The following week she provided a tour of the lab to the three of them, but their attention on the minutia of the experiments waned until they locked sights on what intrigued them most of all. “Which one is your favorite, newbie?” Nadine implored, pointing to the workmen crew of summer interns, cobbled together from different departments as they carried away the last of the building blocks of her assembly. “What do you mean? These guys are just here to …” Priya began, trying to change the subject without avail. “They're here for us to watch them …
obviously” Dominique interrupted. “Interesting … so it’s that one” Nadine observed, watching the movement of Priya’s eyeline. She immediately turned away. The next thing she knew, the room where the chamber had been was just another empty space. Trying to think of what use to put it to, she was instead dragged outside and exhorted into unconventional behavior, “If you’re going to be part of this crew, you’ve got to prove yourself” Nadine said, pushing her back as the others giggled. Following him across the grounds from afar during the crew’s break, she came
into a convenience store. In the candy aisle he stood alone. Priya noticed this was her chance, and inched closer to him as he inspected the rows. “Oh Eric, it’s nice to see you” she began, like reading a script. The red shirt was still stained with spots of sweat, “Thanks Priya, I imagine we did a quality job on the lab”. “Yes, it’s all back to basics, thank you” she reassured him. “Not a problem. It must have been more work building it though” he speculated. He was puzzled as to why she was acting slightly frantic, but then understood as her body language made things clear.
“What sort of candy do you like?” she asked predictably. Eric could see she was becoming more of a nervous wreck and smiled mischievously, “When it comes to candy, I like to be spoiled, only the most expensive stuff is good for me”. Priya blinked and bit her lip, “What about when it comes to girls?”. Looking down at her feet for a moment to think, he ran his hands through his light brown hair, “Hmm … well I suppose she can be really normal and lame, as long as she has a good heart”. Priya felt a most delightful brew of worldly cunning and blissful naivety at the same time, “Are you sure?”. He stepped towards her, closing the distance. The red of his shirt overpowered the electricity pulsing through her mind, “Definitely … and she can be a total slob”. Blushing shyly, she turned to the side away from him, “Oh … um … that’s good”. Eric sighed, wondering whether it had actually backfired, “Priya, I’m trying really hard here but you’re going to have to work with me”. After the cunning defeated the rest, she turned back towards him and lifted her head to take in his fresh eyes, “how about a slice of pizza?”. After all, she knew what the universe was really all about; the subtlety of human emotions … and nothing more.
CHAPTER 6 - PRIYA IS HAPPY!
“Slow down … how would you describe it?” Hook pleaded, trying to reassure her. “A complete lack of existential crisis!” she hyperventilated as a creepy, awkward grin stretched across her face. “I think that’s called happiness Priya” he deduced. The next thing he knew, she was racing down the hall, and turned a corner to the fourth-floor stairwell, “Thank you, sir!”
echoing down the corridor. The lab seemed brighter in the bubbly dissociation of her disposition, reinforced by the giddy fizzles of the beakers. Standing in the empty space once more, she closed her eyes, reaching out to feel the consistency of an incorporeal memory. Natural pain and grief washed over her, caught in the rain as reminiscence unfettered itself from the black heaven, the turmoil of a firmament rife with an ancient loss. Time elapsed as she called upon the frenzy to dissipate, and slowly it did, until regaining control. “I’m ready,” Priya said aloud. Down on the floor, she noticed a letter sitting betwixt her feet. “This doesn’t say anything” she thought, looking at its front. Priya opened it and pulled out a greeting card, ready to read its contents.
“Just a card, blank” she recognized, scratching her head at the curious placement. Wasting no time, she stocked it in a drawer and left the lab behind, rushing down the stairs into the parking lot. Thrusting forward the stick shift of her car, the scientist propelled down the road towards Sanctum Delacroix Cemetery.
CHAPTER 7 - SANCTUM DELACROIX CEMETERY
Petals detached from their stems swiveled through the whipping wind until they came at a rest on the wet grass, leaving an unmistakable trail. The branches of willows drooped nearby, sloppy from the rain. Bending over, she placed the bouquet at the base of the marble slab. “Dad”
Priya mouthed as she looked over the memorial, the words, “Mahandran Echo” etched into the quiet stone. As a teenager, she could remember her father’s hands on her shoulders, his beautiful but weathered face, “Sometimes things are different when you go to sleep and wake up in the morning, but I will always be the one who cares for you. I will care for you forever”. Her chest heaved with deep, uninterrupted breaths, and she closed her eyes and remembered that last day as tears leaped from an interior existence into another, boundless space. Priya Echo smiled in ecstasy as a burst of mirror light swept across Sanctum Delacroix. “Dad, I will try” she thought as the image of his face faded. “Darling, are you going to let this place stay in one piece?” her right eye asked assertively, with a familiar parental tone. “Can you stop crying, it’s really tickling me a lot” her left eye remarked. Priya gasped as soon as she realized Linden and Melina were now her eyes. Exhaustion and a throbbing headache overtook her, and for a fraction she saw a swirling chaos that was unexplainable. “Take it easy, homegirl” Visioness said reassuringly, her voice welling up from within. “My, my, this new place is fabulous!” Pelfe exclaimed lastly. Walking away from the memorial, Priya waved her hand over another gravestone and it lifted off the ground, forming along its smooth surface a mirror so she could see her prior celestial appearance. In moments it was assimilated into her normal, everyday look.
Satisfied, she returned the stone back to its place. Strolling back to the car, she looked around, and gradually the willows didn’t seem so doleful … anymore … but lively as rays of effervescent light sliced through them, carving slices of verdant nature.