The Note

“Who left their trash in the middle of the hallway!” The locker made a dull crunch sound, skewing Eden’s glasses as she fell into the long bank of metal which covered the whole left side of the dreary, dimly lit, grey hallway.

She looked up to greet her attackers with a “Sorry…” but the two girls had already disappeared around the corner, laughing.

The loser “brainiac” as she was often referred to, stood up quickly straightening her glasses. In her rush to stand, she lost grip of the drawings she clung to. The pink folder fell away in slow motion, and paper came spilling out like a waterfall across the grungy-looking floor. Faces, characters, eyes, noses, and mouths all staring up at her as she bent over and scrambled to pull them together in a huff.

“It’s whom…” Eden whispered to herself, straightening her cat-eye-rimmed glasses again.

“At least they didn’t tell me to go back to the poorhouse or take a shower this time… I don’t even know why they say that, I am always clean and we aren’t that poor.” Eden stopped herself, she realized she was mumbling out loud to no one.

The high-pitched beeping that signified lunch hour suddenly echoed through the silent hallways, startling Eden. Quickly, she knelt to the cream coloured tiling taking one last look for any stray sheets, losing some in the process.

Footfalls, doors, laughter, and slamming lockers began to fill the air as students started to pour out into the hallways. She shook her head, feeling her cheeks grow warm as she scooped the last pieces of paper up in armfuls as quickly as she could. Other students began to stream past, chuckling at or just ignoring her.

As Eden went to stand back up, she noticed a slip of paper drop in front of her. She stuffed everything back into the folder, curiously grabbing at the small folded note. She looked around as the sea of teenagers passed by, unfolding it.

“We see you… When no one else does. They call you; you will see soon. ~ The Watchers” it read in gothic looking, bold cursive.

Suddenly, Eden’s head felt light. She stumbled a bit steadying herself against her dented, green, locker as the world faded in and out. “Must have gotten up too fast.” She thought.

She gathered herself, pulling her black and white cardigan tight around her narrow shoulders. She dusted off her worn blue jeans, then headed to the library to spend her lunch alone like she always did, slipping the strange note unwittingly into her pocket. Eden weaved her way through the constant stream of bodies, finally making her way into the library.

She pulled the glass door open and stepped into the sanctuary, immediately the smell of countless leather-bound hardcovers and aged paper filled her senses. Eden smiled, taking a deep breath. She quickly made her way down the winding stairway to the lush green carpet. Waving to the other vagrants that frequented this place.

Eden eagerly dove into the nearest book section, stepping into a small corridor lined with walls of beautifully preserved and cared for manuscripts. Anything Eden could think of she would most likely find in here. She walked through gliding her small hand over the spines of the new and old, grabbing at random. Carefully, she slid a green and blue book from its resting place and hugged it to her chest, looking for a place to sit and relax.

“What do we have today?” she whispered to the tome. Her next two periods were free, in all reality, she could go home. She didn’t like being home with her Father alone though, he would be passed out anyway. Eden figured she would be better suited to spend the next five hours in the solitude of this place, then arrive home just in time to meet with her Mother, chat, eat, and go to sleep.

Hours seemed to fly past. Eden was completely lost in her book and was startled from Plato’s teachings by the soft voice of the Librarian, Mister Randt.

“Eden, it’s time for me to close up shop. I can let you out the door.” Eden looked up from her table, unconsciously fixing her glasses, and nodded,

“Yes, sorry Mister Randt, I will get out of your hair.” She replied.

“Who did we read today?” He questioned as she handed him the old book, she wasn’t really good at putting things back where they were supposed to go. So Mr. Randt always insisted on putting her books back for her.

“I was reading Plato today, I love his philosophical readings but sometimes I find it hard to understand. When he talks about Atlantis though, it’s like it really existed!” Eden replied a bit frustrated, unwittingly clutching the strange note from earlier that day in her jeans pocket.

Mr Randt chuckled, “Who says it didn’t exist, or maybe it’s Plato’s metaphor for human existence. Remember, you’re still young. You keep on reading that stuff and you’ll get it eventually. That work is used as a University Text, so don’t get too frustrated with it. You must have picked it off of my special shelf. I have one hidden in there for stuff I enjoy reading.” He smiled at her.

Mr. Randt was an older man, incredibly muscular for being near retirement age. He was wearing a brown and green knitted jumper, and grey corduroy chinos. His face was youthful, though very wise-looking in the eyes. He had a bushy beard and glasses that seemed to come out of an age long past. Now that Eden stood here looking at him, she thought that he kind of looked like Michel De Nostrodamus. But maybe that was what he was going for, or a wise old wizard? She chuckled to herself.

“I will for sure, I hope I find your special shelf again. You seem to have the best things on there.” She turned and waved, “Have a good night Mr. Randt. I will see you again tomorrow.”

“Wait up there, you forgot your paper…” Mr. Randt said, holding out a strange, folded note. How had that gotten out of her pocket?

“Oh, thank you, sir,” Eden replied as she turned back to the desk and grabbed it from him, she looked at her watch and quickly exited into the hallway.

She looked at the note again, “From the deep, they’ll come, our saviors. Join us in the reverie. Parkland Heights, Friday Night.~ The Watchers”

“This time it said something different? Or had I misread it earlier?” She looked at the note for a moment, wondering, then pushed it out of her mind.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s probably just some jerk playing jokes on me anyway.” Eden thought to herself as she tossed the paper into a nearby bin, heading out into the pouring rain.

She pulled the hood on her baggy green sweatshirt over her head, swiping her bangs over her ears before walking into the storm. “Another rainy walk home, I love it.” She said to herself, heading down the softly lit street. Cars rolled by, tossing water aside. Eden thought they kind of sounded like water against a shoreline. The streetlights reflected softly on the sidewalk below her feet, as she walked.

Eden lived pretty close to school, but she truly enjoyed being in the rain. Instead of going straight home, she decided to take a detour towards downtown and walk to the cafe for a sandwich and a coffee. The rain picked up a bit, but that didn’t bother Eden. She saw a bank of blue and white telephones and thought she should probably call her Parents and let them know where she was.

The town she lived in was small, considering, and situated on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The air always seemed to have a smell of freshness and sea salt. She loved it. Eden had always felt connected to the Ocean for some reason. It could have been that Fairlight was isolated from the mainland, situated on its own little island and it was just in her DNA. She didn’t know.

She continued towards the phone bank, pulling a coin from her backpack. The street was quiet, except for the odd car slipping by through the puddles that lined it. She noticed a nice-looking man sitting at a table closest to the door of the Cafe. He was dressed head to toe in corduroy and tweed.

His tweed jacket was a dark brown, with a red bow tie around his neck. He rested one hand on his light brown corduroy pants, with his legs crossed. He was sipping on a steaming mug of something, staring off into nowhere. Eden noticed that his hair was medium length and greying, but he didn’t look that old to her.

Eden stared a moment, then looked back down to her feet as she entered the phone booth. Stepping up to the phone, she pushed the small disc of metal into the slot and picked up the black receiver. The coin pinged and clanged down the inside, causing the mechanisms to click and a dial tone to sound. She pushed in the worn and stiff buttons, inputting her home phone number.

There were two rings, the usual amount that society deemed appropriate. One, you would seem too eager, three was too many. Somehow it meant you didn’t want to talk to anyone or you weren’t home. Eden’s mother picked up with a timid, “Hello…”

“Mom, it's me. I am downtown. Don’t worry, okay, I will be home soon. Just going to get a coffee and some food. How’s Dad?” Eden replied. She realized how similar they sounded and smiled.

“Thank goodness, Eden, we were worried. Dad’s fine. We are just watching a movie. Don’t be too late, okay?” Eden’s mother replied,

“I won’t be Moma, I’ll be home soon. Love you. Bye.” Eden said as she began to hang the phone up before her mother could reply.

“Love you too…” She thought she had heard her Mother say, the line went dead as she hung the receiver up.

Eden looked back towards the Cafe from within the phone booth. The world around her had changed. Seaweed hung from busted-up buildings that lined a flooded street, the lights flickered, and the sky seemed redder than normal.

Upright fish-things with horrid-looking spines and claws. walked aimlessly around her and she noticed the man in the cafe was standing motionless in the broken window. He seemed to be mouthing something to her over and over, the building itself was dark and his eyes seemed to glow white.

Eden was horrified and closed her eyes, shaking her head. She slowly backed up, exiting the booth, and opened them again. He was still sitting at the table, the cafe was brightly lit, and the street seemed normal.

“What is going on with me, I must be tired…” She rationalized the vision to herself, trying to calm down. She took a deep breath then looked both ways before hesitantly crossing the street and entering the Cafe.

The door clinked lightly, as she let it swing shut behind her. The Cafe was sparsely populated, the man she had noticed before entering sat sipping his coffee in his same seat, a lady in white sat cross-legged across from him stirring a tea, and a third sat in the corner by a lit fireplace reading.

The Barista stood smiling and cleaning a mug behind a counter covered in coffee machines as Eden approached.

“Hello, could I have a coffee and the sandwich of the day today, please?” Eden asked politely. Handing a five-dollar bill over. The cafe smelled like dark roast coffee beans and cookies.

“Sure you can, love. Would you like one of the fresh-baked oatmeal cookies? Just came out of the oven.” The Woman replied, smiling.

“Oh no, thank you. Just the coffee and the sandwich please.” Eden waved her hand. She didn’t have enough for one anyway. She smiled and headed to the nearest seat, waiting for the Barista to bring her order to her.

Eden dug through her bag and pulled out a blue and white ringed notebook. She figured she would do her homework while she waited. The Heights- How do you talk to an Angel played over the shop's speaker system, it quickly became disruptive to Eden's thoughts. She closed her eyes rubbing her head and opened her backpack once again, annoyed a bit. She pulled out her own Discman with a pair of huge black headphones and placed them over her head.

She tapped the small triangle play button and Deloras O’riordan’s beautiful Irish voice began to sing about Dreams, as Edan began to plug away at her Math Homework, smiling. The Cranberries were her favourite band next to the siren-like tones of Enya.

Eden didn’t know how much time had passed, she had found herself taken on a lyrical journey, song after song. Gin Blossoms, Goo Goo Dolls, The Cranberries. She looked up from her books and around at the dimming light of the Cafe, she thought it was strange. She saw that everyone else had left, minus the Barista who was busy working away at something and Tweed man by the Window.

Eden went back to her homework, shrugging the eerie atmosphere off. She worked a bit longer when her progress was interrupted by a man running out of the rain and into the shop screaming. Eden didn’t notice him at first, his screams and yells were drowned out by the music in her head. But, as the song floated away and changed to a new one she heard the yelling, she looked around and noticed Tweed Man standing in front of someone with his hands up, he was saying something as Slide slipped into her ears.

Eden stood up in alarm when she noticed that the newcomer held a twisted-looking knife to his own neck and she pulled the headphones off her head, screaming in surprise.

“They are coming! The Deep Ones! We will all die, and they will sink us!” the newcomer screamed in a shrill tone. Tweed man tried to calm him down,

“Now hold on, partner. Nothings going to hurt you here. Let’s just put that knife down. No need to scare these ladies off.” Tweed Man pulled back one side of his jacket, revealing a cowboy revolver to go with his aristocratic southern accent.

He ran his hand slowly across the beading that was sewn into his gun belt, coming to a stop over the handle of the gun. He pushed the hammer back, the revolver made its trademark click, as the cylinder wound up.

“I am Detective Constable Kersey, of Interpol. I am here to help you. Who’s coming for you, what are the Deep Ones?” Kersey moved closer to the madman. One hand on his weapon and the other in front of him.