Chapter Four: Fantasy

Georgia was drying her hair. It felt good to finally be clean and warm for the first time that day. The steaming water from the shower felt great. It wasn’t just the heat that was soothing. The cleansing embrace of the water made her feel like she was washing off the anger and frustration from her day too. 

It had been one of the craziest days of her life at Beldon High, one that left her feeling dejected by its end. 

Actually it was HIM that left you feeling that way. 

Try as she might, she could not get Hayden Ryder out of her mind. After toweling off and changing into her favorite warm pajamas, Georgia sat at the edge of her bed as the rain continued to fall outside her window. Replaying the day in her mind, one thing kept jumping out as a highlight. 

The venom in Hayden’s words when he told her to “stay out of it” felt so unnecessary. 

She was angry inside as she thought of how contorted his face was when he said it. It was almost like he hated her. The thought that maybe he did just made everything more confusing. What reason did he have to resent her so much? Was it because she had seen him that morning? All she had done was try to help. It wasn’t even him she was trying to help. Georgia didn’t know how to explain it. It was like he gave off a secret aura that only she could sense. It was a feeling of danger. The weirdest part was that she never felt afraid for herself, just what he might be capable of doing to anyone else that pushed him too far. 

Maybe Benny’s right. Maybe he is a serial killer. No! I don’t believe that. This is crazy. Get him out of your head, Pearce. He’s not worth it.

Even as Georgia thought these words, she knew she never meant them. She was drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

Or maybe more like a lamb to a slaughter. 

Her mind was racing with a cacophony of confused emotions. 

I hate him! 

That wasn’t true either. Georgia let out a scream of frustration in her mind. There had never been a boy in her life she’d ever felt more caught up over. She dated Jesse Warner back in ninth grade and Lucas Bale in tenth. Neither relationship led anywhere, or ever consumed her mind this much. Other girls her age spent every waking hour obsessing over boys. Georgia had always been different. She sometimes even wondered if she might be a little asexual. 

No that’s not it. 

She knew deep down that she was attracted to men. Her reason for never obsessing over boys was that she’d simply never met one capable of igniting this much raw desire within her before. It wasn’t just Hayden’s looks. As unbelievably attractive as he was, there was an ‘X’ factor to him. She felt like he gave off a secret pheromone only she could detect. Her mind was racing again.  

It’s something more. Why do I feel so connected to him?

Her room was quiet and dull and the quietness got to her. The room was small but neatly kept. Everything had been picked out by her. She was a pedantic person, even at the best of times. 

Maybe that’s why guys never stuck around.    

From her black duvet with a large Yin-Yang symbol across the front, to the dark curtains, writing desk in the corner strewn with memo pads and pencils, and the posters on the walls, the room was uniquely her. Other girls had posters of actors and singers but Georgia had posters of people that meant more to her than the likes of Justin Bieber ever could. Hers were posters of people like Hemingway and Aristotle. Philosophical writing quotes were plastered everywhere like literary adornments that brought the room to life in a way that suited her deep thinking personality.  

“To be the writer you want to be, you must first be the kind of thinker you want to be,” was her  favorite. 

Now as she stared at the words, they shamed her. 

Some great thinker, you are. All you can think of is a boy. 

Georgia couldn’t help but smile at her own craziness. She was a true Piscean, with a head in the clouds, always connected deeply to everything around her like a hopeless empath; but one that lacked the ability to translate those emotional feelings into actual connections in reality. She loved her posters and sometimes connected more deeply with the dead people in them than she ever could with the living. People irked her. She was weird and she knew it. Georgia’s phone was laying on her desk, charging quietly when it started to ring. She walked over and unhooked it. Staring at the caller ID, she smiled, knowing exactly what she was in for.  

Oh Benny, you just couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?. 

Georgia lay down on her bed as she answered.  

“Hey Lisa.”  

“Don’t you hey Lisa me like everything’s normal. I skip school for one day and you meet the most gorgeous boy to ever walk the planet, Judy Walsh’s words, not mine. I don’t even get a call from my bestie to tell me about it, and you’re the only one who’s spoken to him all day. Dish it…all…now!”  

Georgia sighed. The third friend of their trio was always the most dramatic.  

“There’s nothing to tell. He’s not that good looking?”  

There was a pause on the other end before, “I call BS on that. Anyway, I’m not talking about his looks, I’m talking about the fact that you know him.”  

“I do not know him!” Georgia’s tone was tight. 

“Yeah, but have you met him?” 

“It’s just basically what I told Benny. I missed the bus. I was walking to school. I see him on the street. He knocked some guy over while he was walking. The other guy tried to confront him about it and he kinda growled at the dude and scared the crap out of him. He looked like he’d just been in a fight or something, his clothes were torn, he had stains all over his clothes and looked like hell. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Then, next thing I know, he’s the new kid at school, looks all cleaned up and pretty much seems to hate everyone and everything around him.”  

As Georgia finished, every scene played through her mind again. His anger, his scary eyes, everything came back to her in a flash.  

His beautiful hair, his perfect face, his strong arms. Oh God, shut up! 

She cursed at herself in her mind.   

“It’s just all…so weird. Like where the hell did he come from?” Lisa asked.

“I have no idea.”  

“I’ll tell you what, sick or not, I’m definitely coming to school tomorrow.” 

Georgia chuckled.  

“I thought you might. How are you feeling by the way?”  

“I’m doing alright. Can’t wait to come in tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

Lucy was lighthearted and almost provocative in her playfulness about how much she was looking forward to meeting the “hot new guy at school”. 

Georgia laughed it off. She was used to Lisa’s ditsy, sometimes tarty ways. They usually made her laugh and were like a counterbalance to the moody, serious person she often was. What she wasn’t accustomed to was feeling slightly jealous and even a little resentful of Lisa, like she did now. Lisa was fashionable, beautiful, vivacious, and smarter than she let on. This meant she was never short of male attention. Georgia was used to being ignored by boys when Lisa was around. She didn’t mind and was usually grateful that Lisa deflected unwanted attention from her. 

Only this time, something was different. This time, it was Hayden’s attention in question, and she did want it. She found herself hoping that, for once, Lisa wouldn’t take all the attention from her. It might not matter anyway. She felt like the antithesis of the kind of girl that most men wanted sometimes, too moody and choosy for guys to ever bother wasting their time with her. 

Lisa often joked that she wore a permanent “fuck off” expression on her face.

Plus he hates me.   

Still, if any girl was going to sweep Hayden off his feet, she hoped it wouldn’t be Lisa, not her best friend. They were too close and she hated the thought of having to feel jealous of her if she ever did hook up with Hayden. When the call ended she felt a mixture of relief and dread; relief that she got a respite from hearing Lisa croon about the slutty outfit she planned to wear the next day and dread at the possibility of it actually getting Hayden’s attention. After her placing her phone back on charge, Georgia walked over to the large mirror that hung on the wall across from her bed. 

For the first time in forever she found herself peering at her reflection with self-interest. She held her hair up in different ways, trying to decide if an upstyle might make her look more appealing. Her skin was pale, her hair platinum blonde and so dark in places, it was streaked with patches that were almost black. Her hair was her best feature though. It was thick, full, and cascaded down her face and shoulders in voluminous, subtle waves. Her full head of hair was fortunate as it gave her face some fullness that helped cover her mousy ears and detract from her small cheeks. Georgia knew she was attractive but never thought of herself as a knockout or the kind of girl most men desired. She loved her lips though. They were full and naturally pouty. Of course the beauty spot on her nose usually drew attention away from them. 

Goddamn dot face!

She was slim, and had athletic legs despite their skinniness. All in all, Georgia wasn’t displeased with what she saw staring back at her in the mirror but felt she was a far cry from being as perfect as Hayden Ryder looked to her. 

God, why can’t I get him out of my head? 

Needing a distraction from her infuriating thoughts that kept going back to him at every opportunity, she went downstairs. The Pearces’ home was ample but aging and shorn of any luxury or opulence. As Georgia left behind the three small rooms on its second floor, the wooden staircase creaked and curled its way to the bottom where it landed at their lounge. The walls here were an ugly beige that went with the scuffed wooden floors—though not in a good way.  However, the lounge was open plan and led into the kitchen and dining area seamlessly. Georgia liked this feature of the house as it made the downstairs seem more airy and spacious. 

It was late evening. Her mom wasn’t home from the business conference she was catering as yet but this was normal on the rare occasions that she managed to secure work for big events. She found her father relaxed, almost spread eagle so, on his favorite recliner. James Pearce was a large man but as gentle a soul as Georgia had ever known. Short, spiky hair sat atop his splotchy, flushed cheeks that punctuated a terminally unshaven, but kindly face. Georgia had already sorted out his supper earlier that evening. She expected to see the after effects of the meal and another long day at work when she entered the lounge. Around that time, her father’s usual repose was a drooping head, as she sat in front of the TV, close to being comatose. Instead he was wide awake and staring at the screen with a slightly concerned expression. 

“Hey Pumpkin, have you seen this?” he asked as she appeared at his side. 

Georgia winced inwardly at the pet name.

If only people knew about “pumpkin”, “dot face” would be instantly retired. 

He still had on his navy blue overalls and workman’s boots. Georgia glanced at the screen. It showed a news feature from a local station. An attractive female reporter stood at the side of a long road with a barbed steel fence behind her bordering a stretch of lush, green fields. She seemed to be speaking about some mysterious killing that had taken place on the property behind her. 

“There’s some kind of animal on the loose. A few farms in town have now all reported the same thing. Apparently something’s been killing their livestock.”    

Georgia pursed her lips.

“I thought that was a common hazard for livestock farmers,” she said. 

“It is, but this is different. This isn’t the work of some coyote snatching a calf. Whatever’s killing these animals is huge. It’s been killing everything from horses, to cows, and even adult bulls. That ain’t an easy thing to do.”

Her father continued in his midwestern drawl, “That’s not all. This thing’s been tearing the animals apart. It doesn’t seem much interested in eating them, just happy to kill them and mutilate their bodies. Might just be a huge bear but something bout the way it’s killing has the wildlife experts all spooked.”

“Gosh, that’s really creepy dad.” 

“Yup. It is. All the killings so far have been on the outskirts of town so I wouldn’t be too worried. Just for safety’s sake though, I don’t want you venturing out too far with your friends, alright.” 

Georgia nodded even though she never did any ‘venturing with friends’ aside from going to the mall or hanging out at local coffee shops. The teenagers of Grayston County, Milwaukee were usually too obsessed with having their noses buried in smartphones to ever be like the rugged, outdoor-loving folks many of their parents were. 

“Sure, dad. I’ll be safe, don’t worry.” 

That seemed to alleviate James’s concerns. Georgia asked if he needed anything and trudged back to her room after he said no. After getting into bed and plugging in her ear pods, the blaring sounds of her favorite bands soon lulled her into an early sleep. Her mother arrived home and peeked in a short while later but Georgia was too far into her first dream by then to ever know. It had been a long, weird, and unexpected day in ways—the appearance of Hayden Ryder, the dominant part of it that remained wedged in her mind as she slept. 

In a single day, she’d felt everything from lust, to anger, and sadness because of him. It was unsurprising that he now pervaded her dreams too. He appeared in them as the object of her fantasy. This wasn’t unexpected either, since he’d evoked a physical desire within her that had been dormant for so long. He was just as beautiful and appealing to her, but the unexpected part was that in her dream, he wasn’t human.