Encounters

  Encounters

  Encounters

  Midpoint

  Encounters

  Episode I

  Written By: Rich Scribes

  Copyright © Rich Scribes

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  Saige Solars sat in math class staring at the board. The teacher had put a complex equation on the board, and he knew the answer without doing the work. For some odd reason Saige knew how to calculate numbers quickly. He didn’t know how, or why, but the only thing that he did know was that he couldn’t remember anything before he was sixteen. He researched this type of amnesia and he couldn’t find anything on it to help him. The only thing that the Internet said was, give it time. Something that he couldn’t stand reading or hearing.

  “Mr. Solars, the answer please…” Professor Timily loomed over him.

  “Sorry, sir, I couldn’t come up with the answer.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw a hand eagerly shoot into the air.

  “Twenty seven…” The girl said confidently. Saige smirked. Then he noticed Professor Timily was still looking at him, so he neutralized his expression.

  “Sorry, Felicia re-check your work.” Some classmates giggled. The bell rang and the kids in the classroom started to shuffle and move around to get to the door.

  “Thirty six and a half,” Saige mumbled as he glanced at the board again. He hadn’t realized Professor Timily had come up behind him until the teacher spoke.

  “Mr. Solars, hang back a moment, please.”

  “Uh, sure, but I…”

  “I don’t understand you, Mr. Solars. You know all the answers. You ace all the exams, yet you don’t cooperate in class.”

  “Well, I want to give everyone in the class a shot. I don’t want to be selfish you know.” Paige replied. The bell rang signaling the next period. “Listen, Professor Timily I have to get going. I have Astronomy with Ms. Golta.”

  “Yes, of course, but this conversation isn’t over.” Saige hurried and left the room to make it to his favorite class. This year the school was offering Astronomy along with science as a class for the second semester of the year. He jumped at the chance at learning everything about the planets and the galaxy. A lot of people took the class thinking it would be an easy course but the first few classes had killed that thought. Though many of his classmates grumbled, Saige was hooked. Ms. Golta, the teacher, was a little out there, but Saige could relate to her.

  “Mr. Solars you are late, but I appreciate the hustle in attempting to be here on time,” Ms. Golta commented as she made her way to the board. Saige slid into one of the seats in the first row as he could feel each student looking at him. Though many students signed up for the course, many dropped out due to how hard the class was.

  “Now, class, I asked you to research last night as to why is our galaxy called the Milky Way.” There was a lack of an effort from the class. No one knew, and no one seemed to care. “Okay, everybody out. You have a free class today. The last three assignments that I’ve given you no one has tried to even do them. So, everyone out! Zeroes that is what everyone has earned.” She flopped behind her desk in frustration and rubbed her eyes. The rest of the class ran out the door, but Saige stayed behind.

  “You know your class isn’t bad. This is actually my favorite class,” Saige offered quietly.

  “Oh, please. I know you kids think this class is any easy A.”

  “You don’t have to make the class easy, but make it interesting. Like discuss black holes, and meteors, and stuff like that. And the new planets that NASA has found and stuff like that.” Saige said. Ms. Golta looked very impressed.

  “You like this stuff, don’t you?” Ms. Golta asked.

  “Well, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have signed up for the course.”

  “Well, I will take your advice under consideration,” She said. Saige stood up from his seat and was about to leave when Ms. Golta asked him something out of the ordinary. “What do you think about alien life?” Paige hesitated near the door. The question was weird, but figured why not and go along with it. He turned around.

  “You mean like Area 51?”

  “Something like that.” She smirked.

  “If I call you crazy will I get in trouble?”

  “No,”

  “I think you’re crazy, then.” He smiled back on that.

  “Well, I think that they live among us,” She stated.

  “Are you joking?” He asked. She stared at him for several seconds before smiling a little.

  “Yes, just playing around. You see I’m not that bad.”

  “Yeah, you had me going for a minute. I guess I was right about the crazy part.”

  “Keep it up, Mr. Solars, and you will get detention.” She shooed him out the door. The awkward conversation lingered in his mind. Why did she bring that topic up? There were no such things as aliens, even though there were so many planets out there. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he collided with someone.

  “Hey! Watch out!” A soft voice exclaimed. Of course, it would be Felicia. She was really pretty, really nice, and really had been the crush of Saige’s life since he transferred to the school.

  “Oh…uh…uh…”

  “Sorry is the word you’re looking for,” She muttered as she stooped to pick up her books that she dropped running into Saige.

  “Yeah, of course. Duh. Sorry.” Saige leaned down to help her.

  “I am just messing with you. It is an honest mistake.” She said playfully.

  “There has to be a nicer way to mess with someone.” Saige responded. She looked up at him, and her eyes were an amazing green. But before he could admire her anymore he felt a hand tug at his shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” The hand jerked him up and left him stumbling on unsteady feet. “Babe, is this kid bothering you?”

  “No. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and we had a little accident.”

  “You get going. You’ve done enough.” Saige knew him as Brandon.

  “You’re an ass. He was helping me and now you’ve made him drop what he just picked up. That was really smart of you.”

  “I thought he was…” Brandon started and then he started to pick up the books that Saige dropped.

  “Don’t worry I will get out of the way of the love birds.” Sagie said and made his way towards his next class.

  “Uh, don’t you have gym with me, next period?” Felicia asked him stopping Saige mid stride. All Saige wanted to do was leave the awkward moment behind him.

  “Uh, I don’t know. All I know is that I wanted to escape this awkward moment that I was having with Mr. Macho man.”

  “Boy you don’t know who you you’re messing with.” Brandon shoved Saige hard enough that he almost hit the wall behind him.

  “Stop it! If you don’t stop I will cancel our date on Saturday. Now, walk me to the gym. See you, Saige.”

  “You’re lucky dweeb.” Brandon said, and they both walked past Saige and left him standing there alone. He didn’t feel like being in school any longer, so he decided that he was going to skip gym class. When he turned around he ran into an imposing male figure: Principal Anderson.

  “Mr. Solars, aren’t you supposed to be in class?” He thundered.

  “Well Principal Anderson, the bell hasn’t rug yet,” Saige started, and at the very moment the bell ra
ng. “Well there goes that.”

  “Come with me. I’m walking you to class.”

  “I can make it by myself.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to get lost.” He smiled down at Saige. Saige slouched. He couldn’t believe he had to endure gym class with Felicia after the incident that just happened. He walked in silence next to the overly tall principal until they reached the gymnasium.

  “Thanks for the stroll, sir.” Saige mumbled as he walked into the gym, but before he could walk in a hand slammed down on his shoulder.

  “Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Mr. Anderson warned.

  “I’ll make sure I won’t get caught,” Saige said under his breath.

  “What was that?”

  “I will make sure I won’t be late to another class ever again, sir,” Saige lied.

  “Good. Have a good class.” Saige wandered over to the bleachers. He wasn’t going to participate in class today. Felicia was already changed and walked over to him. Saige tried not to make eye contact with her. She sat next to him, and he shifted slightly away from her.

  “I’m sorry about what happened.”

  “The run in with Tarzan, you mean? Are you his Jane?” Felicia frowned.

  “He is protective of me, that’s all.”

  “Really? What happened to girls wanting to take care of themselves? Is that ‘so last year’?”

  “No…but…”

  “It’s cool. I’m fine. You don’t have to explain.”

  “Well, I just wanted to apologize.”

  “Accepted. Really.” Felicia nodded before she stood up. She looked back one more time at Saige before joining the rest of her classmates.

  “Mr. Solars, please join us for attendance.” The gym teacher bellowed across the gym. Saige did as he was told. He didn’t want to get into any more trouble. As he lined up next to one of his fellow classmates he caught Felicia staring at him.

  “Mr. Solars, why didn’t you change for class?”

  “Laundry day,” Saige replied.

  “Well make sure you remember that each laundry day will get you a zero.”

  “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind when I do laundry,” Saige mumbled.

  “Keep it up and you’ll be doing laundry in detention,” The gym teacher threatened before he moved on to the next student. After attendance, Saige resumed his place back on the bleachers. He was not sorry to miss out on dodge ball. Rubber balls pummeling him had never been his thing. That confrontation after Astronomy had wrecked his day. He didn’t know why, but it just happened and that is what he felt. He probably should bring it up during his appointment with Dr. Dalek. After he’d had the minor panic attack because he couldn’t remember his past his mother had suggested he see a doctor, and he agreed. He hoped that the sessions could help unlock memories to his past. He had been going to the doctor for a little over two months, but there had been little progress, but Saige couldn’t give up hope. The gym teachers whistle brought Saige out of his thoughts…he stood up, put his back pack on, and left the gym. Gym was his last mandatory class of the day. He walked out of school and almost immediately hot air surrounded him. A lot of people complained about the hot desert days in Arizona, but he loved it. His body seemed designed for this arid climate, while others sometimes were drenched in sweat. His appointment was right after school so he just took the bus to the doctor’s office to see if he could make any progress on remembering his past.

  “So, how are you dealing with your mood swings?” Dr. Dalek asked after a few minutes of small talk as she sat on her leather chair, and Saige was reclining on a couch looking up at the ceiling.

  “Isn’t this stereotypical? The whole chair and couch thing?” Saige tried to switch the topic.

  “Nice try, but, please, tell me now about the mood swings.”

  “Well I had another one today. I was happy when I left Astronomy class, but then I had a confrontation with a jock and his girlfriend,” Saige confessed.

  “Well, that isn’t bad. An incident being a catalyst would have people experiencing changes. Describe the incident more fully.” Saige did and the doctor made notes or commented appropriately. Then asked, “Now, after which class did this altercation take place?”

  “Astronomy,” Saige answered. “Why?”

  “Well, you never mentioned it during our previous meetings that you were taking this class.” She answered as she started writing down in her book

  “Oh, it is a new course that is offered during the second semester this year. The school thought it would be fun, I guess.”

  “And, is it?” The doctor continued on with the subject.

  “Well, I really like the class. The professor is a little wacky and should be lying down on this couch as well, but I’m not going to get into that.”

  “Why do you say that?” the doctor asked as she shifted in her seat.

  “Well, today… hold it. Why do you care?”

  “Well, because, I would like to get to know what happens in your day,” The doctor replied. Saige didn’t see anything out of the ordinary with this so he continued.

  “Well, today she let the class out early because a lot of people thought the class would be a breeze. I, on the other hand, love the class. I think I always loved outer space. I like learning about the solar system, and how new planets and solar systems are being discovered fascinate me. Don’t get me started on the whole Mars rover thing.”

  “You are getting off point. What did the teacher say that makes you think she is crazy?”

  “Well, she asked if I believed in aliens.”

  “Really? That is an odd question to ask a student. Did she ask the whole class or only you?”

  “Well, I was the only one left. We were just talking and she came out with that question.” Saige said as he fidgeted with his hands while looking at the ceiling.

  “And, what did you respond to her?”

  “I said I think they live among us,” He responded. There was disturbing silence, and for some odd reason he could sense the uneasiness of the doctor. He glanced at the doctor and smiled. “I’m just playing with you, doc. I don’t think there is any such thing.”

  “Of course, you are.” She smiled at Saige, but it was a fake smile. “Why didn’t you tell me that this class was being offered?” the doctor probed.

  “You didn’t ask me about my school schedule.

  “Is this teacher new?”

  “Why are you so interested with this? It is just a class.” Saige was annoyed now. He sensed that something was off. It was just a stupid class that probably wouldn’t amount to anything just probably a hobby.

  “I would like to know who would influence you during the school hours, that’s all.”

  “Don’t worry this teacher will not influence me. She is borderline creepy is all.” Saige said as he turned his wrist to look at his watch. “Isn’t time up? We are actually past the time.”

  “Don’t worry. Don’t worry I won’t charge your mother the extra minutes.” She smiled at him and they both stood.

  “Well, I don’t think this session helped me any, but the couch is comfortable.” He commented as he made his way towards the door. Before he could walk out a gentle hand placed on his shoulder stopped him.

  “We will get your memory back, you know that, right?”

  “I hope so, because if not, I’ll ask for a refund.” Saige smiled and then left the office.

  Dr. Dalek closed the door behind Saige and went to her desk and sat down in another leather chair that she had. She waited several minutes. She didn’t want Saige to double back and interrupt her in what she was going to do. She looked down at the scattered paper work that was on her desk. Out of all the patients Saige was her toughest. Not because he was going against the treatment, but because of what she had to do. She had to make sure that he didn’t remember his past. That was an order coming from Saige’s mother.

  Once she knew that Saige was not going to double back she picked up her cell phone which was by h
er computer, and started to dial a phone number. She heard the phone ring several times and was about to give up until someone on the other end finally answered the phone.

  “How did it go today?” A voice answered on the other end.

  “We have a problem.” Dalek advised.

  “All you have to do is make sure he can’t trigger his past. That is all!” The voice on the other end sounded agitated.

  “Are you aware he is taking Astronomy in school?” And the teacher is talking about aliens. That is bound to trigger something. He loves the class. I can do everything in my power to make sure he doesn’t remember who he is or where he came from, but there is only so much I can do especially if someone is determined to undo everything I’m doing.”

  “Good point. I will take care of it then. No one can learn what he is, especially him. It will be too dangerous,” The voice hissed.

  “I’m doing my part. You’re going to have to do your own. Especially since you’re pretending to be his mother,” Dalek pointed out. The phone clicked and the person on the other end was gone. Dalek rubbed her eyes. What had she gotten herself into?

  Saige walked into his house, and his mother was in the kitchen making dinner. Saige had not known his father, or so he’d been told. He only remembered the past two years of his life. It was frustrating. Apparently his father was a deadbeat that had left him at only a few months old. He didn’t care because him and his mother lived an alright life. Even though he rarely saw his mother she meant well since she was trying to keep up with the bills. He offered to go to work to help out, but she said that his duties were to school and getting into a decent college that he could get a good education, so that later he could take care of her when she was old and grey. Saige always smiled at that, but that is exactly what he wanted to do.

  “Hi mom,” he called out as he put his book bag on the ground.

  “Hey kiddo, how was school?” She pulled open the oven door and took out a casserole.

  “You know, class, stupid peers, and more class,” Saige responded.

  “You know we don’t talk about what classes you take anymore,” His mother commented as she closed the over door. “Any favorite this semester?”