[donaldscrankshaw] Donald: Crossing Over: Part I

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Posted by Donald:
Crossing Over: Part I
http://www.donaldscrankshaw.com/posts/1207529833.shtml


   This is going to be a little bit of a peculiar story for me. It's a
   fanfiction for [1]College Roomies from Hell!!!. Now I don't usually
   write fanfiction: I prefer to work in my own world. However, every
   once in a while I'm inspired by the possibilities I see in someone
   else's characters. And for once, I decided that if the author wasn't
   going to explore those possibilities, I would.
   The problem with working in someone else's world is that it doesn't
   make sense to people who aren't familiar with the comic. Even those
   who are will probably miss some of what I refer to if they don't read
   the forums. So the question, then, is why am I posting the story here?
   Well, the first reason is because I think it turned out fairly nicely.
   The second is that, because of a forum upgrade, the version that I
   posted there has apparently disappeared. And since I want to preserve
   this story, I decided to post it on my blog.
   So, first the legal stuff. All the characters, the world(s), and the
   events referenced belong to Maritza Campos, copyright 1999-2008. Only
   the events of this story belong to me.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Crossing Over
   Chapter 1
   When Dover dismissed the class, Dave was the first one out the door.
   Not that long ago he would have lingered, waiting to see which way
   Margaret would go, perhaps following her if a good enough excuse came
   to mind. Not this time. He wasn't avoiding her, not exactly, but it
   seemed that they'd said all there was to say, and he was just tired of
   trying to convince her. She would listen patiently and nod in the
   right places, but nothing ever seemed to get through. She just had no
   faith, and what was worse, she had no hope. Dave didn't know how much
   faith he himself had. For a guy who'd seen as many miracles as he had,
   he still wasn't sure what he believed about God and the Devil, what
   rules they were supposed to follow, or whether he could trust either
   of them to do so, but hope was the one thing he held onto no matter
   how hard the world tried to snatch it from his fingers.
   Dave took a right and headed for the back of the building, past the
   classrooms being renovated to the rear stairwell. Inside was a little
   used back door, which he went through, intending to take an
   out-of-the-way route back to the apartment. It was longer this way,
   but he could be reasonably certain that he wouldn't run into Margaret
   or anyone else he knew. In fact, once he reached the grassy alley
   where the biology and physics buildings stood back-to-back, there
   wasn't anyone at all. The sun was blocked by the Ryan S. Majison
   Building, where all the physics students were spending their afternoon
   in labs, leaving the alley cool and shadowed. A few dandelions nodded
   tiredly as Dave walked past. By the time he got home, she would either
   be in her apartment or perhaps in the library, and he wouldn't need to
   talk to her unless she came looking for him, a thought that made him
   nervous rather than excited these days. His feet left a trail in the
   tall grass which no one bothered to keep trimmed.
   "Yow!" Something had just stung the back of his neck. What if it's a
   bee?! Trying to quell the rising panic, he slapped at it. That was a
   mistake, and he winced as the stinger went deeper. His fingers fumbled
   with the oddly still insect, which seemed about the right size for a
   very large bee. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod," he said as brought it before
   his eyes, trying to focus his blurry sight on its feathery
   red-and-black body. If it was a bee, it was a giant mutant one. He
   needed to find help before he choked to death. He started to run, but
   he only made it a few lurching steps before he fell, his face planted
   in the soft grass and his nose in the dirt. He tried to push himself
   back up, but his arms were weak and useless. Darkness filled his eyes.
   Roger shifted Fluffy to his other arm as he opened the front door to
   the apartment building. He hadn't had a chance to take Fluffy for a
   walk this morning before class, and it was getting antsy. Fluffy
   wasn't the only one who had needed a walk. Chester had been freaking
   out over something, and he'd darted out the apartment door the moment
   Roger opened it upon arriving home. Roger hadn't even seen which way
   he'd gone. Well, Dave would find him when he got home. Hopefully,
   Chester wouldn't be caught by Satan again, or worse, the hot dog man.
   There were in fact a few things worse than having your soul torn out,
   and the hot dog man knew them all. Roger whistled as he headed down
   the street, Fluffy cradled in his arm. The tune died out once he
   recognized it as something his mother used to sing. He still hadn't
   told his father and sister that she was dead. Margaret had actually
   volunteered to come with him when he did, which was just the sort of
   honorable and stupid thing she would do. His family didn't know that
   his mother used to hunt humans, and they certainly didn't need to meet
   the prey who had fought back. Roger's animal instinct considered
   Margaret part of his pack, but he still had to be careful to keep his
   anger control when he was around her. He had no desire to test how
   good Lily's self-control was by introducing her to the complete
   stranger who had killed her mother.
   Roger tried to move his mind to other things, such as his alphabetized
   popcorn collection. He had just found one that looked exactly like
   Mike, or would have if he'd had a more normal sized nose and longer
   hair. He'd show it to him, only Mike'd probably eat it.
   "H'astur, this is heavy!" The voice came from the alley by the
   apartment. It sounded like that idiot, Steve.
   "Well, we'll lose the weight soon. Heheheh." And that would be Waldo,
   the idiot-in-training.
   Roger looked down the alley as he passed, but all he saw was the rear
   door swinging shut. Whatever they were doing, they were certainly up
   to no good, but that pretty much accounted for their every waking
   moment. "We'll just have to watch out for them, won't we, Fluffy? That
   and make sure they don't get a hold of Satan's Fruit Basket. That
   would be bad."
   Roger continued on his walk, but between thoughts of his mother and of
   Waldo and Steve, he'd lost interest in enjoying the admiring stares he
   received whenever he carried Fluffy around, so he returned home after
   only half-an-hour. Dave still wasn't home, nor was Chester. Mike was
   gone too, but he was probably with Marsha, so Roger wasn't worried
   about him. But he was beginning to worry about Chester. The way he ran
   off could be nothing, or it could indicate that Dave was in trouble.
   Well, if anyone knew where Dave was⦠Roger screwed up his courage and
   went across the hall to knock on the girls' door.
   Margaret answered right away. When she saw him, she tried a smile that
   failed miserably. "What do you need, Roger?" she said. Every time she
   spoke to him he heard the implied I'm sorry I killed your mother.
   Roger tried not to grit his teeth. He hadn't fully forgiven her, even
   though he was determined not to hold it against her, but what he
   really wanted to do was wipe that look of pity from her face. Instead,
   he said as neutrally as possible, "Have you seen Dave? I'm worried
   about Chester."
   "No, I haven't seen him since Calculus. I was looking for him too.
   Why, what's wrong with Chester?" All things considered, Margaret had
   taken the news of Dave's soul-cat pretty well, but that might have
   been the drugs at the time. She had taken to avoiding Chester since
   then.
   "I have no idea, but he ran off like a bat out of Heaven. I think Dave
   might be in trouble."
   "Don't you mean a bat out of Hell?"
   "No, Hell's dark and warm. I'm pretty sure bats like it. Heaven's all
   bright and airy, so--"
   "All right, I believe you. Let me get my .45s," she said.
   While Margaret got her weapons from her gun closet, Roger came just
   inside the door. If they were going to look for Dave, maybe he should
   bring Fluffy, but he didn't want to risk something happening to it.
   Besides, if they could find Chester, they'd find Dave quickly enough.
   Finding Chester would be easy if Roger went were, but he was avoiding
   that these days. Even more than before. Roger wasn't completely
   certain, but he thought he was more vulnerable when were. They had
   enough problems without tempting Satanic possession.
   "You want something, Rog?" Margaret called from the closet. "The
   shotgun, maybe?"
   "No, I'm fine," Roger said. "Let's go."
   Margaret had tucked her guns underneath her leather jacket, where she
   had specially designed holsters to keep them inconspicuous. She and
   Roger went out the door and nearly stepped on Chester, who had
   returned while they weren't looking. He mewed at them, then headed
   toward the stairs, where he paused to look back at them.
   "What is it, boy? Is Davey trapped in a well?" Roger asked.
   "Rogerâ¦" Margaret growled.
   "What? Chester's at least as smart as Lassie."
   "Chester's at least as smart as Dave, but do you really think he wants
   us to follow him?"
   "Well, duh! Let's see where he wants us to go."
   Chester stopped at the door to the stairway, where he waited patiently
   until they opened the door. Then he darted down a flight and stopped
   at the door at that level, mewing for them to hurry. At least that's
   what Roger assumed he wanted. He trotted down the stairs, Margaret
   right behind, and pulled the door open quickly enough that Chester had
   to dodge in order to avoid being hit in the nose with it. After an
   angry snortâa sound Roger was pretty sure that normal cats couldn't
   makeâhe shot down the hallway, Margaret and Roger close behind.
   Chester stopped at a familiar door, back arched and hissing. Roger
   felt his stomach flip. He might have to go werecoyote after all.
   "Why am I not surprised?" Margaret asked as she stared at Steve's and
   Waldo's door. "The only question is whether we break down the door, or
   knock first, then break it down."
   Roger said, reaching for the doorknob. "Well, I guess we should
   checkâ¦" The knob turned easily. "â¦first. Never mind." Roger pushed
   the door open.
   The light from the hallway stretched across the darkened dining area
   to the living room, falling upon a pentagram. Within, Dave lay
   spread-eagle, unconscious and unmoving. Black candles were arranged
   around him at odd intervals, some lit and some unlit. The lit ones
   were the only source of light, as heavy black garbage bags were
   blocking the windows. Two figures in dark robes stood on either side
   of the pentagram, both staring at the door.
   "You idiot!" Steve yelled. "I told you to lock the door."
   "You never said that," Waldo replied. "You only told me to shut it."
   "It was implied!"
   "It's not my fault I'm not psychic. Who's the one who said they
   wouldn't miss him for a couple of hours? It looks like you're no
   psychochic either."
   "All right, you two morons," Margaret said, drawing her guns and
   aiming one at each of them. "Both of you shut up and freeze. We're
   taking Dave and we're going now."
   "You're too late," Steve said. "We're done."
   Roger had been watching Dave, and he realized that the area inside the
   pentagram was getting darker. The candles that he had thought were
   unlit were actually giving off a smoky black substance which was
   filling the pentagram, hiding Dave in the mist.
   Margaret saw this as well. "What's going on? Roger, stop it!"
   "I'm really not sure how," Roger said, slowly approaching the
   pentagram. Now he really wished he had brought Fluffy. He had no idea
   what was happening or how to stop it, but he knew better than to
   interrupt a spell in progress; the results could be disastrous both
   for Dave and everyone in the vicinity. Chester had no such
   compunctions, though, and he ran into the pentagram, knocking over one
   of the candles lit with actual fire. It rolled into the pentagram, and
   both Chester and candle disappeared inside the black mist.
   "Roger!" Margaret said, keeping her guns trained on the two Satanists
   who had started this.
   Well, now that Chester had already begun it, it couldn't hurt to
   finish the job. Roger began grabbing candles, lit with both fire and
   darkness, and tossing them aside. One of them hit Steve in the nose.
   "Ouch! Are you crazy?" Steve shouted. "You could cause the spell to
   blow up!"
   "Yes, you and that cat are going to cause a cat-astrophe," Waldo said.
   With all the candles gone, the darkness began to clear, revealing the
   figures hidden by it. When Margaret saw what was there, she strode
   across the room and placed one of her pistols under Steve's chin, all
   the while keeping the other one trained on Waldo. "What the Hell did
   you do!" she said through gritted teeth.
   "That wasn't supposed to happen! I swear!" Steve said.
   "Aboobsolutely not!" agreed Waldo.
   Lying in the pentagram spread-eagled was a girl. Where Dave had been
   wearing jeans and a light blue shirt, she wore a short denim skirt and
   a light blue sweater, both exactly the same shade as what Dave had
   worn. Worse, she looked like Daveâthe same hair color, the same
   general shape to the face. But the hair was too long, with two small
   braids at the shoulders, and the rest of the body was obviously
   female. Chester sat near her head, licking her face, but she didn't
   respond.
   "Oh boy," Roger said. "Well, maybe not."
     _________________________________________________________________

   This is the first 2,171 words of a 17.472 word story.

References

   1. http://www.crfh.net/