17:53. Tuesday, December 5th, 2023. Pam’s Apartment, Midport.
Alexis could tell that Jen immediately knew something was off. I mean, we had just gotten done arguing why this isn’t my problem.
Now, here she was, saying she would do whatever it takes.
Jen kept pestering Alexis for more details, which Alexis continually denied.
“Listen,” Alexis said, “I am doing what you wanted. I am doing the ‘detective solves the mystery’ thing! So can we please just drop it?”
“Bestie," Jen said, "I'm just trying to figure out if this is coming from a good place.”
“So it isn’t enough to do what you want, I have to be doing it for the right reasons?” Alexis asked, “Why can’t it just be enough for me and that’s all.”
“IDK, I worry about you,” Jen said, “I just wanted you to let her crash at your place for a bit. Maybe find a few answers. You’re talking like you are gonna get into something dangerous.”
“Look around Jen!” Alexis said, gesturing to the torn up wall, “She is dangerous!”
“Then why are you suddenly down to help her?” Jen asked, without malice or judgment, but seemingly asking out of genuine confusion.
Ugh, Jen can really dig her heels in when she wants to.
Alexis was getting a bit upset. It was more frustrating that Jen wasn’t actually being unreasonable. But at this rate, she would be dragged kicking and screaming into a conversation Alexis was not emotionally prepared for. Worse, Jen wasn’t even really asking to know Alexis’s motivation. Just in ascertaining whether or not it was a positive or negative, which was a can of worms that Alexis was not ready for.
Besides coming to the conclusion she must now help Pam, Alexis hadn’t quite processed her own exact feelings regarding the situation. However, while trying to come up with stalling tactics Alexis thought of a way to get out of the situation.
“How about this?” Alexis asked, “Regardless of whether or not I am doing this for the right or wrong reason or reasons. I’m still me, have I ever done anything dangerous before?”
“No,” Jen said, shaking her head, “I guess not.”
One of the positives of being a known coward is the lowered expectations. Come to think of it, is that why Pam doesn’t treat me with respect?
“And if that ever changes you know you will be one of the first to know,” Alexis said.
Jen put a finger to her chin. It looked like she was considering something before she replied, “Okay I guess.”
After that, they grabbed the rest of the things from the list, and Alexis texted Pam that they would be on their way back soon. In the car, since Alexis still wanted to avoid the questions surrounding Alexis’s newfound reason for helping, mercifully Jen spoke up first.
“So a katthaj? Lowkey, seemed kinda basic for what I thought Pam would be into.” Jen said.
“Sorry, a what?” Alexis asked.
“You know,” Jen said, “the orange tiger shark.”
“It has a name?” Alexis asked.
“What weird corner of gay clogger are you on that you somehow missed this?” Jen asked.
“I’m not on ‘gay clogger’ I am just on normal clogger!” Alexis said, “Where stuffed animals are just stuffed animals. Just because I’m a lesbian doesn’t mean it has to be my whole personality.”
“Self-hating psychic and a self-hating dyke,” Jen said, “woof.”
“I am not a self-hating lesbian!” Alexis declared.
Jen laughed, “Did you really only fight me on the lesbian half?”
“Well…” Alexis said, “It’s kind of hard not to admit I don’t exactly get along with other psychics.”
“Something something is the first step to recovery,” Jen said.
“Anyway, so what is the deal with the tigershark?” Alexis asked, trying to get back onto the original topic and avoid having to do any more introspection than she had to.
“It’s just a meme that every trans girl has or had one when they were a kid.”
“Why?” Alexis asked.
“I don’t know!” Jen said, throwing up her hands, “Ask a trans girl!”
To change the subject Alexis decided to ask Jen about something that had been on her mind since this morning.
“Okay then… Anyway,” Alexis said, “I am trying to think of a better alternative to the lantern.”
“Aw,” Jen whined, “I kind of dig the lantern. It fits her spooky vibes tbh.”
Alexis rolled her eyes.
“You’re not the one who has to stare at it anytime Pam wants to communicate” Alexis said, “it is already inconvenient that we have to type or write our messages so she can understand us. If she had something that relied on sound that would at least let her talk across the room.”
“Like a buzzer?” Jen asked.
“Yeah,” Alexis answered, “but hopefully something that sounds a bit more pleasant.”
“Do you think you can buy something like that?” Jen asked.
“I don’t know,” Alexis answered, “our options are pretty limited. We already got lucky with the lantern and I am not sure how much longer that is going to last. In a perfect world, we would want something that can’t be broken and can make light or sound depending on the situation.”
“Does something like that exist?” Jen asked.
“Maybe?” Alexis said, unsure, “I am not really the technically inclined type. The other thing is that it would be nice if Pam could be able to use the internet on her own.”
“I’ve thought ‘bout that,” Jen said, “She is probably super bored stuck in your place.”
“Yeah,” Alexis agreed, “she can easily break plastic though, so most keyboards are out. I know they make things for people with limited motor functions, but I doubt a lot of them will have the durability we need.”
“What about touch screens?” Jen asked.
“I thought about that, phone touch screens don’t work because most psychic talents don’t register on them. And we know that is the case for
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Dang,” Jen said.
“Yeah…” Alexis said, working through her thought process, “There are other kinds though that work using pressure. Like the kind that were in those handheld game consoles from when we were kids. But again we come to the durability problem.”
“Maybe instead of trying to find stuff durable enough for Pam,” Jen said, “why not just try to work with her on trying not to break things?”
Alexis thought about it. She really didn’t know much about how people actually trained their talent. Most of her job mostly revolved around things like how to avoid rampages, because stuff like that kept people safe. In terms of training and developing all Alexis knew was where to find up to date resources. But if Pam could work on not having her talent immediately destroy things, it would open up a lot of options.
“Honestly,” Alexis said, “that is a really good point.”
“Plus it would totes prove if she’s alive or dead,” Jen added.
“How so?” Alexis asked.
“Ghosts aren’t exactly known for their ability to change. So obs if she does grow then that proves she def isn’t a ghost,” Jen said confidently, even though to Alexis this was basically moon logic. Still, Alexis nodded just the same, because she had enough arguments that day.
----------------------------------------
When they got back to Alexis’s condo, Jen was not able to stay as she had gotten a text from her roommate about her cat, Lord Bakersfield, and was worried about him.
On a side note, Jen had once assured Alexis that her cat’s name was a cat related pun, but Alexis just could not for the life of her see how.
“Well can you stay for a bit?” Alexis asked as they got out of the car. “If Pam is gonna stay at my place I need to set some ground rules, and the more I think about it the less I think she actually respects me.”
“And your plan to backup those ground rules when I’m not there is…?” Jen said, letting the statement hang in the air.
“Point taken,” Alexis said, sighing. Alexis hated that someone as pretty as Jen was able to be that persuasive when she wanted to be.
It was such a good point that it wasn’t until Jen had already gotten in her car to drive back to her house that it occurred to that both Alexis and Jen had been in their pajamas since this morning. Which meant that Jen had indeed taken one of Alexis’s favorite shirts home with her, just as Alexis had feared would happen. Absolutely devastating.
Alexis wasn’t able to mourn the property theft however, since she was going to be walking into an important conversation with Pam.
She tried to boost her confidence up a bit. It helped to remind herself that Pam was definitely not prone to purposeful violence. Though when she walked up to the front door, she saw a note from her neighbor asking if Alexis could keep the noise down, which Alexis took to mean Pam had not exactly been gentle in practicing morse code. So maybe not purposeful violence, but accidental violence was still on the table.
When Alexis had walked in she saw Pam was in the middle of practicing her morse code.
[“-ISS THEM SO MUCH BUT ITS MY FA”]
Alexis had walked in when Pam was partway through a letter, but Alexis did notice it ended with a dash, and it didn’t take much to figure out what it was from context. Alexis had immediately felt the urge to say something to announce her presence before remembering that Pam wouldn’t be able to hear it. Instead she just opted to wave her hands.
The lantern floated up off the tarp and toward the door.
“Hey, sorry for interrupting,” Alexis typed apologetically, “it seemed private.”
[“C”]
“Anyway,” Alexis typed, “we got the stuff you asked for.”
[“K”]
Alexis noticed her speed was getting better after only a day of practice. Though she supposed that wasn’t too crazy since there wasn’t much else for her to do. Though that thought made Alexis feel pretty bad.
“Do you have any preference for where to put it?” Alexis typed.
[“PIX OUT ELSE N CARE”]
“You want the photos out, but don’t care about the rest?” Alexis typed.
Pam is starting to get the hang of shorthand which is good for speed but does make her sentences harder to follow. If she really gets the hang of morse code in general maybe we can switch to a system like philips code.
Thinking of Philip's code made Alexis think of her mom, which was nice.
The lantern flashed affirmatively to Alexis’s question so she started to lay out the photos. The lantern floated over them, shining its light on each of them, and presumably the memories they represented.
Before Alexis forgot, she took out Pam’s family photo from her pocket and placed it with the others. But when she did, the lantern started to vibrate.
[“N”]
Alexis hastily put it back in the bag with the rest of Pam’s stuff. The lantern seemed to settle back into place. Alexis felt stupid because there were a lot of good reasons she probably didn’t want to see that photo. She even briefly mentioned not getting along with her mom last night.
“Sorry,” Alexis typed, “you had it with the others so I thought it would be fine.”
[“ITS K BUT N RN”]
“Got it, so not right now then?” Alexis asked.
[“C”]
Alexis waited for a bit. She wasn’t sure if she was stalling or just waiting for that brief bit of awkwardness to be behind them.
[“WHERES JEN”]
“She had to go home to take care of her cat.”
[“LIKED HER”]
She wasn’t sure if Pam was expressing disappointment because she didn’t like Alexis, or just was trying to relate to Alexis over admiration of a mutual friend. So Alexis wasn’t sure what she should say.
“Yeah…” Alexis typed, “I like her too.”
Eventually Alexis worked up the courage to say what was on her mind.
“Pam,” Alexis typed, “are you okay to have a conversation about your future?”
[“C”]
Alexis put down her phone and went to start up her computer. She was going to be doing a lot of typing. She sat on what was quickly becoming her usual spot, which was the couch cushion in what was once her living room. Having to turn the laptop around after each message was a little bit annoying but it was the best they could do.
“Okay,” Alexis typed, “first off, I talked to Jen and you can stay here for as long as you want. Are you okay with that?”
[“C”]
“With that in mind,” Alexis typed, “we can grab more of your stuff later if you want. If that is something you want?”
[“C”]
This was the easy part. Next Alexis had to talk about the hard part.
“Okay, so if you are staying here, then there is a lot of stuff I need to understand. I know your situation is a little up in the air right now, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still important decisions you have to make. Like first of all, you got reported missing at work. If we aren’t careful the police might get involved one way or another.”
[“N”]
“No?” Alexis typed, “What is wrong with what I just said?”
[“COPS N GET INVOLVED”]
“The cops won’t get involved?” Alexis typed.
[“C”]
“What makes you think that?” Alexis typed.
[“TRUST”]
Trust? Trust between who? Me trusting her? Her trusting the police? The police trusting her?
“Can you explain what you mean?” Alexis typed.
[“N”]
Welp, add that to the series of open questions I have regarding Pam.
“Alright, well that was besides the point anyway. The question is more how do you want to portray yourself to the outside world. So far your landlord thinks you are still alive, but do you want to contact friends to let them know you are safe?” Alexis typed.
[“N”]
What?
“Why?” Alexis typed. If I was stuck in your position, I would want my loved ones to know I was safe immediately.
[“N READY”]
The lantern started to sway uncomfortably.
“Pam, are you okay?”
There was a pause before the lantern flashed again.
[“N”]
The lantern continued to sway over the tarp uncomfortably, with each sway becoming a bit wider. It occurred to Alexis that even though this was a clear sign Pam’s grip was slipping, that this didn’t line up with what Pam had said earlier about her powers. Pam had said the angrier she got the better she controlled
Alexis also couldn’t think of a particularly fitting reason why Pam would be incentivized to lie about if she was uncomfortable. She could think of reasons why Pam may have lied about how her power worked initially however. But her priority at the moment was to first calm her down.
“Pam, relax. It’s you and me here. Let’s just rain check this conversation for now. Okay?” Alexis typed.
But after Alexis turned the laptop around, a response didn’t come. A small fear worked its way into Alexis’s head that she actually had no idea if Pam had even read the message. So to be sure, Alexis closed the laptop underneath her cushion and got up.
This was going to be a long night.