The Dorm Guard

*

Seagulls were the worst.

Eat food in their presence at your own risk.

I sat at the top of the hillside looking out on the lake. What remained of my sandwich was scattered on the short gra.s.s from being shredded by the hungry beaks of untamed birds. One brave bird remained, continuing to peck at the ground and ignoring my growlingly angry glare. The small movement of my leg stretching out was enough to startle it and prompt it to fly away.

I looked down at the wrapper that had unsuccessfully protected my sandwich still in my hand. I rolled my eyes at the irony and stuffed it in my pocket so as not to litter in such a beautiful area.

I recall blurred images, faded from age, from my last time visiting this area. I remember believing it to be infinite, a vast creation that never seemed to end. Now, I could appreciate it, but it had changed.

Hills bordered one side of the sparkling lake, windmills decorating the hillsides, allowing the small town that resided within the area to have the natural source of power. The lake water reflected from the sky, creating the illusion of bright and vivid blues. The gra.s.s was short when I ran my fingers over it an itchy sensation formed on my palm and fingertips, resulting in little blades of gra.s.s sticking to my fingers.

I sat at the top of one of these hills. I wasn"t the only person either. At the bottom of the mountain and surrounding the lake were concrete pathways and many old-fashioned lampposts, each suggesting that people often strolled around the lake. However, this time of day there didn"t appear to be anybody walking around near me, but down the path, I could see the occasional figure, but they were quite a time away from reaching where I was.

I heaved a sigh as I fixed my hair and stood up to stretch. My shoulders cracked from the movement, and I sighed. Despite being off the plane for over an hour movement after a six-hour flight and an hour bus ride was a relief on my limbs.

I didn"t have much luggage with me, at least not now. My bike laid on its side beside me along with my school bag, which contained a hand operated pump for my bicycle, a bottle of water, a lunch box, that once held my sandwich, my wallet, and heart medication.

I walked over to my bag and ensured everything was still in there. I glanced at my pill bottle, still unable to p.r.o.nounce the medication on the first go. I put it back and slipped the bag on my shoulders, picked up the bike and started walking it.

Something, however, tapped me on the back of the head.

I wouldn"t describe it as painful, more sudden.

I turned to see what it was and noticed a rusty black stone in the short gra.s.s. I rubbed the back of my head as I bent over and picked it up. "Where did this come from…?" I mumbled to myself looking around.

My eyes managed to find another figure. They were kneeling on the ground, somewhat crouched further away, tossing stones at me. She missed me, but when she was about to throw a third I yelled out to her, "No! You got me! You have my attention!" I called up to her.

She relaxed her hand and sat on her knees, waiting for me. I dropped my bike back on the gra.s.s and approached her.

Who I initially believed to be a young woman I now knew to be a little girl. She was dressed in a denim dress with a sewn in lace belt and brown boots and had the palest locks of blonde hair I"d ever seen a girl have. Her eyes were a strange jade colour. As I approached her, she remained silent. I estimated she was roughly ten, perhaps eleven.

She pushed herself to her feet, and wiped the gra.s.s from her knees, before grabbing my hand and pulling. While confused, I didn"t object as I allowed her to lead me wherever we were heading. We went down the hill and headed further inland. I couldn"t pinpoint a location at first, but a taller hill that stood between my mound decorated with a windmill and someone sitting on a chair at the top. Jade Eyes released my hand and started running up the steeper hill towards this person.

She stopped halfway and made frantic motions for me to follow. "Has something happened?" I called after her as I walked. Did something happen to this person sitting in a chair? Are they hurt? My mind ran rapid with possibilities as I followed the girl to the top of the hill.

Another girl, slightly older, sat in a wheelchair hugging her elbows and slouching so far forwards her panther black hair cast over her face. Something rustled around her, and I noticed a rodent, a tan ferret to be exact, was crawling across her lap and handles of her wheelchair.

"Hey!" I called, prompting the girl to lift her head to look at me. She was the next breath of fresh air; her features pet.i.te, her eyes a clear blue, her hair framing her face delicately. "Are you okay?" I asked.

I expected her to have the elegance her looks suggested. Her outfit of a blue jumper, jeans and brown boots suggested comfortable or relaxed while her eyes showed a sense of curiosity and a flair for beauty. But those looks, that first impression of the grace of a young girl, was s.n.a.t.c.hed away as her eyes welled with tears at the sight of me. She appeared overwhelmed and pressed a hand to her eye to keep from crying. It was surprising to see such a quick change.

I approached slowly, as she managed to maintain a steady breath, her hand curled into a fist pressing against her chest as if to stop it from heaving.

"Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" I asked suddenly frightened for her.

Jade Eyes walked to the opposite side of the girl and sat down, drawing circles into the short gra.s.s while the girl in the wheelchair managed to speak without tears. "I"m fine. I"m fine… I"m relieved," she confessed. She sniffed and rubbed her nose with her sleeve. She pointed to the side of her wheelchair. It was an impressive wheelchair. Very clean, well maintained and almost futuristic with the steel wheel covers on the side. But I noticed one of her wheels had deflated, making movement very difficult for her, especially on a hill.

"I managed to make it up here and admired the view, but I didn"t notice my nozzle had popped off the inside of my wheel." She held the nozzle tip between her fingers, "By the time we managed to find the nozzle it had already deflated." She looked to Jade Eyes and sniffed again. "I tried to call out, but I"m next to a windmill. n.o.body heard me." She wiped her eyes and levelled her breathing.

She was right. A windmill overwhelmed this hilltop, it was in the centre of the s.p.a.ce and cast a long, rectangular shadow, and the spinning fans, while a subtle noise, was still loud enough for yelling to be drowned out. Jade Eyes started tapping the side of the wheelchair. I looked at what she was doing; she was pointing at the other wheel. The girl in the wheelchair seemed confused by this and checked herself.

I ride my bike everywhere; I was somewhat decent with wheels and such. I noticed the girl"s other roughed up wheel as if she had run into something. Some of the bolts appeared loosely held in; it was terrific that wheel hadn"t unhooked itself and rolled away.

She let off a grunt of annoyance, her ferret friend hissing at their owner"s sudden noise.

I took my bad off and unzipped it. Both girls glanced at what I was doing and watched me pull out my bike pump. "You just carry that around?" the girl asked. Jade Eyes watched in silence.

"I ride my bike everywhere," I explained, "Never know when something like a flat tire will happen." I kneeled in front of her to try and pump up the wheel but froze. Her legs were in the way. I expressed this as comfortably as the situation allowed me to, which was awkward. She flushed at my suggestion that she maybe move. It involved her me picking her up apparently.

I stood up and rubbed the back of my head. "I don"t want to make you uncomfortable," I confessed.

She gulped and shook her head. "No, it"s not that. I just…"

"Well, it"s either that or a more slightly awkward interaction here. Which is it?" It sounded much more forceful then I intended, but it got my point across as she sighed.

I kneeled to her and wrapped my arms under her armpits and held her. She body tensed at my touch, and both Jade Eyes and the ferret seemed more alert from my touching her. I began to lift her up, but she was much lighter than I expected, making it much quicker than intended. She released a yelp, a surprised yelp naturally, but I noticed a hint of pain behind it. Looking down, I saw her feet were flat on the ground of her wheelchair, but there was no strength under them.

I apologised as I managed to lift her from her chair and placed her on the ground next to Jade Eyes, who crawled towards her and sat next to her. Both girls seemed to avoid my eye as I continued with this job. The ferret remained in the seat, glaring at me. I raised an eyebrow at him when he refused to blink. Wanting to fill the silence, I attempted to start a conversation. "Nice view, huh?" I tried.

The girl seemed to take the bait to talk. "Yeah. That"s why we"re up here," she informed. She was sitting side on, but she looked out to the water. "I"ve never been, you see," she explained.

"You"re not from around here?" I pressed.

She ran her hand under the underside of her leg and followed it until she got up to the bend of her knee, where she readjusted her unresponsive legs. "I"m usually not allowed in areas like this," she explained, politely but dismissively.

I respected her subtle notice. The top of a hill wasn"t exactly the area I would expect someone in a wheelchair to be, especially by themselves. Granted, she had Jade Eyes with her, but one little girl probably wasn"t the way to go. I didn"t voice this and took her quietness as a decline to talk, so I continued on the wheelchair in silence.

It was her that started talking to me. "What were you doing here?" she asked. The ferret slipped off the wheelchair when she snapped her fingers and climbed on her back to rest on her shoulders.

"I just came to town, wanted to see how it changed?" I confessed shifting my positioning around the wheelchair.

She looked over her shoulder at me, "You use to live here?"

I nodded. "Once upon a time, around maybe… five years ago, maybe six." I wasn"t entirely sure, all I knew was I was seventeen, and my family had left when I turned twelve.

She took this information in by losing eye contact, a moment of distraction befalling her. She turned her back on me completely. "Oh… that"s nice…" she mumbled.

This sudden change made me stop, but I didn"t press her as I just finished up pumping the wheel and just started fixing up the bolts on the other. Jade Eyes seemed to approach me and watch. She didn"t offer anything in words, but she showed a quiet sense of wonder. She didn"t say anything to me when I attempted to speak to her, but the other girl soon told me, "She won"t talk to you. She doesn"t talk," she explained.

I looked at Jade Eyes for confirmation, she merely gave a half smile.

The three of us remained in noiseless while I managed to fix the remaining wheel. "There we go, all good," I stated, turning to the girl. She was sitting down, but Jade Eyes walked over and was offering her something to lean on. I approached and offered, "Do you need a hand?"

She dismissed me as she leaned heavily on the little girl. Jade Eyes seemed to withstand the girl"s weight, but both were somewhat shaky. The girl had terrific upper body strength as she forced herself to kneel, her legs trembling, as she managed to shuffle her way over to the wheelchair again to climb into it. I understood the need to do this without too much help, independence and all, but it seemed too uncomfortable looking.

She softly panted while she sat there, taking a few moments to catch her breath before sighing and looking at me. "Thanks…" said she.

I nodded. "No problem," I replied.

She looked at the pump in my hand. "You"re a real lifesaver," she stated as she started rolling forwards. The slant of the hill gave her speed, and soon she was flying down the mountain. I jumped at the sudden speed boost, even the ferret latched onto the girl"s hoodie from the sudden haste, but Jade Eyes didn"t seem surprised; instead, she started racing down after her. I took this as a regular occurrence between those two and followed behind the pair. The wheelchair"s speed decreased when she had to go up the next hill, allowing Jade Eyes to catch up to the girl and push her the rest of the way up the incline. They found my bike and waited for me.

I panted when I managed to reach them. Jade Eyes and the girl were slightly panting themselves. "Where"re you heading? We"ll walk you," the girl offered.

I leaned on my knees and nodded, holding my chest to check my heartbeat. "I"m going into town. I need to check in with some stuff," I informed.

The girl nodded and told me how Jade Eyes and herself were going to head home that way and would walk and roll with me. I accepted their offer, for mainly two reasons: one, n.o.body likes walking alone, and two, I just wanted to make sure they were okay getting home.

*

Jade Eyes picked up the ferret and rested him on her shoulders. He started munching on her pale hair, but she seemed either use it or didn"t mind.

The girl was rolling herself along, dismissing Jade Eyes" attempt at pushing, and not wanting to be rude, didn"t offer. I pushed my bike alongside them. We had a couple of conversations, but for the moment no one spoke. I found out they were both students, lived in the area and that the ferret"s name was Fritz.

The sky was beginning to turn orange and pink, the world around us coated in a caramel colour. The town was small, but it was a well-maintained place. There was a semi-famous school, Windmill Lake was only a half hour from the coast and still maintained to be where the rich people spend their summers due to the calm and peaceful sceneries. I remembered the town to be a small place, but years later it had developed this reputation, it became bigger while simultaneously remaining the tiny town I could walk around in a day. One of the schools they had here, which I was attending, doubled as a boarding school, meaning there were a lot of affluent students likely to visit and explore the small town as well.

As I walked with the two girls I saw many people strolling, women with babies in strollers, dog walkers with who attempted to eat Fritz and even people on roller skates skilfully gliding down the pathways and dodging people without a moment hesitation. The shops had certainly changed since I was last around, there were small corner stores and fish and chip shops and such, but in addition to that was a supermarket that I could see from the streets. It was a large building that gave off the illusion of being made from gla.s.s.

The town had undoubtedly become something worthy of being on the map.

We walked together but soon had to part ways. Jade Eyes and the girl looked at the direction they were heading. Towards the end of the street beyond the buildings of the central town was a pine forest which surrounded the area, which coincidently was where the majority of wealthy family holidays houses were, along with the physical skills and, somewhere, the dormitories.

"We"re down this way," the girl informed.

I nodded. "I still have a couple of things to do," I confessed scratching my head. In all honesty, I didn"t quite know if everything was still where I remembered it to be. "So…" I shrugged, "Guess I"ll see you two around then."

The girl"s eyes downcast as she turned her head away from me. "Umm… sure, I… I guess." Her sudden shyness made me smile.

Jade Eyes didn"t seem overly happy nor sad about whether she"d see me again, she did, however, offer me a fist b.u.mp.

The gesture was so sudden that I thought Jade Eyes was going to punch me.

I noticed this and kneeled to respond. Jade Eyes seemed satisfied with my response, even going so far as to smile. I smiled back and started walking the bike down the next street, the two girls watching me go until the one in a wheelchair suddenly called, "Hey! What"s your name?" she yelled.

I froze and turned, "Pardon?"

"What"s your name?" She started rolling slowly towards me.

"Uhh… my name"s Landon, Landon Becks." She stopped a few meters in front of me, avoiding my eye line.

The girl nodded, resting her hand on her lap to play with her thumbs. "Thank you… Landon. I appreciate you helping me."

I smiled and nodded. "I"m just glad I could help."

"But also… if this ever comes up, could you please, not mention I was out here? Or that you saw me?" she requested.

I found the request odd as to why. I wondered who would care if someone went to somewhere as beautiful as the windmills. Nevertheless, I nodded and promised I would. The girl nodded as took my statement as a time to leave as she started pushing herself across the road, Jade Eyes following her with Fritz hanging from her shoulder.

I smiled as they eventually went out of view, Jade Eyes skipping ahead of the girl.

They seemed nice.

I hopped on my bike and moved slowly down the street.