A Silent Soul- Chapter 23
#26 of A Silent Soul
Chapter 23! :3
Hi hi hi hi hi! I'm back! Again! And I have coffee hi! :D *giggles madly* it's time for the next chapter of Silent Soul! Today we're introducing a new character! I know most of you are probably like "but there are so many already" and guess what? It's a college! My college has more than 50,000 students, so guess what, get over it! XD Anyways I'll let you guys get to reading, hope you all enjoy and I'll see you at the bottom of the page. :)
P.O.V. Change: Unknown
I shut my door behind me, setting my board against the wall as I fumbled with my keys trying to identify the one that would lock the door. Eight in the morning was far too early for me, but I had an 8:30 class so it had to be done. I finally picked out the pesky gold key, shoving it in the lock and experimentally twisting to lock it. It wasn't that I was scared of my stuff getting stolen because I hadn't brought much of anything with me in the first place, I just felt like it would be a good routine to start early in the year. I pulled the key from the lock finally and tried to stuff them into the pocket of my khaki cargo shorts, only to miss the pocket and watch them fall to the floor.
Sighing I reached down to snag them up and succeed on the second attempt to shove them in my pocket. I stuck my silver dog tags back behind my white undershirt and red bandana with my home country's maple leaf symbol on the front. Grabbing my board from against the wall I quickly rolled the sleeves up on my unbuttoned red plaid long sleeve shirt. I repositioned my brown messenger bag before tossing the board to the ground and hopping on.
The sidewalks here were certainly not boarder or biker friendly as I had to jump off the board multiple times to avoid running into people. I didn't have any tardies yet this semester and I didn't plan on starting today. I still had a bit of time to stop by the dining hall for a quick cup of coffee before class, so I made a sharp turn just narrowly avoiding a group of female furs that were occupying the majority of the sidewalk. I flicked my dark brown ears in irritation at the comments I got but rode along nonetheless.
The wind from the speed I was traveling at caused my black hair tipped with red to blow around wildly and what little work I'd done on it to make it look decent was quickly erased. I finally rolled up to the dining hall, after only having to jump off my board six times, a new personal record. I grinned slightly at the small win as I entered the dining hall only to have my ears swivel in the direction of a loud crash of something falling to the ground followed by a series of shouts that I couldn't distinguish. A small crowd had gathered around the scene, and my I felt my natural tendency to want to know what was going on kick in as I set my board down on the convenient board rack near the door and approached the circle of people.
Shoving through the crowd I found the University's "bully" toe-to-toe with a gray wolf. A tray that once had food on it was thrown off to the side and I was able to put together pieces pretty quickly.
"Shoulda been watching where you were going faggot." The tall horse stated.
"Are you fucking kidding me? You stuck your foot out and tripped me, what kind of retard do you think I am?" The wolf retaliated, shoving his face into the horse.
"What'd you say to me fag?" The horse, affectionately known as Buck grunted before shoving the only slightly shorter male to the ground. Growling I knew that I'd seen enough and that it was time to step in. A couple other furs ran to push Buck back while I rushed to grab the wolf before he could retaliate.
"You come near me again I'll break your jaw understand?" He shouted as he pushed against me and another fur.
"Damnit Jasper you can get in serious trouble for fighting like that!" A russet orange vixen scolded him after I released him.
"Thank you." She said quickly to me before returning to the wolf. I took note of a phone laying on the ground a few feet away and decided to pick it up hoping to find its owner. My first thought was to offer it to the wolf who had gotten pushed down, and my theory proved correct as I held it towards him.
"Oh hey thanks." I nodded in response before starting off in the direction of the breakfast line. Not surprisingly I was followed by the duo who now had to get back in line to get a new plate of food. I couldn't help but tilt my ears back and listen in on their conversation, the topic of discussion being someone who had apparently slept in because they'd gotten sick recently.
P.O.V. Change: Jasper
"I was careful not to wake him this morning, he needs to get some rest. That stomach bug or whatever it was really took it out of him." I said concernedly.
"Poor Elijah, that food must have been too good at that restaurant and he couldn't handle it." She suggested, shrugging her shoulders. I nodded my head in response only to be interrupted by the german shepherd from before who'd had to hold me back from going after Buck.
"I'm sorry but did you say Elijah? As in Elijah Moore, the husky?" He asked somewhat excitedly, brown tail waving behind him. I exchanged glances with Rachel before turning back to him.
"Yeah, that's him... but can I ask who's asking?" I replied hesitantly. His initial excitement faded for a moment as he realized his mistake.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that. My name is Riley, I moved here from Canada a few years ago. Sorry about freaking out on you like that, Elijah was a good friend of mine during high school and I wasn't aware he was attending here." He replied, curiosity shining in his big brown eyes.
"Yeah, he's sick right now after loverb-" Rachel started before stopping mid-sentence realizing what she was about to say. The shepherd was quick minded however as you could basically see the gears turning in his head.
"Oh wait so are you his-"
"Yes, I am. I'd rather not have everyone around us know, we can talk about it more when we sit down." I cut him off, glancing around nervously. I still get somewhat apprehensive about talking about Elijah and I's relationship while out in the open, but I'm slowly beginning to accept it. However I feel my guard relax slightly, mainly because this shepherd supposedly knows Elijah fairly well already which means I should be able to trust him. I was still slightly miffed about him holding me back earlier though.
The three of us all got our food and found a table all the way towards the back where Riley proceeded to tell us all the stories of he and Elijah during high school. I quickly came to realize that they weren't just good friends in high school, they must've been best friends for him to know so much about him. Part of me was jealous that he knew so much more than him than his actual boyfriend, but I figured that I'd know him that well soon enough.
"Do you know if he has class today? Wouldn't mind hanging out for a little while." The shepherd asked after downing the last of his coffee.
"I think he has a class at 11 but other than that he should be free. Do you want to me to text him and let him know you're here?" Rachel replied, pulling out her phone.
"No no, I want it to be a surprise. He has no idea I'm here as far as I know." Riley replied, tail thumping against the wooden chair he was seated in.
"So Riley, you mentioned you moved here from Canada right?" I asked curiously. Save for some random person I'd met in high school, Riley was the first real Canadian I'd met.
"Sure did! Land of free healthcare and Tim Hortons, I miss living there. But it's not all bad here I guess. We made the mistake of moving during the spring when the temperatures were already on the rise again, my parents and I were sweating our asses off considering our winter coats never really shed off because it was still cold during that time in Canada. We managed though, but let me tell you that trip was hell! It took us almost four days to drive down here!" He explained. My eyes widened at his statement and I glanced at Rachel to see a similar look of bewilderment on her face.
"You guys drove here? Why would you not just fly?" Rachel asked.
"Well we were going to, but the airports kept getting shut down because of snow so we just decided to make the drive down here. Saved a good deal of money too because we were able to bring most of our furniture with us." The black and brown shepherd replied.
"Well, if you want to go see him before he has to get to class he should still be there, just... knock before you let yourself in." I warned him knowing that the husky loved to sleep in the nude, an activity we'd both recently started participating in.
"I will, thanks. What dormitory are you guys in?" He asked.
"Beta, room 112. We're on the corner so it shouldn't be too hard to find." I replied.
"Oh okay, thanks. Hey it was great meeting you guys, hopefully we can talk again some other time!" He exclaimed, before taking his tray up to the dish return line. Rachel glanced my way and shrugged as we returned to our food.
P.O.V. Change: Elijah
I was awoken by a loud rapping on the door, in which case I responded with a groan and buried my head deeper into my pillow. The knocks returned again and I sighed.
"It's open!" I shouted, rolling over to face the door. The door pushed open to reveal a very familiar german shepherd standing in the doorway, grin alit across his muzzle.
"Oh my god Riley! What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed throwing the covers off me and rolling out of bed. Immediately the shepherd yelped and covered his eyes, causing me to blush a burning red as I realized I had nothing on. "Oh god I'm sorry gimme one second!" I told him, running to my dirty clothes pile to grab a pair of gray sweatpants and a light blue shirt.
"Alright I'm good now, really sorry about that again." I apologized still blushing a bright red.
"It's fine, not like I haven't seen it before or anything." He replied referring to the many times we had to shower together during gym, but was nonetheless still blushing as well.
"Yeah I guess that's true." I giggled. "So how have you been? I didn't even know you were going here!" I exclaimed happily, approaching the much taller shepherd for a friendly hug. I was 5'7" which wasn't terrible, but he had me by almost a solid half foot, causing me to have to stand on my tip toes to reach. He chuckled and returned the hug tightly, having always been the hugging type.
"I'm doing well, thanks for asking. How about you, how's the family?" He replied, releasing me from the disproportionate hug but keeping his paws planted firmly on my shoulders. My expression faltered immediately, realizing he didn't know what'd happened and I'd have to explain it again. My breathing grew shaky and I felt the dampness begin to fill my eyes as I thought about it. His positive demeanor evaporated as he noticed something was wrong immediately. "Hey hey what's wrong, what happened?" He asked urgently, shaking me slightly. I shook my head and took a few deep breaths trying to compose myself, not wanting to break down in front of my friend who I hadn't seen in a few months.
"My mom... she uh..." I started quietly, staring at him sadly hoping he'd been able to fit in the missing piece on his own. His face scrunched up in hesitant confusion for a moment before breaking down, horror overcoming his features.
"No... Elijah I'm so sorry I didn't know." He said quietly, pulling me back into the reassuring hug. I nodded into his chest, trying to stem the tears so I wouldn't get his shirt wet. I pulled away wiping my eyes.
"It doesn't hurt as bad anymore, but I still get worked up over it, sorry." I admitted.
"No of course not you have no reason to apologize. How did she-"
"Drunk driver." I stated simply, the two words coming out like venom in my mouth.
"God that's awful." He breathed. I nodded in agreement, wanting to move on.
"But yeah the rest of the family is taking it about as well as I am, really difficult on everyone. We're coping though." I said, clutching the silver necklace around my neck.
"Well, that's good I guess. How about your classes, how are those going?" He asked tentatively.
"Not bad so far, the only class that's giving me trouble right now is calculus but it's not that bad." I told him, still baffled that the shepherd was even standing there in front of me. "How long have you been going here and how have we not seen each other at all?" I asked him dumbfounded.
"Just as long as you have dude, and I'm not sure, we're both science majors aren't we? Maybe it's just blind luck?" He theorized, grinning nonetheless.
"I mean, I wouldn't call it luck but sure, we'll go with that." I replied with a small chuckle. I'd always felt comfortable talking with Riley, even the first time I met him freshman year of high school when I was shy and socially awkward. He always had this big red hoodie with the Canadian maple leaf on it and I thought it was really cool, so one day I just asked him about it and next thing I knew we were sharing our life stories.
"Hey, are you doing anything this weekend? We should hang out for a bit or something, you can invite some of your friends along. They were the ones who told me where to find you, a fox and a wolf I believe." He suggested.
"Oh yeah, you should know Rachel, and the wolf is my roommate Jasper. I'd be fine with hanging out though, maybe we can go get lunch or something, I'd love to catch up." I replied.
"Ah okay that's right, we never really talked but I knew I recognized her from somewhere. And yeah that sounds good, I heard you got sick or something, what was that all about?" He queried.
"Jasper and I went out for dinner Saturday night and I got sick off of what I ate. Woke up at like 3 in the morning needing to throw up, wasn't pretty." I informed him, chuckling at the grossed out look that filled his expression.
"Doesn't sound too fun, looks like you're alright now I guess. You have class soon don't you?" He reminded me. Glancing at the clock I saw it was already 10:30, I had class at 11. Sighing I nodded my head in affirmation.
"Yeah, I should probably start getting ready I guess. We definitely need to hang out this weekend though, I'm dying to hear how your summer was back home." I told him, walking to my dresser and pulling out a pair of light khaki shorts.
"I'd tell you now but I don't wanna delay you from getting ready. We'll definitely talk this weekend though. I'll let you get dressed, I've gotta go take care of a couple things." He replied, grabbing his brown bag and black longboard that he brought everywhere with him from against the wall and moving towards the door.
"Alrighty, thanks for stopping by, was good to see you!" I exclaimed as he pulled the door open.
"Yeah man same here, I'll see you around!" He responded with a happy grin before pulling the door shut behind him. I quickly changed into the khaki shorts and upon smelling the blue shirt I'd pulled from my clothes pile I wrinkled my nose before exchanging it out for a clean one. I grabbed my white drawstring bag with my English assignments in it that were due today and retrieved my phone from off the charger stuffing it into my pocket. I ran a brush through my light blue mohawk and flattened a few stray tufts of fur before pulling the door open. I nearly jumped out of my fur upon seeing the tall german shepherd still standing at my door grinning.
"Figured I'd walk with you to class, I've got some time and I figured we could start catching up now y'know?" He explained scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Oh okay, sure. I'm over in the English building so it's quite a walk, sure you're up for it?" I warned him.
"Sure, I actually just came from there." He replied, grabbing his board as we started walking.
"8:00 a.m. class?" I asked him knowingly, it was so hard getting up that early.
"8:30, but it still feels the same to me." He groaned.
"Hey, it could be worse. It could be like high school when we had to get up at 6 every morning to catch the bus." I teased.
"Oh don't remind me, that bus was a death trap." He reminisced. Our conversation went on like this until we reached the English building, wading through old memories of high school and all the terrible things we dealt with. "Here already huh? Felt like we've only been walking for five minutes." The shepherd remarked, looking up towards the top of the tall old style building.
"Unfortunately yes, we're here." I said somewhat sadly. I had been enjoying our conversation, but now that I knew the shepherd was attending here I knew we'd be able to talk a lot more often. "Hey I got a new phone, we should exchange numbers again." I told him, remembering that I'd had to have my phone replaced after it broke on that dreadful night.
"Oh yeah good idea, here." He said handing me his phone. I quickly input my contact before giving back the phone, taking mine in the process.
"Awesome, text you later?" I suggested.
"Sure, I'll be around." He replied, waving goodbye before hopping on his board and skating back in the direction we'd come from. Glancing at my phone I saw the shepherd's name as well as a ":3" face next to it. I chuckled at his silly antics before sliding the phone into my pocket and walking inside.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand done! Chapter is mainly dedicated to my friend RileyShep, been collaborating with him recently to whip up a few... ahem... smutty stories that should start going up the next couple weeks. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them! Anyways I've got homework to do still so I'm gonna scoot on out of here. Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you guys around! :D