Heck of a party III: The words we trust

Dancing between a foggy sentiment of consciousness and the heaviness of a darkness, Wyatt was unable to know what was happening around him. His thoughts were driven to the alligator.

After a while floating in his loud mind, speaking words he never said, he felt a touch. It wasn't warm, or more likely he couldn't feel it. But somehow he trusted it. It was absent of all traces of malice, it was gentle, safe.

There was somekind of faint echo in this darkness, a voice of sort at the end of this obscure tunnel. A light, exploding in the void. Casting away all the cold and fear. Just a voice, sweet as honey yet strong as whisky. Wyatt squinted his eyes open and had a blurry sight of the owner of this light.

Despite the obvious effects of his drowsiness, his tail wagged weakly. He felt a gentle brush on his face, a hand bigger than his head. Again the soft voice. "Wya..." He couldn't listen well but managed to mumble "Matthew..."

Matthew: "It's okay buddy, take your time"

The shepherd was helped to sit, mostly putting his weight on the arm of the gator that kneeling to help him. He held his head in pain...it felt heavy. The gator quickly brought a bottle of water to his lips.

Matthew: "Drink slowly, it will help"

The shepherd didn't hesitate and slowly gulped down the fresh liquid, rejuvenating his dry throat. After taking a long sip, he was helped by the gator to bring the bottle down. Matthew was speaking slowly but he was really scared for Wyatt. The latter had quite a hard time understanding the situation. He turned his head to face the gator, tears shedding. He was crying but made no sound, the sudden realization of what happened.

Matthew pulled him gently into a hug, patting his head softly to calm him down. "It's okay, I'm here Wyatt, it's okay..." The shepherd dug his face in the chest of the gator, his tears wiped partially by the shirt of Matthew. The latter patted the shepherd back, rubbing it up and down in motion. He tried his best to comfort his friend and relieve him from his pain.

The shepherd mumbled through the pecs of Matthew "Th....k....u" the gator shush him with a gentle rub on his shoulder with his thumb. His hand going to the back of the shepherd again. Matthew had a sudden feel on his fingers, he felt something underneath the fur of Wyatt's back, scars...they were huge but not too deep, they seemed old as it was barely noticeable and invisible with all the fur that grew back. Matthew wanted to ask about it but decided it was not really the moment.

Wyatt finally pulled away and sniffed, Matthew looked at him with concern but the same concern drew on Wyatt's face. His eyes widened, the gator had some bruises on his face, and a faint nose bleed. Matthew understood the situation and quickly reassure Wyatt with a big smile.

Matthew: "Don't worry, you should see the other guy"

Wyatt: "I'm...sorry"

Matthew: "You have nothing to be sorry about, if anything I should be asking for that...I wasn't there soon enough..."

Wyatt: "it's...fine. I'm not bruised or anything, I just feel heavy..."

Matthew: "You're drunk?"

Wyatt: "I...no? Well not that much"

Matthew got closer to Wyatt's face and the later got flustered.

Wyatt: "Wh-what are you doing?"

Matthew held Wyatt's face and looked at him in the eyes deeply.

Matthew: "Fucking bastard, I should have knocked him harder...you were drugged"

Wyatt: "what?!"

Matthew: "He might have put something in your drink when you were not looking...your pupils are dilated and your eyes are slightly bloodshot"

Wyatt: "I'm not really understanding..."

Matthew got back a bit looked away for a moment thinking of the words he wanted out.

Matthew: "The shark, Jørgen, were you drinking with him or chatting while having a glass nearby?"

Wyatt: "I...don't know. I can't...remember. I know I was talking with him but I only remember taking another drink from the raccoon and after a bit I felt heavy and Jørgen caught me..."

Matthew: "Hm...(*sigh*)Anyway...Do you want to go back to the party...it's fine if you don't, we can go home"

Wyatt looked down his eyes looking to the side, his ears fell down. He was conflicted and every cell of his body told him not to go back to the party.

Wyatt: "Lauren is still there...we can't leave her..."

Matthew: "Talking about that girl, I will have a serious talk with her later, she was supposed to be with you. (*sigh*) okay but ...we can stay here and in an hour or so we go fetch her"

Wyatt: "won't she be mad if she didn't see us for an hour?"

Matthew: "You shouldn't worry much about that, I doubt she is even focused on anything else than herself right now, and even she were to look for us, we have phon-(*realizing*)Crap! My phone!"

The gator seemed panicked for a moment.

Wyatt: "what?"

Matthew: "I think I left my phone on the bar counter"

Wyatt: "you what?!"

Matthew: "I think I had to drop it there while I was taking your bottle of water in a hurry"

Wyatt looked down.

Matthew: "Don't worry, it's not your fault. Besides, no one is gonna take it or something"

Wyatt: "You trust them too much"

Matthew: "So did you"

Wyatt felt hurt at that and looked away in shame.

Matthew: "Sorry...I...(*sigh*) look, I will be fast okay? I just grab my phone and I will rush back to you...don't worry about Jørgen, he left the campus a while ago, I saw him jump in a car"

Wyatt didn't reply to that and seemed to stare with sad eyes at the gator.

Matthew: "I will be back before you can say fantabulous"

Wyatt: "That's not a word"

Matthew: "How about you find how to spell it while I fetch my phone?"

The gator smiled goofily and playfully pinched Wyatt's snout. He got up and dashed to the door, turning back before heading out.

Matthew: "I will be back, promise"

Wyatt couldn't reply to that because the gator was already gone. He stood there still sitting, shirtless on the floor of the History classroom. His eyes wandered around until he noticed the heavy amount of blood spilled on the floor in splashes. It was horrible, like a crime scene. Some of it must be from the shark, most of it by the scent but the distinct smell of the gator's blood flood through his nostrils.

The shepherd looked away from it and looked to the side, his shirt was not on the ground, actually he was not even sitting where he thought he fell unconscious. He looked around him and saw his shirt well folded lying next to him. It had traces of dust from earlier and the gator figured it was probably best not to put it back on him. He stared at it for a while before the sound of the door opening made him turn his head expectantly but slowly turned to confusion as his body tensed to the tall figure.

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Matthew was walking out of the elevator and almost got smashed by an elbow, he quickly dodged what seemed to be two people making out furiously in front of him. He was more flabbergasted than anything, they were literally getting into it despite being in public. But Matthew realized quickly that they weren't the only ones as he pass them leaving them to their pleasures as they walked in the elevator and fell while going at it.

Matthew eyes were widening. Left, right...bodies, naked bodies everywhere. Matthew was confused about what happened, he left for barely five minutes and people were now having their fun in another way. He walked and tried his best to avoid either the ones on the floor or the ones up or against the couches. Some people were still dancing seemingly ignoring those having sex. It seemed that they were also more people here, some of them were not even from the Art school. Matthew walked through the new crowd towards the bar, the raccoon was cleaning a glass while looking at the counter happily. When the alligator reached the counter, he looked up and smiled. "Another drink, my friend"

The gator looked at him but his usual friendliness disappeared.

Matthew: "Have you seen a phone?"

The raccoon still replied with the same enthousiasm, clearly ignoring the cold approach of the gator.

Raccoon: "Yes, I kept it. Give me a sec"

He bent to his side looking for something in his cabinet, and took out the phone.

Raccoon: "Here"

The gator took his phone back and it seemed intact, he flashed a smile but it was not genuine. The raccoon just smiled back and looked down a bit as he kept cleaning a glass, he seemed thoughtful. He sighed and looked at the people around him before looking up at the stars and whispering "Someday..."

The alligator kept walking past the people and noticed a familiar figure on a couch, she was on her phone and seemed wasted. He approached quickly.

Matthew: (*clearing his throat*)

The coyote lifted her head and looked at him.

Lauren: "Matthewwwww, How you doing luv? You finally made it. Let me tell you, you've missed a lot"

Matthew: "You don't say"

He crossed his arms while she got up and adjusted her dress. He looked her from the toes to the head with a "seriously bitch" face.

Lauren: "And the drinks! Yeah, you should try them. Oh and Wyatt was like really having the best ones and huh...wait it's been a little while since I saw him"

Matthew: "Yeah, just keep having fun. I will look for him"

Lauren: "Okay luv, I'm just resting a bit, then I will go back on the dance floor"

Matthew smiled and just rolled his eyes before walking away. He mumbled to himself "She was definitely getting laid too" he sighed as he walked to the stairs.

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On one of the couch, there was a german shepherd scrolling through his texts while some random people were having their way next to him. He didn't seem bothered or anything, just annoyed. Another shepherd came next to him and sat while sighing in an exaggerated manner. He put an arm around the first shepherd that had a darker complexion. "Whatchu doin' my boy? Watching porn at a party?" He said looking at what seemed to be sex tapes on the first shepherd screen. The latter ignored that and kept scrolling. Before he spoke again "That one looked lit, that seemed to be you. You watching yourself dog? Nah you kinky as fuck bro" the latter barely glanced at him but it was enough to make him flinch.

He quickly apologized "Sorry Eddy. You're not having fun tonight? You usually have a gal or two during these parties. I saw some nice girls here and there, they are much finer than those we got as freshman in our school. I mean look at all those peaches, I had a fuck not so long ago, with three bitches. Man you should have seen'em, they were real slut and taking me like balls deep. Damn that was metal"

Eddy: "Peter, how about you just fuck off?"

Peter seemed offended by such rudeness but he just let go of Eddy and got up.

Peter: "Fine, have fun boss"

The darker shepherd didn't even acknowledge a stare at Peter as the latter walked away. A text popped on Eddy's screen "Is she with you?" Finally a smirk appeared on the usually neutral face of the shepherd. He typed back "In my car, I will be on my way then" he pocketed his phone and got up, stomping on the tail of whoever was lying unconscious on the floor earning a faint yelp but he didn't care and walked to the stairs. On his way, a rushing gator almost pushed him to the wall.

Matthew: "Sorry buddy"

The shepherd looked as the gator kept walking fast, and he mumbled "Fucking reptiles" The gator stopped on his track and turned to face him.

Matthew: "Say what?"

Eddy looked at him with a cold stare, rarely was he looking at the eyes of someone else on the same height level, actually maybe taller than him by a bit. He looked up slightly and then said "Move" Matthew just looked down at him "Say what you said again to my face"

Eddy: "Move"

Matthew: "make me"

The shepherd clenched his fist but he relaxed and sighed "sorry" he walked past the gator and walked down the stairs in a hurry. Matthew looked at him and frowned before quickly regaining his composure and walked down the stairs as well.

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Wyatt was not able to see clearly from the distance, barely shapes and colors. He knew for sure that the one standing was not Matthew, someone less taller was there but he couldn't make anything of it until his eyes found strength to focus so he could see properly again. It was a panda, a familiar one.

Wyatt: "I know you...Jales, right?"

The panda seemed confused or more likely embarrassed.

Jales: "hiii (*nervously smiling*)...Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to be in this room. I was looking for a socket to charge my phone...weirdly there was none on the rooftop that was available...so...yeah"

Wyatt: "oh huh..."

Jales noticed the shepherd was sitting on the floor half naked and there was blood on the floor. His face went from concern to fright.

Jales: "huh....I think I can go look somewhere else yeah..."

The panda was retreating with a nervous smile before the shepherd called for him.

Wyatt: "you can stay here...I don't mind"

Jales seemed really reluctant and suspicious about the whole thing but somehow he felt like he could trust the shepherd, after all he was a friend of a friend...

Jales: "hm...okay"

He stepped in, and walked awkwardly in the room avoiding the blood puddle and spotting a socket on the wall behind the shepherd. He took out his charger and plugged his phone. Then he walked back to the dog and sat next to him. There was an awkward silence before the latter spoke.

Wyatt: "so huh, how you doing?"

Jales: "good...huh you?"

Wyatt: "good too"

Another silence fell in the room.

Wyatt: "so...you and Lauren know each other? Classmates in high school?"

Jales: "of sort, but yeah we know each other from high-school. I was kinda surprised to see her here, I always thought she would be traveling"

Wyatt: "Yeah she told me she wanted to go to Korea but her mother wasn't thrilled about that so she had to be here instead"

Jales: "Yeah...I see. So huh, without being too forward, why are you half naked on the ground next to a puddle of blood coming straight out of a horror movie?"

He crossed his arms and tilted his head.

Wyatt: "That's a long story I don't really wanna talk about..."

Jales: "Mysterious, are we? Fine I won't pry...but I doubt it will be that if a lecturer gets in here on Monday...or a student for that matter, let alone the Art Headmaster."

Wyatt: "...yeah...wait, you are from the Tech school ?"

Jales: "yeah, 3rd grade"

Wyatt: "wow, what field?"

Jales: "Process engineering"

Wyatt: "That sounds nice"

Jales: "Oh my God, no, it's hell like for real. Mostly because of that shit eater of a lecturer. He gives us a class on Particle fusion. That fucking bitch is first of all really mischievous and he reeks like dug open graveyard kind of and no offense since he is a rat but boy, he can't be that dirty, I'm sorry. No, like he can be a shit but at least didn't have to smell like one."

The panda took a time to make a grimace while looking to the side in a frown of sort seemingly annoyed.

Wyatt: "That must be hard...I can't really complain about ours, they are like super friendly and cool in a way. The owl lady that gives us our history class...in this exact classroom, she is old but kind of the cool carefree one, like if she has the opportunity to end her course ahead of time, she will without hesitation and she literally dumped us on a movie so she is like really great...not that much morally but since she means well i don't mind."

Jales: "Heeeee(*exaggerated interjection *) at least you have Movies and fun, hmph I tell, you, it's really hell. Well, I'm being too dramatic with that too heh, it's not as if we do not have our fair trade of good and cool lecturers. Just that, Boy! That rat is the worst. Just speaking of him gives me nausea."

Wyatt: "You definitely hate that guy"

Jales: "Boy, like he could be dead i wouldn't bother faking a sorrow in class"

Wyatt: "That's a bit..."

Jales: "just kidding (*giggling*) I'm not that baaaad (*laughing*)

Wyatt chuckled and his tail wagged. The panda looked at it and smiled.

Jales: "For real canines are cute with this thing, like one day I might just dissect one of you guys to see if your tails are like self conscious"

Wyatt: "I'm totally not scared about your statement"

Jales: "Don't be (*giggling*) you will not be my test subject...depends on if i find someone else"

They laughed and Wyatt nudged him playfully and the panda just looked happier and more relaxed than when he arrived.

Wyatt: "Do you watch anime? Read manga?"

Jales: "Bitch, please. I may not be THE otaku but I am a fan of Asian culture in general and especially the Japanese and Korean ones. So yeah i do watch anime, read manga and manhua, I also have my fair amount of K-drama tv shows and i enjoy k-pop"

Wyatt: "same here, just not about the Korean stuff. Although i do read manhua too"

Jales: "That's dope"

Wyatt: "Have you read the ascension of the limitless player ?"

Jales: "Boy please, Nam Woo ?! (*exhaling with enthousiasm*) like that raven was literally the reason I kept on living"

Wyatt: "Get out of my mind ! Nam Woo was like super op at the end and damn he could solo any army?! My favorite part was the fight in the woods in the beginning"

Jales: "The one against the wolves right? Yeah honestly, I wasn't expecting so much from that manhua considering how it started but it's definitely the best I read so far"

Wyatt: "Totally agree. Do you play games ? Like on the Pawstation ? Or perhaps the K box ? "

Jales: "I don't have a game console but I do play mobile games though"

Wyatt: "oh that's great too, what kind?"

Jales: "I don't really have a specific category, I enjoy everything as long as it is entertaining"

Wyatt: "Then, do you know Legends of Claws?"

Jales: "I think I vaguely heard of it, is it the game that's like inspired of the PC game Hooves legend?"

Wyatt: "well it's similar but it's quite enjoyable and unique in its way"

Jales: "hm...I will give it a try"

Wyatt: "yes and we could play together sometimes, like growing in rank because it's helluva hard"

Jales: "okay, I will download it"

Wyatt: "great"

As they kept chatting and laughing, the door opened again. Matthew was smiling goofily then he noticed the panda and frowned slightly as he got closer.

Matthew: "I'm back"

Wyatt turned and saw the gator.

Wyatt: "oh Matthew, took you longer than you said, hope everything was fine. Did you got your phone back?"

Matthew: "yeah, i got it, and also saw Lauren...she is huh fine."

Wyatt: "I guess she does enjoy that party, is it still going on?"

Matthew blushed and looked at Wyatt with a nervous smile.

Matthew: "let's just say that hot would be a euphemism..."

Wyatt: "Huh I'm not sure of how to understand this considering the face you're making"

Matthew: "Don't worry...huh...(*looking at the panda*) hi"

Jales slyly responded.

Jales: "hi...Matthew, right?"

Matthew: "I do remember you, the literature club, you are that Panda that seemed really not comfortable around people"

Jales looked nervous before Matthew quickly spoke again.

Matthew: "I didn't mean...to make you feel bad, sorry. You were just in your zone"

Jales: "yeah, I'm not good with social interactions"

Matthew: "Yeah...sorry"

Jales: "no biggie"

Wyatt: "Matt, we were talking about games, come sit down, I remember you saying you play a lot too"

Jales: "you do?"

Matthew: "mostly on PC though"

Jales: "That's cool"

Wyatt: "yeah, we can perhaps even create a party us together in a mmorpg"

Jales: "I don't mind, but I have my bads with that kind of games...not a fan"

Wyatt: "Damn Jales, you miss a lot"

Matthew sat just next to Wyatt and was so close his elbow was rubbing on the shepherd side and his tail was getting closer to Wyatt's one.

Throughout the conversation and laughter, the atmosphere in the room that once was very horrifying now felt so much more likable. Wyatt's pinky finger was slowly rubbed by Matthew's one but the latter was in deep talk and laughing loudly. Wyatt felt his face getting hot as he could feel the gator closeness even if it was not willingly done. Or was it?