The Stranger. Chapter 1.
The Stranger
CHAPTER ONE
BY LITTLE FUZZY.
Here the first chapter of a story that I have had in the pipeline for quite a while, it's nothing like anything I have written before, so this is big change for me. After not writing for about a year though I really wanted to get something out. I won't bore you with a long intro, but any feedback and comments are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Chapter 1.
The sharp smell of floor varnish stung my nostrils as I wandered through the silent and empty hallways. They had probably been late varnishing them because of all the commotion which happened recently.
Monday mornings here were especially silent, most people weren't even awake yet, and some might call me crazy for getting in to be ready for a class an hour before it was due to start. But I liked to sit in the library and sort of, prepare myself mentally, for the day ahead. Read up on some notes, that sort of stuff.
I pondered over the time on my wristwatch, I wasn't even sure why the doors were unlocked at this time of day. Shrugging it off, I proceeded down the hallway and towards the Library, which was again, deathly silent, as you might think a Library should be.
The Librarian regarded me with a somewhat lazy remark, barely looking up from her mundane morning routine of stamping books, and I took a seat at a desk over in the far corner.
When I had first arrived here at Cornwall College, 6 weeks ago in September, the desks had gotten the sun on them at this time of day and it was usually quite a warm and cheerful spot to sit quietly and contemplate in the mornings. But now in the cold midst of October, some mornings I would arrive to see a frost on the windowpane.
Slumping my backpack onto the desk I noticed that across the room, sitting with his back towards me was to my surprise, another Labrador, about the same size as me, with fur which was a dark Chestnut, in contrast to my light Brown, almost Blonde fur.
He wore a dark Green hoody, and jeans. Besides the obvious fact of being the only other student in the library, he just stood out to me. I had never seen him before, and believe me; I've spent the majority of my time in the Library. I'm not exactly the sort of fur who finds it easy to make friends. But something was telling me that I just had to say;
"Hi!" I blurted out, immediately clamping a paw over my mouth, surprising myself as I realized I had said it out loud. My cheeks grew warm and I started to blush, but was quickly relieved when he didn't turn around.
He didn't turn around?! I noticed the Librarian shooting me a dirty look from across the room, and decided that maybe the other Lab was listening to earphones - hence why he didn't answer me, and continued to bury my head into my book.
Or maybe he was just ignoring me. Heck, the other 99% of the entire College was, so it wasn't any surprise. I quickly let the thought slip out of my head as I continued with my usual morning routine, before swiftly exiting the Library and down the hall towards the room marked D-34.
As I walked I was reminded even moreso of my solitude, as students moved quickly past and completely disregarded me. I kept telling myself that I would eventually find more friends, or at least a friend. I had only been here 6 weeks, I suppose and I had a long time left to go. I pushed my way through the crowds of people now bustling in the hallways, the drone of Monday morning conversation ringing out and echoing off the pale blue, concrete walls, as I made my way into the classroom.
Unaware of what was going on around me, I was about to take a seat at my desk, when I was pushed out of the way. Looking up, I saw the guy from the Library earlier, casually sitting down at my desk. I figured he must be new. Rather annoyed that this stranger had just decided to casually stroll in and take my desk, I politely said
"Sorry, this is where I always sit. Are you new here?" I tried to hold back a little anger, but my words came out tranquil.
"Please just leave me alone." He said sharply and quickly, not looking at me so that I was unable to see his facial features.
"But-" I started, "Please!" He abruptly cut me off. Stunned, I made my way over to the opposite side of the classroom, but on the same isle, as to try and get a good view of him.
The class went on and I felt like I was living in a dream world, I just couldn't concentrate. Struggling to work as my eyes kept drifting over to his direction. What was it about him that was just so inviting? He'd been a complete jerk to me yet I still felt intrigued. I wanted to know who he was.
He didn't notice me as I watched him in silence from across the room, he was about my age, 18 or so, and I could see more clearly that he was also wearing specs, although a lot more stylish than my battered and broken Glasses. Through them I could see that he had the most piercing greyish Green eyes, the kind of eyes which would cut straight through you like a sharp knife.
He looked a lot like me, actually, his headfur was thick, and a darker Chestnut Brown than the rest of him, and styled slightly to one side, almost parted. I watched him stick his tongue out slightly as he jotted something down in his notebook, deep in concentration. He had a solemnity about him which called to me like a voice in the night. I couldn't resist.
After the class was done, I speedily caught up with him in the hallway. Half jogging along next to him I tried to make some eye contact. This might be a good chance to finally find a friend after all, I should let the desk-stealing incident slide.
"Hi again, sorry about earlier, I'm Mat, short for Mathias." I outstretched a paw in his direction and let a cheerful smile creep across my muzzle. A smile; something which I hadn't done in quite a while.
A few seconds passed and he kept walking, almost speeding up a little, not even turning to look in my direction. I could see now that he was a little taller than me, but not by much. His Fur was clean and well groomed. Looking in his right Paw I could see he had a notebook with the name -"Owen Fischer"
"Owen, huh?" I said with my paw still outstretched as he continued to ignore me and walk on. "Us Labs need to stick together! Not many around here if you've not gue-" He cut me off again, "-Will you just, LEAVE ME ALONE!" he shouted, frustration and anger evident in his expression.
The hallway fell silent. Several furs looked over in our direction and I saw Owen disappear into a nearby room. "Craaaazy!" someone shouted, as a few people started laughing, then soon everyone was on their way again and I was left standing alone, feeling quite upset. I couldn't even make friends, even if I tried.
That night I paced the room, my mind completely filled with reliving what had happened during the day. Walking round in circles I asked myself "Why?! What did I even do to him?" I wasn't even sure why it was even bothering me.
I looked out of the window to the cold leaf covered pavements outside as the Autumn sunshine disappeared behind the trees at the end of my street. Condensation had started to form at the bottom of the cold glass in little droplets. Across the street I saw a couple walking side by side, paw in paw, talking happily amongst themselves. I felt alone.
With my legs pulled up against me, and my tail wrapped around me, I huddled there for a while in quiet contemplation before drifting into a disturbed slumber. Visions of Owen haunted me in my sleep, I heard his voice calling out to me, heard his footsteps in front of me in the dark, but could never catch up with them.
I awoke the next morning cold and feeling groggy. Checking the clock on the wall, it was a little before 6:00 AM and the sun had not yet risen. Sitting there for a moment I remembered what had happened yesterday, it seemed almost like a dream, and, surprisingly, I didn't feel as bothered now. After going through my usual morning routine I headed downstairs, grabbing my backpack and stopping to adjust my grey scarf in the mirror.
I looked pretty terrible. Sleep had been nearly non-existent the night before, my Blue eyes looked dull and had lost their usual shine and sparkle, almost blending in with the grey scarf around my neck, and I hadn't even bothered to style my headfur. So, rummaging through the closet under the stairs I quickly found a hat and put it on. My bright Blonde ears sticking out underneath, at least my fur was still shiny and looked good. Labs are known for having exceedingly good fur!
Whistling a tune I had heard on the radio, I walked through the dark streets towards college. I liked to Whistle in the mornings, it made the darkness seem a little less lonely.
As I turned a corner, my whistling was abruptly cut short as I bumped into something. "Huaah!" I gasped, the air was knocked out of me and I fell backwards.
Adjusting my eyes in the light, I squinted at what, or who I had bumped into, and gasped again when I realized.
"Owen?!" I cried, staggering up onto my footpaws and offering to help him up. He batted my paw away and straightened upwards, brushing his hoody off as he narrowed his eyes at me.
"What do you want?" He said, his tone stern and assertive, but his voice quiet. "N-nothing? I just-"
"Well good then, bye." He didn't give me time to finish and quickly picked up the pace, continuing to walk towards campus.
"Hold on there!" I called, jogging up to the side of him. He stopped and looked around nervously, we were alone. I could see him studying me through the gloom of the dark streets, his piercing green eyes staring at my facial features, his expression was almost in disbelief, I could tell he was holding something back.
"I just wanted to see if you're in need of a friend, is all." I said. Owens expression changed, and he whispered quietly, looking around nervously once again like a burglar does before they're about to break into a house. "You don't want to be friends with me, trust me. It's for your own good." He whispered, still not making eye contact, "Just forget I even exist. Please." Before I had chance to answer he had turned around and swiftly jogged off into the twilight of the approaching dawn, I could hear the soles of his shoes slapping the pavement, getting further and further away.
Sighing, I shoved my paws into my coat pocket and continued on my walk to the campus. Why had he been acting so strange? Why wouldn't I want to be friends with him? I mean, sure he had been a bit of a jerk, but I still couldn't shake off this "connection" that I felt I had with him. I could tell that he had sensed it too, the way he was eyeing me up and down, it was a strange look that he had gave me, almost as if he knew me.
~~~
The cafeteria was the usual hustle and bustle that lunchtimes usually are. The familiar hum of multiple conversations, laughter, and clanking of plates meeting cutlery filled the room. I sat alone in a corner where there was a few sofas lined up, keeping myself to myself, not feeling all that hungry. As I was staring blankly, into the distance I felt someone sit down next to me.
"Can we talk?" Owen said, placing his backpack on the floor and taking a sip of his coffee, which was steaming through a plastic lid.
"You told me to forget it earlier, or did you forget that?" I snapped, giving him some of the treatment he'd given me and not bothering to look directly at him, although I couldn't help but peek out of the corner of my eye.
I could smell the Coffee on his breath. "I'm sorry, you caught me at a bad time this morning. Can we talk outside for a moment please?" he asked a tone of urgency in his voice.
"What's wrong with here, it's cold outside." I pointed towards the window and looked at him, the first time we had actually made eye contact, I noticed him gulp a bit. He was definitely holding something back.
"It's cold in here too, if you've not noticed."Owen said quietly, exhaling a cloud of hot breath into the room.
"Ugh, what's the difference?!" I moaned, getting up quickly making my way outside, checking back to see if Owen was following, and he was, not far behind. "If you don't want to be seen with me, I get it." I continued.
"It's not that." He exclaimed, shutting the door behind him, now outside the cafeteria in the empty foyer. "It's too noisy in there. I just wanted to apologize, for being rude, I didn't see you this morning and-" I cut him off this time, "And I suppose you didn't see me yesterday, in broad daylight either, when you stole my desk?" I asked sarcastically, raising one eyebrow.
"Heh, well, you got me there." Owen said letting out a smile, which brightened up his face and showed a little bit of teeth. Feeling a bit fluttery inside, I could feel that blushing feeling coming on again and I shied away. "Can I get you a coffee or anything to make it up to you?" He said, gesturing to the cup he held in his paw.
I shook my head, "I don't drink Coffee, but I noticed you're obviously new? Maybe we could hang out some time?"
He pondered for a moment, looking around somewhat nervously again before nodding. "Sure. I guess? I'm done for the day now, and was about to head off home, but we could do some other time?"
"Sure!" I replied, half thinking he was just saying that to get me to leave him alone, but I didn't give him the choice.
"Mind if I tag along? I was just off home too, we must walk the same way, since I bumped into you this morning and all." There was no way I was going to let this go, after spending the first 6 weeks here pretty much on my own, I was going to try everything I could to make a friend of this new guy. And what was great, is that he was a Labrador too!
"Us Labs need to stick together." I repeated, reminding myself of yesterday's events again. It obviously reminded Owen of them too, and he must have felt guilty about it somewhat.
"Come on then." Owen said, a slight reluctance evident on the tone of his voice as we hurried out of the front doors and into the crisp autumn air. There was an awkward silence which was broken only by the crunching of leaves under foot.
"So..." I muttered, trying to spark off some conversation. "You live close enough to walk every day?"
"I don't drive!" Owen blurted out loudly and awkwardly, almost stopping in his tracks. He rubbed his neck nervously and continued "I prefer to walk, it's good exercise..." his voice trailed off. Weird, I thought.
"A-and you?" He asked, stumbling on his words a little. "I prefer to walk too, I take my bike if I gotta go out of town, but that's not very often." I replied, watching his expression change to look slightly nervous once again.
"Why are you so on edge all the time?" I blurted out. I just couldn't help myself but to ask, albeit a little rude. Owen turned away and muttered, "Sorry I gotta go." As he took off across the street. "Wait!" I called and half started to run to catch him up.
I saw him turn down a small alley way just in time to see him dart behind a stack of wooden boxes. "Wait! Please!" I called out again. Approaching the boxes I could see him huddled over, out of breath and gasping.
"You're hiding something. Just tell me what's going on, please?!" I asked sternly. "N-nothing! Just, -please leave me alone." Owen gasped, still breathing heavily as he straightened himself up, his expression pale, I could see tears start to form in his eyes.
"Look, whatever it is, whatever your problem is with me-" he cut me off in his usual fashion, "There isn't a problem. I'm just trying to figure you out." There was a silence, the drip of a drainpipe slowly echoed throughout the narrow brick alleyway and I could hear a car honking its horn in the distance somewhere. Owen looked up at me.
"Figure me out?" I asked, surprised. "What's there to figure out, I'm just trying to be friendly." I stared into those piercing Grey eyes and sensed a yearning, a familiar yearning; I could see myself in those eyes, and I could see a similar loneliness.
"Mat", he started but without any warning, dropped to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. I could just about make out the words, "I'm sorry" as he repeated it over and over. Crouching down too, I put a comforting arm around him. I'm not even sure why I did that, it's not like me to just randomly half-hug somebody, least of all a stranger, or well, "kinda"-stranger.
"Hey, it's going to be all right!" Cliché, yes - but that was the only thing that came to mind as I put another arm around him. "Whatever it is that's wrong, I'm sure I can do something to help. Will you come back to my house and we can have a chat if you want?"
He nodded and stood up. Gently squeezing his shoulder reassuringly, I guided him to the exit of the alleyway. "Thanks, I really don't deserve this, least of all from you." Owen said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, before throwing his hood over his head. I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that, but I didn't think much more of it. I'm sure it was just the ramblings of another troubled teenager.
The clouds rolled in as we hurried across the street and it started to rain. I heard the sound of screeching tires coming around the corner, and then "Watch it, Jerk!" the driver of a black Estate car shouted out the window as he swerved to avoid hitting us.
"Hey! Watch it yourself!" I shouted back as he sped off. "Don't worry about it, let's just get back to my place" I said, glancing over at Owen, who was looking down at the ground, clearly not caring. A distinct feeling of Déjà vu washed over me as we continued down the street and to my doorstep.
~~~ I'm hoping to get the next chapter out pretty soon. Comments are very much appreciated, thank you for reading.