The Tribuo - Book II

 

December

            Everything was great for a couple of weeks or so; and then, we slowly returned to the same point where we started. She would drive me up the wall; I would grind my teeth and try to dump her, just so we could get back together two days later. DeeDee never said anything to me; she would just look at me with great pity and shake her head once in a while.

   Speaking of DeeDee. She was acting really bizarre lately. It seemed like she has lost a hell of a lot of weight, which made her look like someone in the middle stage of anorexia. She had dark circles under her eyes as if she didn’t get any sleep, and she was beyond jumpy. At first, I found it sort of amusing how she would almost scream every time I sneak up on her and say “Boo!!” in her ear; but then it started to worry me somewhat. I tried asking her what the hell was wrong, but she would just shake her head and immediately change the subject. Finally, I stopped pestering her, thinking that she’d tell me when she felt like it.

   At the end of the first week of December, my mother told me that she and Paul were going to Sun Valley for the entire Christmas break.

   “We’ll probably stay there until after New Year,” she said carefully as if expecting me to throw a fit and stomp my feet or something. I shrugged and said that it would be nice to have the entire house to myself for a couple of weeks. My mother almost laughed with relief. I was completely truthful with her though. With the way things were going between Ellie and me, I was pretty positive that I would end up getting filthy drunk over the holidays. And as open-minded as my mother was, even she would never appreciate the fact that I couldn’t even stand straight. I suspected that Ellie wouldn’t be much different just because it was a holiday season.

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Interlude

   “You’ve seen enough?”

   “Yes.”

   “Any ideas on what you will be doing?”

   “None whatsoever. I like this kid. He seems nice. Even though he has as much of a backbone as a Pillsbury Dough Boy, when it comes to that girl… Hmm, I wonder if maybe I could get him to pay more attention to his friend… DeeDee… That would be… What’s funny?”

   “Nothing…”

   “You have tears in your eyes, Seth. What’s so damn funny?!”

   “Ohh… Nothing. Well, it’s something. But you’ll find out.”

   “Tell me!”

   “Nope. I want to see your reaction when you find out.”

   “Ugh… Fine, doesn’t matter. I have to start tomorrow, right?”

   “Yes. Oh, hey! It’s your second assignment!”

   “Yeah, I know. So what?”

   “Three more after that.”

   “Huh? What are you talking about? Three more? And then what?”

   “Well, if everything goes well and according to the plan, you might get… Promoted, so to speak. And me too, along with you.”

   “Explain, please.”

   “Well, you get five assignments. Five different people. If you succeed with them, you may enter the different plane… And since I am glued to you from now on, same goes for me.”

   “Glued, huh…”

   “Yeah… That’s what I’ve got for intervening.”

   “Different plane… Care to elaborate?”

   “Not right now. Later, maybe. By the way, are you going to be a guy again?”

   “No. My name will be Katie Bell.”

   “Bah! Why did you tell me? I wanted to play a guessing game again…! Last time was fun… Hey, wait! Rayne, wait! What is it?”

   “I am not into games lately, Seth. Just keep observing.”

   “Rayne, you are not still hung up on that guy are… Wait! Wait!! Crap…”