Chapter 9: It's Time to Go

The words had been easy to get out to Kelly, but he still couldn’t believe it.

He opened his eyes and looked around the apartment with blurry vision. It was hard to believe he was going to leave. But it wasn’t his choice, and that was perhaps the most bitter part of everything.

The more he thought about it, the more he knew it was the right choice. He couldn’t fight Alphonse. He had never been in a fight before to begin with, and the vampire had proven himself to be powerful. So, he should leave. Alphonse won, that’s it.

Where would he start?

“Well, I guess I should talk to my parents about it…” he thought.

He pictured the conversation, calling his mom and dad and asking to come back as soon as possible. He choked at the thought and couldn’t even bring himself to pull out his phone to ask. There would be too many questions, questions he didn’t want to answer.

He slowly looked around, and the size of the undertaking started to dawn on him and overwhelm him. His breathing picked up, and his hands involuntarily fidgeted at his sides.

“Something small… break it down into pieces, start small…” he said to himself as he looked down at his feet.

His eyes then fell to the black book still on the floor from when he threw it across the room.

He sighed and picked the book up, considering it. If he really was leaving, he’d have to return it. But Alphonse had underlined that passage. What should he understand from that? Alphonse was clearly implying a connection. Was it Alphonse terrorizing that town more than two centuries prior?

Jonathan decided it was better not to know. It was enough to know that Alphonse wanted to hurt him. Just leave it. Run, while he could.

It was just after noon now. On Sundays, the library closed its drop box. Jonathan was never sure why that was, but it just meant he’d have to return the book directly to the desk. Another trip to the library, then.

The fresh air outside was good for him, too. A cool breeze hit him as he slowly peddled down to the library. He found he couldn’t push himself too hard without beginning to feel dizziness creep in, so he took it easy.

On his bike, he gave his mind a break, actively trying not to think about the situation. Giving himself a physical task helped with this, something to direct his energy towards.

He let instinct take over, and his mind wandered, thinking of home. Jonathan had grown up about as close to the middle of nowhere as you could get. The closest town, about half the size of San Luis, was a half-hour drive away. Getting away was what he’d always wanted. He’d dreamt of living in a city, of being close to people his age. More than anything, he’d hoped for something to do.

Jonathan smirked at the memory, before looking forward and directly at the back side of a parked car.

He slammed into the trunk of the car, throwing up his hands in front of him to stop himself. He fell to the ground hard. His legs tangled with his bike as he slammed his shoulder against the asphalt. But he managed to stop his head before it was too late.

“F*ck!” he yelled and grit his teeth. Stopping himself against the car with his hands was the best move, but it still hurt like h*ll. His already sore left wrist was further strained.

He pushed himself up but stumbled as he did, getting untangled from his fallen bicycle. He checked the back of the car for any damage and counted himself lucky that the tire had only hit the chrome rear bumper, which was more than intact.

It was a rather nice car. Jonathan wasn’t much of a car person, but it simply looked expensive and capable. An almost pearlescent white, four-door sedan, with the windows tinted almost black. The boxy chassis gave it an older look, but it just made the car look more handsome, Jonathan decided.

He was checking his scuffed hands still when the driver’s side door opened with a solid clanking noise. From where he was on the rear right-hand side of the car, he saw a tall, broad-chested man step out of the car and turn towards him. Jonathan swallowed, having hoped the car was empty.

“I am so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going and…” he started, but the man cut him off.

“Are you alright, son?” he said, with a deep, concerned voice.

Jonathan saw he wore dark-tinted, round-lensed glasses underneath a broad-brimmed white hat. He was wearing a short-sleeved, airy-looking white button-up shirt and his thick arms were exposed below the elbow. The man was a bit on the older side, probably mid to late 50s, but his silver-white hair made him look older.

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Jonathan felt flushed, suddenly, embarrassed by the nature of the accident.

The man came around the side of the car towards him. He held out his large hands. “Here, let me have a look, I’m a doctor.”

Hesitantly, Jonathan extended his, showing him the scrapes where the asphalt had taken some of his skin.

The man’s hands almost enveloped Jonathan’s, as he gently turned his hands around, examining them. Something about the man just emanated confidence and charisma. Jonathan understood implicitly that he could trust the stranger. The man released his hands and fixed him with a grave stare.

“We’ll have to amputate, I’m afraid,” came his deep voice again.

“W-What?” Jonathan replied, shocked for a moment.

“Of course, I’m a Doctor of Philosophy, so my diagnosis should be taken with a grain of salt,” he said, and smiled broadly, flashing brilliantly white, straight teeth.

Jonathan was mute for a second taking the joke in, but slowly, he felt his body start to shake with the beginnings of laughter. He couldn’t stop himself. It wasn’t even that funny, but Jonathan realized how long it was since he’d had a laugh like this at all.

The man chuckled slightly and was still smiling broadly. Jonathan was sure he must look crazy to the man but thinking of how this looked just made him laugh harder, and he felt tears in his eyes.

He wheezed and coughed and managed to bring himself under control. Jonathan straightened up again. “I’m sorry, you have no idea how much I needed a good laugh,” he said. “Thanks for the diagnosis, I’ll, uh, heh, I’ll consider it.”

The man chuckled again. “Any time. But, really, are you okay? Are you in a rush? Do you need a ride somewhere?”

Jonathan shook his head. “No, not a rush. I just wasn’t paying attention. And actually, I was just headed to the library, so I was almost there anyway.”

The man perked up. “Oh, you were headed to the library? I was heading that way soon too. Just had some books to check back in.” He opened his passenger side door and bent down to pick up a hefty stack of books that was sitting in the seat. “Why don’t I join you and help watch out for any more parked cars, huh?”

Jonathan shifted his weight to one foot, leaning on that leg. He suddenly felt just a bit awkward. “Uh, I think I’d be okay,” he answered, a little nervously.

He glanced at the books the man was carrying, and immediately three stood out to him.

‘Common Western European Myths and Legends’, ‘The Fantastical Tradition’, and ‘Ghost Stories at the Fireside: Tales from Around the World’, all three of the books he was looking to check out. His interest was piqued.

The man shrugged. “Well, if you say so, but we’ll both be walking from here anyway.” He nodded at Jonathan’s bicycle.

Jonathan looked down and saw that the front wheel was entirely bent out of shape, but he could have sworn he hadn’t hit the car that hard.

“Oh, f*ck,” he said and felt the flush of embarrassment coming back.

Quickly, he grabbed the bike by the handles and brought it off the street, leaning it unevenly on a signpost. He felt a little helpless. He’d have to get the whole wheel replaced…

He smirked, and let his hands drop to his sides in a defeated way. It wasn’t like he’d be able to take the bike with him anyway. He locked it to the sign and looked up to see the man was on the sidewalk, at the corner of his car, looking in his direction.

He smiled at the man, and the man flashed that wide, inviting grin back at him.

“You know, what are the chances of that? I was trying to get my hands on some of those books you’ve got, Dr…?” he asked.

“Dr. Page. But please, call me Bernard. And you are?”

“Jonathan, Jonathan Gates,” he smiled as they began to walk down the street towards the library together.

“So, what’s a young man like you doing going to the library on a nice summer day like this?” Bernard asked.

Jonathan smirked. “Just returning this book. I didn’t get to read much of it, but… time to take it back.”

“What? Afraid of a late fee?” Bernard inquired.

“No, no, it’s just…well, I had checked it out as a potential source for this, uh, thesis I was writing. But it turns out I won’t be able to keep working on the thesis.”

“What’s stopping you?”

An image of Alphonse entered Jonathan’s mind. “I just… well, I was working on it on my own. You see, I gave my thesis proposal at Van Gannison, before I graduated, but it wasn’t accepted,” he managed. “I tried working on it over the summer, but the summer’s almost over and I’ve barely made a dent.”

“Well, what was it going to be about, anyway?” Bernard asked.

“Ah, I don’t want to bother you,” Jonathan answered dismissively.

“No, really. Give me your best pitch. It’s good practice. And besides.” Bernard turned towards him as they walked. “What if someone took a chance on you?”

Jonathan flushed red for a moment, before his lips parted in a slight smile. “Well… it couldn’t hurt.”