Chapter 2: Meet the Intruder
“I will not ask again! WHO. ARE. YOU?”
My Friday night was definitely not going to end like I thought it was.
It was disappointing, really. I had been in such a good mood coming home. Still feeling good about earlier, I was going to soak in the tub for a little bit, sit in bed and watch T.V, maybe even order a pizza somewhere in between?
It was safe to say those plans were going to have to wait. How long? Well, as long as it took to deal with the person who had tactfully snuck into my apartment while I was gone. What was worse is I had nobody to blame except myself. I was the one who had left the apartment unlocked that morning, and then chose not to come back when I realized my mistake. With my OCD it was almost impossible for me to forget something like that. I was one of the people who had those recurring nightmares about the killer sneaking into your house and gutting you while you slept. I usually checked twice before leaving my apartment, even if it was just a trip down the stairs to my car. It wasn’t like I was afraid of getting robbed or anything, there wasn’t really anything to steal unless you found cheap Walmart silverware and plates worth breaking in for. But just my luck, the first time I leave without locking up, I had an intruder.
Speaking of which…
I stood in my kitchen, wielding a metal spork, staring down the person standing in my living room, looking equally terrified as I was. I slowly made my way towards the living room, never breaking eye contact with the woman.
She was young, that was for sure. At least my age, maybe a little older. She was currently wearing one of my hoodies and pair of blue jeans, but they sure didn’t fit her. She was noticeably shorter than me, causing the jeans to drag on the ground. She must’ve been quite thin too, because the hoodie sagged on her to the point where her hands were not visible in the sleeves. As I got closer I saw she seemed to have what appeared to be rosy pink eyes (that were very wide at the moment mind you) But the feature that stood out the most, that almost made any other feature of her obsolete, was the rainbow hair. Her whole head of hair was dyed every color of the rainbow, without any sign of her natural hair color showing. Unlike me, she showed no sign of aggressiveness. Instead, she stepped back a little and held her hands out in front of her. I finally came within a few feet of her.
“Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I don’t know who the hell you are or why you’re here, but the police are gonna take you away anyway, so I suggest you give me what you stole now before this gets messier.” I realized by this point she definitely wasn’t here to jump-scare and kill me like from a horror movie. By her body language, I’d guess she’s probably an amateur thief who’d never been caught in the act before. She finally opened her mouth to speak.
“L-look…please…I-I didn’t take anything, I swear…j-just PLEASE don’t let them know I’m here.” I stopped my advance and cocked my head in confusion, although never lowering my trusty spork.
“Don’t let who know you’re here? This is MY home.” She gulped hard before continuing.
“I-I can see that, and I promise I’ll leave, but I just don’t want the fat hairy one to find me.” What? Fat hairy who? This was getting weird. I thought for a moment before I responded.
“Wait, do you mean Mr. Garrison?” I said, almost letting out a laugh. Mr. Garrison was my landlord for these past few months I had been living here, and despite his awful people skills, Mr. Garrison had been nothing but pleasant and respectful with me. That being said, he does look a little rough at first glance. He’s got quite the beer belly, and a scruffy beard that really needed a trim. Or a shave for that matter. Suddenly a thought from earlier entered my mind. He had been the one who had left me all those missed calls earlier, and I’d have put money on the fact that I figured out why.
“I have no idea who that is, I just-“ whatever she was about to say was cut off due to the fact that she teetered for a second before crashing back onto her ass in a really unathletic display.
“Are…are you drunk? Do you honestly have any idea where you are right now?” I relaxed a lot when I said that. I finally lowered the spork and tossed it onto the couch. I looked down at her and she shook her head.
“What? No! Okay…yes and no.” She leaned over and grabbed the couch before attempting to pull herself up onto it with her arms. I stood there watching her with an odd look as the she literally couldn’t even pull herself up onto the couch. She tried lifting herself with her arms, but her legs hung limp as if she was a paralytic. She finally gave up and just slumped back onto the floor with a heavy sigh.
Good lord she is more drunk than I thought. This is why I don’t go to parties and get wasted.
“I’m not drunk, but no…I have no clue where I’m at.” She looked down at her hands before looking back up at me. “I was being chased and I needed somewhere to hide…your door was the first open one I found.” I internally groaned. Good going dumbass.
“Why were you being chased? And by Mr. Garrison of all people? You got an apartment here?” I crossed my arms as I spoke, leaning my weight on the leg that wasn’t currently bruised up. She seemed to relax a little, laying her hands in her lap.
“No, I don’t live here…he saw me outside and started asking me stuff…who I was, why I was here. I’d never seen any creature like him or you, so I panicked. I tried to get away from him and I’ve been hiding out in here for a while.” Welp, things just got fucking weird again.
“Uhhh, never seen a creature like…the hell are you talking about?” She finally brought her gaze up to look at me in the eye. I could see small tears formed around her eyes. She no longer looked frightened, but sad instead. No, pleeeease don’t fucking cry on me, I don’t need to see that. I expected her to start unloading a whole bunch of emotional crap on me, but instead she responded with something else.
“Can…can I have something to eat? I haven’t had anything since I got here and I’m starving.” I answered that by standing a bit taller and giving her a harsh glare. She flinched under my gaze. “Okay, I promise to tell you everything you want to know, just give me something to eat.” I let out a groan.
“Fine. But then you leave, got it?” I said pointing a finger at her. No response. I shrugged and walked back to the kitchen. “One way or another you’re gonna leave, whether by your free will or the cops.”
Why wasn’t I already calling them you ask? Well, it’s not like she’s really going to hurt me. And as small as she was I’m pretty sure I could overpower her anyway. She’s probably pretty drunk and I’d feel a bit bad getting her carried off when she wasn’t thinking straight.
“What do you want?” I ask, closing the refrigerator door from before. I went over to my cabinet and opened it up. “I got pop tarts, chips, hell if you want a-“
“Can I just have some oats?”
“……..Excuse me?”
“Oats…I don’t care what flavor just-“ I started waving my hands around.
“Woah, hold it…did you seriously just ask me for oats?” She looked at me with an equally bewildered look as I was giving her.
“Uh, yes? What’s so hard about…oh…do you not eat those?” I continued to look at her as strangely as before.
“No I don’t eat oats, dafuq? Do I look like a horse to you?” She looked down when I said that.
“No…you’re definitely not a horse, or a pony for that matter.” I looked at her for a few more seconds before turning back around while shaking my head. I reached up and grabbed a pack of pop tarts. I turned back towards the living room and walked them over to her.
“Here, I know it’s late at night, but I really don’t want to waste good food on you. This should be good enough. I’d apologize, but you’re the one who broke into my apartment.” I held out the pack of pop tarts to her, expecting her to grab them, but she hesitated. Then, in a slow movement, she reached her hand forward and wrapped her fingers around it, her fingertips brushing my palm as she did. Finally, with an unnatural squeeze of her hand she took the pop tarts from me, somewhat crushing them. I stepped back and let out an audible groan as I sunk into my chair across from her. I really need that ice bath.
“Ok. You have food. Now talk.” She didn’t answer. Instead, she continued to move the pop tarts awkwardly around in her hands before leaning down and ripping it open with her teeth. She stared at them for a few seconds longer before finally reaching down and taking a bite. Not satisfied with her lack of response I loudly cleared my throat. She looked up from chewing to look at me. She nodded and swallowed.
“So…what do you want to know?” I leaned back and crossed my arms.
“Who are you.” She gave me an annoyed look.
“None of your business.” I let out a dry chuckle.
“You want to be sassy with me? Fine. I can kick you out right now. I gave you something to eat. Now talk.” Her expression changed to a glare, and for a moment, we stared each other down. She gave in first though, sighing before answering.
“If I told you, you’d just call me crazy. Believe me it’s been a weird couple of hours.”
“Try me.” She shook her head and cocked her head.
“Why do you care?” My mouth curled into a snarl.
“I don’t care. I just want to know who you are and why you’re here so I can figure out what to do with you.”
“I already told you why I’m here.” I shook my head and groaned, growing increasingly irritated with this conversation.
“No, I mean why you’re really here. Where do you live, and why are you sneaking around an apartment complex late at night?” She took the last bite out of her pop tart, and held the empty rapper out awkwardly, wordlessly asking what to do with it. I rolled my eyes and snatched it out of her hand before tossing it onto the end table next to me.
“If I tell you, will you promise to give myself a chance to explain it?”
“Yes. Just spill it already.” She rubbed her arm, suddenly looking increasingly nervous.
“Does…does the name Equestria mean anything to you?” I cocked my head. Dafuq?
“No, can’t say it does.”
“What about Griffonstone.”
“No.”
“Mount Aris?”
“Nope, although don’t hold me to that I’m terrible at geography.”
“How about Saddle Arabia?”
“You mean Saudi Arabia? I do know that one.”
“No, Saddle Arabia.” I shook my head.
“Then….no.”
“Yakyakistan?”
“Ok what the fuck even are these?” She rubbed her hands together.
“I kinda knew it already, but I had to be sure.”
“Sure of what?” She hesitated. She seemed to be choosing her next words carefully. After a few moments she opened her mouth to speak.
“I’m…not from this place. Like, this world. At all. I’m from another world completely. And somehow I ended up here with absolutely no idea how to get back. This building was the first place I showed up at, and I was so confused. Not long after was when I was chased…and I ended up here in your place.”
She let out a deep exhale at the conclusion of her revelation, then looked to see my reaction. I stared at her for a second before folding my arms and looking up at the ceiling. I sat in silence for around a minute before finally looking back down to meet her gaze. She was still looking at me in the eye, now with a hopeful look.
“You’re insane.” And with that, the hopeful look fell.
“I have no idea what you’re on, but I can make a call and get you some help. I understand you being too embarrassed to ask for it yourself.” With that, I stood up to make a call and finally end this. I walked over to my phone sitting on the counter.
Well, I would have if I wasn’t yanked back by a pair of strong hands.
The lady had gotten on her knees and reached forward, latching onto my right arm.
“Listen!” She shouted, jerking me back and pushing a wide-eyed me back into my chair. “This is serious! I have no idea what this place is! And I need to find a way to get back to Equestria!” I shook my head.
“No, what you need is a doctor.” She snarled.
“GRRAAA! I. AM. SERIOUS. What can I do to prove to you I’m not from this world?” I decided to humor her for the moment.”
“Alright, if you’re an alien, then show me some alien shit. Levitate, change colors, I dunno. Surprise me.” She raised her chin high and scoffed.
“Fine!” She began to ponder something before a bit of an awkward look appeared on her face.
“I uh…I don’t know how.” I nodded.
“Yep, thought so. We’re done here.” I went to stand up again, but she reached forward and put her hands on my chest.
“No! Just hold on! I’ll prove it, I just gotta think for a minute.” I looked down at her kneeling on the floor.
“Can you stand up please? It’s a little weird, you crawling around on your knees like that.” She looked down at herself. She was on her knees right in front of my lap. To an outside observer it might’ve looked a bit suggestive even. She blushed lightly.
“I’ll try, not exactly used to this body.” I rolled my eyes.
“Uh-huh.” She huffed, then slowly used the arm of my chair to stand up, wobbling quite a bit as she did so. When she finally got herself to stand she looked at me.
“Happy?”
“Very.” I stood up and walked over to my phone. “Look, this had been one of the weirdest fifteen minutes of my life, but this needs to end. I have mandatory film with the guys in the morning, and I can’t pull an all-nighter beforehand.” She looked at my phone curiously.
“What is that?” I held my phone up.
“The 8.”
“The what?” I put my finger on the home button, unlocking it. I navigated to the phone app and opened it.
“Iphone 8.”
“I have no clue what that is.” I just shook my head.
“Of course you don’t. Now, do know anyone around here you can call to pick you up?” She glared at me.
“I told you. I. Am not. From here.” She said through clenched teeth. I’d had enough. I clicked my phone off and began walking over to the door. I really do not want to call the cops. I’d be so much easier to just have her leave, I don’t want to be answering questions for half and hour.
“Look, I’m sorry, you actually don’t seem like a bad person. But I can’t entertain a crazy woman in my apartment. You need to go…now.” I opened the door and stepped back, giving her an open exit. She still stood in the same spot, panic setting in on her face.
“You can’t kick me out! I have nowhere to go!” I shrugged.
“Sorry, but that’s not my problem. You said you’d leave after I fed you. Now go.” Her mouth fell open a bit at that, then she moved to take her first step towards the door. She took awkward, wobblily steps, nearly falling with every step she took. She slowly made her way across the room until she was standing just in front of the doorway. She looked at me and I looked back at her in the eye. Panic and sadness were clearly evident in those pink orbs.
Such an odd eye color.
I rubbed my hand down my face.
“Look, I’m doing you a favor and not calling the cops or Mr. Garrison. You’ll be fine.” She looked down, allowing her hair to cascade over her face, hiding her eyes from view. A quiet sniffle could be heard. I groaned. “I’m sorry, okay? But I can’t have you”- She looked up at me, hair falling back revealing her eyes. They were full of tears. She wasn’t crying, but she was sure close. A small bit of panic could be seen as well. As bad as I knew I should feel, I just didn’t. Sure, she might be a crazed, possibly high on some wild shit kind of person, but I still could not have her here. There was nothing that could change my mind.
“Please…I know I mean nothing to you…but I need help…I don’t know where else to go…I don’t have a purpose here, I’m just…lost.”
With that, something inside me sparked to life.
I had no idea why at first, but I felt something inside me, deep inside me, churn. I studied her face and let her words repeat in my head. I looked into her eyes and looked hard. And with that, I knew what I felt, why I felt it. I felt myself thrown back to a moment I had buried far back in my head, hoping I’d never have to think about it again. But when I looked down into her eyes, I remembered.
A rainy night. Freezing weather.
The muddy puddles splashed up onto my legs as I sprinted down the path. I caught up to them just as they were getting in the car.
“Please!” I yelled, panting as I finally reached the car. I leaned against it, looking into the open window. Nobody could tell in the rain, but tears flooded down my face. The person sitting closest to the window grunted.
“Stop crying and be a man for once. You’re fine. You’re a minor so they will find a place for you. You’ll find everything will work out.” I screamed in a fury and kicked my shoe against the tire as hard as I could.
“NO! YOU’RE WRONG!” He shrugged.
“Maybe, but we’ve already done way more than was asked of us. You’re selfish to expect any more than that.” I looked desperately at the other person in the back of the car, a woman.
“Please…” I begged. She gave me a somber look.
“I’m sorry.” I leaned back from the car and half laughed, half cried.
“Are you?! You expect to leave me like this and expect things to be fine? You’ll just go on with your life and I’ll never once sit on your conscience?” The man turned away from my look.
“Boy, we’ve talked about this long enough. We need to go.” I ran up and wrapped my hands around the frame of the door.
“Please…please don’t leave me like this…I know I’ve never meant anything to you…but I need your help …please.” I looked them both in the eye as I said this. The man opened his mouth to speak-
The memory came to a halt from the sound of my apartment door closing. I blinked, realizing there were now a few small tears forming in my eyes. I looked around and realized I was now the only person in my apartment. She had finally left. I reached up and quickly wiped the tears out of my eyes. The look I saw in her eyes a few moments ago burned into my head.
Without thinking about it much more I grabbed the door handle and swung the door open. She hadn’t gone far. Only a few shaky steps down the hall. I walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder. She gasped and spun around, nearly crashing on the ground again. I reached my other hand out and held her other shoulder, preventing her from falling. My mouth moved faster than my brain.
“You can stay, for now…not long, but for now.” She looked at my face, studying it. She carefully looked into my eyes before she spoke.
“You mean It?” I nodded.
“Yes, I do.” She smiled, then as if she had just realized she had tears in her eyes for the first time reached up and rubbed her yes quick.
“Heh, that’s awesome…I guess.” I nodded with a small smile, motioning back towards my open door. I let go of her and let her walk back in the room. I glanced at the clock as I walked in behind her.
1:15, holy crap.
She turned back around to face me as I closed the door and locked it, this time even jiggling the handle to check twice that it was secure. I looked back at her with a gentle look.
“You can sleep on my longer couch over there, it’s pretty comfy, sorta.” She looked over at it and walked over to it. I ducked into my room for a moment, returning with a blanked and a small pillow.
“Here, this should do for the night.” As I handed them to her she let out a yawn.
“Uh…thanks. What about you?” I sat down in my chair.
“I’ll sleep in this. I’m not letting you sleep here without me watching you. I may be letting you stay here, but I still don’t trust you…sorry.” She yawned again, laying the pillow at the end of the couch before tipping over and hitting the couch face first. Awkwardly she used her arms to twist herself around until her face was over the pillow. She then tried the pull the blanked over herself but all she managed to do was flail her arms around, as if she didn’t know how to use them. I rolled my eyes and stood up, quickly throwing the blanket over her before returning to my chair. She yawned louder this time.
“Thank you.”
“Yep.” As I sat there watching her slowly drift off into sleep I realized I failed to find out a crucial piece of information.
“Hey, I never asked, what’s your name?” She didn’t open her eyes but responded regardless.
“…..It’s Rainbow Dash.”
Author's Note
Expect a new chapter every 2-3 days, that's the pace I'm expecting to meet.
Today has been odd.
Actually, the past month has been weird. One odd mishap after another.
Now, I know that means nothing to you, and I really wish I could somehow let you live my experience of all that has happened the last few weeks, but I can’t. So, I’ll do my best to explain it to you.
It was a Friday, which let me start my day in a good mood. For most, Friday just meant it was the last school day until the weekend and believe me, I look forward to my weekend as much as the next person. But for me and a few dozen others, it was more. It was gameday.
My name is Jason Grey. I’m 18 years old, and a senior in high school. It was still fall but man let me tell you, I was already crawling through the school year day by day. Senioritis is real son.
I stepped out of my apartment and felt the cool Cincinnati air hit my skin. Backpack in tow I took the elevator down to the ground floor and walked over to my car. Starting the engine and getting in I sighed, then began the drive to school. Like most other high school seniors, by this point I was just going through the motions at school. Easy classes, laid back teachers, and of course, absolutely no desire to make the daily early morning drive to school at 7 AM.
Luckily, I had some pretty good friends to get me through school for now. I pulled into the school lot and parked.
“Hey, Jason!” speaking of which…
“Sup man,” I say as I step out of the car. The guy currently jogging up to me is my best friend at this school, Riley. He was tall, 6’4 to be exact. He had medium length blonde hair and was wearing the same varsity jacket as I was, with a pair of jeans. He came over and thumped me on the back.
“Ready for the stats test today?” My eyes briefly widened. Shit.
“Yup.” I replied as quick as I could. I got a chuckle in return.
“Yeah right, when have you ever been ready for a test?” I gave him a sideways glare.
“Then why ask?” He shrugged.
“I don’t know, habit, I guess. You know, it isn’t even that hard of a class, but if you keep failing like you have coach won’t be able to come up with any more excuses to keep you eligible.” I grunted in response. That was the thing about Riley, he might stick his nose in your business, but it’s kind of handy to have to someone like that around.
“I’ll figure it out, if I need I can- “I suddenly stopped walking. “Aw, crap.” Riley stopped too.
“What?”
“I left my damn apartment door unlocked when I left, and there’s not any time to go back.” I said dragging my hand down my face. Riley looked over at the front of the school where other students were filing in.
“You want me to talk to Mr. Stevenson? I could tell him why you’re late.” Mr. Stevenson was our principal. Described as cold and grumpy by most, he was decent to me. I guess that’s one advantage of being one of the best athletes at his school. Still…
“Nah, it’s not worth it, I’ll be fine.” I continued walking towards the school motioning for Riley to follow me. “Nobody has ever tried to break in before, and there’s not anything worth stealing anyway.” I chuckled for a moment. “And I’ll put money on that nobody picks today to try it for the first time.”
RIIIIIIING
The bell for 5th period rang throughout the school. I sat at my desk twiddling my pencil through my fingers as the last few students wandered in. I had no friends in this class to screw around with, so I always spent this period in the back on my phone going over game film. Since we had a game tonight, I’d definitely be putting my earbuds in and zoning out in the film.
At some point the teacher started talking, but it was everybody’s guess but mine what he was saying. He never left his desk, so I’d be in the clear. Around halfway through class and one chewed up pencil later I vaguely picked up the sound of someone saying my name. I ripped out my earbuds as fast as I could and stuffed my phone in my lap I looked up and expected to see the teacher ripping into me about not paying attention, but instead I saw he was still at his desk using his computer to show something on the board. I looked around a little bamboozled and then heard a giggle come from my left. I looked over and saw the girl next to me holding a hand over her mouth to quiet her laughter. She leaned towards me.
“You having trouble over there Jason?” She whispered. I was at that moment I realized in my haste to make it look like I was paying attention I had attracted the stares of most of the students around me.
“Uh, no…I’m good.” I said quietly as I picked my phone up and put it back on my desk. She giggled again.
“If you say so.” Much to my ire, she leaned over and looked at my phone. “Oooh, you getting ready for the game tonight?” She batted her eyelashes. “You’re so dedicated.” I cringed a little bit before reaching for my earbuds again. The girl’s name was Claire, she was one of the most popular girls in my grade. A brunette with a great body, most guys eyeballs pop out of their head in the halls when they see her. To me she was just another one of the distractions from my season I didn’t need around.
Not to mention she was one of the girls that willingly leaked her pics around school on purpose for attention.
”Yup.” I said, putting one earbud in. Before I could put the other in though she grabbed my arm.
“I’ll be there tonight, maybe you’ll see me?” I turned back to my desk.
“Probably not.” But before I could get my last earbud in, she grabbed my arm again.
“You know, me and a some of my friends go hang out at my friend’s house after games, drink a little, wanna come? It’s a great time.”
Now don’t look at me like some saint for not wanting to do this. Hey, me and my friends have done plenty of shit that’ll make for some great speeches at their weddings. But being the antisocial worm I was, the idea of a large party brought a cringe to my face. Realizing there was no getting her to leave me alone until I agreed, I gave her the best response I could without agreeing to go.
“I’ll think about it,” I lied. Hopefully that was enough to get her to leave me alone.
“Ok, hope you’ll be there, I promise you won’t regret it.” She gave me a predatory look as a I finally got my last earbud in. I nodded in response.
The rest of the day went by uneventful, with the occasional ‘Good luck tonight’ from passing students and fist bumps to my teammates passing by. Finally, the last bell of the day rang.
RIIIIIIING
I couldn’t have gotten out of the classroom faster. Earbuds in, I jogged down the hall towards the stairs. I hopped up on the railing and slid down it to the first floor. A few hallways later I reached my destination. A banner with GOOD LUCK PANTHERS on it hung over the door, painted by the cheerleaders earlier that week.
I gripped the handle and swung the heavy metal door open as I entered one of the most infamous places in any high school. It was feared by many, stories of smells that could kill and of band kids that never returned. The place where underclassman boys became men, and where personal space was nonexistant.
The locker room.
The second I opened the door the smell assaulted my nose, but it was no matter. After four years one’s nose just gets used to it.
“OW! WHAT THE HELL?!” I looked to my right to see one of my teammates on the ground being assaulted by a violent towel whipping. He jumped up and grabbed the other guy by the neck and the two laughed as they shoved each other around. As I looked around, I could see a lot of guys already getting into our pregame attire, while others were chilling on their phones, and there was even a group in the corner playing cards. I felt a smile tug at my lips. Once you got used to being in here for so long, this place felt like a second home. And after four long years in here, that’s exactly what it was for me.
Before I could grab a chair though I was put into a large chokehold from behind and receiving a noogie as well.
“IT’S GAMEDAY!” A voice shouted from behind me before letting me go. I laughed, knowing exactly who it was.
“It was gameday all day today Riley, what’s with the sudden enthusiasm?” He grinned.
“Cause school is a bummer on these days, but now we got the game tonight, then the whole weekend is ours.” He held out his fist.
“You got that right,” I responded, bumping his fist with mine. I walked over to my locker (In the back corner mind you) and pulled my chair out. At the beginning of the season the other seniors protested me sitting in the back corner near the underclassmen, but I liked it that way. Quieter with less attention drawn to me. I patted the freshman next to my locker on the back and sat down. Riley was still behind me.
“Come on man, where’s the enthusiasm? We’re gonna kick some Eagle ass tonight!” I just shook my head, lightly grinning.
“You know I’m ready, I just choose to get ready differently from most.” I began taking my gym shoes off to put my slides on. A voice yelled out behind Riley.
“Oi! Riley! Listen to the man and let him get ready his own way, yeah?” Said another one of my fellow seniors, who walked up behind Riley. He wrapped an arm around my best friend’s shoulders. “Hell, if everyone had your loud obnoxious way of getting pumped the school would have to install soundproof walls in here.” He said laughing. Riley rolled his eyes and brushed his arm off.
“Yeah, yeah, maybe you could use some of that energy, might make you tackle a bit harder Dennis.” Dennis was another one of my closer friends on the team. A bit smaller like me, he was one of our safeties on defense. He was 5’11 with short cut black hair. At Riley’s comment he scoffed with a small smile.
“I see how it is, just because I don’t have scouts looking at me every game like you and Jason, I’m automatically trash.” He patted Riley on the shoulder. “I’d check the stats man, cause first team all-conference is coming this way,” he said pointing at himself.
“WOAH hold up now!” Another guy came around a row of lockers. He sported a goofy grin and playful mirth in his eyes. He stood at 6’2 and had messy red hair. He gave a fake incredulous look at Dennis. “First team? The day that happens is the day a kicker wins the MVP for the conference this season.”
“Hey! Watch it!” Another voice shouted from across the room from our kicker. The rest of the guys laughed. Dennis turned to the guy who made the comment.
“Hey, I wouldn’t be talking trash if I were you Mark, last time I checked you’re close to being the first senior to ever loose his spot to an underclassman!” Most of the locker room got quiet at that with a few ‘Oooooo’ here and there. Mark jumped on Dennis’ back and wrapped him up in a chokehold.
“Yeah but I could still whoop you and you know it!” The rest of the locker room cheered my friends on as they went at it. I smiled as I continued to get dressed. While my friends traded their daily insults and banter, I had put my earbuds back in and gotten dressed in my pregame attire. My friends might be a little wild, but these guys were the people who got me through these last four years, especially when times got really rough for me. We were a tight knit team, and us seniors treated each other like family. I ignored the loud commotion for a minute before a voice loud enough to get through my earbuds rose up.
“HEY!” Immediately every guy in the room stopped what they were doing and looked to the door. Our coach was standing there with his hands on his hips. Our coach acted like the stereotypical loud angry coach, but in reality, he was awesome with us. “I understand the excitement, but we’ve still got a few hours before we head out to the field, so chill out a bit.” He began to turn and head out of the room before stopping and turning back around and pointing at my friends. “And leave my Quarterback alone! He’s getting focused!” With that he turned and walked out of the room. The team looked over at me in my chair, then filed back to their lockers and let me sit in silence.
A couple hours later, once we had eaten our team meal and gone over last-minute adjustments with our coaches, we all sat in mute silence waiting for coach to tell us it was time to march onto the field. At the front of the room by the door were all the seniors and the other starters. Further back was the JV, and behind them were the freshmen.
I was sitting behind all of them.
Nobody dared to look at me or say a word as I sat there twirling a ring around between my fingers. I did the same ritual right before every game, and everyone in that room knew especially not to bother me at this moment. I let my eyes fall over the shiny polish of it as I studied every detail. I admired the gemstone in the middle, the engravings on the side, to finally the markings on the inside. I closed my eyes and made a fist around the ring over my heart before I stood up and placed it back in the top of my locker. I eyed the envelope in the back, then deposited my earbuds and phone as we would we heading out any second now.
As expected less than a minute later our coach swung the door leading outside open and stuck his head in.
“Show time boys! Let’s get it!” A loud cheer rose up as every boy in the room stood up, clanging their helmets against the lockers, making a noise like thunder. Shoulder pads knocking against each other, the team quickly filed their way out the door. I could already hear the distant sound of our drumline and the cheers from a packed stadium. It brought a familiar rush to my senses. Adrenaline. I kept a serious face as I exited last outside the locker room. My coach grabbed me by my shoulder pads as I passed him.
“You got this Jason. Be confident in who you are, and everyone here is behind you, show them who you are.” I nodded, put my cyan blue helmet on, and broke out into a jog.
I had a job to do.
Three Hours Later
The locker room door was thrown open.
“YEAAAH!”
“LET’S GOOOO!”
The team poured back into the locker room shouting cries of victory, pumping their fists in the air and knocking loudly against the lockers. Celebratory chest and fist pumps were traded by everyone and there wasn’t anyone without a smile. I finally came through the doorway to be met with a loud ovation.
“There he is!”
“Atta boy Jason!”
“Way to give it to ‘em!”
I nodded in response as I walked by, even letting a decently sized grin grow on my face. We had destroyed them. Riley and Dennis came over to my locker while they were removing their shoulder pads.
“Oh man, we really gave them hell, didn’t we?” Dennis cheered. “Those Milford chumps are gonna have to wait until basketball season to try to get any dignity back after that slaughter!” Riley grinned, putting his pads on the ground and began to take his cleats off.
“Yeah, good luck to them with that, they’re lucky Jason here doesn’t play basketball or that’d be a wipeout too!” I looked up at him with a deadpan expression while removing my own pads.
“Are you kidding me? I’m five foot ten. I have no business around a basketball court.” He shook his head.
“Nah, that doesn’t matter. You’re still the most athletic kid at this school.” I spared a smirk at that.
“I wouldn’t be if I didn’t have you blocking for me. These high school kids take one look at you and shit their pants.” He let out a hearty laugh.
“You got me there, if”- he was cut off by a loud cheer rising up from the other side of the locker room. The three of us looked over to see Mark standing up on a chair, shirtless and a wild look in his eyes. Thing is, if you know Mark like we do, you learn to recognize when something good is about to happen. He reached behind in his locker and pulled out a couple pieces of paper.
“Hey! This is a story the local news put out a couple days ago! Talks about how we’re overrated, that we had a decent shot of losing tonight! I’ll show them what we think of that, someone pull their camera out!” The room responded by half of its inhabitants immediately pulling their phones out. Mark reached behind him and when he opened his hand, there was a lighter sitting in it. He pointed at our guys recording him. “Hey! Who’s overrated now?” he opened the lighter and set the papers aflame. The team cheered and shouted as he dropped the smoldering papers to the concrete floor. The room was going wild, everyone crowding around Mark.
“And someone get some music on in here! It’s time to celebrate!”
When I finally walked out of the locker room for the final time that night, I had my backpack hanging from one arm, and my dirty clothes from the other. I let out a loud and audible sigh. The adrenaline had begun to wear off, and fatigue started to take its place. I walked to my car in silence, and when I got there, I opened it up and carefully laid my stuff in my trunk. In other parts of the parking lot, students were piling into friend’s cars, excitedly chatting about one thing or another. I opened my driver’s side door and got in, and when I closed it, it was finally silent. I let out a deep breath and softly smiled. This was one of my favorite parts of Friday nights. The calm that followed the storm after a wild game. I put my car in drive and began to drive.
Time to get a nice big meal, and then ice bath here we come.
As I drove, I let the day’s events recollect in my mind. I chuckled to myself when I realized I could be at Claire’s about right now, in for a wild night. I smiled to myself.
Nah, a quiet night to myself is waaaay better.
It had been a good day. Actually, it surprisingly been a great day. And I was exhausted, my bed sounded great right about now.
An hour (And one full stomach) later, I pulled into my apartment’s parking lot. As I pulled into my spot, I started to notice a few bruises here and there forming at various places on my body.
Ok, first that ice bath, then I can hit the sack.
I grunted as I slung my backpack back over my shoulder and grabbed my clothes. I pondered taking the stairs, I only lived on the second floor after all, but decided against it. I was tired. As I stepped into the elevator, I took a look at my phone for the first time since early that afternoon. I furrowed by eyebrows together when I saw I had four missing phone calls. I clicked on the phone app and was even more surprised to see who the number belonged to. All four missed calls were from the same person, my landlord. I considered calling him back right there and then but decided against it. I just wanted to get into my room, I’d take care of it in the morning.
The elevator door opened, and I walked over to my room. Internally scolding myself I realized I didn’t need my key to get in, I had foolishly let it unlock this morning. I opened the door and dumped my clothes and backpack next to the door. I yawned and trudged over to the fridge. It was when the light from the fridge cast over the interior of my apartment, I noticed something was off.
A dark shape stood right where my couch usually sat. In my sleepy state, I simply walked over to the light switch without a concern, expecting to see my vacuum cleaner I had left out, or a pile of clothes stacked on my couch.
That was not that case.
When I turned the light on, I was no longer sleepy. I was no longer deprived of energy. And a nice ice bath was now the last thing on my mind.
No, my wide eyes and complete focus was now on the young woman standing in my apartment, wearing my clothes and staring back at me with equally wide eyes. I responded only how any other normal member of society would when faced with the current situation.
“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?”
Author's Note
Well lads, here it is. My first attempt at a story here on FimFic. Hopefully I can give you all something worth taking time away from being a functional member of society.
