Chapter 5: Something Wicked This Way Gone

I found myself engrossed by the illustration of the campus menace on the computer.

The dark figure, in all black with a full-face mask marked with bizarre symbols, was so mesmerizing that I had to force myself to reacclimate to Mr. Shulenmeyers‘ words.

“No doubt another nutbar fixated on the Bramwell-Gates Legend, trying to spook the students. Don’t tell me you know nothing about this or noticed the circus of security guards.”

“I thought they were here for me.”

“What? Billy, honestly, I don’t care if you were caught screwing foreign exchange students in the janitor’s closet. Your great-great-grandparents founded this art institute, and your mother got me this job. She was a damn good cee-lo player.”

His tone and jittery movements told me his genuine concern was finding the sound haunting him.

“Look, I have to get back to this clown show. I’ll tell you how we’re going to play this for the books. First, you’ll give Mrs. Nelson-Perkins a formal written apology. Then, I’ll get Miss Bakirtzis to type it up; you only have to stop by in the morning and sign it. Plus, a day of campus community service.”

“Community service? For what, having a book?”

“Billy, this is Mrs. Nelson-Perkins we’re talking about. You know she’s old school. If I don’t give you some form of discipline for the ruckus in her class, she can make things rough, even on me. Just show up and hang out for 10 minutes to make it look good. Grab that assignment from Miss Bakirtzis on the way out, too.”

“But Mr. Shulenmeyers, He Whose Name is Not Spoken—”

“Let me stop you there. Do you have any proof?”

“Myles and Gene.”

“Your role-playing cohorts? Do you think the board will believe them over Dane, the face of the school? Haven’t you seen his new 30-second spots trending on campus TV? Booyah!”

I rolled my eyes.

“I get where you’re coming from, son, but most of the staff is on that little poser’s bandwagon. So just do what I said, and the matter will resolve itself. Push the Dane angle, and you’ll get some real pushback. I support you either way. But I’ll let you call it.”

“Let’s do it your way.” I reluctantly flashed a smile.

“If only I could get my staff to follow my lead as quickly as you do, everything would be right with the world. So, tell me about you, Billy Boy. Have you had any strange dreams lately? Anything weird? Anything?”

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air before I shook my head no to Mr. Shulenmeyers’ questions.

“Okay. Don’t forget. Pick up the letter and assignment tomorrow, and I’ll have a word with Dane.”

“Thanks, Mr. Shulenmeyers. Sorry about making you miss the golf game.”

“Hey, Billy, be careful. Stay away from the weird and stay out of trouble. Get me? And if I were you, I’d get rid of that book.”

“Sure.”

I departed from the office, hung a left, and headed towards the archway to exit the building. I had no more classes for the day. The hurriedness in my step signaled my eagerness to get home.

For some ungodly reason, rows of students stood on both sides of the archway. I did not want to walk through them, but it was the only way out, so I had to. As I walked into the herd, the taunting and half-singing started.

One side chanted, “Hocus pocus.” The other side chanted, “Abracadabra.” The haunting, resonant tones of the musically deft students spooked me.

Midway through the crowd, Tiny Jem, a student and unscrupulous toy collector who had business dealings with the Nameless One and myself, stepped out. He rushed toward me with a poop-eating grin spread ear to ear and launched a wet sheet that sailed out against the wind and perfectly engulfed me.

“Where did he go? The wizard’s magical cloak made him disappear.”

His muffled words pierced the moist, grody covering.

Embarrassingly, I struggled a little longer with my confinement than I’d like to admit. Once I finally freed myself, the students were gone.

But up ahead, he stood—The Nameless One—waiting at the end of the archway. A bright light behind him made his silhouette loom large.

My tormentors had to be his groupies. He orchestrated that freakshow. I’d had enough! I stilled the energy inside, balled my fists, and barreled down the path to trouble.

***

“That’s crazy. You did what? Finally, payback!”

Nate, the self-asserted alpha of our role-playing group, sharply squinted his eyes as he slurped from his gas station foam cup. Yet, despite his alpha-male status, he exuded the curiosity of a teenage courtier soaking in the spilled tea of the day.

Like everyone else in our eclectic band, Nate had an extreme dislike for The Nameless One. He wanted to hear that our archnemesis had received some retribution.

But his imagination was getting way ahead of my story. So I chose that moment to take a break. Nate’s slurping triggered my desire for a soda.

“I’m thirsty, dude. Be back.”

I left Nate standing by the doorway. He hadn’t even taken his leather coat off yet. Ha. He must have had questions as soon as he entered.

Or did I bombard him when he crossed the threshold? Either way, it didn’t matter.

On my way to the snack bar, I saw Nate removing his coat and starting to mill about.

“Guys, did you hear about Billy’s standoff with The Nameless One outside the dean’s office?”

Everyone was huddled in the gaming area, killing time.

Myles scrolled through his cell. Gene and Jammer, our classmate and unofficial third roommate, were playing War Damage.

“Yeah. Yeah, we did.”

“Standoff? Is that what he’s calling it?”

“Yes, dude. I heard it at least twice. Can I concentrate on my game now?”

“So, what happened to The Nameless One? He hasn’t told me yet.”

“Then wait. It’s Billy’s story. Trust me. He’ll tell it to you, Nate.”

It was true. Since I made it safely to my sanctuary, I may have overindulged in recounting the story.

Myles and Gene got the rawest and most winded version the second I pushed into the door.

Unfortunately for Jammer, she got caught in my mania at least twice. Once directly, as we chit-chatted during her habitual routine of powering on the gaming PC. The other indirectly, as she shot side-commentary while I spewed the craziness to our GM, Weird Nikki, over my cell. She had called to remind everyone she would be a little late. And like everyone else, she had heard the rumors and wanted to check on me, so I had to fill her in on the bizarreness that was my day.

Not long after the call, I answered the knocks at the door.

Nate turned out to be my final sounding board of the evening. By the time he arrived, I was amped. So I naturally added more flair to my narrative than I should have. I had told him all the day’s events up to the climax of the wailing in the archway.

Nate finally floated over to me.

“No one’s giving me extra details. You’d think we’d all be celebrating, sharing an Iron-Clad by now.”

His excitement veered into skepticism.

“You sounded so fired up! I can’t believe you charged him! Damn, Billy! Continue. You barreled down the path to trouble…”

“Yeah, those were my words.”

I took a long sip of soda and cleared my throat. Nate deserved to know the ending of the events.

“I didn’t know what had gotten into me. Guess it was a culmination of everything. I imagined that I looked like Ulysses rushing a Cyclops. Or maybe more like a maniac letting loose. As I got close, I saw no alarm in his eyes. But tears were flying from mine. I knew there was no way back, only forward.”

“You kept running, didn’t you?”

“Right past him. All the way here. Didn’t look back once.”

After my confession, Nate’s elation whisked out of existence, but I breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to get that off my chest. Conversely, I had started to feel a bit of anxiety over Nate’s misinterpretation.

“Dude, unbelievable.”

“Not really… Everyone else knew what I did. Your reaction surprised me.”

Unlike the others, Nate forced me to reevaluate my actions in the archway. And it placed me in an uncomfortable feeling. I had no time to summon a spell.

But I wasn’t scared, right? I wasn’t a coward, right? I felt rage and hatred!

I had every intention of ramming The Nameless One at full speed. I had prepared to give in to unabandoned carnage, even if he ended me. But, at the last second, I heard my guardian’s voice, which changed my actions.

That’s what stopped me.

“Mr. Shulenmeyers said to stay out of trouble. I had just left his office.”

“Yeah, you did say that. Good point”

Thankfully, Nate accepted my words.

“The Nameless One’s been bullying you for years, Billy. I know you occasionally use words as a defense, sprinkled with a small spell. But face it, the only way to shut him up is to take and leave some bruises. I heard it in your voice. It’s coming.”

Nate heard the rage and hatred I felt.

“So what about the book?”

I don’t know why, but Nate’s cold redirect in conversation shook me. It was something in the way he said, “the book,” but I shrugged it off.

“Weird Nikki suggested I should show everyone after the game.”

“Okay. Cool. You think Gene has had any luck against Jammer this week?”

Nate and I split as we walked toward the others. He joined Gene and Jammer, no doubt, to fuel their gun battle with smack talk. Although Nate had a big heart under his tough guy exterior, he also enjoyed rallying up trouble.

I paused briefly and watched.

“Ha! Nasty kill, Jammer. And with a knife, ouch. Gene, this is not looking good, my friend.”

Gene glared over at Nate. But Nate kept his eyes on the flatscreen, profusely pointing at Gene’s dead body as it waited to respawn. Gene sneered, and Jammer smirked, looking extra overweening with her perpetually sleepy eyes.

“Jammer’s looking at my screen.”

“I didn’t look at your screen.”

“You knew where I was hiding. No freaking way you knew that without looking.”

“All you ever do is snipe. There are only a few good areas for that on this map. I knew exactly where you’d post up.”

“Bull. You looked at my screen.”

Nate looked over and winked with an oni smile. I knew what mayhem was coming next, the same as every week.

I flashed a peek at Myles. He had his hood up, masking his face, and his cell clutched as if he were using it. He wasn’t. He was asleep, deep into another one of his power naps before our all-nighter full of The Lords of Omni.

I walked on. I needed a little me time before Weird Nikki arrived. It was the perfect opportunity to find a quiet corner and hash out ideas for tomorrow’s big sociology presentation. As I walked, I took out a small notepad tucked in my jeans pocket and read the pitiful list I had scribbled.

It’s time for a little side quest.

I needed some escapist action, not schoolwork. So I pushed the notepad back into my pocket and surveyed my playground.

My access to an almost unending supply of money never interested me. I rather enjoyed my meager existence compared to Becca. I ate average meals. Regarding clothes, I only wore bargains. I’d get a lift or walk if I needed to get somewhere. No indulgent vehicles that screamed, “Look at me! I’m wealthy.”

I had one guilty pleasure—my undying love for entertainment.

I poured tons of my inheritance into converting the original but abandoned Bramwell-Gates student center on the old campus grounds into my home. The upper level contained my living space, but the open-floor lower level was the crown jewel of the renovations.

I spared no expense to pull together a wonderland of collectibles, games, and media. My personalized entertainment paradise. The few people who have seen the place are usually left stunned.

So many things to do, but what?

I walked past the pool table, the ping-pong table, and the stage covered in our grunge band instruments.

I felt the urge to play the slot machines for a hot second, but I wasn’t feeling lucky.

There were plenty of new subs of comics and manga in the library area, but I wasn’t in the mood.

The theater set-up in the back beckoned me, especially the reclining leather seats, but it didn’t matter since I didn’t have time to watch anything.

I found myself heading into the neon panoramic of the arcade.

Nothing like starting game night with a little pre-gaming. Finally, a break from all the bullcrap.

“Let’s do this.”