The train rocked and bucked under his feet. Dick sat hunched forward with his phone in his hands but no notifications were moving across it yet. Well that wasn’t entirely true. There were some still skating across from the group chats but he didn’t feel like answering them yet. He couldn’t muster the drive to.
It had been about two weeks since his brother escaped from the facility. Lily had vouched for him but that didn’t mean Keenen didn’t still chew him out from not letting him know beforehand. That first night he hadn’t been able to sleep at all. All he could see when he closed his eyes was his brother’s face.
He could still see the red eyes boring into him from his sockets. Blazing with an inner fire that had long since replaced any semblance of life that would have belonged to a geist warrior or a human.
His brother’s last words to him echoed alongside those eyes. Staring at the ground he shook his head again, “That can’t be the last time we’re ever gonna talk to each other.”
The train shook as it took a steady turn and he got to his feet and grabbed onto the one of the bars. Losing his balance for a second, he grabbed ahold of the bar tighter and looked out one of the windows again. The city was moving past at its own pace but it was home.
“Next stop main street,” the mechanical filter of conductor’s voice said to them all. “Next stop main street.”
His phone vibrated a few more times and he glanced down. The group chat was exploding and this time it was because Gav and Lisa must have finally showed up.
SuperStar: Where’re you at???
Come on Dick
Getting tired of waiting with just Gav
TheWhite: What’s that supposed to mean?
SuperStar: It means I’m hungry and I’m ready to eat
You’re still buying remember?
TheWhite: Where do you think I get this money?
Halfsie: Don’t worry.
I’m a stop away
And yeah I thought Gav was paying
TheWhite: I want to see this imaginary bank account you think I have
SuperStar: Ill show you a bank account
TheWhite: What does that even mean
Dick smiled at the phone and as he backed out he saw the other chat room. “The G.L.”. He’d named it that a long time ago but it was dry right now. They hadn’t shared any communication in the chat room in so long that it was sitting at the bottom of his chat log.
The train screeched to a stop and he got off with the rest of the crowd. Flitting through them all he maneuvered down the steps and got onto the sidewalk. Running a hand through his hair he glanced back and forth. Leaving the train stop behind he checked his phone for one of their usual meeting spots.
Hitting the corner, the cars honked at them loudly as they did. No one in the city understood what it meant to just relax and be calm. Everyone was always in a rush and everyone always had some sort of pent up aggression to get out. Probably why he would never commit to driving in the city.
Right next to the corner were the stairs going down into the subway. But it was made out of stone with some interesting glasswork around the side. Climbing up onto the back of this he stood and looked well over the crowds to try and spot his friends.
None of them were nearby but just out of the corner of his eye he could see motion. Narrowing his eyes, he shielded them and laughed. Gav was laid out on another overhang with Lisa waving and pumping her fist. His phone buzzed and he picked up knowing who it was.
“Get over here loser. The hot dog stand is going on it’s way. Just around the corner! Cross the street already!”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m coming!”
Sliding off the end he landed in a crouch and sprinted over to the cross walk. He ran through on a yellow light ignoring the honking of the cars that he cut off and even flipped off a few of them. Darting forward he waited toe tapping for the other light to turn colors.
Lisa and Gav were on the other side and making faces at him. He made them right back and when the light finally changed colors they walked over like regular people this time. Gav wrapped his arm around Dick’s shoulder and Lisa rubbed her elbow into the top of his head and they all laughed together. He groaned but grinned at them.
Gav said fanning himself. “Geez it’s been too long.”
“Demasiado largo? It’s only been like two weeks. Come on.” Dick rolled his eyes and put both his hands behind his head. “I swear I just saw you guys.”
“Well I did just have you over the house the other day,” Lisa said with a chuckle. “Mom actually invited you back to work on the basement again.”
“Tell her I appreciate the invite but my back still hurts.”
Gav waved his hands away and pushed ahead of the two of them. “Enough talking about manual labor. Let’s get some grub.”
“Comida he says,” Dick looked ahead as they crested a hill. More cars and people were over this side but from this part of the hill he could see the lake in the distance. “Though I can see our hombre. Usual corner as always.”
“Hell yeah. Come on losers let’s get down there.”
Lisa took the lead and started running breaking into a steady jog. Dick watched her go and he felt the urge to chase after but he hesitated. He could see Samantha, hear her voice in his head and his mood immediately fell. Both of them looked at him strange, catching the sudden down swing. He tapped him on the back and smiled. “You okay?”
Snapping out his thoughts he nodded and smiled at him. “Yeah yeah. Just distracted. Come on before Lisa orders way too much crap.”
Leaning forward he sprinted forward eating up the ground. Lisa was the star track runner but chasing after wraiths for the past two and a half years meant he definitely knew how to run a lap. The moment he felt the air rushing across his face and the wind in his hair he grinned.
Nothing like a good run to clear your mind. The vendor remembered the three of them and even saw them coming earlier on. So he had their order ready. Relish and mustard for Lisa, plain for Gav, and onion for Dick. Walking their food to the sidewalk they each stepped over the guard rail and sat on the edge of the wall.
Legs dangling on the side of the pier they could hear the water splashing iback and forth. The beach was nearby. They could actually walk a few feet to the side and drop down onto the sand instead of drowning in the water.
“So what are we doing today?” Dick asked eating through the sides of his lunch. “Cause if we leave it up to Lisa she’s probably gonna want to take a run around the city.”
“Nothing wrong with that. Get the blood flowing. Not like either of you seriously exercises.”
“I don’t know. I’m betting Dick could give you a run for your money.”
She made a dismissive noise. “Please, I could run circles around you.”
“Anyway. We haven’t been to the corner spot in a while.”
“You might be right,” Gav thought as he took another bite and chewed and thought. “Yeah we haven’t been since that bad time last winter.”
Lisa shivered and shook her head. “What made us go near the water in the dead ass of winter.”
“It was gringa’s idea. No doubt in my mind.”
“Well regardless of who’s idea it was this is an infinitely better day to do this kinda thing,” Gav finished his hot dog and wiped his hands on his pants before pushing himself to his feet. “Yall ready yet.”
“Sure am,” Dick hopped to his feet and moved to sit down on the guard rail.
Lisa kicked her feet against the wall making sure she savored the last two bites just to tease them. But she nodded sucking on her fingers as she stood up. “Yeah we can go to the usual spot.”
The trio rounded back the way they’d come but cut across the park. It was a nice enough day out that everyone was out. People were running around shouting and dogs barking just excited to be out. A frisbee flew their way and Gav managed to catch it. But with it came a large brown dog.
Each of them stopped for the dog, playing with it. It looked from each of them happy for the attention. Dick scratched the dog behind the ears and smiled and then froze. For a moment he heard the soft whining in his ears. He panicked looking back and forth but he couldn’t see the source.
The door perked its ears up and Dick realized it wasn’t a wraith. It was just some concert across the park and he could hear the whining from the speakers. Blinking a few times, he looked at his friends and realized that time had passed. He had no idea how long it had happened but it had been long enough for him to have missed the dog walking away and them returning the frisbee.
“Dick you’ve been spacing out hella hard. You seriously okay?” Lisa asked staring down at him but he tried deflecting that with another grin and bouncing to his feet.
“Si. Esta bien. I think I’m just tired.”
Putting his hands behind his head he tried walking forward through the park. Gav and Lisa exchanged glances but followed him. Leaving the grass and trees behind for the side walk Dick looked ahead toward the train and tried to remember where they’d have to go from here to make it back to their usual spot.
“How the heck are we getting to the place again? I know there’s a bridge involved.”
“You never remember how to get there,” Lisa said pressing her hand to her face. “You’re hopeless.”
“Come on just cross the street.”
The pair of them crossed readily enough. He started going and watched a pair of kids running past. Looking identical to one another, pushing and pulling at one another while their parents ushered them behind. Dick stared at them and suddenly he was looking at himself and his brother. Both barely two feet tall and laughing with one another.
“Yo Dick pay attention!”
Startled Dick looked first at Lisa and then Gav and then at the angrily honking horns as he sprinted across the cross walk. A taxi driver spat curses his way swerving. Gav and Lisa flipped the bird at them as Dick made it to the other side. “Sorry about that. Zoned out.”
“Come on Dick. You’re going to make us explain to Keenen why his nephew got hit by a car.”
“Leave him alone. It’s trouble in paradise and he doesn’t know how to deal.”
“Shut it Lisa,” he said glaring at her and she laughed putting her hands behind her back.
“Can you blame me? It’s been what? Like two weeks and you two haven’t worked anything out yet.”
“True biscuits,” Gav clapped him on the back and walked past him. “I can’t have my new ship already sinking.”
“We’re not sinking,” Dick said and looked down. “I think.”
“Come on Dick don’t think too hard on it. You’re bad at that,” Lisa shrugged her shoulders and pointed into the distance. “We’re almost at the spot anyway.”
The trio were walking along the street, the sun looking down at them from high above. The sky was a little grey but not like it was going to rain. They turned right leaving behind the open park and field to their left and going deeper into the city itself. Crossing under the train Gav took the lead and got out his phone.
“Oh, come on are you about to use your map?” Lisa asked walking past him.
“No. Hey get over here you two losers.”
Gav held his phone up in the air and the camera focused on him but the other two joined in at the angles. They made an ugly face together and then grinned wide as Gav took several pictures in a row. Running through some of the pictures they laughed. “Of course, I’m making us all look good in this picture. My greatness is raising everyone else up.”
“Oh, for the love of God,” Lisa pushed him away and raised her hand. “Alright boys keep up behind me. I’m only going to lead you there once. You hear me? Don’t get lost!”
And lead once she did. She ran ahead not bothering to look back to make sure the other two boys were keeping up with her. Instead she just kept going running through the cross walks and dancing through the few people she ran into on the path. She did finally slow down once she hit the bridge because the barriers weren’t exactly high.
Gav shouted for her numerous times to slow down but Dick was keeping pace. Finally they caught up to her in the middle of the bridge. Huffing Gav glared at both of them. “Look my legs aren’t as long as yours. This is way more effort than it’s worth. I hate you guys.”
Lisa walked to the edge of the bridge and pointed. “The spots right there. Quit your complaining.”
The moment they crossed the bridge they hung a hard right and down a set of spiral stairs. They went down three full rotations until they hit the lower path. Trees and grass lined this lower area with a few commercial boats docked nearby. The majority of them were extensions of restaurants though.
But they didn’t want to be anywhere near those places. Taking a small flight of stairs up and walking to the main road there was a small bridge but beside that bridge was another set of stairs going down. Going down those they found their way to the miniature pier. It connected directly to the river and there was even a small step to get you as close to the water as possible. Small stone cylinders dotted the corners.
Lisa went to sit at the steps while Dick sat on one of the cylinders. Gav just lay down on the ground staring at the sky. Dick checked his phone but there was nothing going on there. He checked it more than once but the most active members of the group were right here with him.
“So when’s our big meet and greet supposed to happen?” Lisa asked. “It’s already been like a month since we graduated.”
Gav rolled his eyes, “It’s only been a couple of weeks. Quit exaggerating.”
“It’s what she does.”
“Well its lame.”
“You’re lame gayboy.”
“We’ll figure it out. Scheduling conflict and all that stuff,” Gav sighed. “We got time still.”
Time.
Two weeks and the Legion hadn’t heard about his brother. Two weeks and he had barely talked to Samantha except for the few times they’d run into each other on patrol. Two more months from now all of his friends would be scattering. “You ever feel like we’re running out of time?”
“What kinda question is that?” Lisa turned toward him and frowned seeing his eyes. Seeing how much of them that he wasn’t seeing. “Worried about the future?”
“Change happens Dick,” Gav said and smiled. “But we’ve been friends forever. A little something like college isn’t going to separate us.”
Lisa sat up and gave him a thumbs up, “You’ve got us and Lily. You and Samantha are going to work out whatever issues you’re dealing with. So, chill out. Stop over thinking and just enjoy the day. You’re bad at that remember? Plus if you two don’t work out I’ll take her no problem.”
He stared at the pair of them and then started laughing. He felt lighter than he had in a while and almost stumbled backwards off the edge of the cylinder. “Gracias amigos.” Gav and Lisa pointed at him and started laughing just as hard. Dick kept laughing until it turned into a wince so hard that he nearly fell over, the whine sudden and loud.
Rolling his eyes, he looked around for another one of those concerts. He’d been up tight all day and didn’t want to get caught being paranoid again. But the ringing just got louder and louder, clanging around in his head. Stumbling to his feet Dick’s head whipped back and forth but saw it in the water. Saw the surface rippling forward and his eyes went wide.
“Gav! Lisa! Get away from the water!”
He reached toward them but it was too late. The water exploded as a creature burst forth from the water. A massive shark headed wraith, digging its hands into the pier to lunge at them. They weren’t going to get away in time so he didn’t hesitate. “Manifestar!”
The Harlequin Library 