All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 16: Static Buzz

MUSIC TRACK:

The Baseballs - This Love 

Nick Cave - Hold on to yourself

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David's POV

"We need to talk," Wonderbar said while staring at me with her large luminous eyes, her skin thin and translucent and ghostly.

And my sophisticated response was to answer in a dreamy voice, "I was hoping you would say that..."

Wonderbar didn't even seem to register what a lame ass comment that was. She just stared at me with soulful eyes and said, "Alone," as people began to stream out of the lecture behind her, signalling its end.

"Okay," I nodded softly and oh-so-delicately removed my boot from the hole in the plaster. I stood up straight and tried to stand. Like a boss. "Um...there is a hot dog stand around the corner?" I suggested. I had no idea how I suddenly got so lucky that Wonderbar herself wanted to be alone with me but I wasn't about to miss out on the opportunity. How alone...well...that was just a matter of degrees.

"No. This is a...sensitive matter. There has to be a place around here where...we won't be intruded on," she said with the same intensity.

"We could go to my lab," I offered and immediately regretted it. Don't take her to the lab! Are you trying to unimpress her? "But, it's under renovations..." I drawled, my voice heavy with discouragement.

"It'll be fine," she looked at me expectantly and I guessed that was my cue to lead the way, so I started walking back the way I had come from, passing the lecture door. As it swung briefly open, I could see Gabriel still on the stage surrounded by colleagues, fans -- including Pepper -- and the Dean. Gabriel's head snapped towards us and his gaze grew cold and chill. But then I realized: it wasn't me he was glaring at. It was Wonderbar, who was busy studying my face as if it had a cipher written on it in marker. The door swung close as the pair of us pushed forward amongst the growing thick of the crowd.

For some reason I felt on guard, and had a sudden gnawing anxious urge to find a place to hide. It was irrational, but I followed my instincts anyway. I nudged Wonderbar's elbow for her to pick up the pace alongside me, and she did so without question. Soon we were criss-crossing through the crowd, with the occasional loud jeer of "Hey! Sea Foam!" thrown my direction.

Normally, I would have been terribly abashed at being publicly humiliated in front of the girl of my dreams, but the urgency in both our legs seemed to put those voices on blur. The petty insults were the furthest thing from my mind as I spun around a corner and grabbed for her arm and, as I did so, whipping my head behind me. I don't know what I kept expecting? Gabriel to be there? What would he possibly do to me: challenge me to a duel? Slap me in the face with a velvet glove?

But on we charged, further and further away from the crowds until we were alone in a maze of underground hallways, while I never quite escaped the feeling of something rushing towards us. Soon our strides turned to struts to light jogs, while we both stole glances over our shoulders. Did she feel it...that...foreboding...searching for us too?

It was then I noticed the pair of dark high heels gripped in Wonderbar's hands. And then I looked down at the hot pink shoes on her feet. Huh. Why would she be carrying shoes while wearing shoes...and what's that red blotch on her toe? My eyes started travelling up her legs to her calves: the hosiery was covered in tiny rusty red splotches. What. The. Fuck?

"IS THAT BLOOD?" I exclaimed, and Wonderbar whirled on me with a daring stare while keeping her legs at a steady stride. I lowered my voice, "Well...is it?"