Hejira: Crystalline Hall

By Mantrid Brizon

Episode 00: Exordium

A cold wind blows through the yard of the Coca Cola terminal. A guard sits in the shack, reading a magazine, illuminated by only a desk lamp. He looks to the wall as a cheap analog clock strikes midnight. A semi-truck pulls up and stops at the gate. The leaves rush past the rig as the lights beam into the shack. The guard looks up from his magazine, shading his eyes with his hand as he glances at the truck that sits before the lowered gate.

The guard sighs in lazy frustration and reaches out, pressing a button mounted to the desk and raising the gate arm for the truck. It swings slowly upward as the truck idles. A blast of dust is thrown from underneath the rig as the air tanks purge the excess pressure with a loud hiss. The arm locks, aiming up to the stars as the driver slowly creeps into the lot.

The truck drives through the lot, it’s red and white paint glistening faintly as it passes under the orange lights in the depot. The truck rounds the building and backs the trailer into an empty space. The driver pulls the buttons in the cab, and the tractor and trailer screech like an angry cat. The door swings open and the driver jumps out, landing on his feet with a loud thud. He looks around the lot as the cold October wind blows through his long, light brown hair; it normally hangs down to his mid-back, though the breeze throws it around his shoulders, neck and face.

“Damn… Last one back again.” He grumbles.

He puts on his gloves and closes the door to the cab as he walks to the coupling area. He disconnects the air and electrical lines, placing them in their holders on the back of the rig. He cranks down the landing gear of the trailer until the feet hover barely a centimeter above the concrete strip. He reaches under the apron of the trailer and pulls the locking handle out, releasing it. He climbs back into the cab, releases the parking brake, and pulls away from the trailer, dropping it gently in the yard.

“This vacation couldn’t have come soon enough.” He thinks aloud.

He drives his rig to a section reserved for bobtail parking and claims a space. He checks his rig, collects his lucky black M-1936 style musette bag, and locks the cab before heading into the office to return the keys. He heads out to his car, checking his phone as he puts the keys in the lock. He has one missed call from Kelly, his roommate. He listens to the voicemail as he sits in his orange 2012 Dodge Challenger, setting his pack on the passenger seat, and closing the door.

“Gary, bro! You need to get home soon! I can’t do all of this packing shit by myself. I have food to eat and porn to watch before I get to bed! Peace.”

Gareth laughs to himself as he deactivates the screen and tosses his phone on top of his pack. He turns on the car and peels out of the lot, driving fifteen over the limit, as he often does. Within ten minutes, Gareth pulls his car into the driveway of the house that he shares with his best friend Kelly. He locks his car and walks up to the house. Stepping inside, he kicks off his shoes, closes the door, and tosses his pack onto the couch in the living room. As he steps into the kitchen and hangs his car keys on a rack near the light switch, Kelly appears from the laundry room.

Kelly is a twenty-three-year-old Caucasian male of Irish and British decent, standing roughly five feet and eleven inches tall, and weighing about two-hundred and sixty pounds. He would say that he has a ‘husky’ build, and despite his appearance is physically strong. Long sandy blonde hair hangs to his mid-chest as he pulls it into his almost trademark ponytail. He scratches his full but short trimmed beard.

“Hey man, I called you two hours ago. What the hell?” Kelly says, glaring at Gareth with his icy blue eyes.

“Sorry man. There was an accident on I-94 and I left my CB off. I didn’t know until it was too late, and you know I never touch my phone when I’m in the cab.” Gareth apologizes.

“Well, I packed all of my stuff, plus the camping gear. Didn’t touch any of your crap though. Have fun.” Kelly replies as he quickly walks past Gareth.

“What’s your hurry?” Gareth asks.

Gareth takes a Coca Cola Zero out of the fridge and cracks it open.

“I downloaded a new Hentai, and it isn’t going to watch itself.” Kelly laughs.

“Oh Kel…” Gareth chuckles. “You and your anime whores.” He smirks as he pops a straw into the open can.

“Hey, it isn’t any worse than those furry girls you check out.” Kelly quips. “At least my girls have visible skin.”

“They’re shaped like people, and besides, their fur keeps me warm.” Gareth says as he takes a sip through the straw.

Kelly snickers and shakes his head.

“You do you, and I’ll do me.” Kelly says.

“I know you will.” Gareth retorts.

Kelly walks down the hall and heads into his bedroom. Gareth sighs and heads into the living room, grabbing his pack before also walking down the hall and into his own room. He sets the black and red can down on the short table above his bed and heads for his closet. He feels himself grow nervous; the trip begins tomorrow and it’s the first time that he has ever left the country, let alone the mid-west. He’s resided in the state of Michigan his whole life, and had never been further than Ohio or Indiana, but tomorrow they are leaving for a week’s vacation in Belize, plus another week to travel to and from.

He stands before the closed closet door, looking at the large mirror that covers its exterior. He takes a deep breath and stares at his own reflection, looking at his dark green eyes. He too is a Caucasian male, though he is twenty-two-years-old, a full six months younger than Kelly. He stands five feet and eight inches tall and weighs around one-hundred and fifty pounds, with an average build. He strokes his long goatee.

“You can do this, man. It’s only a foreign country in a completely different hemisphere. No worries.” He talks to his reflection.

His nervousness melts away, as excitement and the thirst for adventure creep in to replace it. He opens up his closet door and sighs. He was hoping to get some real sleep tonight, but he slacked off until the last minute and still has to pack. He spends the next two hours carefully packing his gear before he collapses onto his floor mattress, still dressed in his Coca Cola delivery uniform. He reaches up and grabs the can of Coke Zero, but it’s empty. He’s too tired and lazy to get up and collect a fresh can.

It wouldn’t matter anyway; he has to be awake in barely five hours to leave. They still need to pick up the others. As tired as he feels, he musters the strength to reach up and grab a thin binder that sits atop his table, next to his Kahr CT9 pistol. He opens the binder and admires the printouts contained within. His eyes grow tired as he looks at the images. He closes the binder and sets it atop his chest as he quickly falls asleep.

Early the next morning, a girl is awakened by a knock on her door. Her mother raps her knuckles on the wooden barrier, rousing her from her sleep.

“What?” The girl asks in a tired daze.

“Faye, get up. The boys are here!” Her mother calls out through the door.

“Yeah, alright… I’m up…” Faye answers as she rubs her eyes.

Faye grabs an alarm clock from her nightstand. It’s exactly eight in the morning. Her alarm suddenly goes off, startling her. She presses the button and sets the clock back down as she climbs out of bed and walks to her closet. She stands near her closet door and stares at her poster of Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider reboot.

“How early did you have to get up for your adventures?” She asks the poster.

Faye slides open the mirrored closet door and collects the clothes that she had set aside the previous night, setting them out on her bed. She is an attractive twenty-year-old female of Middle Eastern decent. Her parents are Lebanese, but emigrated to the United States when she was barely two-years-old. They left Lebanon as they were a part of the Christian minority, and didn’t feel comfortable raising their children, or practicing their faith, in their homeland. Once brought to the United States, they assimilated, and have never spoken a single word of Arabic that she can remember. They didn’t even want to give her an Arabic name, choosing ‘Faye’ to the hospital staff’s displeasure.

She slips on matching black panties and a thirty-eight D-cup bra, before stepping into khaki colored pants. She puts on a light-blue tank top and black web belt with brass buckle, then slips on her white socks and brown hiking boots. She grabs her M-1936 style earth brown colored musette bag and slips it on, taking a moment to look at herself in the mirror on the closet door.

“Why do I have to look like the 1^st Gen Lara?” She thinks aloud.

She stands five feet and six inches tall without shoes or boots, and weighs about one-hundred and twenty pounds with an athletic build. She exercises regularly and eats healthy. Now fully dressed, she takes a brush from her nightstand and brushes her long black hair that reaches down to her mid-shoulders. She stares at the reflection of her big brown eyes as she brushes and then braids her hair.

“What is taking her so long?” Kelly asks her father, Saeed.

He simply shrugs and calls out to his oldest daughter.

“While we’re still young, Faye!” Saeed says loudly up the stairs.

Kelly and Gareth have a unique relationship with Faye and her family. While Kelly and Gareth have been friends since early in elementary school, the duo met Faye on her first day of 7^th grade. She was being teased by other girls for being Arabic, and called all manner of cruel names. Having been picked on in elementary school themselves, before Kelly grew into his more imposing stature, the pair defended and befriended her.

Though they are now adults and Faye is considerably attractive, she has never dated either of them. For the past seven years they have treated each other like family, with both boys being regular sights at her family’s home; the trio act like siblings, complete with occasional arguing and jesting backhanded compliments.

Kelly turns back to the door, and steps onto the porch. He looks to the street where Gareth waits by his orange Challenger, standing next to another mutual friend, Steve. Steve is a relatively recent addition, having met the trio only a year earlier at Kelly’s job at a video game store. He has been charged with driving Gareth’s car back for him. Gareth gestures by holding up his left wrist and tapping his right index finger on the face of his wrist watch. Kelly shrugs and steps back inside the house.

Steve is clean shaven, stands roughly five feet and six inches tall, with pale and freckled skin, a scrawny build, blue eyes and reddish-orange hair that reaches down to his shoulders. Gareth taps on the roof of his car for a moment as they wait.

“Alright. Screw it.” Gareth suddenly says.

He steps away from the car and walks around the front bumper, towards the house.

“Where are you going?” Steve asks.

“Uh… Inside the house?” Gareth replies.

“Just like that?” Steve asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah. Saeed and Walla are like second parents.” Gareth replies.

Gareth walks up to the house and steps into the living room, but it is empty. Faye’s mother, Walla, walks out of the kitchen.

“Oh!” She says, placing a hand to her chest. “You startled me, Gary.”

“Sorry, mom.” He chuckles. “Where’s Kel?” He asks as he looks around the room.

“Oh, Saeed is showing him his new computer.” Walla answers.

“Guess we’re missing the boat.” Gareth sighs.

Walla laughs quietly and Steve walks into the room.

“You.” Gareth points to Steve. “You go make sure that Kel doesn’t stay all day, playing with electronics. I’ll see what’s keeping Faye and Naomi.” He says.

“Yeah sure.” Steve replies.

Walla shows Steve to the study where Saeed and Kelly are, while Gareth climbs the stairs. He walks past Naomi’s door and stops, seeing that it’s cracked open.

“Hey Nay.” He calls inside.

“Don’t call me that.” Naomi replies.

Gareth chuckles and pushes open the door, seeing Faye’s younger sister seated at her computer desk. He walks in and sits at the edge of her bed. Naomi is the fifteen-year-old prodigy of her family, with an IQ of one-hundred and seventy-five. She reads computer code the same way that the average Joe reads comic strips, and has skipped several grades. She recently graduated from the 11^th grade early, and would probably already be in college, but her parents felt that she shouldn’t skip ahead too fast.

Naomi is somewhat socially awkward, and they had hoped that keeping her back with her peers would be good for her, but she only seems to have become more withdrawn. When Gareth, Kelly, and Faye planned this adventure to Belize a few months ago, they wanted Naomi to go, instead of wasting away in her dark, climate controlled room, working on her computer.

“So… I see you’re all packed and ready to go.” Gareth comments.

She turns in her computer chair and glares at him with her dark brown eyes. After a silent pause, she turns back to her computer.

“Well you’re just bursting with excitement…” He adds sarcastically.

“You and I both know that my parents are insisting I take this trip. I could do without the humidity, insects, diseases and dangers of the rain forest.” Naomi replies coldly.

“Faye doesn’t feel that way.” He retorts.

“I’m not like our sister. You two enjoy the insufferable conditions. Just so you know, being hungry, cold, tired and dirty isn’t adventurous.” She grumbles.

“Yeah well… It certainly helps set the mood.” Gareth laughs.

“Shut up, Gary…” Naomi replies with a faint smile.

“Come on! It’ll be fun. Like those animes that you and Kelly like so much. Maybe we’ll even get shot at? You could probably hack a defenseless bank and ‘borrow’ some money to aid in our grand escape.” Gareth teases.

Naomi closes out her programs and turns back to him in her chair. She reaches out with her right hand and presses her thumb onto a plate that is plugged into her tower. The computer brings up a DOS prompt box.

“Command?” A male computerized voice asks.

“Shut down.” Naomi says.

“Affirmative.” The voice replies.

The computer screen fades to black and the tower turns off.

“Impressive.” Gareth comments.

“I know. I wrote that program myself, and installed the necessary hardware. It’s good practice. I’ll need these skills when I inevitably conquer the digital world.” Naomi boasts.

“Samantha Carter would be proud.” Gareth replies with an approving nod.

Naomi gets up and walks over to her dresser. She is exceptionally pale, and stands barely five feet tall, with a slender build and long black hair that reaches down to the small of her back. Faye suddenly appears and flips on the light switch. Naomi turns and shields her eyes, hissing at her sister like a cat.

“Look at that! You didn’t catch fire!” Faye teases.

“Why are you dressed like Lara Croft from the 1996 Tomb Raider?” Gareth asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought it would be appropriate.” Faye replies, looking down at herself.

“We’re boarding a ship, not going to a convention.” Gareth quips.

“Is Gary corrupting you with his sarcasm?” Faye turns to Naomi.

Naomi slowly nods her head ‘yes’. Faye steps inside and grabs Gareth by his bright orange t-shirt.

“Come on, you lazy bastard.” She says as she pulls him up from the bed.

“Hey, watch the shirt. I only have twenty of these.” He jokes.

Faye walks over to Naomi’s already packed bags and tosses one to Gareth. Saeed and Kelly suddenly walk in, with Steve close behind.

“Is she going quietly?” Saeed smirks.

“Don’t I always?” Naomi retorts.

“Now don’t be like that. You four will have fun. Think of the ancient temples you can visit, and the exotic animals!” Saeed says.

“The monkeys don’t have high-speed Wi-Fi, and the Mayans didn’t either.” Naomi quips.

Saeed sighs and looks to Faye.

“Packed and ready to go?” He asks his daughter.

“Yeah. My bags are just inside of my room.” She replies.

Saeed taps Kelly on the shoulder and the pair walk down the hall to Faye’s room to collect her bags. Faye and Naomi walk out into the hall and past Steve, while Gareth shuts off the light and exits last. He watches Steve, who leans over to watch Faye walk down the stairs.

“Hey, Steve…” Gareth says.

“Huh?” Steve turns back.

“Don’t eye-rape my adopted sister please…” He warns Steve quietly.

“I wasn’t… I. Uh, I-” Steve stammers.

“Good, because Kel would tear your head off if he saw that. I’m much more forgiving.” Gareth interrupts.

Gareth brushes past Steve and walks down the stairs. Heading outside, he walks up to his car, which Faye and Naomi are standing beside. He unlocks the car for them and pops the trunk, placing the bag into the back. Kelly and Saeed quickly follow behind, with Steve in tow. They pack the bags into the now completely full trunk.

“Alright sons…” Saeed says to Kelly and Gareth as Walla steps outside. “Take good care of them.” He says.

“They’ll be fine.” Kelly assures him.

“Who knows? Maybe Nay will actually enjoy herself for once.” Gareth adds.

“Stop calling me that, and no I won’t!” Naomi says from the back seat of the car.

Steve closes the trunk and climbs into the back seat, sitting beside Naomi who is smooshed between him and Faye. Kelly takes the passenger seat as Gareth climbs into the driver’s seat. Saeed and Walla wave good-bye to the group as Gareth turns the key and the car roars to life.

“There’s a crate down here.” Naomi points out.

“Yup.” Gareth replies.

“What’s in it?” Naomi asks.

“Stuff.” Kelly says with a laugh.

“Very descriptive…” Naomi mutters.

Gareth puts the car in drive and peels out as he races down the street. He turns on his stereo as he catches a red light. With a thumb drive plugged into his aftermarket radio, he selects his Mutiny Within discography and skips to the song ‘In My Veins’. The song blasts through the speakers as he gets a green light and peels out again, racing towards the docks.

“So why couldn’t we go to Japan?!” Naomi asks, yelling over the loud music.

“Because Japan is the Mecca for advanced technology; it’s city living!” Faye shouts.

“Sounds fine to me!” Kelly adds.

“You’ll see when you get there! Belize is beautiful!” Gareth says, turning down the music.

“Then you two can go to Belize, and Kelly and I can go to Japan.” Naomi says.

Faye shakes her head in disappointment. Gareth makes a forty-five-minute drive in just under thirty, and parks the car at a guard shack. Using a printed pass that he received from the Captain, he is allowed in. They drive through what appears to be an industrial zone.

“This is where your ship is?” Steve asks in surprise.

“Yeah. We opted not to take a cruise ship or fly. Too expensive and not very adventurous.” Gareth replies.

“So what are you taking?” Steve asks.

“A cargo freighter. We found one that was okay with passengers, and the crew are all American, so that’s a bonus.” Faye answers.

“Yeah, I’ll bet sailors will have a lot to talk about.” Kelly remarks in jest.

They find the ship, a smaller cargo trawler with the name ‘Madima’ painted on the side. Gareth parks the Challenger and they all pour out. Apparently waiting for them, the Captain walks down the gangplank mere seconds after they emerge from the car.

“I’m Captain Johnathan Smith.” He says to the group.

“Seriously?” Naomi asks.

Faye quickly smacks her in the back of the head.

“Ow.” Naomi grunts.

The Captain, a weathered looking man in his late forties, simply chuckles and takes a bag from Faye’s hand. He motions for them to board as Gareth pops the trunk. Gareth, Steve, Kelly and Faye unload the bags from the trunk, moving them all up the gangplank in a single trip. Kelly, Steve and Gareth return to the Challenger where Gareth and Kelly take out the locked crate from the back floor of the car. They set the crate down as Steve holds his hand out for the car keys, a sinister grin on his face.

“I love this car, man…” Gareth begins.

“I know.” Steve replies.

“Seriously. It’s the most expensive thing I own and I bought it used. I want to return to it intact and unmolested.” Gareth continues.

“I’m not going to rape your car.” Steve laughs.

“And if he was, he wouldn’t tell you.” Kelly chirps.

“Right!” Steve nods.

Gareth begrudgingly hands Steve the keys.

“You sure you don’t want to come along? Two weeks in a foreign country. We can swing by and get you passport and bags right now.” Kelly urges Steve.

“Nah. I have a career I kind of want to work on, and I don’t really like jungles anyway.” Steve replies.

“Bitch…” Gareth mutters with a smirk.

“Yeah, because being an assistant manager is a real career. Come on! Don’t you want to come and waste your life with us?” Kelly asks.

“Some other time… Some other life.” Steve replies as he walks to the driver’s seat.

Kelly shrugs and grabs one end of the crate. He waits as Gareth watches Steve peel out and take off.

“Want me to get you a tissue?” Kelly asks.

“No, I’m good.” Gareth replies.

“Good, so come over here and grab a handle.” Kelly says.

Gareth turns back and grabs the other end of the crate. They walk carefully up the gangplank and set the crate down. The Captain directs them to where their unessential luggage can be stored, before showing them to their quarters. As they settle in, the ship moves slightly as it leaves the port. Kelly looks out of the port hole from his shared quarters with Gareth.

“Probably should’ve gone to Japan…” Kelly thinks aloud.

“Come on, man. What’s with you and Naomi? You have no sense of adventure.” Gareth says.

“We’ll see...” Kelly replies.