CHAPTER 17: Magic & Enchantment

CHAPTER 17: Magic & Enchantment

**********************************

Ella never thought she would prefer peacefully slow and boring classes, but that changed when she had to share her work and time with Neo, her new project partner and now every minute seems that much more aggravating and unbearable.

His behaviour towards her was less than friendly, his mannerism standoffish and the few words he sometimes spoke dripped with indifference.

Any expectations she had of having a fun semester was down the drainage. This one was gonna be stressful and might end with a possible homicide. Ella thought as she frowned at Neo who was hunched over his thick book, reading with focused concentration.

It's usually like that with him, he's either researching on his laptop, taking notes or reading a book silently to himself after assigning her a task without discussing it with her as if he was her boss rather than her project partner.

And she has had enough.

When Ella tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, he turned to her with a disgruntled look that only made her angrier. "Can we speak after class?" She forced herself to say calmly.

His brows pinched as he frowned at her question, but seemingly intrigued, he nodded, "sure."

That satisfied her for now as both of them returned to work, while Ella waited impatiently for the class to end.

When the time was finally up and everyone started packing up their stuff, Neo sat in his chair as if he had all the time in the world. He didn't even pack the book he was reading, maybe he wasn't going to.

When Ella came to stand next to him, he stood up, as if to intimidate her with his height and with his aloof face. "What do you want to talk about? I don't think there's anything to discuss." He mumbled.

Her anger that had ebbed away a little, returned in full force, "Discuss? I'm surprised you even know what that means!" She snapped. "I understand you don't want to work with me, it's clear to me, but this project is important, and whether you like it or not we're stuck with each other." Ella breathed in, as if to calm herself, while Neo looked shocked.

"We are supposed to be a pair, a team and the project is supposed to be a reflection of both our ideas and opinions, and combined work, I don't care if you don't want to work together with me, frankly I'm not over the moon about it, but if we are doing this, we are gonna do it right. We are going to discuss and redo everything we have worked on so far. You can't give me tasks and expect me to complete them without questions. We need to come to a conclusion together. There's going to be a Q and A at the end of the presentation and we both should know the answers to the questions raised. Let's meet tomorrow after class and go over everything...okay?"

Neo nodded a few times, eyes slightly wide as he said, "Okay."

And then, with that confirmation, Ella pushed the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder and left the classroom, saying, "See you later."

He didn't reply. She wasn't expecting one. She just walked out into the busy corridor leaving him behind. She clearly had caught him off guard seeing how he seemed surprised. She didn't wait around for him to find his voice again as her steps took her further away.

Proceeding towards her next class she found her bench and made herself comfortable as other students slowly trickled in, now that she has managed to say what she wanted to, she was a little relaxed.

But that was until Mr Allen, her professor, looked at her from across the room and said, "Ella, I'd like to see you after class in my office."

***********************************************

Ella was never the type of student who teachers had any complaints about, she was well mannered, soft-spoken, very punctual, always completed her work and did a good job at it and never got bad grades even if her grades were not the best.

As she walked towards Mr Allen's office she couldn't fathom the reason for this visit.

Stopping at the open hardwood door she knocked lightly while the professor was going through some books in the corner cupboard. He stopped at the interruption and turned around to see her standing in the doorway.

Mr Allen was a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair and rugged countenances. He had a slim build and stood tall at around six' two, he was neither intimidating nor friendly with his intelligent, piercing dark eyes and serious arched brows, but the spell broke when he smiled revealing a thin strip of his teeth and his eyes turned welcoming.

"Come in." He said, as he suddenly became a lot more approachable and Ella relaxed, as she walked in with her hands clasped unsurely along her single bag strap.

The professor walked to his desk and sat down as he gestured at the chair opposite him, "Take a seat." Ella obeyed wordlessly with an awkward smile.

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a folder. Ella thought back on the essay she had submitted weeks ago and wondered if this had something to do with it.

"Do you know why you're here?" Mr Allen asked. Ella hated when teachers did that. Instead of telling the student why they were summoned while they were already having a hard time with the suspense, they liked to play a guessing game.

She took a guess off the top of her head, "Because I got a bad grade maybe..." Ella hoped it wasn't true. She had worked hard for that essay, it would be disheartening to know the result was not favourable.

The professor regarded her with a careful gaze and then amusement touched his expressions as he chuckled lightly.

"I didn't think you lacked confidence Ella, especially when you're so good at what you do." Ella blinked and tried to process what she was hearing.

When she couldn't think of anything to say Mr Allen continued, "I'd like you to take a look at this." He opened the file and picked out the piece of paper tucked in there and slid it towards her on the cold smooth tabletop.

Ella accepted it curiously. It appeared to be a printed out flier and her eyes instantly fell on the words "LAURENT INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY COMPETITION"

Mr Allen spoke, shattering the silence that had momentarily settled around her, "All the guidelines and rules are mentioned in here, I want you to consider it seriously."

When Ella spoke, her words caught as she stammered. "But this contest is so prestigious, I don't-"

"Do not decide the result for yourself without giving it a try." He interrupted her stutters. "There is potential in your work Ella, you just have to write like you always do." He smiled at her encouragingly.

Ella nodded. Her eyes were busy reading all the information on the flier.

"I believe you have another class soon, you should get going before you're late." He said as she hastily stood up and her chair scraped on the floor.

"Oh no, I'm already late." She said as she glanced at her wristwatch.

"Do give it a thought sincerely," he said as she glanced at the door as she carefully slipped the flier in her bag.

"I will," Ella said. "Thank you, I'll see you later Mr Allen."

Just as she was about to leave his office, his deep voice stopped her for a moment, "And Ella, rest assured, you most definitely did not receive a bad grade on your assignment."

Ella smiled graciously, "Noted."

********************************************************************

09-Oct-2018

Dear Elliot,

I hate to start the letter this way, but "Inadequate"? Really? The way you answered my questions was way worse than just "inadequate". I have no image of how you are as a person and no idea as to what I should even think. If anything, now you've just complicated whatever thoughts I did have.....thanks.

My curiosity in you is only natural, you maintain too much mystery... it had to be jarring, but I must agree, what you said is true, I would always want to know more.

To be candid, most days I agree with the things you say (write), but I must disagree when you say there's nothing special about you. That had to be a lie. No matter how 'absurd' you might be, there's no way you're just another person in a crowd.

And 'retrograde discourse' you say? You're right, at first I thought It was bizarre, but as I wrap my mind around it slowly, I understand it is unique and precious to me too...but humour me, what if exchanging these letters from a common point in the library is much more complex than it seems to be? What if you live in another world or time (I mean there has to be a reason why you refuse to meet me, maybe the space-time quantum entanglement is too hard to breach). Does that sound too far-fetched? Sorry, maybe I'm watching too many movies these days...

I want to believe it when you say "it wouldn't be awkward if we meet" I want to believe it'll be natural and calm and easy as breathing. But I want to confirm... and I'm still holding out hope, so gather your courage before I run out of patience.

I didn't mean to mention your lady love, but couldn't entirely ignore the subject matter. Advice would probably sound ridiculous coming from me...I mean what do I know of love? But maybe there are too many unexpressed thoughts in your mind and maybe just maybe it'll help you put it all behind if you send her those letters you've written for her.

Romance is a weird thing and quite complex. Movies often make it seem like it's not, but there isn't always a wrong or right... there's a confusing grey area, you know that better than I do.

As for your brother... I won't deny my curiosity, I'm invested at this point, I want to know what happened. What did you do? Don't tell me if you don't want to, I'll leave that decision up to you.

I have a brother too, and we are really close, I can't imagine not having his support while growing up. I don't fully understand what it must be like to have a strained relationship with one's sibling but it's far to hurtful in my imagination and I hope it can be mended.

Anyway...I want you to know, I've discovered a new hiding place in our seemingly vast and boring campus, it's a bit uphill from the willow tree, towards east, calmer and greener, with a flowing brook, where I'm dipping my feet (It's freaking cold and keeping me alert, I was sitting here reading a book but then I sneezed and ended up closing my book and now I've lost the page I was on, so I promptly gave up and picked up my pen) as I write you this letter. (I'm enclosing a tiny frond of the fern that grows here), I've heard they symbolise magic and enchantment... this moment seems no less, and I want to share it with you.

It's beautiful here with the sunlight filtering in through the canopy of tall trees, a stunning display of Tyndall-effect, it is peacefully silent yet filled with so many sounds, I hear birds chirping and insects like cicadas going about their day, the swishing of wind and rustling of leaves, I hear a loud high-pitched call of a hummingbird which for just a moment drowns out everything else and demands attention, the forest is so alive, a living breathing entity and I'm sitting here enthralled and slightly frightened that I might get attacked by a bear...or even a squirrel.

Discovering this place was purely an accident. I was looking to find inspiration for a writing assignment, my partner for the project is a 'piece of work', I don't wanna complain about him, but goddamn is he unhelpful... I'd rather not go on another rant, but there I was, looking for positive influences as I hiked uphill, it wasn't my go-to idea of course, like any logical human, I first turned to Google and typed in "Things that inspire" the results didn't seem very promising or helpful.

I then went "People watching" later that evening, caught the sunset too, sat in silence among the darkness, hoping the shapes of shadows would spur my imagination, but no such thing happened, I only managed to scare myself until I came here and inspiration struck me. Quickly I kept everything aside, wanting to write to you the earliest.

I made a friend here too, his name is Archer (I named him), he is a tiny grey kitten. I also made the mistake of feeding him, I couldn't help myself, he had big sparkling eyes and tiny little paws that he folded over his eyes as he took a nap next to me. He also let me pet him, and then he followed me around for a little while. He's too cute.

I'm glad you don't mind my ranting, (or maybe you just said that to be polite) but I have already accepted your invitation and I'm gonna share every little thing with you, but I'd love it if you do the same. Tell me about all your dreams and childhood and friends and treasured memories and things like books and movies and music and anything else you can think of...I'm all ears, or should I say eyes? (while you're at it, maybe even recommend something?). Here's my recommendation to you, strawberry swing by Coldplay... It's the song I listen to on days when I feel distracted.

Ardently,

Annie

*********************************

Who do you think is Elliot?

And

Who do you wish is Elliot?

Any favorite character so far?

What are your thoughts on Ella and how she's handling things... What would you have done instead?

Do share your thoughts about the chapter in the comment section and vote and follow.

Thanks for reading!💙