In the Nest

3.

Two days later Odyssey went to school again.

Her journal was in the mail. She took it and she sat down by the mailbox and she wrote in it.

She was going to be late for school but she had less thoughts now. Her journal was tattered and overused and piled full of things and Odyssey thought that maybe now it finally had more thoughts in it than her head did. She liked that a lot.

She put some thoughts into her journal about how she lost it and now she could forget about those thoughts until she wanted to go find them again in her journal.

She was happy. Her head had a bit of room in it now.

Odyssey would usually ride the bus to school but it was loud and she could understand what everyone was saying all at once and she dealt with enough of her own thoughts without having to deal with everyone else's too. Sometimes the bus driver would let her sit in the front with him and he wouldn't talk and she couldn't hear the other students. That was nice. She didn't think he was really allowed to do that though and he didn't want to get in trouble and she didn't want him to get in trouble either so that didn't happen a lot. What was this thought for? Oh yes. Odyssey walked today.

The package that her journal had come in was soft and brown. It had her address in the middle and someone else's address at the top and a stamp at the other top that was shiny with an American flag. It was organized and she liked it. She read it over and over as she walked. She liked the name at the first top, the top where the address was. The left. Corner. It was just her own head and what she thought didn't have to make enough sense for other people to understand but it would probably be good to remember those words anyway.

Lily Matthews—Odyssey's last name is Collins. Both of their last names are first names with an "s" at the end. Maybe Lily Matthews is the girl she ran into, the girl who saw her cry. Has anyone else seen her cry? Odyssey cries a lot but not in front of other people. Maybe her mom. And her dad, sometimes, because he's hit her before for crying. People at school don't see her cry. She doesn't go near people except during class. She only goes near her "tutor for weird people." She would probably be at a whole school for weird people but her dad didn't want to send her to one even when her teacher told him he should. Her teacher didn't call it a "school for weird people," she called it a "special needs institution." People there could help her. Still, those were really just schools for weird people. That's what Odyssey's dad said, and that's what she says. Maybe she wants to go to a weird people school and get help, but she doesn't really know for sure. She doesn't even like her normal people school that much.

Odyssey doesn't know if she'll ever be normal and right now she doesn't want that thought so she just keeps reading the package and rubbing her thumb over the fabric she'd sewn onto her journal.

___________________

Lily woke that morning to the blaring of her alarm rather than the noise of the street. She was in her own bed this time instead of in her window. Lily smacked the top of her clock, which told her that the sun hadn't risen yet, and (literally) rolled out of bed despite wanting to go back to sleep.

Lily probably would have been a major procrastinator if her parents hadn't driven that out of her when she was little. She had things to do that morning.

Lily changed into a pair of jeans and a collared blouse, then shrugged into her coat to ward off the early morning chill. Her little notebook was still in one of the pockets from the day before.

Lily fried her egg and packed her books barefoot, pulling the Nest curtain back at 6:15 when the horizon was just starting to turn red. Her shoes were... somewhere. Probably buried in her tiny natural disaster of a closet. How she managed to lose them under all the stuff she'd failed to wash yet, she didn't know. She'd only just worn those shoes yesterday.

Lily ended up just lacing on the boots she'd worn a few days ago and rolling with it. She did some quick research on her phone (and checked the clock again) to make sure that she knew how to get to school if she followed a different route.

Lily had long wanted to find a job, and the owner at her favorite coffee shop had suggested she come work for him. It was only three blocks from her apartment, but three blocks in the wrong direction. Lily left 45 minutes earlier than usual to get to Julio's at seven and then to school by eight.

Lily listened again as she walked. A businessman was arguing on the phone with someone—it was a woman's voice coming through the speaker. At first she thought maybe he was talking to a colleague, but she decided after a moment that it was his wife. He passed Lily quickly, walking too fast for her to pick up on the conversation.

German was the only language Lily had acquired any knowledge of during her frequent observation, and she heard a man with a thick German accent trying to ask people for directions to someplace. Most people ignored him, and a few just said "sorry, don't know" and kept walking. Lily knew that there were plenty of New Yorkers who were happy to give directions, and she had watched a few in the subway before. Apparently they were all elsewhere, though. (Probably in the subway.)

Lily's German wasn't much better than the man's English, but she approached him anyway and asked if she could help. He smiled when she switched languages and told her where he wanted to go. She didn't understand most of what he said, except that he was looking for a hotel and that it was between them and Battery Park. She asked him—and she did a very bad job of asking—if he knew the hotel's name. He told her, and she pulled her notebook and pen out of her pocket. She sketched a basic map on the first empty page she found, added a few landmarks, then labeled the streets and drew a line from where they were to where he was going. Putting a dot where they were, she wrote "du" on her paper. Then she circled his destination and wrote "das hotel."

The man thanked her several times and shook her hand when she tore the map out and handed it to him. It left Lily smiling for quite a while as she walked.

___________________

Julio wasn't there when Lily got to his shop at opening, but Jackson, one of the managers, handed her an application and asked her if she wanted anything. Lily paused, glancing at the chalkboard menu, and then decided that maybe she would get something just to wake her up. Also, everything at Julio's is good.

Jackson waved her wallet away as she pulled it from her pocket, saying that her order was on the house. Lily felt something akin to embarrassment at having her drink payed for even though she didn't really need it that badly in the first place. She didn't turn him down, though.

Lily filled out the application quickly, checking her watch on occasion to make sure she wasn't running late. She took a few extra moments to write about the man she gave directions to and draw a sketch of the coffee shop counter from where she sat. She included the table she was sitting at and her iced coffee on its coaster. The corner of her application was just visible at the bottom of the sketch. At the bottom she scribbled, applied at Julio's.

Lily found Jackson setting a tray of various coffees and treats on a business group's table. They gave him their quick thanks, and he responded with a smile. Lily handed him her application as he turned around and thanked him for her coffee.
And almost ran into Odyssey again on her way out the door.