The Place Between Part 2

I came to a rather momentous decision today that will open my calendar to allow me to do what I love: to write. I cannot tell you how freeing it feels to have reached this decision. While indeed I've been producing every week, it's hasn't been easy. And it's never been difficult before. But now, the pen is in my hand once more and honest to goodness, this is exactly how it feels:

Yes, that's right. I just used the theme song from "Frozen." I was never quite a fan of "Frozen," because this song was played OBSESSIVELY EVERYWHERE, but I guess I wasn't supposed to appreciate it until tonight. And that's all we're going to talk about that...I'm still kinda fighting it (as I have the song playing in the background.)

Alright, you've waited a whole week patiently. Ready for part two of The Place Between? Well, ready or not, here it is!

The Place Between Part Two

Perhaps it was the chemicals from the paints and the Poptarts she imbibed that caused her to hallucinate. Perhaps it was the left-over fumes of some hyped up drug that resided in the bathroom laying in wait to throw any teen into a waking dream.

This was how Cassie attempted to convince herself that what she experienced wasn't real. But the silver pendant she clutched to that Martin gave to her was as solid and as true as anything and in her life. As she lay in bed later that night, she kept running her thumb over the three words impressed upon it's face: The Place Between.

Throughout the entire night, her head was spinning. The only solid thoughts she could string together were; 'Rowling totally under dramatized how Harry would have reacted when walking into Diagon alley for the first time.'

It was real. All of it. Not Hogwarts and that lot, (although Cassie did keep her fingers crossed to believe that somewhere out there a hippogriff was shooting the breeze with a mocking jay.)

The expanse of the Place Between was yet to be seen or realized by Cassie. Martin had said her "edification to the world between" was to begin next Tuesday when she didn't have class. Cassie wasn't sure if she could wait that long or how she was going to keep this to herself or how she was to tell Marlie about why she was skipping out on her normal volunteering routine. The list went on and on as did the diurnal routines.

"Cass," Mrs. Jordon hollered to her daughter just before she floated out the door. Rushing through the living room to catch Cassie, Mrs. Jordon handed the girl her rucksack. "Forgetting something?"

Cassie thought it strange to think that a bag full of partially done homework, pens, and other oddities could be so important when weighed against the pendant in her pocket. But she supposed for school she should at least make an effort to portray that everything was still same ol' same ol'. She murmured a thanks to her mom. Cassie remained in a state of shock and she was drained from lack of sleep. It was a miracle even a simple murmur emerged from her successfully. 

"Are you feeling okay?" Cassie's mom placed the back of her hand to Cassie's forehead. "You've got that zombie look."

"Yeah, I'm fine, mom," Cassie quickly dismissed and pushed her mom's hand away. She immediately changed her tune to seem less irritable. "I just didn't sleep well." Seeing the dog that meandered into the room to say good day to her favorite human, Cassie pointed at the furry one and said, "Dina kept me up all night." Cassie was not even sure if Dina had been in her room at all, but it seemed a viable excuse. 

Mrs. Jordon considered her daughter for a minute, then decided that she would be alright. If the girl was about to get behind the wheel of a car, possibly not so much. Luckily Mrs. Jordon didn't have to worry about such things. "Alright, well, take it easy today and try to sleep on the bus. Have a great day, sweetie." 

Cassie received a kiss from her mom then headed out the door into the cold morning.

As much as Cassie wanted to move out to the city, she did enjoy the mornings in the mountains. There was a light, crispness that accompanied the dewy morning haze. There was no snow on the ground, it had been a very dry winter so far, but it was cold enough to make the dew drops on the oak leaves turn to frost.

The bus arrived on time at her stop at the end of the dirt road. Cassie partially collapsed into the straight back, black bus seat. She always sat on the right side of the bus nearer to the back so that she could rest her feet on the hump on the floor where the rear wheel was. She slumped in her seat and returned to her daze of confusion and wonder. She did not even bother to get out her iPod for the forty minute ride. Kid by kid, the bus filled, but it was never completely taken up. Usually only one or two rows would have two students sharing a bench. Even though Chelsea and Cassie had been best friends since they were seven, they did not sit together in the mornings. Chelsea always ate her egg sandwich on the ride to school and the smell of it made Cassie sick. 

As the bus passed the abandoned cattle farm, just as had happened the day before, the day before that and so on, Cassie's thoughts went numb as the bus rolled by. It seemed impossible to her that even with her mind so distracted, the sight of that farm could prove to wash her thoughts like a power hose to a mud stricken car. 

Like clockwork, the buss reached the school half an hour before the first bell rang at 7:23am. The extra half hour was necessary out on the mountains. The roads frequently would have ice or snow on them, so it was an every day precaution to leave early just in case. 

Cassie didn't mind arriving at school early, particularly today. She was starting to emerge from her haze, so she realized that apologies were in order to the librarian that she skipped out on yesterday. Cassie felt really bad for what had happened especially because she wouldn't be able to give the real reason why she was absent. An enormous flock of butterflies began to flit in her stomach as she approached the raised library building. She really wanted to tell someone about what she was a part of, but she had been sworn to secrecy. It was an enormous undertaking that she was to be a part of, and, kicking herself, Cassie realized that she had forgotten to make her bed, yet again. 'How do they expect me to be able to do this?'

The warmth of the library greeted Cassie as she walked through the code detectors designed to deter students from pocketing books. She could immediately see Marlie, the librarian, talking with a student. Looking through the stacks, Cassie checked to see if Mike and Chelsea were on their couches - yes, they had claimed them. Teens in high school really were not all that different from lions in the wild - they traveled in packs, they marked their territory, there was usually a dominant male or female, they fought with other packs, they estranged those that fell out from their favor, and they did things their way. Unfortunately, there were only a couple of baby faced freshmen girls hanging out on the couch giggling at the manga that they were reading. Other than that, the library was pretty empty.   

Cassie made her way towards Marlie at the front desk. While the tenth grader with Marlie explained the many different reasons why there were a variety of stains all over Tess of the D'ubervilles, Cassie leaned on the side of the desk and realized that this conversation was doomed to take a while. As she stood there, Cassie thought on Marlie for a moment. She had that "a-typical" librarian look, complete with wild, grey hair and reading glasses dangling from a beaded strap that a student had made her. But she was nothing like your "a-typical" librarian. Cassie thought very fondly of all the conversations the pair had shared and she knew she was not the only one at this school who felt this way. Marlie was the cool mentor, friend, and confidant that every teenager could ever want, regardless if they were nerds, jocks, band geeks, orchestra kids, misfits, or thespians. They all gathered here because Marlie was the best listener on campus, bar none. She was also exceedingly understanding to the life and means of being a teen. Cassie would never forget one morning when she and her friends were on the couch; her friend Josh who had been expelled for having pot on him jumped clean over the back of the couch to tackle-hug Mike who had been gone for a week after having his wisdom teeth removed. It turned into a giant wrestling, laughing fest, with Cassie and Chelsea corralled into it. Had any other adult on campus seen the hullabaloo, all of them would have ended up in detention, particularly because they were in the library. But not Marlie. She stood still watching the whole thing, allowing the kids to have their fun, and once they started to settle down, all she said was, "Alright, guys, just make sure you put the couches back in the way you found them." Which they happily did.

Cassie sighed. She missed Josh. Maybe she would go see him later. It was Friday, after all.

"Alright, Miss Cassie," Marlie said with a hint of 'what-were-you-up-to' on her tone. "And why did Chelsea and I spend the whole afternoon re-shelfing by ourselves?"

For a brief moment, Cassie thought it odd that neither would go looking for her, but she knew that Chelsea would probably not even realize that Cassie was missing until an entire bus ride home without seeing her friend. The bus ride home with Chelsea had been interesting. The excuse that Cass had given her bestie was that she decided to go back to art lab after all to work on her senior project. Chelsea bought the story, no questions asked. Cass had been lucky - had Mike been involved in the conversation, there would have been no end to it. He was nosy, plain and simple. Clearing her throat, Cassie said to Marlie, "I uh, I had a lot of work to get done on my senior project and I just got caught up on it. I'm really sorry, Marlie. I can help now though. I can skip Advisory."

Marlie would have more than happily gotten Cassie out of first period Advisory, which was a 35 minute homeroom that was really designed more for underclassmen. It didn't make sense for seniors to sit around. Most merely napped or played with their phones in class. Most teachers had given up confiscating cells long ago. All that being said, Marlie did know that Cass was one of the few students who actually used that time productively. "I'm not sure, Cass. Don't you have a report that goes along with that art project? Shouldn't you be using that time towards finishing that?"

Dropping her composure like a guilty puppy, Cassie said, "Yeah, I guess so."

Marlie had known this young lady better than she did most of the students that came through her. Cassie and her group of friends practically lived in the library.  "Alrighty, Cass, what's really going on?"

It bothered Cassie to no end that she was so transparent with her emotions. 'Really, Martin? Did you have to choose me to be this sole carrier of the most awesome news ever?' 

Cassie tapped her chipped painted nails to the top of the desk a second, trying to conjure a story. "It's nothing serious. I'm just frustrated. I have this image in my head, but I don't know what to do with it."

"Draw?" Marlie said as if the answer was so blatantly obvious it was painful to say it. "Come on now, Cassie? Really?"

Shrugging, Cassie actually began to realize that it wasn't a terrible idea, but there were some issues. "I realize I could express myself creatively," she said the last few words as pompously as possible, "But there's no...no..." she pressed her hands together as she tried to find the right word.

Rolling her head in small circles, Marlie was hoping to use telepathy to give Cassie the word, but knowing better, she ended up just saying, "Physical object?"

Snapping, Cassie said, "Yes, yep. That's it. I have something inside me, but I don't know how or what to draw."

Nodding, Marlie explained to Cassie about abstract art as an expression for exactly that. Being an art enthusiast, Cassie of course knew about abstract art, but the emotions and objects were still so new to her, that the idea had not yet crossed her mind. "That's not a bad idea," she said meekly.

The bell rang. It was time to go to first period.

"Come on back at lunch, Cass," Marlie said as she stood up to walk the young lady out. "I'll have a stack of books ready to inspire you."

Waving bye to Marlie, Cassie bound down the steps to the library and walked across the lunch court where dozens of other students were moving about with similar destinations. It was Friday and hardly anyone could wait for the end of the day.

As Cassie walked off the concrete pavement and down a grassy slope toward Advisory Period, she became very aware of the pendant in her pocket. It was vibrating like a phone on silent. She remembered what Martin had told her about the pendant - that it would let her know when it needed her attention and how to answer its call.

Quickly skipping off, Cassie ran to the closest girl's bathroom.

"You're gonna be late," a hall monitor who was one of the teachers who had first period off yelled to Cassie as he tapped his watch.

"It's girl time, can't help it!" Cassie quickly shouted to him. She did not wait to see his reaction - she was an old pro at this point in getting around rules.

Running into an empty stall and closing the door, Cassie pulled the pendant out from her pocket and held it up to her ear like one would a conch shell.

She jumped when she heard Martin's voice as clearly as if he was standing next to her coming from the pendant: "I know I said we'd start next week, but there's someone I'd really like you to meet. If you get the chance and do not miss class, it's time you come back to the place between."

"Ha," Cassie thought to herself. "It's not like first period really counts as class." 

Trembling from excitement, Cassie put the pendant right up against her lips exactly as instructed and whispered what she had been taught, "I know of a place, a place between."

The space around her began to twist downward. It suddenly looked as if she was standing in the eye of a slow moving tornado.

~*~*~

J.K. Rowling, if you by some miracle are reading this blog, please don't think I have anything against Harry Potter - those books are my favorite series without competition. I've probably read The Deathly Hallows about five times. 

And for the rest of you, I'll see you next week for more of The Place Between. 

Your humble author,
S. Faxon