Brand New Goth Girl/Transform the Dorm
[END]
EPILOGUE
TWENTY YEARS LATER
——
This was the first reunion I actually managed to attend. Not quite twenty years since I graduated, but the biggest group that agreed to get together in a while. Riona and Trisha routinely visited my old place. Southern California was easier on my wrists than Missouri though. Plus, as a positive to everything that happened, housing prices cratered, and it was surprisingly easy to get a really nice place. I could still do everything remotely.
We met up at a restaurant down the road from the University. Trisha rushed over to greet me first with a warm embrace. Despite a medical reduction, she was still very soft to hug. Little lightning streaks of gray accented her locks. I was still in denial about my hair. Riona sat over at the long table with their three kids, Hannah, Maisie, and Scott. They’d grown up so much since I last saw them. I knew Maisie would be starting school at Cressman in a few years. She wanted to play basketball and dwarfed her mom, Trisha. Riona had given birth to Hannah by donor after Trisha. Scott was adopted. Hannah had all her mom‘s mischief in her eyes.
Back in college, I was actually considered for the maid of honor in their formal wedding. The two of them were so anxious to contact their families and swam through fear about reality dealing them secret boyfriends or other obstacles to their love. It turned out that their parents met the news with relief, proclaiming that they should’ve gotten married ages ago. The event was a little crazy, because they kept their legal ceremony a secret for quite a while, but their moms didn’t take too long to figure it out. The big formal wedding in the redwoods was amazing, and I was so happy to be there for them.
Their roommates hooked up at some point, and I wound up being invited to the weirdest anime session I’ve ever experienced. And it didn’t involve any tentacles. They were a cute couple, but I never really found out what happened to them after college, and Riona and Trisha lost touch.
Norah and I still chatted occasionally. She would come around to my swimming club a lot and especially help out with theater projects. Rosalie caught the drama bug and played plenty of princesses. She was also the first one to lose her girlside virginity that I knew about, although Celestina wasn’t too far behind. Cute rocker guy. She was going through a lot of shit, and the relationship didn’t last. I also found someone within the year, even though it was more of a need for companionship than actual romance.
The sex was good, even though I didn’t have a point of reference otherwise. I had to quit jazz band because whatever talent everyone supposed I had wasn’t actually in me.
It was good to catch up. Everyone agreed without saying that these challenging times were not to be a topic of discussion. Reminiscing filled in the gaps. We carved out the contours of the places we knew so well. We vented about professors who were not at all improved by crossing the gender gap. Although one English professor, who was a massive fan of Bob Dylan, turned into a very relaxed hippie girl.
With my very long hair, I felt about the same energy in my life. Had to give up the goth, even though it was more of a Beatrice thing than anything I claimed ownership of. My big glasses would’ve wrecked the impression anyway. At least they worked for the groups that were still interested in my most "artistic" photos.
Celestina arrived a few minutes after me. She kept her hair dyed black. She was definitely the most famous of our class of alumni. Celebrated songwriter, composer, and weekend rocker. Many years ago, she told me that she could still feel Parsley around as a happy ghost checking in on her. It motivated her. That’s why I could never pass along what that creature implied. I always kept it to myself, all of it. And I intended to take it with me when I died. If the bastard ever communicated with the others, they kept it even more secret than I did.
Kasey, Norah, Carol, and Rosalie joined us soon after. Norah became a comic book writer whose stuff was well on its way to being adapted. She looked amazing. Kasey finally seemed happy too after so many haunted years, especially beyond college. Carol was a pastor. She managed several Good Friday crucifixion reenactments where she stood for Christ. One instance in particular was during a thunderstorm, with her prop cross dangerously close to receiving criticism from above.
Rosalie had seven kids, all from the same guy who massively dwarfed her. And her eighth was already showing with her slight belly. They good-naturedly accepted the label of being addicted to having kids just as much as they were addicted to going on foreign missionary trips. I kind of hoped eight would be enough, but the world needed it lately. At least the worst seemed to be over. The bastard probably enjoyed all that.
I did some searching, for a while, into cases like the flashlight. Suspicious instances of one sex in an area, claims of inanimate objects coming to life, or people posting things that didn’t make rational sense. Plenty of candidates popped up, but nothing I could say for certain that tied into strange shenanigans.
Several of Celestina‘s roommates actually had nuptials recently. She claimed she wanted to go but found plenty of reasons not to. I learned that she was going to go back to the beach, where Parsley was last. She created a fake urn with wood chips and sawdust, something for her to keep in Parsley’s place. It had been with her for many years, but it just wasn’t helping, so she was going to do a surreptitious ocean burial when no one was looking. She didn’t give a fuck if anyone fined her. I wanted to go too, but she said she had to do it herself.
Despite how full our section of the restaurant soon became, there weren’t a lot of alumni. In years past, I had some interest in how everyone was psychologically dealing with their changed lives. The school therapists were often swamped. I went a few times myself. A significant number of classmates changed schools between years, and even more moved away when they graduated. That’s what I did. Some years were spent with my elder sisters, and those were the best times. We were in the shit times now, and I felt awful for the youngest kids around the table.
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That bastard may have been out there watching and poking, but the biggest problems were on humanity. No excuses to be made there. I did my best not to dwell. It was a lovely lunch, with so many things shared amongst ourselves with exuberant laughter and the best jokes.
Eventually, I popped over to the restroom. It only took me a few weeks before I was consistently using the right one. But, even now, I would occasionally forget. More than half my life as a girl and those traces still remained.
My face in the mirror remained cheerful, despite all the years added to it. My eyes were tired though, along with so many other parts. Most days, I did my best not to think about that bastard, always watching over a billion people on Earth and treating us like concentrated fuel for whatever his sick plans were.
What did I believe now about humanity? Anything jaded in there? Perhaps. Stressed, worried, anxious, confused, sad for pointless reasons, hurting without a point to pin down the pain. But also restful when it rained, Zen about the little things, focused when cleaning, joyful at each surprise inspiration, energized walks, and always doing my best.
I may not have made the greatest choices in my life or taken advantage of every opportunity. But there wasn’t a moment I would give up, despite the challenges, despite the changes, and despite the mounting uncertainties.
It is beautiful. I am beautiful. And this world is beautiful, in spite of itself.
———
The Man in Black, who went by many names, some given him by long-dead writers and others by those who glimpsed him fleetingly not so long ago, stood over the spinning globe of Earth.
He was annoyed. The information he gathered allowed him to separate and sequester an entire world and bend it to his whims. This process should’ve yielded exactly what he needed. But the output was far below expectations and dipping even lower. It was like the people were fighting him… But that didn’t make any sense. The vast majority didn’t even know he existed. They didn’t know any of this existed. They were tools for his goals. Frustrating. So very frustrating.
No matter though. With the disconnect of time, the world would spin along until they finally conceded to his will. Looking beside the table, he glared at a long, clear rod with gold and blue light faintly shimmering out of it. Parsley… amongst others.
Incongruities. Messes. Radiant presences that should’ve yielded to him long ago. They still provided a beacon of energy flashing across the void, calling to the others. Soon enough, they would come.
He didn’t have to wait long. The first one that found his way here had a companion. She was short with a better scowl and subdued blonde hair sculpted like a tarnished helmet. He recognized her as a radiant reincarnated as human, despite the fact she was dressed mostly in black too. His other self stood beside her.
“It worked. Finally, our pieces are coming back together.”
The other approached cautiously. “What do you have here?”
“Don’t you remember the plan?”
They paused and reflected before answering, “… Not really. Mainly interested in getting back together in one piece.”
“Same here. Hold still…”
The Man in Black lifted the clear rod and pointed it at his double. The other froze in place with viscous rippling, like a melting liquid, and managed to say, “What are you doing?! Why are you attacking me?!”
He laughed lightly. “It’s not personal. It’s just a dog-eat-dog world, and I am hungry.”
Unhinging his jaw, the Man in Black chomped down on the other version of him and ravenously swallowed until they were gone. Cleaning off his lips, he looked across the room at the radiant woman and inquired, “Problem?”
She responded simply, “Not for me.“
“Name?”
“Vincent Muller.”
With a tip of his head, the Man in Black responded, “Fair enough. Whatever deal you had with him, I’ll honor it just the same. Do we have an agreement?”
Vincent gave a slow, subtle nod. The Man in Black, also known as Cerberus to some, smiled his usual smile and said, “Good. We have a lot of work to do…”
——
The former residents of Margaret Mead Hall WILL RETURN.
More than any other story in the series, this fourth installment was rough. I expected it would be rather light in content, but it actually wound up with significant dramatic elements.
There will not be a direct sequel to Transform the Dorm, unlike the first three narratives. You will see these characters again. But I knew going in that I wanted to definitively conclude a lot of things for them. It was heartbreaking to let go of these characters. With each of these installments, I have become more deeply connected to my cast of characters. I’ve richly enjoyed experiencing everything with them. It’s always sad to say goodbye. But I needed to do it in a way that conclusively set the story. This was easily the most melancholy narrative I can remember writing in quite some time.
And I hope that people had a good time reading it, despite the darker shades of the narrative.
Coming up after this are unused story bonus posts related to this particular narrative. There are a couple different threads delving into the usage of this magical flashlight. They’re all rather mature and transformation-heavy. These bonus segments will be presented with explanations. They will allow me to build up the next story before release.
The next story is Yuri Worlds. And I hope you look forward to it.