Secret Stash

A:

As I step through the front door of Alieen's apartment, I cannot help but think something.

"Why do I keep coming back to this building?"

In the last week alone, I have spent more time in this one building than I have spent in all of San Francisco in the last two years. Walking into the hallway, I immediately see the same t.v where Alieen showed me the giant worm that attacked me. Walking a little further, I see the countertop where I shared lunch with Alieen, Matt, Alfred, and Layafette. I think back to the hot sandwich.

"Come on," Alieen says, hitting my shoulder and running up the stairs. "You said you wanted to see Matt's secret stash."

"Yes I did," I answer, nodding my head. "You said that Matt had lavender-scented water. That is why you recognize the smell."

"Yeah. Matt showed it to us a few months before hiding it under his bed."

"Where is Matt anyway? In fact, where is everyone? I do not see Alfred or Layafette anywhere."

"Uhh, let me think. Let me think. If I'm remembering everyone's schedules correctly, I think Matt and Leia have work today. Alfred on the other hand, I think he's in class."

"Alfred had class? With all due respect, I think Alfred is a little old for school."

"You have heard of colleges, right?"

I can hear Alieen hides a laugh.

"Yes. Yes, Alieen. I have heard of colleges. As far as I know, I have never been to one but I have heard of them."

Once more, I hear Alieen hides a laugh.

"Alfred is going to SF state university. Well, actually, all four of us are going to SF state university but we have different classes."

"What are you studying for?"

"History. We're here."

Stopping at a door at the end of the hallway, Alieen grabs the doorknob but she does not turn it.

"Are you okay," I ask. "Why did you stop?"

"I feel a little bad about this," Alieen answers. "I mean, it's an unspoken rule but it's still a rule nonetheless."

"An unspoken rule," I repeat. "What are you talking about? What is the rule?"

"The rule is that none of us can really go through each other's personal things," Alieen says while shaking her head. "I mean, if it's out in open, like in the kitchen or the living room, we can use it. But in our rooms, it's a different story. I feel wrong going in without Matt's permission."

Despite my lack of common sense and human emotion, I can still tell Alieen is feeling uneasy. I may not have known her very long but from the short time I have known her, I can tell she is a very caring person. She cared about her friends. However, if Matt does have this lavender-scented water, then I need to know.

"I can do it," I say, placing my hand over Alieen's hand and pushing it down. "You do not have to do it."

Alieen looking at me shakes both her head and hand.

"No," she says, "No. No offense, but I think you being in there alone would be worse than the two of us snooping around together."

Taking a deep breath, Alieen opens the door to Matt's room.

Alieen:

"Wow," A says as soon as he steps into Matt's and Alfred's room. "This is messy."

"Yeah," I say, looking around. "Believe it or not, this actually isn't Matt. It's Alfred."

"You are kidding. Alfred seems like a calm and organized person. Matt otherwise seems loud and not-so-organized."

I watch as A steps over a field of crumble-up Hostess wrappers. Having made it through the Hostess wrappers, A now find myself surrounded from all sides by empty yellow and brown M&M wrappers. Nearly slipping on them a few times, he manages to catch himself before making it through. The final field is a bunch of empty cereal boxes with paper bowls.

I can see A coughing and maybe even crying a little when he accidentally steps into one of the bowls. Sucking air through his teeth, A finally makes it to one of the beds.

"I am here," A says, looking around. "Wait, why are you not here? Why are you still by the door?"

"Because that's Alfred's bed," I say, pointing a finger at the bed A is next to. I move my finger to the bed I'm standing next to. "This is Matt's bed. As I said, the room's messiness is because of Alfred. He's a big snacker. A really big snacker."

A slams his fist into the palm of his hand.

"Forget it," he says, waving his hands. "I only have one pair of shoes and they are already stained with green milk. Alieen, stand back."

I stand back and watch as some sort of black mist begins to circle around A.

"What," I say, still watching as the black mist suddenly dispenses and A is gone. "Where did you go?"

A black mist appears beside me, I jump back and watch as A walks out of it.

"What was that? What did you do?"

"Teleportation," A answers.

"You can fly and teleport," I say. "That's a little overpowered, don't you think?"

"I do not know," A says with a shrug. "Anyway, the water."

"Right."

Dropping to my knees, I search under Matt's bed and find his secret stash. Pulling out a small wooden treasure chest, I try to open it but there's a lock on it.

"You keep this locked," I say, grabbing the lock. "Really?"

"I can handle this," A says. He pushes me aside and grabs the lock with both his hands. In one swift move, he pulls the lock apart, the hook swinging open.

"Oh come on," I say, hitting A on his arm. "You know Matt is going to see that. How am I going to explain that?"

"Explanation later, water now."

A flips open the chest and we both look inside. There are all sorts of things in here; garlic, crosses, silver-colored bullets.

"What is all of this," A asks, grabbing a cross. As he grabs the cross, he screams and drops it.

"A," I say, reaching and grabbing A's hand. For some reason, his hand is red and smoking slightly. "What happened? What did you do?"

"Nothing," A replies, blowing his hand. "Nothing. I just grabbed that."

Pointing at the cross on the floor, I pick it up.

"I don't get it," I say, holding the cross in my hand. "This isn't hot. It's cold and wooden."

"I do not know what to tell you," A says. "That burns me when I held it."

"A cross burns you when you held it," I repeat to myself. "Hey A, I need you to hold this again."

"What?"

"Please A. Just hold it again. I have to be sure."

"My smoking hand is not enough for you."

"Just, please."

"This is going to hurt," A says after a few minutes. Taking a deep breath, A grabs hold of the cross, and once more, it burns his hand. He grips onto it for only a few seconds before dropping it. Catching the cross and putting it back in the chest, I look at A. He's crying a little.

"Oh my god," I say, looking at his red and smoking hand.

"Are you sure now?"

"Holding a cross burn you, A?"

As soon as I said those A, A forgets about his hand.

"Holding a cross burns me," he repeats. "What?"

Looking away from A and his red hand, I check the chest again. Moving some things around, I find what I'm looking for; Matt's lavender-scented water. Only, the water is in some sort of silver-colored flask with a cross on it.

"This is it," I say, showing A the flask.

"Are you sure?"

Thinking it over, I unscrew the cap and sniff the flask.

"Yeah. It's lavender-scented. Let me see. Let me see."

Turning around, I see a paper cup on Alfred's drawer.

"A," I say, "Can you grab me that?"

"Of course," A answers, holding out his hand. I can't tell if I'm surprised or not, but the paper cup hovers from the top of the drawer into A's hand. Once in A's hand, he hands it to me.

"Thanks."

Tearing the cup, I hold up a small piece of it. Pouring some of the water onto the piece of the cup, I look it over.

"It looks like water," A says.

"Maybe," I say, looking at the flask with the cross on it. "Maybe it is water. Holy water."

"Holy water," A repeats before we hear the front door swing open and then, only seconds later, a familiar voice.