14

  Cody

  Somewhere Else. That magical, wonderful, amazing, mysterious, and eventually, terrible place. A place of fantasy and wonder, and a place of horror. These were the good times in our adventures Somewhere Else. Before the awfulness, before the addiction, before Morgan.

  We had taken to just calling it, Somewhere Else. After a hard Friday’s practice, I would feel like I would need at least a week to relax and heal from the massive beating Coach Brewer had put Brad, I, and the rest of the team through. So, I suggested we take a trip with Christian Somewhere Else. Sometimes we went on a quest, nothing as harrowing as defeating the Pied Piper. We would do simple things, they paid well enough when you converted the scant gold coins, we had earned to the thousands of dollars our payment was worth in the real world. Deliver a package. A week of camping trips, good mead, and the best food I’ve ever had in my life. You couldn’t find a meal on our side as good as this even if you took the forty-five-minute drive to the Whole Foods in Omaha.

  Sometimes Brad would approach me with a wish to head Somewhere Else. When he would hear from Christian, who spent more time Somewhere Else then any of us, that a local had just finished a new batch of mead. On Brad’s advice, with Brad’s wisdom of how the fine quality alcoholic drinks of our world were made, he took a few tips and learned how to cultivate one of the finest drinks this side of any Kingdom in Somewhere Else.

  Susie was a bit more hesitant than the rest of us when it came to Somewhere Else. She took some strong arming at first, but I found she did start to enjoy the idea of extending just one day of rest into almost three. She was so driven in school, worked so hard. Had a 4.0 and sometimes would want to visit Somewhere Else just to get in the sheer amount of study time she would need to keep things that way. We all took advantage of that time, more time for the loads of homework we had, more time to get ahead of our various classes, and most importantly, more time to enjoy our youth. Time to enjoy our youth in a place as amazing and wonderful as Somewhere Else.

  Just being there was fun, being there lifted the worries from our backs. Every piece of that world seemed tailor made to be there just for our pleasure. Good Mead, no one bothering to try and card you, food to fresh and flavorful, and the time, again I stress, the time. A week’s worth of rest on the weekends we felt so bold as to spin lies to our parents about staying at this or that friend’s house overnight.

  It made our lives better, to Christian’s credit, for a while there it really was improving all our lives. Between battles with Imps and other such creatures, Brad and I developed this kind of second language, each of us having the other’s back Somewhere Else led to excellence on the field for us as a Quarterback and Fullback. We weren’t the starters yet, but Coach Brewer knew that in a pinch, when a Hail Mary or other such miracle was needed, he started to see in us a secret weapon he could deploy, two of his players that could pull a first down when we were forth and ten in the direst of times.

  Susie said that the extra study time was doing wonders for her, with a week’s worth of break between Friday and Monday she could learn and work ahead through everything her A.P. classes were getting ready to throw at her in the coming week. God she was so smart, so pretty, so everything. I know it’s selfish to say, but it not working out between us, our relationship unable to bare the strain of Christian’s actions. That’s one of my bigger regrets, not my biggest, just one of the biggest.

  Even Christian’s life seemed to have been improving thanks to our visits Somewhere Else. He was happier, carried himself with pride knowing the good we had been bringing to that world. He walked with his chin up for a change, his shoulder’s straight and his chest out. He even started trying to talk to girls. Nothing serious, just chatting about this or that story we read in English class. We were studying Beowulf and he kept up the same mass of input to the class discussion as he had when we were reading the Grimm stories.

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  After class one day, Mrs. Pate asked to see me after the bell rang. I thought for sure she was waiting with bated breath to bust me for cheating on that test the other week, but instead she came to me smiling.

  “Cody, I’ve noticed that you’ve been spending time with Christian lately,” she said, “I think that’s great, he’s such a smart boy, but he doesn’t have enough friends, not as much as a boy should,” she said.

  “Yeah, Christian’s really cool, he’s been kind of tutoring me,” I smiled and laughed nervously, “It’s been fun hanging out with him, he is smart, like really smart,” I said.

  “That’s so nice, him having a friend, I wanted to ask you a favor,” she said, “Could you help him find something to apply himself in, fiction is great enough, but I feel he needs to find a talent, find a place in this world,” she looked down, then back at me, “I’m so glad he’s finally found someone he can trust, I’ve heard from other teachers how out of place he feels, I think having a friend could help him find his way,” she said, “You’re a good man, for being his friend,” she said.

  “Yeah, we’ve been talking about college some, he’s really good at math too, my friend Susie is in Pre-cal with him, and he’s doing good in Civics, he has that with Brad,” I said.

  “Oh, he’s the Fullback on the team, I saw that play you two made in the last game, you’re saying Christian is friends with Brad and Susie too?” Mrs. Pate lit up.

  “Yeah, we’ve all been kind of, hanging out, it’s been fun, he’s cool guy, he’s smart, and he can be pretty funny sometimes,” I laughed nervously, but I was speaking the truth, “He’s a good man,” I said.

  “You’re a good man, you’re all good people. I’ve seen many students like Christian in my career,” she said, “Poor boys, usually boys at least, just can’t seem to figure out things, boys who just need a little help,” she said, “It’s unspoken knowledge in my profession that every year has at least one of them, and it pains us every year to see someone with so much potential be relegated to just wading through life waiting for things to get better, you’re a good man Cody,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Giving Christian a chance, giving him some structure, giving him friends, it’s good what you’re doing,” she said, smiling.

  “Just, helping out a friend,” I said, taking a gulp to swallow a lump in my throat. She didn’t know about Somewhere Else, she didn’t know of our adventures, or of our secret bond to keep that place undisclosed to the real world. All she saw was a jock taking some pity on an outcast and giving him the rare chance to have friends in this world, the real world.

  “Well, I know he must be a good tutor because you made a hundred on the last quiz, I was going to pass out grades tomorrow, but I figured I could let you in on your score now,” she said, handing me a piece of paper full of red check marks and bereft of a single X on any of the questions, “Keep it up, if Christian is as good a tutor as he seems to be, and if he’s tutoring you, I think I see an A on your report card,” she grinned.

  “He is a good tutor,” I said, “And he’s a good friend. I’ll try to make you proud,” I said, slipping the returned quiz into my book bag.

  I found Christian by his locker. Usually when I would catch a glimpse of him trading out his books for last period, he would have this blank and expressionless look on his face. The look of a man just wading through another day, waiting to get home where his pain was one of uncaring as opposed to being a straight up outcast. But his smile preserved. It was a Thursday, that meant just one more day of his dull torture before he could return Somewhere Else, before he could go back to playing the hero, winning gold and the favor of people who saw him as their greatest champion.

  The legends they wove about us, the people of Somewhere Else I mean. The legends of the far-off travelers from that great kingdom of Nebraska. Statues were made, town coffers were emptied, we received great rewards of gold and praise for the work we did over there. Work that was simple for us, simple when you considered just how much gold we were being paid, complicated when you put the moral lens of just how much more grown up so many people are compared to the children we were then.

  These were the good times, before Christian’s retreat into that world, before we encountered Morgan and her devilish wishes to subjugate that amazing place. Before choices were made, before souls were given up. These were the good times.