Sophinisba Solis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophinisba) wrote2006-07-11 08:34 pm
sophinisba) wrote2006-07-11 08:34 pm
Five Things that Never Happened to Stokely Mitchell, 4: Trekkie Sci-Fi Freak Who's Been Right So Far
Part 4, mostly gen, PG-13
4.
The radio reception quit two days ago, and Stokely never got around to buying a TV for this place. Last time she saw a TV was a week ago at Julie's apartment downstairs. After that she stocked up on canned goods and bottled water, and she hasn't gone outside since.
Julie had called her the day before that. Said, "Um, Stokely, you're from Ohio, right?" She knew Stokely didn't have her own TV or an Internet connection, knew that when she listened to the radio it was mostly for the music, and she was more likely to read books than read newspapers. So she'd guessed Stokely hadn't heard the news, and she was right. "There's some crazy shit going on there, it looks like. I mean, Pennsylvania and some other places now too, and they're talking about it spreading to the City. But they say it all started in this little place called Herrington."
"Say what all started in Herrington?"
"Maybe you better come down here and check it out."
Julie really just wanted an excuse to get her friend on her couch, and Stokely understood that. But she needed to get her news from somewhere, and Julie's apartment wasn't a bad place to get food either. (Her parents were from China and they'd raised her well, at least as far as cooking went. They weren't as pleased with the lifestyle she'd adopted, but she had her own apartment now so that wasn't too much of a problem.) The couch was comfortable, and the sex, well, the sex was never anything life-altering, but it was better than anything she'd had in Ohio. So she went downstairs to find out what was going on.
Stokely had given up on Herrington, high school, and heterosexuality a little over six months ago, around the time Stan started going out with Delilah Proffitt and Stokes realized that any person who could stand to be around Delilah was not someone she should care about. And anyway, she realized when she looked at them together, as horrible a human being as Delilah was, Stokes was still more attracted to her than to Stan.
Casey Connor had gone to see her off at the Greyhound station, said, "So, you're really leaving me on my own with these monsters after all, huh?" and Stokely hadn't said anything, had hugged him awkwardly and gotten on the bus, and hadn't looked back.
The news report on Julie's TV was the first she'd seen of Herrington since then. It didn't actually look that different.
"Thank God you left when you did, huh?" said Julie, who was raised in New York and probably would have found Ohio horrific with or without the suspicious string of deaths and disappearances being reported on the news.
"Yeah," Stokely agreed. She felt Julie's fingers smooth at the back of her neck and, for the first time ever, shook her head, and shifted away.
The radio reception quit two days ago, and then the banging on her apartment door started up, and went on for hours, until Stokely couldn't take it anymore and withdrew into the bathroom, with its flimsy little latch on the door, with water and canned corn and fruit roll-ups. She's been waiting here for two days, resisting the urge to keep eating just so she'll have something to do. Because she has to make the food she has last. Because if she can just hold out long enough they'll go away. They'll leave her alone. They'll take whatever it is they need and they'll leave New York City to her and whoever else was antisocial enough not to need any human contact for a few days, a few weeks, however long it takes. And the outcasts shall inherit the earth, she thinks. She hopes.
Not likely, not likely at all that Casey's made it through whatever happened at home. He was a loner, sure, maybe even more of one than Stokes. But it would have been harder to hide back in Herrington. Thank God she got away, she thinks, huddled in her bathtub, trembling, hungry. Thank God she left Ohio.
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4.
The radio reception quit two days ago, and Stokely never got around to buying a TV for this place. Last time she saw a TV was a week ago at Julie's apartment downstairs. After that she stocked up on canned goods and bottled water, and she hasn't gone outside since.
Julie had called her the day before that. Said, "Um, Stokely, you're from Ohio, right?" She knew Stokely didn't have her own TV or an Internet connection, knew that when she listened to the radio it was mostly for the music, and she was more likely to read books than read newspapers. So she'd guessed Stokely hadn't heard the news, and she was right. "There's some crazy shit going on there, it looks like. I mean, Pennsylvania and some other places now too, and they're talking about it spreading to the City. But they say it all started in this little place called Herrington."
"Say what all started in Herrington?"
"Maybe you better come down here and check it out."
Julie really just wanted an excuse to get her friend on her couch, and Stokely understood that. But she needed to get her news from somewhere, and Julie's apartment wasn't a bad place to get food either. (Her parents were from China and they'd raised her well, at least as far as cooking went. They weren't as pleased with the lifestyle she'd adopted, but she had her own apartment now so that wasn't too much of a problem.) The couch was comfortable, and the sex, well, the sex was never anything life-altering, but it was better than anything she'd had in Ohio. So she went downstairs to find out what was going on.
Stokely had given up on Herrington, high school, and heterosexuality a little over six months ago, around the time Stan started going out with Delilah Proffitt and Stokes realized that any person who could stand to be around Delilah was not someone she should care about. And anyway, she realized when she looked at them together, as horrible a human being as Delilah was, Stokes was still more attracted to her than to Stan.
Casey Connor had gone to see her off at the Greyhound station, said, "So, you're really leaving me on my own with these monsters after all, huh?" and Stokely hadn't said anything, had hugged him awkwardly and gotten on the bus, and hadn't looked back.
The news report on Julie's TV was the first she'd seen of Herrington since then. It didn't actually look that different.
"Thank God you left when you did, huh?" said Julie, who was raised in New York and probably would have found Ohio horrific with or without the suspicious string of deaths and disappearances being reported on the news.
"Yeah," Stokely agreed. She felt Julie's fingers smooth at the back of her neck and, for the first time ever, shook her head, and shifted away.
The radio reception quit two days ago, and then the banging on her apartment door started up, and went on for hours, until Stokely couldn't take it anymore and withdrew into the bathroom, with its flimsy little latch on the door, with water and canned corn and fruit roll-ups. She's been waiting here for two days, resisting the urge to keep eating just so she'll have something to do. Because she has to make the food she has last. Because if she can just hold out long enough they'll go away. They'll leave her alone. They'll take whatever it is they need and they'll leave New York City to her and whoever else was antisocial enough not to need any human contact for a few days, a few weeks, however long it takes. And the outcasts shall inherit the earth, she thinks. She hopes.
Not likely, not likely at all that Casey's made it through whatever happened at home. He was a loner, sure, maybe even more of one than Stokes. But it would have been harder to hide back in Herrington. Thank God she got away, she thinks, huddled in her bathtub, trembling, hungry. Thank God she left Ohio.
next part | series tag | fic index
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This. Is. Great!
I. Am. Lame.
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So much depends on little decisions and who is where at what time.
The end lines are SO ironic.
*loves*
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