Earth, As it is in Heaven - Chapter 1
Thank you to everyone who wrote. I'm glad a lot of you are going back and looking at Earth, As it is in Heaven to refresh youself on what exactly is going on. I didn't say this at first, but this story is as much a sequel to Earth as it is to my other story The Dreamer. If you haven't read it, I suggest you head over to my web page and check it out to find out ALL about Alex.
This is the second book of my Earth series, so you should probably read the first book Earth, As it is in Heaven first if you haven't already in order to know what's going on. As hard as I will try to make this a self contained story, overlaps will doubtlessly occur. Check out Book 1 and my other stories at my web site roman_genesis.tripod.com/romangenesis/ and feel free to tell me if a link is not working of something. It's been working for me. And don't forget to E-mail me at RomanGenesis@hotmail.com to get a hold of me.
If you're not on my mailing list yet, just E-mail me and let me know you want to be added. You will be notified when future chapters come out and also recieve editorials, information about my various stories, and also additional information on yours truely. Until then, peace out!
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Earth: The Final Tomorrow
By: Roman Genesis
Chapter 2
Rules of the Game
The sound of a door opening knocked me back into consciousness and I quickly sat up. At first, I couldn't figure out why there were three people coming into my room, but then I quickly remembered. "Hi," the boy said coming over to me. "You must be Trevor."
"And you're Caleb, right?" I said, shaking his hand quickly. His parents came up behind him and took turns introducing themselves. They apologized for waking me up, but I told them it was fine. I got up and went to the bathroom and when I got back I saw them unpacking his stuff. He was about my height at 5'11 and seemed to be the same build. You could tell just by looking at him that he was a surfer, so I wasn't surprised in the least when he dragged his surfboard up into the room.
His hair was the sun bleached blond of a boy who spent entirely too much time in the sun and his skin reflected this as well. Practically no one in New York had skin that dark. He was definitely going to be popular with the girls around here I figured. I was sitting at my desk pretending to work on something when his parents left the room to get something else from the car.
Caleb turned from the bed he was making and asked quickly, "So, do you like to party?"
I assumed he was talking about drinking so I turned to him and said honestly, "I used to, but it's been a while."
He looked at me for a second before a smile broke out on his face. "Yeah, we're going to get along real well." He turned back to his bed and continued to make it as his parents came back into the room. I watched him unpack for a while before turning back to the papers on my desk. I couldn't figure out what he meant by his comment so I just threw it off.
I moved the papers around on my desk and a small slip of paper fell onto the floor. I reached down and grabbed it and froze when I saw what was written on it. Alex's name was scribbled across it with his phone number right under that. I couldn't believe I didn't call him last night. I was hit all at once by the remembrance of my dream. I had gone out into the woods and found Alex instead of Sebastian. I continued to stare down at his number and turned around and saw Caleb and his parents still unpacking. I'm not really sure why I did it, but I grabbed my phone and began to dial Alex's number. It began to ring and once again my stomach was twisting into knots.
"Hello?" Someone answered on the other end.
"Hi," I said slowly. "Is this Alex?" I didn't have to ask though. I knew that voice.
"Yeah," he answered. It sounded like he was eating something.
"This is Trevor."
"Who?"
"Trevor. From the Dining Hall."
"Oh," he said loudly, as if suddenly remembering I was supposed to call. "How are you?"
"Pretty good," I answered, turning toward the wall so that my conversation was a little more private. Caleb and his parents were still coming and going with boxes. "What are you doing today?"
"Not much. You want to come over?"
"Sure," I answered a little bit too quickly. He told me which hall he lived in and gave me his room number. "I'll be over in about half an hour," I told him. After I had hung up I quickly went to the bathroom to take a shower. As I showered though, I found myself once again thinking about my dream. Was I wrong to have these feelings for Alex? Was Sebastian really looking down from heaven right now and crying? I looked up at the shower head and the water that flowed out evenly. The tears that flowed out evenly...
I got out of the shower and wrapped my towel around my waist before going out into the room. Caleb was there alone, still unpacking. "Are your parents still here?" I asked.
"No," he answered without looking up. "They left a few minutes ago." I went over to my dresser and started looking through it. "You said you partied, right?" I looked over at him and saw that he was looking at me intently.
"Yeah," I said slowly.
"Well, if you ever need anything, just let me know. I have mad hookups here." I nodded slowly and looked back into my dresser. I wasn't really sure what he was talking about and for some reason I didn't want to know.
I stepped up to Alex's door and stopped. I stood there for a while thinking about my dream and realizing that once I knocked, my life was going to change. For better or for worse, I didn't really know.
Something made me take a step back. And then another. I couldn't go through with this. Something deep down inside me was telling me to go back and to forget this boy Alex that had somehow worked his way into my dreams after only one day. Something about him wasn't right...
The door suddenly swung open and Alex was standing right there. He seemed slightly surprised to see me just standing there, but then a smile crossed his face. It was a knowing smile, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. "Hello Trevor. I was wondering when you would get here."
"Oh, yeah," I said nervously. "I had to take a shower."
"Aww... Just for me?" With that comment, he turned and walked back into his room. I stood there a moment, trying to decide if I was hearing things. After he had disappeared inside I slowly stepped in and looked around. His dorm was a lot different than mine. It had two double rooms connected to a small common area. "I'm in here," I heard Alex call from one of the rooms.
I walked over to the open door and stepped into his room. He was sitting on his bed reading something and his television was on. I walked over to the bed and took a seat on the edge. "I bet these rooms seem a lot smaller than yours," he said before looking back down at his magazine.
"No," I answered, looking around. "They're about the same." There were boxes all over Alex's side of the room and his walls were still completely bare. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to unpack his things.
"You need help unpacking?" I asked.
"Nah," he answered without looking up. "I'll do it later." I watched television for a while in silence, looking over at him every once in a while. His eyes were glued to the magazine and I was starting to feel very out of place. I began scanning the room again out of boredom.
His roomate's side of the room was fairly empty as well with barely any posters up. With the florescent lights burning down on me I was starting to feel like I was in a hospital. I don't know why I did it, but I pretended I was visiting Alex in his hospital room. "Do you get along with your roomate?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's okay," he answered. I could tell he answered without looking up from his magazine just by the way he said it. I got up and walked over to the large mirror that hung above their sink. I was staring at my reflection when something over my shoulder caught my eye. I turned around and looked at the poster above his roomate's bed. I hadn't seen it at first and it really threw me off. It was an N'Sync poster with all five of the group's members posing. "N'Sync?" I muttered without even thinking.
Alex must have heard me because he quickly responded, "Yeah, I was wondering the same thing when he put it up." I turned around and looked at him. He was staring over at the poster with a quizzical look on his face. "I think he might be gay," he added, almost like an afterthought.
I just stood there staring at Alex blankly as I tried to process what he had just said. I must have looked pretty stupid because he finally looked at me and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said quickly. I had been thinking about leaving since Alex was being so withdrawn, but now I wanted to stay and see his roommate. I sat back down on Alex's bed and stared at the television again. Just by the way he had said it, I figured Alex wasn't gay, but now I was getting excited about seeing his roomate.
After about ten minutes I was getting really antsy. Alex hadn't said a single thing and he was still laying there reading his magazine. I looked down at one of his boxes that was resting at my feet and sort of lifted the top with my foot to see what was inside.
"Looking for something?" Alex asked. I looked over at him and saw that he was staring at me with those intense blue eyes of his. The seemed to peer straight through me.
"No, I'm just a little bored," I said slowly, hoping he would put his magazine down. He studied my face for a second in silence. There was something critical about the way he was looking at me. It was rather unsettling to tell you the truth. He suddenly threw his magazine on the floor and sat up in one swift motion.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" he quickly asked, still looking straight into my eyes.
Before I could even answer, we were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. We both glanced over as a boy walked into the room and threw a bunch of papers on the other bed. "Hey Brandon," Alex said.
"Hey Alex," he boy responded. He sort of nodded his head when our eyes met. He sat down at his desk and instantly began jotting something down. He looked rather young to be in college, but he was still cute.
"This is my friend Trevor," Alex said.
"Oh," he boy said, getting up and coming over to me. "I'm Brandon. It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand and I took it in mine. He was being overly polite and I wasn't sure how to respond.
"Nice to meet you too," I said, taking my hand back.
"So, where you from Trevor?" he asked. He seemed genuinely interested. I could see Alex just sitting there staring at me out of the corner of my eye.
"New York," I answered.
Brandon's face instantly lit up, making him appear even younger. "No way. Me too. Which part?" I told him and his face just froze. "Oh my god," he stammered. "I'm from Stillwater, one town over."
"Oh wow," I said. I couldn't believe it. This guy grew up only a few miles from me in New York and now here we were meeting in college. In Georgia!
He quickly began asking if I knew people and he named off a hundred names. A few of them sounded familiar, but none of them stood out. "I hate to interrupt," Alex said, "but me and Trevor were just leaving."
I looked over at him and gave him a funny look, but he just stood up without looking at me and went over to one of the boxes. He began rummaging through it as Brandon began naming off more names, asking if I knew so-and-so. I looked up at him and couldn't help but smile. He was so excited to be talking to someone from back home. He was literally jumping up and down.
"How about Jamie Lewis?"
"I don't think so," I answered, letting out a chuckle. Alex finally found what he was looking for and stood up. I looked over at him and saw that he had a basketball under his arm.
"All right," he said. "I'm ready to go." He seemed upset about something. He headed for the door and I stood up to follow him.
"You have to know Jamie Lewis," Brandon insisted, following me to the door. "She went to your school and she was really popular."
"Sorry, doesn't sound familiar," I said backing toward the door with a huge grin still on my face. This guy wasn't going to give up until he found someone I knew back home. I heard Alex going through the front door so I turned away from Brandon and hurried through the common room to catch up.
"Samantha Porter?" Brandon called after me. "Eric Reynolds?"
I froze in my tracks as the name peirced through me like an arrow. The smile melted off my face as my whole body went numb. Was I hearing things? Brandon came out of his room and came up beside me in the common room. "What?" I barely managed to say.
"You know Eric Reynolds?" he asked cautiously, realizing that something was wrong.
Hearing the name again was like being stabbed in the stomach. I felt like all of the blood was draining out of my system. "Trevor, are you coming?" Alex called out, coming back into the room. He froze when he saw me. "What's wrong?"
I stared past him as I thought of Eric. Suddenly, I was back at Sebastian's funeral, talking to Eric for the last time. I was in his house watching him push Sebastian to the ground. I was at school avoiding him at all costs. I was on the floor of the weight room with him...
"I have to go," I said slowly. Without even thinking, I moved toward the door past Alex.
"Trevor, what's wrong?" Alex called after me. I began to walk faster and faster until I was running across campus toward my dorm. I kept seeing Eric and reliving my infidelity. Those eyes. Those colorless gray eyes.
I burst into my room and saw Caleb sitting by the window smoking something. He quickly put it out when he saw me. "Are you okay?" he asked, getting up. I went straight for my bed and buried my face in my pillow. The room was silent for a while and I tried to calm myself down. I heard the door open and close and figured that Caleb left. I probably looked really stupid, but I didn't care.
After Sebastian, I had avoided Eric at all costs. I had erased that name from my memory and pushed the experience into the deepest recesses of my mind. For all I knew, Sebastian was an only child and when Brandon unwittingly said that name, everything came flooding back. That name represented everything I hated about myself and everything that I had lost. I tried desperately to clear my mind, but the harder I tried, the more I thought about Sebastian and about Eric. I could still see him sitting with his parents at the funeral as Sebastian's casket was slowly lowered into the cold dead earth. My casket....
I was snapped out of my trance by the ringing of my telephone. I ignored it though and it continued to ring. I had run as far away from New York and from the past as I could and even here it continued to haunt me.
My answering machine sprung to life. "Leave your message after the tone," the electronic voice stated.
"Hey Trevor, it's me Alex. Look, I don't know what's wrong, but please call me when you get this message. I'm really worried about you."
I laid there in bed motionless as I slowly drifted off to sleep. As I slipped further and further into unconsciousness, I promised myself one thing. I wasn't going to let the past haunt me anymore. I had to be strong for both of us... Sebastian was depending on me.