TIME
By the time I got back to
the dorm, it was almost eleven. Daniela was sitting on the futon watching TV when
I came in. She turned around and muted the TV.
“Where
have you been?” she asked, concern tingeing her voice.
I shut the
door separating the suite from the hallway. “What do you mean?”
“You
didn’t return my calls. What happened?”
“Sorry, I
dropped my phone and it broke,” I said weakly. “Can I sit down?”
She
scooted over to make room for me on the futon, and I collapsed into it. “I
broke up with Hunter today,” I said somberly.
“Why? What
happened?”
I took a
deep breath. “I went to the coffee shop to do some sketching and
overheard these two girls talking about how one of their friends had seen
Hunter and Ada together recently. The girl said they were going into the health
center. I told you before that he’d gone totally missing since last week, and I
didn’t know where he was so I didn’t know what to think.”
Daniela
tilted her head to the side. “Okay, that sounds crazy. What did you do?”
“I was
frustrated and left to get away from them. You know, I just don’t have the
energy for gossip and everything. But sure enough, as I was walking by the
health center guess who comes out?”
She
recoiled. “Hunter?”
“And Ada.”
“No way.
What did you say?”
I told her
the story of how I’d confronted Hunter and the fight with Ada. She gasped as I
related the details of the screaming match and the people who had stopped to
watch. Remembering the experience made me feel queasy.
“And
Hunter did nothing?” she asked when I was done.
“Not until
Ada bumped me as she walked away. Then he said he wanted to talk to me, but he
chased after her instead. Before that he seemed kind of not all there.”
“Wow. I
didn’t think Ada was such a psycho. So what do you think was going on with him
and Ada?”
“No idea.
I went over to his place to wait for him so that we could talk, but he never
showed up. My bus is leaving tomorrow and I couldn’t call him, so I left him a
note.” I bit my lip in frustration. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but
now it was done. I’d be on my way to Indiana tomorrow morning and I’d probably
never come back.
Just
thinking about the fact that I would probably never see Hunter again brought
fresh tears welling to my eyes.
Daniela’s
eyes widened. “Wait, why does that mean you had to leave a note? I thought you
were only going back to your Aunt’s for a break. Does this mean you’re not
coming back?”
I shook my
head. “I’m sorry Daniela. You’ve made this semester as good for me as you
could; I couldn’t have asked for a better friend.” She reached over and
squeezed my hand. “—but I think I have to withdraw from the semester. With
everything going on, the letter from Marco, me flunking all those exams, and
this thing with Hunter . . . I—I don’t think I can stay here.”
She patted
my hand to console me and gave me a tissue. I blew my nose into it.
“So what
now?” she asked.
“I don’t know,
I might take another semester off? Maybe take classes online when I feel ready?
Obviously what’s happening right now isn’t working.”
“Do you
think you’ll ever talk to Hunter? You know, to get closure? You guys were crazy
about each other.”
“I don’t know.
I don’t even know what to think about Hunter anymore. Maybe he did something
with Ada, maybe he didn’t, but it’s clear that he’s hiding something serious
from me. I don’t know what he’s dealing with, but my mind is so messed up right
now that I just can’t sort everything out. I wish we could have talked, but I
couldn’t keep waiting for him.”
“Yeah.”
She nodded. “You have to take care of yourself first.
Even if Hunter has some stuff going on, he could have at least found
some way to explain things
.”
I nodded,
wiping my nose. “Thanks Daniela . . . for everything.”
“Hey,
don’t worry. You should get some rest for your trip tomorrow. I’ll see you off
in the morning.”
“Okay,
thanks.”
“Okay.
Good night.”
I got up
to go back to my room.
“Hey
Lorrie?” she said. “Can I come visit you over Spring Break?”
I smiled,
“Yeah, of course. I think Aunt Caroline would like to see you too.”
“Great!”
I went
back into my room and started packing my clothes thinking that maybe this was a
blessing in disguise. I’d be safe with Aunt Caroline and Uncle Stewart, and
Daniela would be coming by to visit. Maybe all I needed was just some more time
to sort myself out.
SECOND TRY
The bus station was
depressing. Its concrete walls were painted a bland beige, and the mix of
wood-panel benches and mustard-colored vinyl seats—that might have been modern
in the eighties—looked like relics now. I had said my tearful goodbye to
Daniela in the morning and caught a cab to the bus station.
I was
sitting on the bench trying to keep my mind blank instead of wondering if
Hunter had read the note I left him. At 8:30AM, half an hour before the bus was
scheduled to leave, I heard an announcement crackling over the intercom.
“Attention
please. Attention. The bus from Springfield to Indianapolis, traveling through
Studsen is delayed due to a mechanical malfunction. The bus company is working
to send a backup to our location, but expect a delay of three to four hours.”
A
collective groan rose from the handful of people scattered around the
station.
God
.
What else was going to go wrong in my life?
I
slumped in my seat, feeling miserably defeated. Studsen was kind of in the
middle of nowhere, and that was the only bus that came through the town.
I sat
there for another few hours, frustrated. Another announcement over the intercom
told us that it would be yet another “two to three” hours before the backup bus
would be there to pick us up. I could feel the tears beginning to well up in my
eyes again.
This is
so stupid. Am I seriously going to cry over a late bus?
Taking a
few deep, shaky breaths, I tried to calm myself down. It was going to be okay.
The bus would come soon and then I’d be away from all this. Away from the
gossip, the failed classes, and the dirty looks.
Away from
Hunter, the one happy thing I found at Arrowhart.
What was
Hunter doing now? Had he gone back to his place last night? Had he read my
note? Was he looking for me to talk to me? I’d only left him that note because
I didn’t think there’d be enough time in the morning to find him and talk. Now,
it looked like I would be stuck in Studsen until the late afternoon at the
earliest. Maybe it would give me an opportunity to talk to Hunter one last
time. Maybe we could figure out where we went wrong.
Even
though there were so many things in my life I could never get closure on, maybe
my relationship with Hunter was something I still had a chance to understand.
Daniela was right, it would be nice if I could have a second chance to talk to
him, before I left Studsen for good. It sure as hell beat sitting in this bus
station and thinking about what could have been.
I sat on
the bench and stared out the window as a cab approached, dropping off a
passenger at the station. As I watched the cab’s passenger get her luggage out
of the trunk, I made my decision. I had to try to talk to Hunter. I had to know
what had happened the past few days.
After
leaving my luggage with the station attendant—who assured me it would get on
the bus even if I wasn’t there—I ran out waving my arms and managed to get the
cabbie’s attention. I got in and told the driver to take me to Hunter’s
apartment.
I sat and
watched Studsen fly past the window, hoping Hunter would be at his apartment
this time. The cab arrived at its destination and I paid before hopping up the
steps to Hunter’s unit. I took a deep breath and walked in.
The
kittens greeted me like I still belonged there. Taylor and Bones ran up to me
together and hopped up on their hind legs to paw at my shins. I gave them
affectionate pets and ran my fingers along the two tiny bodies. When I looked
at the kitchen, I gasped.
Good god, what happened here?
The place
was a mess. The cabinet next to the sink—or what was left of it—had a giant
hole in the door, and one of the hinges had come off.
Had
Hunter read my note and gotten angry enough to destroy his apartment?
An ill
feeling settled in my gut. I called out Hunter’s name, hoping he might be in
another room, but the apartment was silent. Frustration welled up inside me
when I realized Hunter wasn’t home. I’d gotten my hopes up for nothing. I
needed to find Hunter. Where could he be now?
After
saying a last goodbye to the kittens, I walked out of the apartment. If he
wasn’t home at this time of day, the gym was the next best bet. Maybe he was
blowing off some steam. I decided to walk over there and check it out.
Ten
minutes later I strode into the gym and was met by Kristy at the reception
desk. I was surprised to find the normal frenetic commotion of the gym was
subdued to almost nothing. It didn’t sound like there were more than a few
people training today.
“Hey you,”
she said, brightly. “How are the kittens?”
“Good,” I
replied, barely keeping in check my anxiousness to find out about Hunter’s
whereabouts. “They’re getting big fast.”
“I bet.
Those little guys were so cute here in the gym. Seems like yesterday Hunter
came in with that box.”
I smiled
even though I was feeling more nauseous by the second. “Yeah. Is Hunter here?”
She shook
her head. “Of course not. Didn’t he tell you? He has a fight right now.”
“A fight?
Where?”
Her
penciled-in eyebrows furrowed in thought. “The Squirrel, I think.”
“The
Bearded Squirrel?”
She
nodded. “Yeah, that one.”
“Was it
scheduled?” I asked.
“No. Dan
has the flu, so he had to cancel, and Hunter is filling in. I only have afternoon
shift today, so I just heard about it from the guys.”
My head
spun. What the hell was going on? “Oh. Do you know what time he’s fighting?”
She
shrugged. “Usually they start these things in the afternoon on weekends, maybe
at one? But they don’t always run on time. He’s probably fighting right now.”
Right
now?
From the condition
of Hunter’s apartment, I was starting to get a very bad feeling about this
fight that I couldn’t shake. I had to talk to Hunter right away. I borrowed the
gym phone and called a cab. Ten minutes later, a cab came to pick me up.
Fifteen minutes after that, I was at The Bearded Squirrel.
The bar
was a little less crowded than last time, but the guitars of the hard rock
music playing on the jukebox were still as loud as I remembered. Most of the
tables at the front of the bar were empty, along with most of the stools. A
poster on the wall next to the entrance advertised the fight of the day: Walter
Morris vs Dan Evans. That was the guy Kristy had said Hunter was filling in
for: Dan Evans. This was definitely the right spot.
There was
a crowd gathered out back—just as there had been the last time I had seen
Hunter fight. I walked to the crowd’s edge. People were standing shoulder to
shoulder, making it hard to see the cage. There was an anxious tension in the
air. Something wasn’t right.
“Dude,
this guy’s taking a beating,” I heard a man say. “What did you say his name
was?”
I turned
to find the voice and located it a few feet away. The man was tall and wearing
a white fraternity baseball cap backwards over his long brown hair.
“I
didn’t,” the guy next to him replied. “But after this fight it won’t matter
because nobody will be able to recognize him. Holy shit, his face! How can
someone take so much punishment and not go down?”
Who were
they talking about? I felt a sick dread beginning to coil in my stomach before
I could even glimpse the ring. Desperate to see the fight, I eased around the
crowd’s fringe, looking for a clear line of sight.
As I
frantically shuffled around the crowd, I came across two girls huddled
together. One girl with wavy blonde hair had her hand to her mouth, shocked.
“He looks
like he’s dying out there,” she gasped.
Her
friend, a straight-haired dirty blonde with a mousy face, rubbed her friend’s
shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. It’s the last round. He’ll make it.”
“But just
look at him!”
The dread
that had formed in my stomach began to swallow my entire midsection. I needed
to see Hunter right now. My palms were clammy and it felt like my chest was
being crushed.
I left the
two girls to themselves and hurried around to a gap that had been left in the
crowd. A roar erupted as I got there and I had my first glimpse of the cage.
The men
inside were wrestling with each other and pressed up against the side closest
to where I stood. I didn’t recognize the guy with his back to me, but the face
that popped up over his shoulder made my legs go soft. Even with his left eye
swollen nearly shut and cuts on his cheekbones, I would recognize those dark
gray irises and that mussed up brown hair anywhere.
It was
Hunter.
A sharp
pain knifed through my chest. He looked beyond exhausted. His chest heaved and
his mouth hung wide open, gasping for breath. There was blood dripping down his
face from one of the cuts on his right cheek and the bruise on his left eye was
a stormy mix of gray and purple. It seemed to be getting darker and swelling
bigger by the second.
A violent
shiver ran through my body, and my mouth opened in horror. I’d never seen
Hunter like this before. I’d never seen someone so broken.
Finally,
the other fighter managed to push Hunter away. The two began circling each
other again. Hunter’s hands were down by his stomach and his legs wobbled with
the effort to remain standing. My heart squeezed in my throat as I watched him
struggle.
Something
was horribly wrong.