Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(19)

“Watching TV with my dad and my sister. We’re only allowed to stay up past bedtime for this. My mom makes popcorn, a treat. We’re all together.”

Usually revisiting happy family moments brought sadness, too, but this was like a warm hug.

“Let’s move on—what’s another comforting place for you?”

Andrew’s bedroom. This wasn’t just a where, this was a when. The first night she’d stayed over at his house. A candle on the bedside table, along with incense burning. It had felt so grown-up. This was adulthood, thick sandalwood and the exotic feel of another person’s sheets. Of a man’s sheets. Even if they were regular cotton. She couldn’t hear what they said, couldn’t remember the conversation, but she heard their laughter together and a feeling of safety melted through her, or she melted into it. Streaks of rainbow colors appeared around Andrew’s face and she wished he was here or she was there…

“Terry, where are you? You’re laughing.”

“I’m with Andrew.”

“Andrew?”

“My boyfriend.”

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She couldn’t describe that. “Being together.”

“And that comforts you?”

“Yes.”

Her brain cycled on and on and she answered every question until, after no time, after all time, his voice said: “We’ll be bringing you out soon. Try to go even deeper.”

There was somewhere she wanted to go. But her senses were slippery. She’d forgotten where she was and now the water lapped around her as she tried to remember.

Deeper, she thought. Deeper.

She pictured those white church doors. She wanted to go back there, and for some reason thinking of it didn’t hurt.

“Okay, we’re going to open the lid slowly,” Dr. Brenner said.

She wanted to protest that she needed more time, but then overhead fluorescents blinded her.

“You might want to close your eyes,” he told her.

Terry did and then reopened them, moving slowly, a stranger to light and motion.





2.


“You’re not worried?” Andrew asked Terry, sliding her hand into his as they walked across campus.

“Not really,” Terry said. “Maybe a little. That’s why I’m bringing you.”

Becky had called Terry to tell her that she’d gotten a letter at home telling Terry to stop by the administration office at school. She’d sounded worried about it and asked if she should come, had Terry gotten into trouble…?

Terry figured it was some mix-up or forgotten paperwork. Classes had just started. These things happened. Didn’t they? Okay, so never to her before, but it wouldn’t be the most unlikely thing.

“It wasn’t good news when they called me in,” Andrew said.

Terry squeezed his hand in a way she hoped comforted him. He’d gotten in trouble for ditching campus for Woodstock. Academic probation. A very big deal because getting kicked out would mean the loss of his student deferment. None of the guys wanted graduation to come.

“You’ll just be more careful,” she said. “Besides, you said it was worth it.”

He shook his head, lost in a blissful memory. “You would’ve loved it.”

“I know.”

“You start reading the book yet?”

Terry groaned. Andrew had fallen in love with The Lord of the Rings on the van ride to New York and back, and then presented her with his battered copy of the first book when he returned. The cover featured a wizard in flowing yellow robes with a long white beard on a mountaintop. He swore she’d love it, too.

“It’s three books.”

“Babe…” Andrew shook his head. “It’s great.”

“I’ll read it, I promise.”

“Good, because that’s what I want for my birthday next week.”

“Noted.”

They reached the administration building, three stories of brick and glass. Andrew opened the door for her. The letter had specified room number 151 and they found it at the end of the first floor. The registration department. She’d been here before.

Andrew dropped into a plastic chair in the waiting area as she approached a desk. “Hi there,” she said. “I’m Terry Ives. My sister got a letter telling me to come by?”

The clerk looked at her blankly through cat’s-eye glasses. “What kind of letter?”

“I don’t know. We weren’t sure what it was about.”

“Terry Ives, you said?”

“Theresa.” Terry nodded.

“That rings a bell. Wait here.” The woman swung around and bustled back into a warren of desks and filing cabinets.

Terry turned and made a face at Andrew. He made one back, then nodded behind her.

The woman had returned, of course. Great first impressions were Terry’s special gift.

The woman didn’t react to Terry and Andrew’s game. “We were to inform you that you’ll be excused from your Thursday classes,” she said.

“What? Why?” Terry knew how school worked, and they expected you to attend class. She couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder at Andrew, who shrugged with the same confusion.