The day after I spoke to the best people in my life seemed brighter than any other. I knew I had Lyria as my friend and seeing Sara always made me happier, no matter what. Friday was a great day because of that. I worked the shop with Desmond and we had a good time, talking and laughing like when I was younger. It felt good to be able to talk to him like this again. Ever since I had opted out of college, things had been strained, but now we were fine. I told him about everything that had happened and he gave me a talk based out of his own experiences. He hit me a little when I told him I wasn’t surprised that he had been rejected before.
After work, Desmond forced me to try on some of his nicer clothes to wear to Lyria’s graduation. According to him, I don’t own anything nice, even though I had multiple shirts that would have worked, and a pair of dress pants. None of Desmond’s clothes fit me, him having huge arms and all. Oliver came to the rescue and gave me his ‘date night’ clothes. A nice green shirt and dress pants, something that I most definitely would have had in my own closet. The one thing I didn’t have that Oliver did was nice shoes to go with it all. I swore I would never wear them again after the graduation.
“You have to look nice, Julian! Represent me well,” Desmond shouted after I complained about the shoes for the fourth time. I rolled my eyes at him and continued complaining about how weird my toes felt and how I missed the softness of my tennis shoes. Oliver laughed at how much I was irritating Desmond.
We finally got the clothing situation figured out and settled which left the rest of the evening open for last minute planning on the job. Desmond sat me down on the other side of his desk and he sat down in his big rolling chair. We were no longer having fun while looking for clothes. Now, we were a boss and his employee. He would have me go over my plan and critique anything he felt needed to be changed.
The plan was simple. I would break in through the backdoor of the house and make my way through, putting anything I needed into my bag. The bag would be big enough for small things, nothing big. I would grab jewelry, anything small that seemed valuable, and any cash that I could find. If the owners had left their wallets or purses outside of their bedrooms, I would rifle through those and grab credit cards and cash. I would work fast and get out as soon as possible.
“Do you have your gloves?” Desmond asked, a look of concern on his face.
“Of course,” Desmond nodded, satisfied with my plans. I had been very technical when explaining it to him, making sure to be very clear about all of my plans. He sent me off to bed early, telling me that I would need to be rested to sit through a graduation and then do a late-night burglary. I agreed with him and quickly fell into slumber, something that had been increasingly difficult since the incident.
There was a certain amount of fear that came to me when I had first fallen asleep. Was I going to have another nightmare, I thought as I lost consciousness. I did not. When I woke up the next day, I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The nightmare had terrified me, something that would stick with me for a long time. Every time my eyes closed, I feared that I would wake in a cold sweat again. I would lay up in bed, sick and afraid. That was not true this time around. My sleep was peaceful and undisturbed, but that seemed to scare me more than if I would have had a nightmare.
The graduation wasn’t until 12, so I spent the morning going over my plans for my later endeavors. I got dressed as I did so – Desmond came in to make sure I looked exactly as he had preapproved – and thought about what the graduation would be like. I had never been to a graduation that I wasn’t part of. I wondered if she would be able to see me from the stage as she got her diploma. I wanted to be able to smile and wave at her, proud of my girl.
When it got close to when I needed to head out to the graduation, I left the shop and made my way to Lyria’s school. About halfway there, my nightmare seemed to come to life.
I stood at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change as cars sped by. No one was standing on my side and no one was standing on the other side, at least when I first got there. I looked down at my phone, checking to see if Lyria was texting. There was nothing, so I put my phone back in my pocket and looked up to the other side of the street. The light was going to change in just a moment, but everything in me screamed to run in the other direction. Standing there, staring right at me, was a man with a braid lying over his shoulder – a white braid. His skin was pure white, matching his hair. I could not see his eyes from so far away, but I knew they were pink. There was no other option.
My heart nearly stopped in my chest before it began hammering. He smiled and waved at me. I took a step back and turned on my heel, running right into someone else. I muttered an apology, too deep in fear to do anything else.
“Quite alright,” An accented voice said, a strange tone to his words. I looked up to a man a few inches taller than me, his white hair cut short and his pink eyes glaring down at me. The grin that he wore was tight, as though he was forcing it. Everything in me was screaming at me to push him out of the way and haul ass out of there. These men were from that night. That dream.
“Ready to go?” I turned around when another accented voice began speaking behind me, softer than the short-haired man. It was the man with the braid. Their accents were a strange mix of what one may call a stereotypical British accent, like Sara, and the sort of American accent that most actors have, that sort of unaccented accent. I couldn’t place them, but it was distinctive. They were from the dream. They had to be, but it made no sense. How could I believe that I had dreamed of people that I had never met before? How could I believe that I had had some sort of vision?
The short-haired man smacked the back of my shoulder, “Definitely.” They began walking in the direction that I had come from. I began crossing the street, trying to forget about them. If I thought about them, I would think about the dream and that ran the risk of another episode like the one from that night.
“See you soon!” The soft-spoken one called. It sent chills up my spine, the fact being that I had no idea if it was true. I couldn’t tell if he was being rude, teasing a stranger that had looked uncomfortable, or if he was being sincere and my dream really was some sort of vision. That was ridiculous though. Visions didn’t happen, they weren’t real.
That didn’t explain what happened though. The dream, seeing them in the real world. None of it made any sense.
Stop thinking about it! I commanded myself. This day was about Lyria’s graduation, her big day, her transition into adulthood. That is what I wanted my mind focused on, but those men kept coming into my mind. Then the random, splitting pains came back. They were the one thing I had kept from Desmond while I was recovering from my psychotic break on the night of the dream.
Every once and awhile, a sharp pain would make my head feel as though it was splitting in half. Each one lasted only a minute or two, too short to be a headache or a migraine. With each pain, the feeling of being watched followed. Those eyes would come to my mind and it felt like I was being held in the hand of a giant, laughed at and taunted.
I had to get ahold of myself before the graduation. Lyria would know if something was wrong, she was good at that. I focused on her, on Sara and her words of encouragement, Desmond and his strange form of fathering, everything that made me feel grounded and sane. Those three were the ones that were always there for me, they would be the ones to push away the strange men and the pain from my head.
The pain subsided and the men’s faces were slowly replaced by those of the people I loved. I walked fast the rest of the way to Lyria’s graduation, continuing to think about my friends and Desmond. By the time I got to the gym at her school it was 10 minutes until graduation started. I straightened myself up before going inside and took a few deep breathes to calm myself down. The gym was packed with families and friends talking and laughing. Parents were holding back tears as they spoke to their cap and gown clad children. I felt out of place, standing at the door awkward and tense.
I had never met Lyria’s parents before so I had no idea who to look for. I started looking for her instead, hoping she would be talking to them rather than preparing to walk out to Pomp and Circumstance. I walked around, weaving through the groups, trying not to run into anyone. Just being in that gym made me feel nervous, the crowd pressing in on me. Someone could easily get the jump on me in such a large crowd. Those men could get by with no one paying any attention to others.
“Excuse me?” A hand gripped my arm from behind and I jumped as I turned around. A middle-aged woman smiled at me, standing nearly as tall as me in her heels. Behind her was a man about the same age as her that stood a few inches taller than me. They both stared at me, big grins on their faces. Brown haired, both of them. She had brown eyes, he had green. I had no idea who they were.
“Hello?” It came out phrased like a question. I also realized how confused I probably looked, my trust issues and lack of social skills rising to the surface.
The woman laughed, “I’m Joan, this is my husband Trevor, we’re Lyria’s parents.” All the confusion went away and left my body in the form of deep sigh of relief. I held my hand out to them and they took their turns shaking it. “Lyria described you in detail so we could find you. She was afraid you would get lost, something about being scatterbrained.” Her grin was teasing, the kind a mother directs at her children.
I grinned, “I promise I’m not as bad off as she probably said. I guess she’s already back there getting ready?” I had hoped to see her beforehand, give her a little encouragement before she went up on stage.
Her father, Trevor, nodded and pointed to a trio of seats next to him, each one with a different object in it, “She is, but she made sure to save you a seat with us. She was very specific about wanting you in the aisle seat.”
“Great, a prime spot to embarrass her from,” I smiled. They laughed and we spoke for a little longer. They told me how excited Lyria was to graduate and go to college. I told them how proud I was of her for going to college, thankful she wasn’t going to make the same decision I made. They were nice people, wonderful parents. It made me happy knowing she had been raised by such wonderful people.
The principal told everyone to take their seats and we sat down together, waiting for the music to start. Once it began, the students began their walk down the aisles and I waited with a smile for Lyria to pass by. I saw her as she started walking our way though she hadn’t noticed me yet. When she finally saw me, she was walking by and I reached out, pretending to try to yank at her blue gown. She slapped at my hand and rolled her eyes but smiled the whole time.
The rest of the opening ceremony stuff went by and I listened quietly, waiting to see Lyria walk across that stage. I could see the back of her head from where we sat, her graduation cap bobby-pinned to her hair. She looked back and made faces at me every once and awhile, I would laugh quietly and make a face in response. Her parents definitely thought it was cute, but in a much less platonic way.
“Taylor Harding,” The principal called. The girl next to Lyria stood and went to the stage meaning that Lyria was next. She turned and smiled, obviously nervous. I gave her two thumbs up and winked, sending encouragement her way as best I could. “Lyria Hartmann,” Her name rang out. She stood and made her way to the stage. I pulled out my phone when Joan pulled out her camera. Lyria got her diploma and looked to us with a smile. Her mother took good pictures with her camera, the kind that would be hung on the wall. I turned my phone to the side and took a picture with my phone, making a strange face as I did so. I could see her holding back the laughter while she smiled.
The rest of the graduation went by, everyone getting their diplomas and making their families proud. Lyria and I continued to make faces at one another, sometimes laughing a little too loud. The nightmares and strange men seemed so distant, it was as though they never existed.
When it was all over and she was able to come back out, her parents stood waiting for her to come to them. Instead, she ran over and jumped into my arms to hug me. I laughed, stumbling back when I caught her.
“Thank you so much,” She shouted in my ear.
I laughed, “You are so welcome!” I shouted back. She jumped down and was practically bouncing on her feet. Her parents came over and hugged her, congratulating her. They had cried when she got her diploma and were crying again now that it was over. Their girl had grown up and they were proud, I wondered if Desmond had cried when no one was looking after I graduated.
“Julian,” Joan said, reaching out for my arm, “would you join us for dinner? We’re taking Lyria out to celebrate.” Lyria smiled big, pleading with her eyes.
“Oh, I don’t want to intrude on your family time,” I said. I would feel out of place with a big family considering I had never been around one.
Lyria rolled her eyes, “You are family, Julian, come on. Besides, it’s just the three of us, you’d make four! Please come eat with us.” She was hard to resist when she looked at me with those big eyes.
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