Chapter 62: Warm Welcome

Neither of us spoke while Donica drove me back to the apartment. I don’t know what was running through her head. I hardly even looked at her. I stared out the window, watching strip malls and fast food joints and antique stores roll pass.

Real places, filled with real people. I wanted to ask Donica to pull in at one of the bars just so we could mingle with the crowd. The alcohol probably wouldn’t hurt, either.

But I couldn’t afford bar prices, so my mouth stayed clamped shut and the crowds rolled past, as oblivious of me as I usually was of them.

I felt trapped, queasy, almost worse than at the construction site. Desperate for human contact, yet I wouldn’t even open my mouth to connect with the person next to me.

I felt like an idiot. Nothing had happened. The weirdest phenomena seemed to have had more to do with the construction site than the app I’d started to fear as much as I was addicted to it.

That thought sent a new shiver down my spine as we turned onto Hampden.

Was this my new normal?

Had Third Eye damaged my mind – and Donica’s, and maybe every player’s – so much we would face that kind of disorientation no matter where we went?

Or had the Third Eye app opened some actual third eye, if just a crack? Was I going to spend the rest of my life drifting at the edge of weirdness I didn’t, couldn’t, understand? Weirdness that might have always been there, but which I would’ve glossed over before, as safely oblivious as those bar patrons?

I didn’t know if it would be better or worse if the things I saw were real.

When Donica brought the Yukon to a stop, I blinked and shook my head.

Maybe any or all of the above was true, or maybe the people who’d tried and failed to build that arcology had completely screwed up priorities. It sure would explain why, long before Third Eye entered beta, construction on it had stalled.

Regardless, I wasn’t going to find out tonight. Not even when I slept on it and saw that elevator in my nightmares.

I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Thanks for the ride. And the tip. It may have been creepy, but we did get a ton of materials and XP out of it.”

“Back to the bright side, huh?” Donica’s smile looked almost natural.

“I try,” I said. “You want to come up for coffee or something?”

“I bet your coffee’s terrible.” Somewhat to my surprise, she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Sure.”

I chuckled. I hadn’t been able to since we left the construction site. Doing it now broke open a floodgate and I found myself grinning. “With wagers like that, you must make a killing in Vegas.”

“Oh no,” she said. “When you end up the loser in every fantasy sports league in your office, you learn better than to bet on anything.”

We got out, she tapped her phone, and the Yukon honked as its locks clicked shut. Once again, I stood in the parking lot below my and Lena’s apartment. On my right, the lid of the dumpster where I’d gotten Air hung open again. I went over and slammed it shut before joining Donica at the foot of the stairs.

“Neighborly of you,” she said.

“Somebody’s got to be.”

She considered this in silence.

After a minute of it, we trudged up the stairs.

At least no one had left their garbage out on the walkway this evening. Although it was so cold, I doubted I could smell it if they had.

I unlocked the apartment door and called out, “I’m home.”

No “welcome home” from Lena.

I pushed the door open. Warmth flooded over me. I hadn’t realized how desperately cold I’d gotten until I felt an alternative.

The lights were off inside, so the only illumination came from Lena’s computer. It painted the shelves and bobbleheads and an empty Dairy Queen ice cream cup in weird blues. The tips of Lena’s curls looked almost purple.

She didn’t spin her chair around. Her mouse clicked; her keyboard clacked.

After a flash on her screen, she said, “So. You did come back.”

“Huh?” I stepped inside to get out of the cold and give Donica a path to do the same. While I shrugged off my coat, I lowered my voice to whisper, “Coffee’s in the kitchen.”

“Thanks.” Donica shot me an odd look out of the corner of her eye, but headed for the counter before I could try to parse it.

Stolen story; please report.

Lena finally did turn to us. I couldn’t see her expression. The outline of her shoulders tensed further, though.

The edges of her screen went red, a surefire sign she was taking damage in whatever game she’d been playing.

She seemed to realize it. She spun back around, reached for her mouse, hesitated. The red went away, replaced with a splash screen, then a clip from the swooping camera angle of whoever had killed her character. She said, “brb” into her headset, pushed the microphone up to mute it, and dumped it on the desk.

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t realize you were playing online. If you want to wait to talk –”

“Whatever. I was having a shit match anyway.” She pushed away from her computer and climbed off her chair.

Donica turned on the kitchen lights.

Lena flinched at the sudden brightness.

“I’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes,” Donica said. “I’m just grabbing a coffee for the road.”

“I didn’t say you should go.” Lena rolled her shoulders, stretched, and met me halfway across the apartment. She raised her chin to face me.

I got my first good look at her expression. Lips pressed tight, eyes averted. I couldn’t say for sure in the dim light, but I suspected those eyes were red-rimmed.

I touched her arm. She stared at the floor.

“You must have had a really shit match,” I said.

“Heh.” Finally, she looked up at me with a trace of a smile. “Hell of a lot worse than yours, apparently.”

“You have no idea.” I held my arms out.

After a moment, she gave a little shrug and an even smaller nod.

All the excuse I needed. I wrapped my arms around her. I’d intended to just give her a quick hug, but I found myself clinging for dear life.

I’d thought I was over the tension from exploring the construction site. Like hell.

Lena squeaked. “Wha –”

I felt her arms snake around my back; awkwardly, she patted it.

I squeezed her even harder. If it’d been just the two of us, I might’ve collapsed against her, but since we had company, I forced myself to straighten up and let go.

“That,” Lena said, “sure isn’t what I expected.”

“I could say that about just about everything tonight.”

She frowned at me, then past me at Donica. “So it... didn’t go well? Why were you gone for so long, then?”

“Were we?” I had a couple of horrible thoughts. “Oh shit. Did you try to call me again and I didn’t pick up?”

Lena shook her head. “I figured you didn’t want to hear from me.”

“Extremely wrong.” Still, I breathed a sigh of relief. After I’d missed two calls from her the other day, I’d started to wonder if my phone was going. Or was somehow being co-opted.

The second remained all too possible, but it seemed it hadn’t happened tonight.

My other worry, though...

“Is your clock broken?” Donica asked.

“The eyes and tail don’t move, but the clock part works fine as long as we remember to keep batteries in it.” I swallowed. Looking back at the cheery knockoff vintage Kit-Cat was almost as hard as looking at the elevator had been. Now as then, I couldn’t stop myself from doing so.

Donica gazed up at it, too. “It’s really quarter after ten?”

“Looks more like ten thirty to me,” Lena said. “I figured...”

She shook her head.

“I know we were in there a while,” Donica said, “but that has to be too much. When did we leave?”

“Five-ish,” Lena said. “You can check the Discord.”

“There’s no way.” Donica grabbed her foam cup out of the coffee machine and joined us between our two computers. She peered at Lena’s screen. The lower right of the desktop displayed the same time as the kitchen clock.

How long did it take to drive back and forth to the construction site? Fifteen minutes each way? Probably less, the way Donica drove. Even adding time for us to grab and eat dinner, even adding a little conversation, we’d have had to have spent four hours inside.

I didn’t believe it.

Nor did I know what it meant.

“I guess time flies when you’re having fun,” Lena muttered. She hunched her shoulders and looked everywhere but us.

Donica blew on her coffee. “I suppose I have to give Cameron props for stamina, if nothing else.”

Lena whirled on her, sputtering.

“Well?” Donica raised an eyebrow. “That’s what you’re implying, isn’t it?”

Lena balled her fists. “Don’t screw with me like that. You’re not even close to a good enough friend to get away with it.”

“I’m not your friend at all, and it doesn’t seem like our relationship is headed that way.” Donica took a sip. “If you’re that worried –”

“Of course I’m fucking worried,” Lena snapped. “Cam’s demonstrated he’s got shit taste. Hell, he used to date me!”

Her self-assessment made me want to hug her again; her admission we weren’t together anymore reminded me I shouldn’t.

“There is so much to unpack there,” Donica said. “None of which is my business.”

“You got that right!” Lena said.

“Enough, Lena.” I held her arm.

She tried to tug it loose. “Why are you siding...!”

“Lena.” I gave her arm a squeeze.

She slumped back against me. “‘Cause I’m the one being a bitch.”

“Lil’ bit,” I said. “We’ve had a very, very weird night, but it’s not anybody’s fault. Well. Nobody here. I promise I’ll tell you all about it.”

Her back muscles tensed against my chest as she nodded.

“Thanks for the coffee, Cameron.” Donica raised her foam cup in a mock toast. “If you can spare this, I think I’ll leave you to explain what actually happened to us.”

“You wildly overestimate my exposition skill.” I almost said it was “base twenty percent.” I didn’t know if she’d get the reference to the Call of Cthulhu RPG, though, and I’d told her I’d try to cut down on the obscura.

She swirled her coffee. “You think I could do any better?”

“Nope.” I didn’t know if anyone could explain what we’d gone through to someone who hadn’t. So much of it seemed innocuous unless it was happening to you. “Do you mind writing down as much as you can remember? When you get home, I mean. I’d like to go over it tomorrow.”

“I mind,” Donica said, “but it’s a good idea.”

Lena looked back and forth between us. “What the hell did I miss?”

Donica and I exchanged glances.

“Hell, huh?” I let go of Lena to rub my hands. “We should sit down. It’s a long story.”