1.2 -- The Most Important Girl in the World
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" It was Helen. "Time to get up and go to school!"
"Mmmm." Daria tasted the dried saliva in her mouth. She still ached. "Mom...I don't think I've quite recovered from that lightning bolt. You might be endangering my fragile health. I think we should take another month off."
"If you're not downstairs in half an hour, you'll only wish you were hit by a lightning bolt. Come on. Get up!"
It had only been a week since Daria, Quinn, and Jane had their "accident". The neurologist said that he couldn't find any signs of damage beyond the cosmetic. Helen had gotten the clear signal on Friday and it was back to school on Monday. Which meant that it was time for Daria to subject herself to Lawndale High. Daria would have rather gone another round with the skunk.
The family table hummed with its usual action -- Helen running about like a crazy woman, Jake lost in the Lawndale Shopper, and Quinn sitting at the table eating Model Crunch cereal.
Daria looked across the table. "Gloves, Quinn?"
Quinn turned red. "My fingernails haven't grown back yet! And I don't want anyone to see me without them! It's like not being dressed! I don't want anyone to notice them!"
"So...you're wearing gloves? That'll work." Daria chewed on a piece of toast.
"Am I wrong," said Jake, "but if Billy substitutes for Bill Keane in Family Circus, shouldn't his drawing have gotten better by now? The kid has to be a least thirty by now!!"
"Girls, if there's anything wrong, if you're feeling bad at all, I want you to call me and I'll pick you up immediately. There's nothing more important than -- oh, excuse me -- (picks up phone) Hi, Eric! What? All day? He called in sick? The nerve of him!!"
"I'm just glad to know that you're watching us with your eagle eye, Mom." Daria finished her toast as quickly as possible. "Gotta go. Hey," she said to Quinn, "aren't you usually out the door before I am?"
"I have a ride with Bret. He called me and wanted to do so much for me I just had to let him offer to drive me to school for the next week." Quinn sighed. "It's just so good when so many people show so much affection for you when you're ill and can't take of yourself and stuff! I might even let him take me to Chez Pierre! Unless Brian offers to first! He has a nicer car!"
"Maybe you can talk some guy into holding your pencil for you. I gotta go." Because my brain has suffered enough. The day hasn't even started and I already have a headache.
Daria began the walk to Jane's house. Jane was undecided if she would go to school or not. The day would really suck if Jane didn't go.
Before Daria knocked on the Jane's door, a clean, combed Jane opened it. "Hello, amiga! Ready to go back to the salt mine?"
"Now I know you were brain damaged. How come your hair isn't in your mouth and your eyes aren't encrusted with barnacles?"
"Well, I've had to listen to Trent practice this week. There's something wrong with his equipment, and the band sounds even worse than ever."
"So bad that Lawndale High is an alternative?"
"It's pretty bad. They're completely out of tune, Trent's speakers aren't working right. And I'm pissed off at him, too!"
"For what?" The two began to walk.
"He ruined my Sick Sad World tapes. I put them into the machine and I just get static. He's done something moronic and taped over them."
"Either that, or the VHS is broken."
"Could be. Nothing's been right all week. Let's go. It has to be better at school than here."
As Daria and Jane walked away, an iron weather vane began spinning rapidly in the backyard. The rooster came to a halt, the arrow pointing directly at Jane. The vane creaked, bending slightly forward for a few seconds...then stopping as Jane disappeared over the hill.
(la la LA la la)
Bret tried to get the VW to turn over, but it was no go. The alternator had died.
"What's wrong, Bret?" said Quinn. "You told me this was a new car!" Quinn folded her arms and tapped her feet.
"It is new, Quinn!" Bret was desperate. This was the only chance he would have to talk to Quinn before she was deluged by hangers-on. His new VW had all of a sudden come to a halt at the intersection, the engine dying. The machine refused to even turn over. He turned at the keys, futilely. Did he leave the headlights on? Was it a battery lead? What?
"Forget it, Bret! I can't sit here at the light all day! I have things to do, people to see! I have to catch up!" Quinn opened the door and stepped out. "Later!! See ya!!"
Bret bemoaned his fate as Quinn walked away. He would have to get the cell phone and call his dad. He didn't know what he was going to do. Now he looked like a moron. The car didn't bother him so much -- it was that he had one chance with Quinn, and he blew it. Moron. Next time, check the battery!
(la la LA la la)
"Here we are, amiga! Lllllawndale High! Good thing they didn't change anything while we were gone."
"A parade would have been too much to ask?" said Daria. "Oh well. We'll just have to get used to living our lives in shameful anonymity."
"How's the headache?"
"Not going away. Pounding like a Mystik Spiral drum solo."
"That bad huh? I have to get to homeroom. I'll catch up with you in O'Neill's class. Later."
Daria walked over to her locker.
**I don't know how I'm going to tell Mom I got a D plus shes going to beat the shit out of me.**
Daria turned around. Nothing, but students walking by. She thought someone was talking to her.
**All it would take is a gun I would jam that gun down her fucking throat and say how you like me now you bitch**
That was definitely someone. Someone talking to her.
There was no one there.
Daria let her hands drop to her sides. She forgot about her homeroom. She was getting scared.
**until the rest of these kids find Jesus they'll not be saved they'll all be going to hell but I'll just be in heaven and I'll be laughing at them**
It was voices. Voices in her head. Schizophrenic voices. Crazy voices.
boy that guy last night on MTV was really hot evel evel kneivel god I hate Stacy she is so stuck up all I want to be doing is playing my guitar I can do C and G7 what if Mulder was really an alien and didn't know it you're all a bunch of blithering idiots I am so so out of Lawndale when I graduate touchdown knocked the guy from Polk clean off his pins Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin James Fulton the steamboat I hope AOL isn't
down*******************************************************************
The voices now rushed at her. Daria felt nowhere to turn. There were a hundred people shouting in her head. She grabbed at her head, and she looked down.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Blood dripping, large red drops. Drops from her nostrils.
I THINK UNCLE TUPELO KICKS ASS SHAUNA WAS SO WASTED LAST NIGHT FOUR BEERS WHAT THE HELL IS MIKES EMAIL ADDRESS GOD WHERE CAN I SCORE A BONG HIT IN THE PARKING LOT PAMELA ANDERSON 36 24 36 SWEET RACK I HATE MS MORRIS MS MORRIS CAN DIE AND GO TO HELL I HOPE DAD DOESN'T FIGURE OUT I BROKE THE GARAGE DOOR YOU NEED COOLIN BABY I'M NOT DROOOLIN I HOPE PINK SOCKS ARE POPULAR TODAY IF SANDI DOESN'T LIKE PINK SOCKS WHAT WILL I DO RESPECT AUTHORITY SCREW AUTHORITY IF MOM HAS LUNG CANCER WHAT WILL
It sounded like a telegraph key, a telegraph key of people screaming in her head. Daria grabbed her ears and she screamed. She screamed to God, just make the pain go away!! Make the pain go away!!!
Make the voices go away...!!
(la la LA la la)
....
"Jane?"
Jane leaned over to Daria in the hospital bed. "Daria! Daria!! You're awake!!"
"Yeah...yeah...my head...my head hurts...."
Daria I thought you were going to die please don't die please don't die I'll go to church and pray just don't let Daria die
"OW! They're back!"
"What's back?"
Daria looked at Jane. "The voices. The voices are coming back!"
Daria...you're not going crazy are you?
"I don't know. I don't know if I'm going crazy or not. I could have sworn though...today, I thought I was. There were a thousand people screaming in my head. I just seem...quiet."
I'd be quiet too if I'm on sedatives
"What am I on?" Daria's eyes got wide. "Did they put me on something? Something to knock me out? To make me go even loonier? They put me on looney pills?!?"
Jane's jaw dropped. "Daria...I didn't say anything to you. Nothing at all."
Can you hear me now? Daria, are you hearing me in your head?
Daria looked at Jane in the oddest way. "Jane..."
Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Jane...I could hear it. I could hear what you were thinking. I...I was in...I was in your mind...I...."
Jane gasped. "That's...that's not even possible."
Daria swallowed. "Think of something. Anything."
"Uh...okay." apples and uranium
"World's most radioactive dessert?"
"Holy." Jane sat down. "Holy, holy, holy...."
"You don't need to complete that thought. I can probably do it for you."
this is really really creepy
"Tell me about it."
"Hey!" said Jane. "It's really...uh...stay out of my head, will you? I've got a lot of stuff in there that I don't want to tell anyone about. Not even you."
"I'm trying, Jane. I really am. I think of that story where the two kids were told they could have any of their wishes come true as long as they didn't think of a blue bear. And here I am, trying not to think of a blue bear."
"How's your headache?"
"It comes and it goes. I just feel...exhausted. Even when I was knocked out, I was hearing whispers. People talking about me. But not really talking. Where are Mom and Dad?"
"They went home. It's three AM, amiga. You're alone now. You should be safe."
"I'm not safe, Jane. Jane...could you think something else?"
I will be here for you all night. I will be there for you whatever it takes. Whatever, whenever, however.
Daria smiled. "Thanks," she said, almost choking up. "I could feel that. I could feel that you meant it. But...I don't know what I'm going to do, now. I can't go back to Lawndale. I can't face those voices again."
"You don't have to go back. Run away. Hide out at my house."
"You know Mom. If Mom knew...if she knew I was hearing voices, she'd send me to the best institutes in the world. They'd have wires inserted in every orifice, and they'd probably do a lobotomy on me or have me on a hundred pills a day."
i wish my mom cared that much she would never be here for me
Daria said nothing. Jane did not want Daria in her head. Daria regretted that she had invaded Jane's thoughts. She had trespassed on her best friend's mind. Daria decided to say nothing at all.
"Hey, amiga. You got hit by lightning. You had a nosebleed, your blood pressure went nuclear, and they thought you had a stroke. That has to be good for a few days in the hospital and another week out of school. Milk it! Milk it all you can!"
"Jane...if what's happening is what I think is happening...I don't know if I can live with it."
"Don't even think that. Shut up. You'll get through. I'll get your through. Go back to sleep. I'm puffing up your pillow."
Jane walked over to Daria's bed and puffed up the pillow. She let Daria rest and wonder off into sleep. The sedatives were working. Jane walked out of the room. She didn't want Daria to "hear" her think that she'd tell Helen about Daria's pain and that she needed more sedation. Daria needed rest, and Jane would make sure she got it...even if she had to lie.
Daria had...changed. Jane would deal with it later. First things first. Always the here and now.
(la la LA la la)
It was a lonely day for Quinn Morgendorffer.
Mom, Dad, Daria, and Daria's art friend were all at Cedars of Lawndale. Daria had had a nosebleed, some kind of breakdown where she was shaking and screaming. Quinn's first thoughts were about if Daria was all right, and as soon as the family knew she would be okay, Quinn's immediate thought concerned her embarrassment. Sandi Griffin had a smile a mile wide the day that Daria had to have EMS come and pick her up. Undoubtedly, this would affect her popularity, and in a bad way.
As long as no one was home, Quinn could shower in private. No knocks on the door, no Daria waiting to use the bathroom. No phone calls. She had already finished up with Sandi, Stacy and Tiffany. They would all call back again later in the day, so she had something very rare...down time, alone.
Quinn hated being alone. Her mind only really worked well in the presence of other people. She could almost feel the emptiness inside her if there was no conversation.
The shower was turned on as hot as she could make the water. The small Jack and Jill bathroom soon turned into a sauna. It was good to exfoliate and open the pores. She could then have the luxury of a cornucopia of skin care products for the rest of the day until Mom and Dad got back.
Quinn wrapped a towel around her head, put on her white bathrobe and walked into her carpeted room to find some new clothes.
-pop-
Quinn had stepped on something. She looked down at her feet. Pink toenail polish. She lifted both feet. Nothing down there. She went on.
-pop- step --pop-
It sounded like bubble wrap being broken. What in the world--?
-pop- -pop- -pop-
No, it definitely sounded like Model Crunch. Every time Quinn stepped forward, she heard that popping noise.
-pop-! That time, her feet tingled. Now Quinn knew what it was! Elementary Science! It was static electricity! Wet feet, brushing against carpet. Or like when you pull a sweater out of the closet. Sometimes you could even hear the crack if you touched a doornob. Daria used to smidge her feet against the carpet and put her finger on Quinn's ear to shock her.
Quinn took off the towel, and sat on the bed. She began to dry her feet with the towel.
As she dried off her feet, small blue arcs of energy danced around her fingertips as she rubbed the towel. They were like little tiny lightning bolts crossing and arcing around her hands and feet.
It didn't hurt, though.
She did it again. She watched, fascinated, as the spikes of electricity danced between her toes. As she rubbed her feet harder, the spikes grew in length and they seemed to dance across her foot even faster.
Quinn dropped the towel. Did she just do...what she thought she did?
She put out her hands. A small arc of electricity jumped from the ring finger on her left hand to the thumb of her right hand.
Quinn then put both of her hand together, facing each other. Arcs danced from fingertip to fingertip. Quinn watched, fascinated. With her willpower. she encouraged more arcs, dancing higher. She watched, mouth open as her hair slowly began to stand up.
An arc escaped control of her hands and traveled to the stuffed animals on her bed. It blew a penny sized hole in the head of a stuffed puppy.
Quinn gasped. She shoved her hands in her bathrobe. Then she took out a hand.
She let the arcs of electricity dance, slowly, then more slowly and with less intensity. She blew, softly, and let them go out like a candle.
It was a puppy that Joey had got her. She didn't really like it all that much, he was so grabby that night afterwards.
Quinn then got a wicked idea.
(la la LA la la)
Fully dressed, Quinn put the stuffed puppy out at the edge of the lawn. She looked to her right, left, center, up, down, making sure that no one else was watching what was going on.
She decided to let go. To see if she was really hallucinating or not. To see if she could do it.
She aimed her arms...and waited.
One second...two seconds...three seconds...??
The power wave jumped from Quinn's arms. It touched every neuron in her body, from the top of her head to her most private, intimate places. It leapt out of both of Quinn's arms and right to its intended target, Joey's stuffed puppy.
It was powerful enough to knock Quinn off her feet.
Quinn got up. She felt...ecstatic, felt really good, like it felt when you were kissing a guy and you really, really liked it and you felt yourself getting carried away a bit. It was a great physical release. A guilty pleasure, a secret joy.
She walked over to where the puppy was. The puppy was gone.
As she walked closer, she saw a scorched area on the ground, about 12 feet wide. There was nothing there but burning grass and what appeared to be dandelions floating in the air. It was then that she realized that it was burnt stuffed puppy particles.
Quinn looked at her hand one last time. She made a little arc of electricity fly up, then disappear.
It was at this moment that Quinn realized something. No one else could do this. She had a special secret gift. A power.
QUINN MORGENDORFFER WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT GIRL IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!
She almost squealed. It was so great. She was so cool!! Look what she had done!! She forgot about Daria being in the hospital! This was just so...fantastic! She could make electricity just leap out of her body!!
It was a real rush! And she was going to do great things with it!!