Karlee

Karlee

Written by White Feather

         My friend John and I were taking the long drive to Chino from our homes in reasonable Orange County. "Nothing Else Matters" covered by Apoptygma Berzerk was playing in the car stereo, another techno synth pop band my friend was getting me into. Today was the first day6 I was to meet two people for the first time. Crystal, John's new girlfriend and her good friend Karlee. The car conversation steered away from our usual chatter about movies, music, world theories, and video games and into the inevitable introduction of his girlfriend.

         "So how's she feel about you today?" I asked while jabbing John's arm.

         "Pissed.." he smiled wide, and lounged back into his usual driving stance. One foot on the pedal, the other on the dash between the steering wheel and A/C vent, his left arm resting on his bent left knee, and his right hand slacked over the wrist on the wheel. I shifted uncomfortably.

         “So, who’s this Karlee person?” I asked having the strong feeling I wouldn’t like her.

         He began describing her to me, “Well, she’s a lot like your ex-girlfriend,” he paused to hear my moan, then continued, “no, no, no. She’s not a tramp. She’s very religious actually right now. You could have some kind of religious discussion with her.”

         Unsure, I replied, “That’s fine, what religion?”

         “She’s into all kinds of things. She’s all about the Bible right now.”

         “Is she a scitzo? I asked in jest, remembering the conversation we had earlier about Crystal. My friend tends to find girls that are manic-depressive head-cases, and go out with them in an attempt to fix their ways, perhaps as an esteem boost for him, perhaps his own way of forgetting himself. I know him well because I’m just like him. I know already that I hate Crystal, so I can’t wait to meet Karlee, Crystal’s best friend.

         We reach her house. She comes out hugging both of us, Karlee is in the background with utter cheer, but spaced. Karlee proceeds to shake my hand, “I’m Karlee, so nice to meet you. So I hear you’re into religion.” She smiles, and with wide eyes says, “The Armageddon draws close.”

         Crystal has hypoglycemia and NEEDS food, so we end up at the nearby Subway. This decision became argument because she didn’t know what she wanted and none of us cared. Karlee and I weren’t eating, John and Crystal were. They argued about Chinese food for about thirty minutes, her finally deciding she had it last night and it made her sick. John shrugged. “Fine, we’ll go to Subway.” I listened into their cases in pieces, rolling my eyes and shrugging at her control over him. I was intrigued by the conversation I was having with Karlee. At Subway, John orders a sandwich for each of them – she’s broke. When he receives both, she decides she doesn’t want it, crosses her arms. John asks her if she wants to eat it, she says, “No, why.” I interject, “Hey, if she doesn’t want it, I’ll take it.” She looks at me with her arrogant glare, “What’s that mean.”

         I shrug smiling. She looks away, angry I could only guess that I spoke to her, “I’m not hungry.”

         He slips, “Then why did I buy it for you? You need to eat.”

         She storms off towards his car. Their conflict begins. Inside the car, doors closed I see only movement, John eating his sandwich. She childishly has arms crossed and speaks with wide ahh’s and ohh’s, the sign of yelling. I stayed in my place, thirty feet away from the car, Karlee with me.

         We speak for quite a bit about excerpts in the Book, I forget the details. We discuss lifestyles, those including sexual experiences. She explained that she dates super-model women, a detail John already told me, so I believed her. She left me little room to talk about myself; I was probably better off.

         She spoke quickly, leaving room only for quick one-lined responses. Then, she says out of nowhere, “I’m currently studying witchcraft because it’s in my family.” She continues rambling, “Wicca is a true religion, do you believe in it? I do cause I’ve seen things, usually out of the corner of my eye, that’s how you see; it’s the religion of nature. I don’t believe in the Bible the same way everyone else does, you’re a water sign aren’t ya? So am I. I speak through communication with spirits; we should go to this place. I know. Yes, tonight, Oh, it’s a waning moon. Aah, no big deal.”

         During this rambling I remember so vividly, John returns with Crystal next to him. Her head lowered, arms crossed, she looks up at Karlee and I, lips red from eating the sandwich and probably kissing John for a quite a while. Karlee continues with more energy, “It’s called the Green Mist. Let’s go, John let’s go. It’s just down the street, real close. I can feel it. Can you Jay?”

         The Green Mist is nearly as popular as the Queen Mary in rumors. It is a forest said to have been a Native Indian battleground. They say on some days, the fog that is so deep in the area glows green, flashes white. There is a spiritual energy so strong here and the air is so thick that it’s difficult to breathe. Karlee explains, “The closer you get to it, you can just feel it, like something is pushing onto your chest.”

         It’s 2 am and we’re jumped into this place of oddities, shadows, lies, anger, and a passionate joy surrounding Karlee. We drive to a certain area, she chants something in whispers, “Diana . . . . wisdom sisters . . . . . . . protect . . . . . Iris . . . . . god of ice . . . . . .” I couldn’t hear her but I felt the heaviness go away for a while.

         She screams, “Stop the car! Here!” John leaves the engine running, lights on facing a closed gate and dirt road. “Do you see that? Look, see that mist. It’s growing more and more. Shit! It’s coming toward us. Everyone sit still.” The mist turned black, and began at the front of the car. The light from the headlights disappeared. “Oh my God, do you see it guys. Jay? It’s surrounding us. Some evil, some good.” The cabin of John’s four-door began turning black. We couldn’t see outside of the car at all anymore, lost the dirt road, what gate. We were losing sight of things inside the car. “John, drive!” Without delay John, put her in Reverse and shot back out of the area, back onto pavement. “John! Find a well-lit area, now! It’s important.” John stopped at the supermarket nearby. We shivered, not of the chill.

         “Wow! Do you see what happened? That’s never happened before. I wonder why. Wait, John you’re an Earth sign, Crystal is a Fire, and two Waters. Hmmmnn. Doesn’t make sense.” I whispered under my breath, “I’m Aquarius and Pisces.” Karlee jumps, “Oh my God! That’s why, you’re the Air. We had all four! Wow! Do you know what this means!!” Karlee paused, said nothing, just smiled with enlightenment.

         It was late, 4am. Crystal was stunned to the point of pure silence, angry silence. Nothing unusual. Karlee was stunned in this enlightenment silence, and John and I remained the same. We preferred silence out of respect, but we knew we had to talk.

         We drove them to Crystal’s house, said our goodbye’s. Crystal refused to hug me, Karlee shook my hand, “It was a pleasure to meet you." We’ll see each other again.”

         I talked to John on the way home from another long drive. I asked him if she was always like this. He replied, “Never this bad.”

         I was inspired; I never saw passion like this before. I’ve never met anyone like her before. There was a certain spiritual life in her. So odd. Nothing anyone ever saw before. It was magical. And she saw something in me no one else seemed to see, including myself.

         My friend sighed, “Yeah, I spoke to Crystal. Karlee’s taking Heroine again.”