A Disease of Magic

I took a moment to brush a loose strand of sweaty hair away from my face as I stared at the renovated building, regretting not putting my hair up. The church’s old roots were still visible in the tall stained glass windows, wide staircase, and smoothed stone facade. I triple-checked my location on my phone, matching it to the card that was left with the flowers nearly two weeks ago, to make sure it matched the address written down.

Being fifteen minutes early, I had no clue if I should go in, wait outside, or turn around and go home to pretend like this never happened. Though wasting the fare for the subway wasn’t exactly appealing.

“Well, you’ve made is this far,” I muttered to myself. “Might as well take a look.”

I ascended the steps carefully and kept my eyes peeled for any information that might offer reassurance that I was in the right place. Just because some super nice woman gave me this information didn’t mean that I should inherently trust it, though I was inclined to. I reached out with a damp hand to grab the handle when I heard footsteps behind me, coming closer.

Turning, I took in the figure approaching me. He was in some kind of work uniform, judging by the name tag still attached to its retractable clip. I would say they were scrubs if the dark khaki material didn’t look thicker and stiffer than what the healthcare professionals I’d encountered usually wore.

Five steps away, the stranger paused, finally noticing me.

“Oh, hey, didn’t see you there,” he said. He looked closer at me and took two more steps towards the doors I blocked. I released the handle and took the same number of steps backward. “I haven’t seen you before,” he added, tilting his head slightly. “Is this your first time to the group?”

I hesitated, unsure what information I should give this stranger.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude,” he apologized. He stuck out his hand towards me. We both noticed the sweat on his palm, and he grinned as he dropped his hand and shrugged, wiping the hand on his pant leg. “Hope this is the last heatwave this year. Anyways. I’m Alex. You’re here for the LaShoul’s group, right?”

“Yes,” I answered. “I’m Callie.” I offered a little wave in lieu of what would be a gross handshake.

His eyes widened as they latched onto my bare arm. I followed his gaze and noticed the insistent red flashing light. The bio-screen. Right. It had been blinking an alert at me since I first started getting ready to leave the apartment to come here. It was the first time a notification had been going on for more than a few minutes and I couldn’t find the off switch. There would be no heart-calming now with my anxiety ratcheting up higher and higher. I’d have to ask Leo about it later, even though he’d probably grill me on why it was going off in the first place and then demand to know what had made me so nervous for so long.

“Woah, you got one of those?” he asked, taking a half step closer before stopping himself. I dropped my arm, clasped my hands behind my back, and nodded mutely. “How’d you manage that?”

Before I could answer, two more people started up the front steps. Alex must have noticed my gaze, because he turned to look at what grabbed my attention.

“Hey, John, Melinda,” Alex greeted. “How goes it?”

“Keeps going,” the man, John, answered. He was dressed in shorts, a polo, and a hat, like he just came from golfing. “Man, I hope the AC is working tonight. It’s too hot for this shit.”

“Agreed,” Alex answered. He turned toward the woman. “Your sister coming tonight?”

The dark-skinned woman, Melinda, answered, “No, couldn’t make it. Though she made me promise to look out for a new person who suspiciously matches your description.” She addressed the last part to me. “Jade said she’d invited someone new. Are you Callie?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Jade is your sister?”

Melinda nodded. “She is. A workaholic, that one. Took on a last-minute event tonight, said she couldn’t pass up the late-notice fee she could charge. Hopefully it’s enough to get her to hire another assistant so she stops working these late nights.”

I wasn’t great at meeting new people and had no idea what I should say. Or should I even say anything? Was staying quiet better? This really wasn’t a conversation that included me, right? Shit. This was why I didn’t like going to new places or meeting new people on my own.

Melinda noticed my frozen expression, and offered a reassuring smile and a wink.

See, this was probably why Leo was really my only friend, even though I kept in touch with some old school friends and visited with them when they were in town. Sometimes. I was too awkward, and by the time I was finally comfortable around people to be more of myself, it was usually too late to salvage that first impression.

“Let’s get inside before I sweat to death,” Alex suggested, stepping into my space to open the door. He ushered me in with a grand swoop of his arm.

Thankfully, the AC was on full blast and I immediately shivered. The other three followed in, muttering their thankfulness for the cool air. Alex sidled up next to me and offered his arm and a charming smile.

“Care to be shown around, Callie?”

I took a slow, deep breath, and put on my brave face. Life was too short not to take chances every now and then. I wanted to make new friends for however long we’d have each other. And Alex seemed like the type of person who could become my friend.

“Why not?” I took his proffered arm, and he led me further into the building.

“So, this used to be the main entrance,” he began, gesturing around us. Over half of the lights were out, leaving only a few to light the way. Old red candlesticks waited on either side of each set of double doors. We took the doors to the far right, the ceiling suddenly dropping lower. “The pews would be past each set of doors, all in the same room, with an alter at the far end and a couple rooms past that. For a while this place used to be a reception hall for weddings, but apparently the owners had forged their liquor license and it got shut down. A lot of these spaces had been made into event venues, and the market wasn’t good enough anymore to really make money off it. Another company came in and created all these individual office spaces after creating a second floor—these ceilings used to be high—and leased them out. Though they saved a couple of the…well, let’s say less appealing rooms for groups like ours. Tax write-off that way for a room they probably wouldn’t be able to rent out. But hey, it’s a win-win in my book.”

Yes, he could definitely become my friend. His easygoing chatter put me at ease. I felt myself relax slightly and tried to subtly check my bio-screen, hoping to turn off the damning blinking light. All I managed to do was flag the “event” on the screen, which Leo had showed me how to do. I held in a frustrated groan and glanced to the gray ceiling, searching for patience. Later, I would ask how to label the flag I just created, since I couldn’t get even that far.

What even was the point in me having this thing if I couldn’t fucking figure out the most basic controls?

While I didn’t think this recording of my anxiety would help me at all with what was actually killing me, I was hoping I could at least rule it out as a trigger. That was the only reason why I wanted to mark it, so that if I had an episode later tonight the bio-screen could put two and two together to help me manage my LaShoul’s. Or, if I didn’t have an episode, I could at least rule it out. Either way would be progress.

But the light persisted, flashing softly every five seconds. I wanted to gouge the thing out of my arm.

Alex noticed my distraction, glancing down at my slightly-glowing arm. It wasn’t giving off much light, more like the faded vintage glow-in-the-dark stars I used to have on my ceiling when I was a kid, but it was clearly visible when anyone looked directly at it.

I gestured helplessly to the thing. “I can’t seem to find the damn off switch for the light.”

“Mind if I have a go at it?” He looked eager to try, like it was an exciting new toy.

“Only if you promise to show me how to do it if you can figure it out.”

He grinned, gently taking my arm. “Deal.”

Approximately twenty seconds later, Alex had the red alert turned off, the device in “Emergency Only” mode until I left this location, and added them both to a list of favorite commands that I could easily access again any time I wanted. We began meandering back down the endlessly long hallway.

“What the fuck,” I mumbled. My shoulders slumped.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. I work in a science lab, with some similar tech. Figuring this kind of shit out is literally my job.” He gave my shoulder a gentle nudge. “But hey, if you ever need help with that thing again, please let me. That thing is fucking awesome.”

A little chuckle escaped, and I answered him with an uncharacteristically flirty, “But I have no way to contact you outside of this group.”

He stopped in his tracks and pulled out his phone. Silently, he offered it to me, and I punched in my own number before handing it back. He pressed the call button, and my butt pocket vibrated twice before he hung up.

“There. Now you can.”

I only nodded and started walking again.

We finally reached the door at the end of the hallway, catching up to John and Melinda who waited for us, and climbed the three steps up to reach it. It swung in, light and sound pouring out into the dim hallway.

Melinda grabbed my hand in both of hers and gave it a quick squeeze. “You’ll be alright in here. You’re like the rest of us,” she reassured me, letting my hand fall. She gave a little wink and wandered back towards John, leaving me alone since Alex had immediately beelined for a different group the second we stepped inside.

There were over twenty people in the room, all congregating in small groups, spread out in the surprisingly large space. A circle of chairs was placed in the middle, and a table off to one side was filled with various bottled drinks, a coffee dispenser next to it. Had I known I could get an iced coffee here or even a latte if I wanted extra caffeine, I would have made sure to bring more money. As it was, I had only brought my pre-loaded card with enough for the return fare and an extra twenty for emergencies. An unfortunate circumstance a few years ago when I lost my entire wallet in an unfamiliar area made me much more careful. It was easier to bring one card with a limited amount of money on it, anyways. The card fit perfectly in the side pocket of the band of my bra.

I wandered along the walls, taking it all in. Exposed pipes and even some ductwork climbed up the back wall. They were painted black in an attempt to blend in but were still impossible to miss. Some jutted out of the ground at irregular intervals, clearly added on after the original building was constructed. It would be nearly impossible to hide them with a wall and still retain a good-sized space. As I drifted closer, I could hear water sloshing through one or two of them. I didn’t want to consider what it could be.

“Callie!”

Turning to the sound of my name, I spotted Melinda waving me over. Quickly, I nabbed a cold, dripping bottle of water and made my way over.

“Hi,” I said as I approached, trying to be friendly and more outgoing than I usually was.

“Everyone, this is Callie,” Melinda introduced me. “Jade found this one.”

“Lovely to meet you,” another woman, who looked to be in her early forties, greeted. “I’m Loren. We’re just about to get started. You ready?”

I just shrugged and said with more confidence than I felt, “We’ll find out.”