From Darkness It Comes

Finding Lisa

Darrin makes his way into his dorm's common areas, past the candy machines and into the lounge. This is the place where students can gather, having meetings, play games, and generally get together where it doesn't have to be in one of their rooms. In these days before classes actually start they are mainly used as a place for the new students to get to know each other and make friends. On this afternoon Darrin sees Lisa, that lovely redhead he met before, sitting there working on some paperwork.

Darrin takes a deep breath and walks in as casually as he can pull off considering how nervous he is. She is busy working on something and doesn't notice. He sidles over to her and takes a seat in the chair next to the couch she is sitting on. This movement in her close proximity causes her to look up and see Darrin sitting there.

She smiles and says, "Hi there."

"Howdy," replies Darrin, returning the smile. "So, you want to go do something this afternoon? Perhaps dinner and a movie?"

"Ah, the classic."

Darrin blushes slightly and shrugs, but his smile only slightly falters. "What can I say? I like the classics."

Lisa snickers and flicks her hair absent-mindedly. "A classic movie then?"

"Sounds good to me, but do any theatres around here show old movies?"

"Who says we have to go to a theatre? There's a DVD player here in the lounge and a rental place less than a block off grounds."

"Dinner and a movie at the same time then? Let's go."

She lowers her head to look at her paperwork and her smile fades a little. "Unfortunately I have to get this done, so how about you go pick some things out and meet me back here. We can then order some food and watch movies into the night."

"I'm on it." Darrin says, standing up. "I'll be back soon." He then walks out of the room with a bounce in his step and a smile on his face.

It's only when he gets outside and starts to walk off campus that he realizes that he has no idea where the rental place she was talking about is, but thinks It can't be too hard to find. Pizza places and movie rentals are always common in collage towns. Sure enough, there's one a few blocks away. A place called RST Video West. It's obviously not the one she was talking about, but he wasn't going to argue.

Before he enters, however, something catches his eye. Right next door to the shop was a dark windowed bookstore called Twilight Forever Books that seemed to cater to the occult. What caught his eye were some of the symbols on the artifacts in the window display. They looked similar to ones he had seen earlier that day, on a specific box and knife. He stands there and stares at them for a few minutes before looking back at the video store and remembering he has a girl waiting for him back at the dorms.

The internal struggle rages inside him between a woman he thinks he could love and his insatiable curiosity to understand. It's not really much of a battle since he instantly heads inside...