. The phases as the moon were below each day in progression, with the full moon indicated as beginning its fullest luminosity that very night.

"So . . . what sort of weather are we in for this week?" Trisha asked curiously, looking over Crissa's shoulder onto the bright blue monitor screen.

"Um . . . fair, mostly," she answered, still in deep thought and not yet turning around. "Cooling a little, though . . ."

Crissa could see that for the next four or five nights the grand orb would remain bright before finally showing a considerable retreat. She knew it would now be at its most luminist point to trigger David's mutation—and certainly by now, knew he would be under its effects.

"So how was your evening," Crissa asked, switching off her laptop and turning to face her. She was little interested in what Trish would say, but didn't want her roommate to notice how anxious she was.

"Well, I took two classes actually. A pretty intense aerobics lesson . . . great instructor, though . . . and a light weight-training course in the gym. Mostly guys, but a few crazy females like me in there."

"OK. Nice. So, you feel . . . relaxed now?" She didn't know why she even asked her that question, except to keep a dialogue going.

"Yes. Totally! But then I stayed. Had some juice and talked to these people from the States, like me. A girl from Arizona and a guy from New York. He was kinda cute but had trouble written all over him."

"Yeah? How do you mean?"

"Well . . . you know . . . when a guy looks at your face for like ten seconds, and then can't take his eyes off the rest of you the whole time?"

Crissa smiled. "Yeah, OK, I get it. So, he was one of those?"

"The poster child for them!"

Crissa knew she should have laughed at this clever description, but her mind was just not there.

"So, what was she like? The girl from Arizona?" Crissa asked, trying now to get distracted away from her own thoughts.

"She was a real sweetie. A gymnast with perfect shape. Cheryl was her name. A freshman like us. Lives over in the other dorm."

"Nice."

"Yeah, it's great to meet new people here. So, God, Crissa, have you seen the moon out there tonight?"

Crissa suddenly felt her heart jump.

"What? No. Why?"

"It is so beautiful. And bright. I don't remember the moon being so bright down in San Diego."

"Wow. Must be . . . our atmosphere or something up here," Crissa said nervously.

She then got up and walked to the window that looked out over the campus. She indeed could see the school buildings clearly, and Pacific Ocean beyond them shining all the way to the horizon. She could imagine now how the view was—back up toward the mountains where her home was in east Vancouver. And the small cabin beyond, further north, where David was now in a totally altered state of existence.