Instant Messenger

2:29 PM June 29, 2009

My Status:

Naomi (Online)

No new e-mail messages

Lachlan — Conversation

Naomi: Hey. You awake?

Lachlan: no

Lachlan: it’s 4:29 am here, woman!

Naomi: It said you were online.

Lachlan: i fell asleep with my laptop open

Lachlan: the ding from your message woke me from my beauty rest 

Naomi: Sorry.Maybe turn your computer off before bed next time.

Naomi: I hate to bother you in the middle of the night like this, but I didn’t know who else to talk to.

Lachlan: talk to about….?

Naomi: He showed up at my door.

Lachlan: who did…?? stop being cryptic and ominous. i can’t handle crypticism and ominous-ness at half 4 in the morning

Naomi: Crypticism isn’t a real word.

Lachlan: it is too.you americans are so illiterate.

Naomi: Whatever.It’s not, but I don’t have time to argue the point.

Naomi: Do you remember New Year’s Eve?

Lachlan: 

Naomi: Ugh. Gross, no, not that part.

Lachlan: 

Naomi: Do you remember that other guy who was there when we hung out with The Goldfish Technique at that pirate themed place?

Naomi: The one with the weird name, like Eagle or something?

Lachlan: falcon? yeh i’ve met him a few times. he’s a good friend of the band.

Lachlan: i hang out with them a lot and he’s usually there. you wouldn’t know ‘cos you only hung out with them one time.

Lachlan: what about him?

Naomi: He’s at my apartment right now.

Lachlan: wait what?

Naomi: He knocked on my door about an hour ago and now he’s sitting on my couch eating my chips.

Lachlan: why?

Lachlan: why is he there, not why is he eating chips

Naomi: I have no idea. We can’t communicate very well.

Naomi: He tried to talk to me in sign language at first and I didn’t understand most of it.

Naomi: We have to write a lot down and he’s being sort of weird and confusing.

Naomi: He basically said Dominic told him to come find me and said I would help???

Naomi: I don’t know what to do!

Lachlan: and you think I do?

Naomi: I just didn’t know who else to talk to.

Naomi: C’s at her internship and you’re the only other person I could think to contact.

Naomi: I thought maybe you could get in touch with TGT and ask them to clear this up.

Lachlan: well, i can’t NOW.it’s the middle of the night.

Lachlan: plus i don’t really have their mobile numbers or anything.

Naomi: But I thought you guys were SUCH close friends, hanging out ALL the time.

Lachlan: we run into each other and hang out. i never claimed we were best friends or anything.

Lachlan: tsk tsk if you want my help, you should really be nicer to me.

Naomi: Do you have any way of getting into contact with them?

Lachlan: i could try messaging them on their band page.

Naomi: They don’t usually reply to messages on there, though.

Naomi: I’ll try messaging Dominic’s personal account, but he’s probably not awake right now.

Lachlan: lucky him.

Lachlan: well, messaging them is the only idea i have. guess i can’t help you.

Lachlan: i’d offer you some sage advice but my brain’s not capable of sageness this early.

Lachlan: i’ll sleep on it and maybe i’ll be more sage in the morning. i might even offer you advice if i’m feeling particularly charitable.

Naomi: It’s fine. Sorry to wake you.

Lachlan: apology NOT accepted>:(

Lachlan: let me know how this all unfolds though, ‘cos I am curious.

Naomi: Could you do me a favor if you do run into them and ask them what all this is about?

Lachlan: yeh i will.

Lachlan: not as a favour to you though. Just ‘cos I want to know what’s going on.

Naomi: Whatever. As long as you let me know what they say.

Naomi: Good night, Lachlan.

Lachlan is offline.

Naomi

Naomi sighed and turned away from her computer, swiveling around in her chair to face the man in her living room–Falcon apparently. He was lounging on her couch with his feet resting on the large rolling suitcase he’d brought, holding a party-size tortilla chip bag from her pantry in his lap. He gave her an awkward smile, then reached into the chip bag and shoved a handful into his mouth, sending crumbs showering onto the front of his loud-patterned shirt.

She decided to wait on messaging Dominic until she could be reasonably certain he was awake. She got up from her computer chair and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch from Falcon. She pointed to the notepad resting beside him and he pushed it in her direction.

She wrote ‘What are you doing here?’ and slid it back to him.

His hands moved abnormally quickly as he wrote his reply. ‘Dominic said you could help.’

He looked like the sort of guy who would have messy handwriting but his handwriting was just the opposite–neat to the point it was nearly spooky, especially considering how quickly he wrote. It looked almost like a typed font, with every letter identical and perfectly formed. Naomi felt suddenly self-conscious; She’d always prided herself on her handwriting but seeing her writing next to his made it look like chicken scratch.

‘I know,’ she wrote, trying a little harder to keep her handwriting neat. ‘You told me that already. How did he say I could help?’

Falcon frowned at the notepad, twirling the pen in his hand. Then he wrote his message.

‘I don’t know.’

She sighed again and buried her head in her hands. This was going nowhere. Writing on the notepad to communicate was slow and cumbersome, and she wasn’t any closer to figuring out why a near stranger had showed up at her house or how she was supposed to help him.

‘I can’t help you if I don’t know how.’ She paused, then added ‘Did Dominic tell you anything else?’

He did a sign with his fist, one of the few Auslan signs she actually remembered–no.

She exhaled heavily, glancing at the suitcase under his legs.

‘Do you have somewhere to stay?’ she wrote.

He signed ‘no’ again, then grabbed another handful of chips.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head against the back of the couch. Dominic had put her in a difficult position. On one hand, Falcon seemed harmless enough, if a bit strange, and she wouldn’t have felt right turning him away if he didn’t have anywhere to go. On the other hand, she lived alone, and letting a man she barely knew stay in her apartment didn’t seem like the safest idea.

She studied Falcon for a minute, trying to gauge how much of a threat he’d pose if he did turn out to have malicious intentions. He was on the tall side, but he was skinny, and while he didn’t look horribly out of shape, he definitely didn’t look strong either.

She took the notepad from him again, taking a few seconds to think before she wrote him a response.

‘You can stay here for now.’

He smiled, putting his fingers to his chin and pushing his hand slightly forward and down in her direction. This was another one of the signs she remembered; he was thanking her.

‘But we need to lay down a few ground rules.’

She showed him the notepad, then flipped to a blank page and begin writing.

Ground Rules

1. You’ll be watched as much as possible via video chat by one of my friends.

2. If you’re not being watched, you can’t be alone in the apartment. If I leave and no one’s able to watch you, you have to leave when I do. I don’t care where you go, but there’s a library and a park nearby where you can hang out as long as you like.

3. If you try to harm me in any way, whoever is watching will call the police.

4. If you try to turn off or disconnect the camera, whoever is watching will call the police.

5. Please ask before eating any of my food