There's a what in the pond? {Kessa and then Open!}

[Justin Marshall]

Justin was beginning to think he was the victim of some kind of new-employee hazing. He’d been given the overnight shift three times this week. His sleep schedule had been blown to smithereens and he was finding it hard to concentrate. An hour earlier, he’d found a student sneaking around on the grounds, and said student made up several different and equally untrue stories for his delinquency. Justin eventually gave up trying to decipher the truth because his head hurt too much, and delivered him back to the dormitory staff. It was now one o’clock in the morning. He still had five hours of his shift left to go with an increased amount of paranoia and his head still loudly complaining.

Grumbling under his breath about meta-teenagers, he trudged off to check on the pond. He’d almost come close enough for the light from his flashlight to reach the water when he froze in place. Something was rustling in the bushes off to his left. Something big. Justin’s heart pounded in his ears. The rational part of his brain tried to calm him by saying things like “it’s probably just a noisy animal,” and “just another kid fooling around.” But the crazy lunatic voice borne of his power easily drowned out the reasonable one by screeching, “LIZARD ALIEN TERRORIST!”

All of his muscles quivering and ready to attack, he silently approached the tall bushes, flashlight at the ready. Pulling the twigs and leaves aside, he peered through the hole he had made. Something huge filled his vision. Something huge, brown, and…furry? Justin jumped backward in both surprise and relief that it wasn’t a terrorist, tripping over a nearby bench and onto the ground. A moose. He was going to have a giant bruise on his ass because of stupid moose. At least he’d managed not to yell. He wondered if someone’s out-of-control powers had let it in or if this really was new-employee hazing.

Still sitting the way he’d landed on the ground, Justin pulled out his radio. ”Be advised there is a moose on the grounds near the pond. Request….protocol? Over.” If no one answered, they were probably busy laughing at him or asleep on the job. He pulled himself up, using the bench as leverage, and plotting ways to knock some sense into whoever was responsible. He had to admit, though, if he hadn’t been in such a sour mood he would have found it at least a little amusing.

[Kessa Westwood]

Even with treatment Kessa was still finding hard to sleep, sure they gave her a room by herself for now but even that Kessa felt uneasy as she would usually wake screaming her head off. People were already keeping their distance, once friends slowly drifted away and the few that still would talk to her seemed worried more about her getting sleep then anything.

Taking things into her own hands maybe wasn’t the best idea she ever had but at this point it was one she felt control over, the choice of where she would sleep and when. Tonight would be one of those nights but once again where she thought no one would find her, events would prove her wrong.

Taking advantage of the warm night she packed a pillow, blanket, book and took a flashlight on her way out, sneaking out of the dorm she had gotten rather skilled at, tonight it seemed like security had taken vacation as it was to easy to slip outside into the moon lit sky that she paused to admire it, the cool breeze, the silence all made her for once relax. A soft smile flashed across her face as she slowly walked the grounds of the school, devoid of the normal bustle of activity of students, teachers and others scattered about the campus grounds.

It was about one in the morning, as Kessa had been milling about for an hour, now starting to feel tired she thought of the pond there was tall brush enough to conceal her small frame yet far enough to muffle her shrills should she awake screaming . . . Again.

Tonight she would get a good night sleep, she hoped that her nightmares would take the night off and leave her well alone.

She had found a spot to settle down in and spread her blanket out, fluffed her pillow, said a prayer, closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep but not for long.

For it wasn’t her screams that woke her this time, it was the sound of a male’s voice scream something about a moose? For a moment Kessa thought maybe this too was a dream, really a moose? Her head rose from the pillow and before she knew what was really going on - a security officer had fallen right in front of her, causing her to yelp out loud as the male was saying something into a radio.

“WHAT THE H**L?” Kessa yelled out.

[Justin Marshall]

Instead of a reply from the radio, he reflexively pushed backward again when someone yelled right next to him. Justin’s hands sank into the mud of the pond’s edge as he kept himself from falling backward. Trying to calm his breathing, he shone his flashlight in the direction of the shout, illuminating a young and human face.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked, though it came out sounding like an angrily controlled statement than a question. Justin gave the teen his best cop glare. If anything else went wrong tonight he might lose it. He noticed she possessed a pillow and a blanket. ”Were you trying to sleep? The Hammel facilities are not a camp ground, kid.”

Justin rolled himself onto his knees and then stood upright, ignoring the renewed throbbing in his head as he did so. He attempted to wipe his muddy hands and flashlight on his pants, but it wasn’t very effective. The moose chose that moment to start chomping at the bush Justin had hidden behind earlier. ”Um, you might want to move now,” he said seriously, reaching out towards her arm to pull her away.

Moose weren’t aggressive, right? Justin didn’t know anything about them. He didn’t know how to tell whether this animal was male or female, young or old, or nice or cranky. He thought he remembered a story about people getting trampled by a mother protecting a baby, though. This one, judging by how close it was, didn’t seem afraid of people. It was probably still best not to tick it off.

”Let’s just walk back to your dormitory, and then…yeah. Let’s go inside,” he continued as he started stepping backwards, eyes glued to the huge herbivore. His radio hadn’t made a peep so far. Those jerks.

[Kessa Westwood]

“What are you doing out here?” quickly followed by
”Were you trying to sleep? The Hammel facilities are not a camp ground, kid.” the guard ask Kessa and the thought that came to mind was “Duh, no kidding - TRYING was the operative word” yet Kessa was polite shrugging her thin shoulders at him “Yes I was trying to sleep, I don’t sleep well in the dorms” she tried to explain to him, but failed it seemed as she started to pack her things up as she heard him mention the moose again. ‘Really a moose?’ she thought as she stood, pulling her arm from his grasp, turning her body in the direction of said moose as her eyes saw the moose she loudly spoke “AMOOSE!” after that the moose lifted it’s head and darted well away from the pair - much to the relief of her.

Looking back to the guard who was keeping a rather close eye on her, she handed him her back pack that held her blanket, pillow, book and other things. She paced quickly in front of him as she didn’t care to really talk with him at the moment her mind already thinking how to get away from him to go hide in the research department again, at least no one would find her till morning.

She would allow him to walk her back to the dorm. “thank you for taking the time to walk me back to the dorm, I’m sorry to have startle you” Kessa told him as she entered the dorm room taking the back pack back and closing the door on him.

She waited for him to leave and when she thought he was gone, she opened the door, looked back and forth up and down the hall and off to the research department she went with her back pack in hand.

[Justin Marshall]

Well, all of the girl’s yelling certainly made the moose scamper away quickly. Now, Justin only cared about finishing his shift without going completely insane and maybe punching someone in the office when he got back there.

All too easily, she agreed to go back to the dorms, and even started walking back without him. He had to jog a little to catch up once he had stashed his flashlight. She wasn’t lying about her destination, but Justin was so used to associating body language and confirmation of dishonesty that he could tell something was a little off. For someone who made such an effort to sleep outside alone, she’d given up without much of a fight.

She was practically running away from him, and he didn’t even get a chance to ask what her problem was before he found himself staring at the door to the dormitory as the student disappeared into the room. This was irritating. He walked away without saying anything, debating whether he should care enough to keep a lookout for another escape or if he should just pretend he didn’t see.

He sat on a dark ledge several yards away from the building, resting his forehead on his palm, simply because he didn’t feel like walking and thinking at the same time anymore. He tried to decide whether to go look for the stupid moose or to go back to headquarters and ask to go home. His head was really hurting now, and Justin wondered whether he should be in charge of others’ safety anymore tonight.

He was saved from a conclusion when the door to the dorm building opened again, and he watched the same girl he’d chased inside hurry out onto the campus. She carried a backpack, from what he could tell. Justin’s spot was covered in shadow, away from campus lighting, and he was relatively sure he hadn’t been seen. At least, she didn’t immediately start running away.

But Justin was tired of sneaking around tonight. ”Hey!” he yelled, jumping up and running after her. ”Get back in that building!” He didn’t feel like being nice anymore, and he definitely didn’t feel like trying to get an explanation while he was still giving chase.