Out of the Shadows
an excerpt

“Stephen, I have to know. Is there something about you that isn’t completely normal? Is there something… anything that’s out of the ordinary about you?” Sam asked, almost begging for an answer.

Instead of answering, Stephen stood still for a moment and finally asked, “This Tristan guy… is he tall and lanky, usually seen sitting alone on some stoop or another, watching people?”

“Um, yeah, I guess. That’s where I usually see him.”

“Was he wearing a green zip-down sweatshirt and dark blue jeans today?” he asked, staring deeply into her eyes again.

“Um, yeah he was. Why do you want to know?”

“Does he have glasses and a bandana?” he asked earnestly.

“Well, yeah he does. Why do you care though?” she almost demanded.

“He’s at my seven-o-clock right now, on the steps to the library. I noticed him there right when you mentioned him. Do you have any idea why he keeps watching me?” he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders.

“He didn’t want me to say, but… but… he thinks you’re going to do something bad, something really bad. He might be waiting for that moment, but I don’t know how serious he was. Stephen, what the hell is going on here?” she cried.

“I’m sorry Sam, but I can’t tell you. I need… I need to go, now,” he said, letting her go and turning to go.

Sam tightened her grip on his arm. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I’m not going to do anything bad. I just need to figure out this weird feeling I keep having,” he said as he placed a hand on hers, and gently made her release his arm. He walked past her, taking the route that would take him back to the freshmen dorms the long way. It was the way that avoided the library.

***

“Why did he walk away?” Tristan said, seemingly appearing behind Sam.

“He… I don’t know. He must have known you’ve been watching him for a while. Listen Tristan, Stephen isn’t as dimwitted as you think, and neither am I. I know that you’re trying to get him to do something, and you’re using me to do it. It’s pretty obvious, so stop trying to hide it.”

“Sam, Sam, don’t be naïve. I’ve been watching you too. You hate your roommate, find the people who you think you should be friends with annoying, and think that you’re a lot more intelligent than ninety percent of the world around you,” Tristan said, giving her a sidelong glance.

“How do you… how long have you been following me?”

“Oh, long enough to see you with Stephen earlier. It’s really not as hard as you think to determine that much. I also got to see your personality during that Halo LAN earlier. You’re just as predictable in real life as you are in video games,” he said.

“I should leave right now. I don’t even know why I’m still bothering to stay. Goodbye Tristan. Stay the hell away…” a scream in the distance cut her off.

Tristan didn’t even flinch when he heard the scream. He never took his eyes off Sam when she turned around in a fit of panic. “Still think there’s no reason to think differently of Stephen?”

“Shut up! Someone could be hurt over there! We have to go see what’s wrong!” Sam said in a panic.

Tristan chuckled a little. “What’s this ‘we’? I thought you wanted nothing more to do with me?”

“Fuck you Tristan. I’m going to see what happened. Come if you want; I could care less what you do, really. Just don’t get me involved in your net,” she said as she started to move towards the source of the scream.

As she left, Tristan watched her until she was out of site. Finally, to seemingly no one he said, “You really don’t know how little control over this you have, do you?”