Chapter 11: Strange Bedfellows (Part II)

“Ah. You probably mean Kristian Mixon. He’s literally Emily’s right-hand-man, he runs her entire campaign. Since we parted ways this afternoon, I paid a visit to my close friend Ian—he’s also on her campaign staff—and asked him a few questions about her political machine.”

“Oh, you’ve looked into Emily?”

“You bet I did,” Frog said. “Sure, I wanted you to take that case. You need the money, but I figured that I could shake some trees and see what fell out. Oh, ah, and…” She paused a moment to blush. “And get a few minutes with a really good kisser.”

The dimly lit windows of Hayden appeared in the distance ahead as they slouched toward the dormitory. The rush of cars echoed against the parking garage behind them mixed with the twitter of sleepless birds. For a drawn out moment, Elaine imagined the trees were talking to themselves in their sleep.

Frog went on, “Turns out that Emily really has had a stunning winning streak ever since she came to ASU. Not once has she failed to gain the support of her peers, beating out better qualified incumbents for student council positions, club officerships, according to Ian her streak has been so strong that it’s just snowballed over the past two years. Everyone wants to be on her team.”

“So she’s a popular girl.”

“And untouchable. Emily hasn’t had a boyfriend since she came to ASU. Rumor is that she has a secret lover back in Maine, a long distance affair. They get together over breaks and during the summer…but, since you mention Tom.”

“Is that why you were so quick to guess that?”

Frog shrugged. “If you really think something’s going on between them, I’d bet my big toe that they’re together. I also bet she has an idea who’s behind her winning streak—and she’s afraid that it’s him. Think it over. They’re secretly together and now they’re head-to-head for the same student council position…she has this winning streak.”

“If they’re really together don’t you think that they would have avoided running for the same office?”

“Well, yeah… I guess that’s a hole in my theory.”

Ascending the stairs felt strangely buoyant to Elaine, her muscles had begun to give up on her in a post-exhaustion second-wind. Although she felt like she could bound up them, she still needed to lean on Frog to stay standing. The world swayed when she yawned.

The outside lock was too complex for Elaine’s fingers; after a few fumbled tries with her keys Frog took them and opened the door.

Inside the light was bright—extremely bright. The walls were bare, except for the occasional ugly door recessed into the off-white plaster, and the carpet was a tamped down brown pallid affair. Elaine had the fortune of having a room very close to the outside stairwell, which made coming and going extremely easy.

When they reached her door and Frog went to unlock that for her, they noticed a small, white envelope taped to it. The seal was shut by a maroon and gold stamp and big, red letters announced its origin:

Office of the Dean of Engineering

Elaine growled at it and tore it from the door. It was probably a summons or an explanation of what had happened to her lab; she really did not feel like reading it. She wanted to fall into her bed and never rise again. She imagined that she might not even want to get up for her classes the next day. Why bother?

Frog unlocked her door with a jingle of keys and tossed them atop her dresser as they stumbled inside. The room was dark—a welcome solace from the searing lights—and it filled up with the hum of numerous computer fans, also a welcome distraction from the total quiet of the hallway.

“Welcome home,” Hadaly said from the computer speaker on the desk. “I’ve been listening. I have more news for you, but I will save it for tomorrow.”

“That would probably be for the best,” Frog said.

“Urgh,” said Elaine.

No actual word would have properly communicated how she felt, but it the guttural grunt managed that well enough. She stumbled over to her bed and fell into it. The embrace of her Raiders of the Lost Arc pillows and Star Wars sheets felt like heaven to her worn out muscles.

“You have Bioshock installed on here?” Frog asked as she slid into the chair next to the computer, her hand instinctively going to the mouse. “I really love the story in that game. I’ll wear an earbud in one ear so I don’t disturb you.”

Of course, she knew that video games rarely disturbed Elaine’s sleep—she had been well known for sleeping underneath the table at Hexacon and Gamercon in the video game room in short catnaps between Olympic bouts of tournament playing.

“If you want to go and see Jacob, I’ll forgive you,” Elaine said.

“Hush, you,” Frog said. “You’re going to sleep.”

“I am?”

“Yes, and I’m going to stay right here in case you need someone. You’ve really overworked yourself these past few days.”

“Thanks,” Elaine said.

With her eyes closed she imagined Frog sitting in the chair in front of the computer, playing FPS video games while she slept, eventually tiring herself and falling asleep in the chair. She wondered if she should really just invite her friend to take up half the bed, but wasn’t sure how to do that. She could just go and get her, she mused, Frog was only a few feet away…but sleep came too fast and rushed down on her with the cotton fog of exhaustion before she could make a decision.

She wasn’t awake to hear it happen, but some hours hence Frog slid out of her chair in front of the computer after having enough Big Daddy thrashing and Little Sister saving. She hovered over Elaine for a moment before slipping quietly out the door and prowling for likely playmates amid those in the door who could still be among the conscious.

Elaine dreamed in code.