What follows is a small section of the reason my blog has been so dead as of late. Kolatak is a story about a girl, Mandi Parker, starting her freshman year at Kolatak University in the strange Texas town of Folkestone.

***

Kolatak University’s campus was a bustling city inside a small town. By the time they arrived, the parking lots and garages around the Barfield Residence Hall were so full, Darryl grumbled about how they should have gotten up earlier and busted their asses so they wouldn’t be the very last ones. Mandi looked out using the side view mirror and decided they were better off than the infinite number of cars trailing behind them. Cars, S.U.V.s, and moving trucks overflowed the streets. Some families even decided to park on the sidewalk as a last resort.

Mandi peered from her passenger side window as they scoured the parking lots for an open space. Other surrounding families worked together like ants transporting morsels into the colony. Several young people dotted throughout the streams and globs of people, older than herself (upperclassmen, she thought), wore eye-stinging yellow shirts which screamed in big bold letters WELCOME WEEK ‘04 CROW CREW! The backs of which blandly stated Sponsored by Kolatak Student Foundation.

One of Crow Crew, towards the end of the aisle they currently crawled through at a snail’s pace, waved them down. He was tall and corded with muscle. His shoulder and neck almost looked like they were bunched together. Mandi thought he looked oddly handsome with his wiry sandy-brown hair and welcoming grin.

Mandi pointed shouting, “He’s savin’ us a spot!”

“Aw, thank ya Jesus!” Darryl moaned, his words dripping with exasperation. “I was gettin’ ready to just drive us through the goddamn wall and call it quits.”

They pulled into the spot where the Crow Crew guy motioned for them to park. At a distance, the neon yellow-shirted Crow Crewmen looked handsome, and he was by mainstream standards; however, as Mandi checked his face through the driver’s side window, she noticed that no matter how profound his smile was, ear to ear displaying perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth, his eyes were in stark disconnect with the rest of his face. Inside his gray eyes harbored a deep coldness within. He had an unsettling gaze of a statue in which the eyes follow you around the courtyard.

Still, he did have nice arms.

“Name’s Shawn, sir,” the Crewman said when her Dad rolled down the window. “Shawn Deacon and welcome to Kolatak University, sir. I appreciate your service, by the way. True patriot, I see.” He nodded toward her Dad’s hat as a muscle-bound arm snaked its way into the interior and shook Darryl’s meaty hand. There was a fleshy slap sound when their hands clapped together into a squeezing contest.

“Green Beret Medic. Vietnam.” Dad stated, his voice stiff as if speaking to a cadet.

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir,” Shawn said, “Just wanted to let you know, that I or anyone else wearing these stylish shirts today are at your disposal. I know it says we’re sponsored by the Student Foundation, but as an officer of Kappa Phi Tau, I’d like to personally welcome you guys. Howdy.”

He winked at Mandi and reached out across over to her. For a moment, Mandi didn’t shake it. She didn’t want to. There was something about Shawn Deacon’s all-too-happy-to-meet-you grin and the removed, faraway aspect swimming deep inside his eyes.

It’s like he doesn’t register either of us as human.

“Mandi Parker,” she said, shaking his hand. His swallowed hers.

Shawn leaned back out of the truck. “Would you like me to start unloading some of this, sir?”

“That’d be mighty fine with me, Mr. Shawn,” Darryl Parker nodded and rolled up his window, smirking. “Maybe he can get all the heavy stuff, whaddya say?”

She nodded, returning that sly smirk.

Once out of the car, Mandi’s legs screamed in pained joy. She couldn’t help but stretch side to side and forward then back. It was divine. Even the aching muscles were divine. Almost immediately, out in the sun, a fine sheen sweat coated her skin from the late summer heat.

Of course, it had to be late August for everyone to move.

Now that she was outside, she could see the tired but excited expressions on everyone’s face. The air hummed, whistled, and murmured with hundreds and hundreds of families bustling about, frequently punctuated by the disquieting caw of crows. It was as if they did it deliberately. To remind them that they were guests in their home.

She went to the back of her truck where her Dad and Shawn started to untie the small pile of boxes and containers. Shawn gathered the rope into a fine oval hooked around his hand and elbow, then handed it to Darryl who set it inside the truck.

“Before we get started,” Shawn said once Darryl returned to lower the tailgate, “I thought–-if it was okay with you guys––for us to say a quick prayer in welcoming you guys to Kolatak University?”

Mandi blinked. Pray?

And then, her cheeks grew warm on her face. She remembered. Kolatak University was not like A&M or the University of Texas. It was considered a private college, a Baptist college. The kind where women weren’t allowed to ever wear pants about forty to fifty years ago.

She stammered, but Darryl looked on beaming. He shook his head, not telling him No, but an emphatic Yes, as if he had just tasted a dish so delicious, it couldn’t be possible. Yet it was.

“Couldn’t think of a better way to start this whole venture son.” And Darryl shook his hand again, clapping him on the shoulder.

Mandi wanted to roll her eyes but sighed instead.

Shawn Deacon grinned that same hollow grin as he extended his arms with his palms out. Come, and gather around. Bow your heads in this holy time, it said. Somehow, she didn’t feel anything holy about the way he kept his eyes on her. Mandi couldn’t help but see the dim activity working behind the placid waters of his eyes. It was like gazing into a T.V. screen with its brightness turned all the way down. If she looked hard enough, she could make out something twisting in the darkness.

Darryl did the same and linked hands with Mandi. A hot flash of embarrassment rose up from her belly like a flare. And when Shawn said, “Let us bow our heads…” Mandi didn’t; she kept eyes open, watching to see if anyone was watching her. But to her surprise, it wasn’t just them linked up and their heads down as if they were trying to read each other’s minds or bend spoons with the power of their collective will.

In Mandi’s eyes, it was all the same to her.

“Lord,” Shawn’s voice took on a reverent quality, “we come together today––This hot day,” Darryl let out a snort and Mandi felt him nod, “to seek the glory of Your fellowship as we work together in love and compassion in hopes to help Mandi Parker feel as welcome as possible, here, at Kolatak University and the Kolatak Family. We ask that You be with Darryl, her good-natured father, as he returns home, and comfort him as he misses his wonderful daughter. We ask that you be with Mandi in her journey and guide her to the brightest future imaginable. In Jesus’s…” Except his voice slurred suddenly sounding more like Jurry and Jeeries. He cleared his throat.

“In Jesus’s Glorious-Name, amen.”

“Amen,” Darryl grunted.

But Mandi only nodded as her father clapped Shawn on the back and thanked him, then went to the truck to grab a few boxes. Mandi noticed that Shawn still had not let go of her hand. He held on relatively tight, locked in a trance-like stare with her, grinning. She pulled away, smiling because she didn’t know what else to do. Hating the helplessness which accompanied.

What’s wrong with you? Is what she really wanted to say as she wiped her sweaty hand on her jeans, but the worry of causing a scene on literally the first day of her college life–-Move-In Day of all things–-was something she wanted to avoid. As much as she loved theatre and acting, she understood sometimes the spotlight was best never lit. Better to remain in the background.

Mandi slunk back to the truck in an effort to put some space between her and Shawn to grab her bag with her sketchbook inside of it. She followed Shawn who followed her father. They passed through a row of cars, trucks, and S.U.V.s loaded down in the same manner as her father’s old Dodge. Although, that was where their similarities ended. Lexuses, Cadillacs, BMWs, and more gleamed immaculate in the Texas afternoon sun. Surely, most of them had been bought within the last year so. All of which opted for leather seat packages too, she noticed.

Her father and Shawn disappeared behind a roaming canary yellow Hummer. It was one of the new models, which looked like it was more plastic and than steel.

Kinda like the tiny girl driving it, Mandi smirked.

It was about what she expected. Rich families dropping off their rich children for big kid daycare. Before continuing on toward her new temporary home in Barfield, she heard fluttering wings beat the air to her right. She let out a startled yelp and jerked to her right. A crow had landed on the roof of a white Lexus RX next to her. It cawed looking up at a tree.

Mandi froze. She couldn’t remember ever being this close to a crow before. She had heard them plenty of times before back in Kemah and Houston during the fall and winter. But supposedly these crows never left, they stuck around throughout the year. They were much bigger than she initially thought. Either that or Folkestone kept their bird population quite well-fed.

The crow let out another hoary squawk and gawked down at Mandi with its beak open. Mandi found herself admiring its glossy plumage. Yes, they were black, but beyond it. Beneath it, colors danced like oil in puddles. Greens and purples.

But what she didn’t appreciate was how the bird stared back at her. Its tiny eyes held that slight brilliant characteristic only present in higher thinking animals. Her thoughts went back to the odd dimness in Shawn and decided she needed to catch up.

She could bird watch later. Yes, there would be plenty of time for that later.

Breaking out into a slight jog, Mandi slammed into something––no somebody––solid. The side of her head hit something equally hard with a good thud. Her vision went red for a moment, the way sudden pain sometimes just infuriates someone only because it hurts.

“Ow! Gosh, dangit!” a voice cried out in sharp alarm. Mandi looked down in front of her. A girl, her age and stretched out on her bottom, stared back up at her in hot disdain. She was pretty, very pretty. Her green-blue eyes flashed hotly, like jewels, as she rubbed the welt on her forehead which was already halfway formed. Sandy blonde hair, almost red, tumbled around her face. She was slender aside from her wide hips. Mandi thought she might have been an athlete. Guilt flooded Mandi’s cheeks and blurted out with immediate I’m sorry’s and Forgive me’s.

“I wasn’t payin’ attention. I didn’t mean to.” Mandi pulled the girl up to her feet.

Once on her feet, the girl with dazzling eyes had softened her face.

“Don’t worry about it,” the girl smiled. “I wasn’t paying attention either.”

“Yeah, think this what new bees must feel in a hive,” Mandi tried to laugh but it came off as fake. She felt herself die a little.

“Were you looking at it too?” the girl asked, smiling now.

“Oh,” Mandi returned the smile, “The crow? I had n––”

“No, not the crow. They’re everywhere.” The girl pointed up at the sky. “That!”

Mandi’s eyes followed up to the bald blue sky above. And that is exactly what she saw, all she saw beside the occasional crow flying by, a speck drifting over a giant’s blue eye.

“I’m sorry?” Mandi shrugged.

The girl pointed again, emphatically this time. “Right there! How do you not see it?”

Mandi squinted her eyes, hoping to see something. Just vast blue, other than that…Nothing. Tight energy bundled around her heart screaming at her to find it. Find it for the sake of getting the girl to shut up and go away.

“I’m really sorry, I feel so stupid,” Mandi said feeling slightly embarrassed as if she were playing a game of Where’s Waldo. The girl was pointing directly at the sly, striped son of a bitch, and all Mandi could find were impish imposters.

“Now you’re just screwing with me,” the girl huffed, those brilliant blue-green eyes flashed.

Mandi held her hands up in “Hey I’m unarmed” gesture, “I’m not. Truly sorry. Have a good day.” And turned around as she could not escape fast enough.

Before heading into Barfield to catch up with her father and the Crow Crewman Creep, Mandi looked back at the girl. She stood in the middle of the parking lot, her arm outstretched as if she stood on a hill on a starry night singling out the North Star.

“Kristen!” a voice behind one of the cars called out, frustrated, “Where––Come and help us!” The name caught the girl’s attention and scurried over to her family.

Mandi shook her head and sighed. I haven’t even been for over an hour and already two for two in the weirdo department.

“Keep Folkestone Freaky,” she muttered.