Campus Life II

A tense silence fell over the room after Trisha confronted Faith. On her walk back to the room, Faith went through many scenarios in her head about how her talk with Gwen would go. She was prepared to handle any situation. She was so sure that she was only going to bring it up when it was just them so she was not prepared for this.

"Well... uh... I just...I just...." Faith stuttered while she tried to explain herself. She closed her eyes to avoid Trisha's judging gaze and gathered her confidence.

" I just wanted to talk to Gwen about our relationship as roommates, do you mind excusing us?" Faith was surprised by the words that poured out of her mouth. It was like she was possessed.

" Gwen and I have been best friends for practically all our lives, I am sure she wouldn't mind me being a part of this conversation." Trisha replied as she walked towards Gwen's bed. She sat on the bed and gestured to Gwen to join her. Gwen was very obedient.

"Okay then. I just feel like ever since I came you guys did not give me a chance to be your friend. I tried to be nice but you were very mean to me from the beginning. I don't know if I did something wrong but if I offended you in any way, I hope you would forgive me. We do not have to be best friends. Your duo does not have to turn into a trio but I hope we could at least be on good terms with each other. Is that all right? At least for the sake of Gwen and I having to be roommates until the end of the next semester in April next year." Faith poured her heart out and awaited a response. She expected a response from Gwen but got one from Trisha.

"Sorry if you thought we were rude to you. We have had some bad experiences trying to make new friends so we have learned to just trust each other. We came here to study not to meet new people. We actually wanted to be roommates but that did not work out. We weren't rude to you, just indifferent. Now if you will excuse us, the school just got its first computer lab and we were heading to the Science and Technology building to see it." Trisha was out of the room and shutting the door as she ended her speech.Gwen walked back and forth in a stagger before she joined her friend.

Faith felt defeated. She was sad she had no one to talk to on campus about her problems. She did not have money to spare or she would call Sarah daily. She buried her head in her pillow and tried to think of her friends and her favourite boy band from 2020. That was the only way she could keep herself from crying. Suddenly, she got an epiphany. She was not totally alone! She had Guy!!. She needed that lighter but where was she going to find one? She was not used to the city. She had only gotten around on campus. She frequented the cafeteria, her classrooms and her bedroom. That was about it. She was missing the online order and delivery service of 2020. She was ready to do anything to find Guy. She hopped on one of the buses at the bus stop on campus without much thought. She got off at the mall. She found it surprisingly hard to find lighters or match sticks in any store she went into in the mall. Faith eventually gave up and grabbed a chocolate bar and went to the cashier. On a shelf next to the cashier, there were some more items for sale. Faith spotted some lighters there and grabbed one while thanking the universe under her breath.

The cashier was a woman in her sixties who felt entitled enough to advice every student like they were her own child. She took "it takes a village to raise a child" too literally. She assumed Faith was a smoker and she warned Faith of the danger smoking could cause to the body. Of course, she did this in a "I am truly concerned for your health and want to be your salvation" fashion. Her words fell on deaf ears and once Faith made her payment, she left the cashier mid advice.

Faith's next struggle was to find a private place to talk to Guy. Since Guy would not be playing a role, he would only be visible to her. She did not want people to think she was crazily talking to herself.

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Faith spotted a forest of oak trees on the bus ride back and thought it would be a good place to meet Guy so she alighted. She walked into the forest for a while until she felt isolated enough. With the flamed lighter in her hand, Faith focused on her desperate need to talk to Guy.

"Hello, Faith" Guy said, sitting on a log behind her. Faith's face lit up and if she didn't restrain herself, she would have already been in his arms. She was so happy to see a familiar face. The face that knew her secret so well. The face she could associate with both 2020 and 1984. She felt safe and secure with him.

"I am sorry Faith this has to be short. One of the travellers I have been in charge of for 20 years' extended life is expiring and I have to see him off." Guy said as he moved closer to Faith.

"You said time exists in a circle not in a line. So shouldn't you be able to get to him whenever you wish? You could leave this time period tomorrow and travel to a couple of hours before his life expires. Or am I wrong?" Faith replied , her eyebrows raised and her lips pouted in confusion.

Guy laughed. "Don't try to act smart with me, Faith. It all takes energy. When I time travel from period A to B, I have about an hour to go back to A without using much energy. If I spend too much time at B, I'd use just as much energy to go back to A as I would to C. I just came from a couple of hours before that traveller's death, so I'd like to go back easily. I am ancient and I feel like I am running out of energy. I am only trying to extend my lifetime. Anyway, can we get to why you summoned me so I can be on my way?"

"Every time I try to understand the overseeing world, I just get a headache. I have so many questions to ask you before we get to why I summoned you. So how old are you exactly? How do you get your energy to time travel? How does time work for you as an over watcher who travels through time? As in what year is your consciousness in? Does your lifetime really end? How does that work? When you die, do all the versions of you that travelled to various time periods disappear in those periods?" Faith bombarded Guy with questions.

"When I say lifetime, I do not mean it in the way you humans mean it. I mean my lifetime active in service. When my energy finishes, I would be forced to retire until every single traveller I have dealt with has expired for at least a century. Then I would disappear. That is because my death would affect the travellers who have interacted with me. My literal death would cause my simultaneous death in every period I have travelled to within a century. Can I answer your other 99 questions some other time? Can we get down to business?"Guy made an attempt to cut their conversation short.

Faith started to talk about the drama between she and the two friends like she was talking to one of her girl friends. It was obvious that she really needed a confidant. She threw hand gestures all over the place as she expressed her anger.

Faith landed and Guy responded after a deep breath. " I can't believe you got me out here for college drama. I believe what you need is a friend to confide in. I only deal with serious issues. You clearly have trouble making friends on campus. I suggest you meet friends through extra curricular activities. You could join a club. Your school has those right?

A club! Why hadn't Faith thought of that before? That was a good idea. She was too lonely, she needed to find her people on campus. She resolved to join a club.