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MUST SLEEP
I hadn't intended to spend this much time writing about Mr. Rhodes at all. But, there you go.
Check my last post for links to everything that comes before, and the blog in which this story is officially housed. Otherwise, here's what I wrote today.
Adrian Rhodes opened the door to his small house, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the stars that hung in the darkness above him. Having grown up in a much more urban setting, Adrian was not accustomed to being able to make out more than the Big Dipper in the night sky. Here in a relatively rural small town, however, he was exposed nightly to constellations that he could not identify.
The screen door slammed behind him as he stepped inside the deadly quiet house. He removed his woolen coat, thankful that it wasn’t yet winter. The coat was warm, but he had doubts as to how well it would hold up in the snow. His mother had bought it for him on his last visit home.
Having spent the last few hours at a bar, Adrian smelled strongly of alcohol. He made his way to the kitchen to fix himself a pot of coffee. He had to sober himself up as much as possible before going to sleep, so that he wouldn’t be affected in the morning. He preferred not to dwell on what might happen to him if he showed up to teach tomorrow at High Glen with a hangover.
As the aroma of coffee slowly permeated through the house, encouraging Adrian to breathe deeply. No matter how much he had scrubbed, and despite leaving the windows open for the entire month of the smell, the house still smelled musty. The previous owners had lived inside of the tiny house for 64 years, and apparently were not able to properly ventilate the place in later years. The husband had died and the wife had been moved to a nursing home. Adrian rented the house for a modest sum through one of the couple’s children, who lived in a big city three states away.
Still waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, Adrian opened his leather shoulder bag. Luckily, he didn’t have very many papers to correct this evening. This was good because not only did it mean that he would have more time to sleep, but also that he could wait until after drinking his cup of coffee before leaving constructive criticism for his students. It had only been a few months so far, but he rather enjoyed teaching English thus far. One of his friends from graduate school had recommended applying at High Glen, and Adrian had followed his advice. After graduating with a bachelor’s degrees in both English and Education, and earning a master’s degree in English, he had realized that he had no idea where he wanted to teach English. Adrian liked his job well enough, but the majority of the faculty at High Glen was at least fifty years old. The main source of any sort of problems in his life was loneliness. It seemed like everyone in this town was either one of his students (definitely not okay), a faculty member (either too old or already married), or vastly intellectually inferior to the point that a meaningful relationship would not be possible. As he did not plan to leave his post any time soon, this had significant restraints on any possibility of finding someone in whom he could be romantically interested. The only solution that he could come up with was to live somewhere else during the summers, which meant he was going to have to suck it up for the next seven months.
Well, at least there’s no chance of running out of books any time soon, he thought with a smile. Indeed, every room in his house contained at least one shelf of books, even if it was a board resting on top of cinderblocks that he’d found in the garage. He had had a weak spot for purchasing books for as long as he could remember. He didn’t expect his hunger to be satiated any time soon, either, as there was a quaint used bookstore in town.
Pulling a book of verse off of the shelf, he sat at his surprisingly sturdy little wooden table in front of his patio door. The back door opened to a small slab of concrete whose edges had begun to be overrun by persistent grass that had been neglected for too long. The silhouettes of naked branches were barely visible in front of the deep black of the night. There were not very many pine trees in the area, so the only leaves that Adrian knew of that were still left were the vines that crept on the walls of his house on both the northern and eastern sides.
Pleased that the coffee was finally finished, Adrian poured himself a mug full of the hot liquid. His thoughts began to drift back to earlier that afternoon. Mr. Kozicki had asked him a couple weeks ago if he would agree to be the advisor for a new student Paranormal Research Team. Recognizing the fact that he had absolutely no social life, Adrian had agreed without giving it very much thought. Now, he was technically in charge of a group of students he did not know. Not one of the four were his students outside of the club. And while ghosts and other supernatural “beings” made for excellent plot devices and chilling stories, Adrian definitely did not believe in them having any sort of basis whatsoever in reality. The girl in charge, Gali, definitely seemed to be of the opinion that ghosts were very real, and that they were going to be encountering them on their “expeditions.” Adrian lowered his nose until it almost grazed the surface of his coffee. He did not relish the thought of trudging around outdoors until all hours of the night with these kids.
Listening to the exchange of awkward introductions and probing questions that had occurred that afternoon, Adrian had been reminded of how painfully unpleasant it was to be a teenager. It was blatantly obvious that all four of the children were desperate for friendship. His thoughts had turned to disgust very quickly, so he chose to not associate with the children at all. Gali had wanted to start the club quite badly, and would want complete control over it as well. He thought it would be best if he just stayed quiet and made a point of not bothering them or their plans. He hadn’t expected that his choosing to be aloof would be hurtful to Gali. I hope that things will get more interesting for you. Ah, well. He still had the entire rest of the year to be friendly and accommodating. That was plenty of time to build positive relationships with the students. And as much as he did not believe in the things that they were going to be searching for, advising this club was still going to help him fill the voids of time in which he had nothing to do aside from occupying bars or reading inside of his house.
Still, though, Adrian was without any peers in this small town. There was no one for him to confide in, no one with whom he could discuss future plans, no one with whom he could discuss neither personalities nor aptitudes of his students. Although, now that he gave it serious thought, Adrian realized that it had been a very long time since he last had somebody present in his life who he could trust, or could consider a friend who was not his friend merely because of convenience. Sipping his hot coffee alone in his musty, book-lined home enveloped by the velvet of darkness, he felt a sad chill settle deeply inside of himself.
Music used whilst writing this entry: Dashboard, Linkin Park, and Lifehouse
Check my last post for links to everything that comes before, and the blog in which this story is officially housed. Otherwise, here's what I wrote today.
Adrian Rhodes opened the door to his small house, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the stars that hung in the darkness above him. Having grown up in a much more urban setting, Adrian was not accustomed to being able to make out more than the Big Dipper in the night sky. Here in a relatively rural small town, however, he was exposed nightly to constellations that he could not identify.
The screen door slammed behind him as he stepped inside the deadly quiet house. He removed his woolen coat, thankful that it wasn’t yet winter. The coat was warm, but he had doubts as to how well it would hold up in the snow. His mother had bought it for him on his last visit home.
Having spent the last few hours at a bar, Adrian smelled strongly of alcohol. He made his way to the kitchen to fix himself a pot of coffee. He had to sober himself up as much as possible before going to sleep, so that he wouldn’t be affected in the morning. He preferred not to dwell on what might happen to him if he showed up to teach tomorrow at High Glen with a hangover.
As the aroma of coffee slowly permeated through the house, encouraging Adrian to breathe deeply. No matter how much he had scrubbed, and despite leaving the windows open for the entire month of the smell, the house still smelled musty. The previous owners had lived inside of the tiny house for 64 years, and apparently were not able to properly ventilate the place in later years. The husband had died and the wife had been moved to a nursing home. Adrian rented the house for a modest sum through one of the couple’s children, who lived in a big city three states away.
Still waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, Adrian opened his leather shoulder bag. Luckily, he didn’t have very many papers to correct this evening. This was good because not only did it mean that he would have more time to sleep, but also that he could wait until after drinking his cup of coffee before leaving constructive criticism for his students. It had only been a few months so far, but he rather enjoyed teaching English thus far. One of his friends from graduate school had recommended applying at High Glen, and Adrian had followed his advice. After graduating with a bachelor’s degrees in both English and Education, and earning a master’s degree in English, he had realized that he had no idea where he wanted to teach English. Adrian liked his job well enough, but the majority of the faculty at High Glen was at least fifty years old. The main source of any sort of problems in his life was loneliness. It seemed like everyone in this town was either one of his students (definitely not okay), a faculty member (either too old or already married), or vastly intellectually inferior to the point that a meaningful relationship would not be possible. As he did not plan to leave his post any time soon, this had significant restraints on any possibility of finding someone in whom he could be romantically interested. The only solution that he could come up with was to live somewhere else during the summers, which meant he was going to have to suck it up for the next seven months.
Well, at least there’s no chance of running out of books any time soon, he thought with a smile. Indeed, every room in his house contained at least one shelf of books, even if it was a board resting on top of cinderblocks that he’d found in the garage. He had had a weak spot for purchasing books for as long as he could remember. He didn’t expect his hunger to be satiated any time soon, either, as there was a quaint used bookstore in town.
Pulling a book of verse off of the shelf, he sat at his surprisingly sturdy little wooden table in front of his patio door. The back door opened to a small slab of concrete whose edges had begun to be overrun by persistent grass that had been neglected for too long. The silhouettes of naked branches were barely visible in front of the deep black of the night. There were not very many pine trees in the area, so the only leaves that Adrian knew of that were still left were the vines that crept on the walls of his house on both the northern and eastern sides.
Pleased that the coffee was finally finished, Adrian poured himself a mug full of the hot liquid. His thoughts began to drift back to earlier that afternoon. Mr. Kozicki had asked him a couple weeks ago if he would agree to be the advisor for a new student Paranormal Research Team. Recognizing the fact that he had absolutely no social life, Adrian had agreed without giving it very much thought. Now, he was technically in charge of a group of students he did not know. Not one of the four were his students outside of the club. And while ghosts and other supernatural “beings” made for excellent plot devices and chilling stories, Adrian definitely did not believe in them having any sort of basis whatsoever in reality. The girl in charge, Gali, definitely seemed to be of the opinion that ghosts were very real, and that they were going to be encountering them on their “expeditions.” Adrian lowered his nose until it almost grazed the surface of his coffee. He did not relish the thought of trudging around outdoors until all hours of the night with these kids.
Listening to the exchange of awkward introductions and probing questions that had occurred that afternoon, Adrian had been reminded of how painfully unpleasant it was to be a teenager. It was blatantly obvious that all four of the children were desperate for friendship. His thoughts had turned to disgust very quickly, so he chose to not associate with the children at all. Gali had wanted to start the club quite badly, and would want complete control over it as well. He thought it would be best if he just stayed quiet and made a point of not bothering them or their plans. He hadn’t expected that his choosing to be aloof would be hurtful to Gali. I hope that things will get more interesting for you. Ah, well. He still had the entire rest of the year to be friendly and accommodating. That was plenty of time to build positive relationships with the students. And as much as he did not believe in the things that they were going to be searching for, advising this club was still going to help him fill the voids of time in which he had nothing to do aside from occupying bars or reading inside of his house.
Still, though, Adrian was without any peers in this small town. There was no one for him to confide in, no one with whom he could discuss future plans, no one with whom he could discuss neither personalities nor aptitudes of his students. Although, now that he gave it serious thought, Adrian realized that it had been a very long time since he last had somebody present in his life who he could trust, or could consider a friend who was not his friend merely because of convenience. Sipping his hot coffee alone in his musty, book-lined home enveloped by the velvet of darkness, he felt a sad chill settle deeply inside of himself.
Music used whilst writing this entry: Dashboard, Linkin Park, and Lifehouse