MTG Salvation

He remembered sitting at that table so many times. The varnished maple wood shone in the light from the sliding glass doors. The gleaming white cabinets made it all the more difficult to see. Between two of the cabinets was a stove, as well as a sink. A refrigerator rested against the wall closest to the first panel of the sliding doors.
As he sat in the chair, he tried to look around, wanting to survey more of his surroundings. However, he couldn’t look behind where he was sitting, not even enough to catch a glimpse out of the side of his eyes. It was then he heard something he thought he would never hear in his home: a giggle. His eyes widened slightly as he looked forward once more. He saw her leaning against the side of the refrigerator, the light hiding her features and making it hard to tell how she looked. The only visible thing about her was the outline of her clothing and body. Her arms appeared to be crossed.
“Who are you?” he questioned her.
She simply giggled and a smile played across her lips. She then spoke.
“Well,” she said, “if you must know…”
As she was about to say her name, everything suddenly went white, then pitch black. He sat up, breathing hard. He first noticed he was sweating and wiped his forehead, looking around his room. Except for the light from the moon, the room was still pitch black, despite the fact that it was Spring. His alarm clock blinked 12 o’clock due to a power outage the night before. Needing calm himself after such a vivid dream, he looked around the room to ensure himself that he was alone. After seeing no one was in his room, he looked at his unset clock. With a sigh, he grabbed his watch from his nightstand. He cursed to himself under his breath as he read that it was five o’clock already. If he was late to get started on the project at the university, he’d be taken off of it for sure. As he got up, he left his room, walking down the hallway towards the bathroom.
As he entered the bathroom, he yawned while stretching. He removed his grey t-shirt and plaid boxer shorts before turning on the water and getting into the shower. He began to wash himself off with a wash cloth hanging inside the shower. Grabbing a bottle of shampoo sitting on a small shelf, he lathered up his dark brown hair. Closing his blue eyes so no shampoo would get in it, he let it set while he resumed washing himself off with the wash cloth, thinking about the dream he had. He wondered if it was a sign of things to come. He believed that dreams meant something and were more than just random images and sounds. He decided to not worry over it and to just focus on the day ahead.
He got out of the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist and went to his room. After putting on a pair of boxers, socks, and a black t-shirt, he began to dry his hair off using his towel. He slipped on a pair of blue jean pants and, prior to brushing his hair, went to the living room. Once he had grabbing his keys off the kitchen table, he took his daily dose of Benadryl for his allergies. He stopped and looked around. The kitchen, with exception to the amount of light coming in, seemed just like it did in that dream he had. After contemplating what that could mean for a few moments, he left through the nearby door leading to the garage. After getting into his black truck, he buckled up before opening the garage door. As he pulled out, he turned on his headlights since it was still dark out. He turned on the radio, tuning in to his favorite radio station. As usual, he didn’t have to worry about traffic as he pulled out into the street. He was thankful that he lived in such a small neighborhood. As he drove towards his destination, Celsius University, he rolled down his window so he could feel the cool breeze since he never used the air conditioning as a way of trying to save gas. Upon reaching his destination, he was jumping for joy on the inside when he saw that the parking spaces closest to the buildings were empty. This would be one of the few days where he was able to have his pick among the best parking spaces on campus. After he decided to park in a space closest to the door, he turned off his lights and radio. He got out of the truck and locked the driver’s side door prior to rolling up the window. He then looked up at the towering structure known as Building #34; the Central Technologies and Services Building.
When he entered, he noticed the building was empty, with exception to the janitorial staff. They glanced up at him from their work, wondering why he was there so early in the morning. Once he had gotten past the array of workers, he made his way into the only lab with the lights on.
“Morning, Professor Needlebaum,” he said in an enthusiastic tone.
He was working with Professor Frederick Needlebaum as part of a database construction project. He planned to use this as a way of practicing the skills he was learning at the university. Also, it was something he could put on his resume. The professor had asked several students earlier in the semester if they would be interested. Alex was the only one who didn’t decline his offer.
Professor Needlebaum turned towards him. He looked as though he was out of one of those old movies about Sigmund Freud. He had short white hair, a beard, and glasses with perfectly round lenses. He was wearing a white dress shirt and a dark brown tie, as well as a dark brown dress vest and a brown dress coat. His pants were the same shade of brown as his dress coat and he wore a dark brown belt. He also had a pocket watch which had a chain connected to the vest and was kept inside the pocket of the dress coat.
“Good morning, Mr. Hamilton,” he said in return. “Are you ready to get started today?”
“Yes, sir,” Alex began, “I’m always ready when it comes to coding.”
Professor Needlebaum let out a slight “humph” before turning back to the computer. He enjoyed enthusiasm, but saw Alex’s attitude as arrogance, something he despised.
“As usual,” he said, “we’ll need to begin work immediately if we are to finish this project on time.”
Alex simply nodded and sat down at the computer he was standing next to. He then logged on and, after starting up the saved .txt file on the computer’s desktop, quickly went to work. As the day stretched on, Alex typed lines upon lines of code. By the end of the day, he had gone from a document with 120 lines to one with 540 lines of code. After remembering to save the document, he closed it and logged off the computer. As he looked at the nearby clock, he saw it was already 5:30 PM; he had thirty minutes before he had to go home and work on finishing a program for a client.
Alex was one of the lucky few to have the one thing everyone wanted: a job that you enjoy going to and think of as fun rather than boring or dull. He had managed to get a job with a company on the West Coast known as Corp-Tech. They specialized in corporate presentation software, as well as simple graphic and documentation software. Alex was part of the corporate presentation division and was paid $24 dollars an hour, 5 hours a day, 6 days a week. At the end of each week, he mailed them a report that covered where he was on each project, as well as a copy of the project so far.
Once home, Alex was finished the last bit of the code for the current presentation he was working on, rubbing his eyes before stretching and yawning. Upon looking at his watch, he saw that it was time to take a break. He had a few hours of prep work for the next project after that. He decided he’d kill two birds with one stone. Once he finished downloading the presentation to an external hard drive, he turned off his laptop and unhooked the external drives and power cord. He then stood up and went out to his truck, putting his laptop in the passenger seat. As he buckled up and checked his rear view mirror, he carefully pulled out of the driveway, turning right. It took him all of 10 seconds to decide where he would go: Techno Logic.
Techno Logic was one of the most popular hang out spots for the computer savvy. The table space allows for a laptop to sit on it while techno music emanates from the speakers around the two-level establishment. The first floor has a bar and booths to sit at, the upper area having tables. The walls are a steel color and the whole layout has an organized feel to it. The booths and tables are all placed so they are perfectly straight and in line with enough spacing in between each to allow easy movement.
As Alex entered, he looked around for a nice place to sit and found a great spot in the corner on the lower level. After sitting down in the booth and opening his laptop, he began to type, waiting for the waitress. A girl that was sitting on a bar stool nearby, waiting for the bartended, looked Alex up and down as he sat there. She had long black hair that flowed past her shoulders and down to the small of her back, as well as blue eyes. Her skin was mocha brown in color. It looked like a natural tan. With a friendly smile she approached the booth he was sitting at, though tripped slightly and almost fell. However, she managed to recover quickly from the near fall and brushed some of her hair out of her face, pushing her round rimmed glasses up. She was wearing a pink t-shirt, light blue jacket, and blue jean shorts. The jacket was light and the sleeves were long, covering the top part of her hand down to her fingers.
“Um… Hi there,” began the girl, “is it all right if I sit here?”
Alex shook his head and slid over, making room for her as he moved his laptop over as well so it was still in front of him. As he listened to the girl’s voice, though, he realized there was something familiar about it; it was as though he had heard it before. After shrugging off the notion, he refocused his attention on this girl who, for some reason he couldn’t think of, was now sitting next to him.
“My name’s Alicia. What’s yours?” she asked.
“My name’s Alex,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you, Alicia.”
At that moment, the waitress came up to the booth, holding a pad of paper in one hand, a pen in the other.
“What’ll you have?” the waitress asked.
“We’ll both have a beer,” she said.
After the waitress nodded walked off, Alex looked at the girl with a look of surprise on his face. He hadn’t expected someone who looked like her to drink something like beer, nor be so forward when it came to ordering.
“I don’t mean to be rude, Alicia, but do I know you from some where?” he asked.
“No,” she responded, “and you weren’t being rude at all. There’s nothing wrong with asking a simple question.”
“I suppose you’re right. So, do you come here very often?”
“I usually only come here on Fridays, but I had this urge to come here for some reason. I suppose I was just in the mood for it. Also, I thought it’d be fun if you and I were to talk and maybe get to know each other a little better.”
“All right, I guess this could be fun,” Alex said with a nervous smile on his face. He’d never been on a date before, nor had I he ever talked with a girl about anything other than how they were doing or what time it was, so he had no idea what to expect.
“Well,” she began, “You already know that my name is Alicia. I’m twenty years old and I have a job with Postmasters, Inc. I work in the accounting department.”
Coincidentally, Postmasters, Inc. was the same delivering company that the company he worked for used.
“Since I live so close to work, I don’t bother driving my car to it. I just use my bicycle since it’s healthier for me and is better for the environment, I suppose.”
She brushed a stray strand of black hair out of her face.
“Umm…. I suppose that’s all as far as my job goes.”
True, Alicia didn’t work for one of the bigger businesses, but she wasn’t at all a dumb girl. While in high school, she boasted straight A’s for all four years.
She started her job as an accountant when she was kicked out by her father basically because he wanted to use the money on his latest girlfriend. Her mother left her father after tiring of the fact that he waited too long to try and settle down with her. After that, she had seven unwed mothers. In other words, her father’s girlfriends. When she was a child, he’d take her to speed dating places and point to towards her every now and then as she sat against the wall, using her as nothing more than a sympathy vote. When she was older, he’d simply bring the woman home and tell her that she had a new mother. Most of the time, she had her nose in the books, not wanting to think about the life her father lead and the fact that she never really had a mother. She tended to read fantasy books and science fiction since she wanted to be as far away from reality as possible.
After being kicked out, she managed to land a job at Postmasters, Inc. thanks to one of her friends, Jack Alderson, who worked for the company. Jack had known Alicia since high school and was able to persuade the head of the accounting department, Eleanor Chambers, to hire Alicia. Alicia suspected at first that he’d slipped Eleanor some money, but she realized what he’d really done when she went to his house to thank him and received the shock of her life when her new boss answered the door wearing nothing but a towel.
Alex cleared his throat, trying to think of just what to say. He figured he’d keep it simple, just like she did.
“My name is Alex. I have a job working for Corp-Tech, who I’m sure you’ve at least heard of; they design company presentations and interactive programs. I have a black truck and I go to Celsius University. I earn enough to pay for the bills to my house, as well as go to the university. I really like computers, but I’m into more than just that.”
“Really? Wow, I never thought I’d meet a corporate man,” she said.
“Yeah, I guess life can surprise you,” said Alex.
“So, what kind of things to do you like to do for fun, Alex?”
“Well, I really like role-playing games, as well as a few other PC games.”
“Wow, really? Me too! I especially like the ones with really good story that don’t focus on having the best weapons or graphics.”
“Yeah, I mean, why have good graphics if you don’t even have a good story?”
“Exactly! Wow, I can’t believe that I actually met someone else who believes that. Most everyone I talk to thinks that if you have good enough graphics, you don’t have to worry about anything else. It’s relieving to know that you’re different from them, Alex.”
As she spoke, she slid closer to him. She brushed some of her hair out of her face once. The waitress arrived with their drinks. After the waitress sat them down, Alicia politely handed him his beer before opening hers, drinking half of it almost immediately.
“Wow, I guess I was a lot thirstier than I thought,” she said before giggling.
He looked at her with a mix of amazement and surprise, and then thought about that giggle. This was only the second time he had heard it, but he felt as though he’d heard it before now. Alex then decided not to worry himself over it and his beer. Like her, he drank half of it and, deciding to impress her, he quickly drank the rest of it. Alex then motioned to the waitress.
“Excuse me, miss? Could you please bring another beer?” he started. “No, wait, make it two more.”
Alicia smiled and let out another giggle.
“Wow,” she started, “You must really like to drink, huh?”
“You could say that,” he said, “But I think those two will be the last for me.”
When the waitress arrived with his beers, Alicia handed the girl a twenty, telling her to keep the change. Alex was more than a little surprised by her generosity, and then remembered his drinks.
“So, Alex,” she began, “I know this is probably rude of me to ask, but… Have you ever had a relationship with a girl before?”
“What do you mean? Intimately or like a girlfriend?” he asked.
“Well, both I suppose.”
“No, I’ve never had a girlfriend before. Also, I’ve never been with a girl intimately. When I do sleep with a girl, though, I’m going to make sure she’s the girl I want to be with always.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet of you! There are a lot of guys out there who want nothing more than to just have fun with a girl, and then leave her. I’m glad to know that you’re not one of those guys, Alex, I really am.”
“Thanks. I’m glad to know that you don’t think I’m a goody-goody for it.”
Alex chuckled lightly, Alicia giggling.
“Well, now, I didn’t say that,” she said jokingly.
“Oh, ha-ha, very funny,’ he said.
He downed the other two beers almost as quickly as the first, though he took a little more time with the last. Once he finished it, he looked at Alicia with the smile only a drunk would have. He was drunk after only three beers because of the Benadryl he had taken reacted badly to the alcohol and the fact that it was his first time drinking and he had no idea how to pace himself. Alicia giggled before smiling at him in return, though hers wasn’t a drunken smile at all.
“Wow, I’ve never seen a guy drink beer that quick before.” she said before looking at her watch. When she noticed it was almost eleven thirty, she frowned.
“I know this may seem forward but,” she began, “I really want to keep talking to you, but I don’t want to have to ride home too late; there’s no telling what could happen.”
“Well, sweetheart, how about you and I go back to my place? I can show you my +3 Broad Sword,” Alex said.
“Well, going to your place sounds like a great idea, but I’d better drive you home, okay? And as far as your sword goes, we’ll just have to see.”
“Sure, honey, sounds great to me!”
After getting his laptop and helping him outside, Alicia grabbed her bike, managing to get it into the bed of his truck. Her bike was a simple light blue bike with only one speed. The handle bars were worn some from constant use and the tires both needed a little air in them. She helped buckle him up in the passenger seat. Once she was in on the driver’s side, she buckled up and looked at him.
“Alex, can I have your keys, please?” she asked.
“All right, hun,” he replied. While he was busy fishing in his pocket for his keys, she tied her hair up into a horse tail, revealing the black dragon tattoo on the back of her neck. As Alex handed her the keys, he would’ve noticed he’d seen hair styled like that before had he not been drunk.
Once Alicia had the keys in her hand, she started the truck. She had to turn on the headlights since it was almost pitch black out.
“Where do you live, Alex?” she asked him.
Alex managed to give her an answer and, after finding out which way to go from him, Alicia drove off towards his house. When they got there, she got out of the truck and started walking towards the driver’s side to help him out. If Alex hadn’t been drunk, he would’ve noticed how familiar the outline of her body was. He also would’ve realized that maybe he really knew this girl before that night. However, those thoughts escaped the inebriated Alex as Alicia helped him out of the passenger side before locking the truck up and heading towards the front door.
Once the two were inside, Alicia giggled before taking off her glasses, watching as Alex stumbled over to the couch, lying on it so he was on his back. Alicia removed her jacket and threw it aside, then slipped off her shoes. She then straddled Alex’s lap, leaning down and placing gentle kisses on his lips, one after the other. Alex’s hands, almost out of instinct, moved up to her sides, caressing them. Alicia then smiled, giving him a long, passionate kiss before sitting up.
“It’s my first time, so please, be gentle.” She asked of him.
“Hey, join the club, babe,” Alex said.
“Oh, Alex, I’ve never felt this way about a guy before. I mean, I’ve always thought that a lot of guys are cute, but you’re the first I’ve ever wanted to go this far with. You’re the first I’ve even talked to for more than just five minutes.”
If Alex hadn’t of been drunk, he would’ve realized how similar she was to him.
“I guess,” she said, “you just need to wait a while before you meet the right person.”
“You’re the one for me, hun,” said Alex. “I just hope it doesn’t matter to you that neither of us have done it.”
“Of course not! After all, you and I should get enough ‘experience points’ after tonight to ‘level up’.”
Alicia winked as she finished and then started to remove her pink shirt.
When Alex woke up the next morning, he opened his eyes slowly. He only remembered bits and pieces of the night before. He remembered enough that he knew the culprit for what seemed to be memory loss was inebriation. As his eyes opened more, he noticed he was clothed again in the same clothes from the night before. He didn’t remember getting dressed again. Then he remembered that Alicia had driven him home and he looked up, seeing the bright light of the sun flooding the room. He looked away some before hearing a giggle and looking towards Alicia, who was leaning against the counter top. She was fully dressed as well, though she wasn’t wearing her glasses. Her arms were crossed as well. Alex was slowly waking up, his head aching.
“What happened last night?” He asked.
“Well,” she said, “You and I kissed for a while on your couch, and then did a little ‘interfacing’.”
“Are you saying we…?”
“That’s right. We really got to know each other well.”
“What do you mean? This is all so sudden!”
“But you were drunk and I couldn’t just leave you alone all night”
Alex frowned when he heard this.
“Is that why you slept with me? Because I was drunk?” he asked.
“No, of course not! I would never do something that low and heartless, especially to you,” she replied.
“Then why?”
“Because I think you’re a really sweet guy. You’re smart, handsome, and funny. In short, I like you.”
“But we just met.”
“So? Ever hear of love at first sight?”
As she finished speaking, she went to him and straddled his lap, a grin appearing across her face as she leaned down to him, kissing him. It was then he noticed he was sitting up in a kitchen chair. He felt as though he was tied down in it. What if she had an STD? She said she was a virgin the night before, but what if she’d gotten from when she got that tattoo? Also, what if she got pregnant? Was she on the pill? Could he afford to support all three of them? Or worse, four? Five? There were so many bad things that could happen. The thought of all the consequences from their actions flooded his mind. However, he knew that he couldn’t leave her; that would be wrong of him. She was a nice girl and had a stable job. Also, she liked him. And, despite the fact that he couldn’t explain why, he knew that he liked her. He decided not to worry himself to death by focusing on just how bad things could be and try to figure out just what happened the night before.
“What am I doing in this chair anyway?” he questioned.
“Well,” she said, “I tried to keep you on the couch, but you kept rolling off, so I tried setting you up in the chair and it worked.”
“Oh… Well, thanks a lot for that, but why was I even on the couch to begin with?”
“Don’t you remember? Last night I had to drive you home and when you came in, you went ahead and lied on it.”
Alex couldn’t believe what had happened. One moment he’s talking to a girl who most would describe as nerdy and the next he wakes up after having supposedly slept with her and now she looks more beautiful than when he first met her. He wondered if this was all just a crazy dream or if she was making it up and had just sat him in the chair after he fell to sleep, but then he remembered the night before. He remembered how she kissed him, he feeling upon her body and caressing it. He remembered how he kissed almost every inch of her while the two made love and, prior to getting dressed after the two made love to one another.
He was still trying to understand why this girl would be so eager to have sex with him, let alone like him so quickly. After all, the two barely knew one another. All they really did was talk with one another for almost an hour, and then decided to go to his place. He thought about how she acted the night before and he found that he enjoyed the thought of her being so well-mannered in public, yet open and affectionate when alone with him. After all, it’s not every day a girl takes your virginity and straddles your nap the next morning. Also, he was off for the day and didn’t have classes, so they had time to talk to each other and decide if a relationship really was the best thing, but he had already made his decision. It was then he had a realization; one that allowed him to understand why everything happened.
“Well,” he said, “There’s one thing I’d like to know.”
“And what would that be?” she said.
“Do you believe in fate?”
Alicia blinked and seemed confused by the question at first, wondering how it was relevant to their conversation. However, she decided there was no harm in answering it.
“Well,” she said, “If you must know… I do.”

Okay, first, you have an extremely good grasp of your language; so much so that I am impressed. That been said, I have two minor complaints about it.
The first is the excessive usage of narrations, especially around the beginnings. When I was reading it, I felt as if the story just drone on and on about every single minute detail: what he do, what he wear, why he do it, etc. etc. It just slowed down the pace somewhat.
The second is the plotline. My eyebrows were raised in desbelief the entire time I read about their meeting. I mean, come on, a relationship just sparked like that? And between two individuals with such personalities? It just seemed very wrong.
But enough about those. It may be that only I felt that way. Regardless, you are one very good writer and I salute you.

Quote from Dagger

Okay, first, you have an extremely good grasp of your language; so much so that I am impressed. That been said, I have two minor complaints about it.
The first is the excessive usage of narrations, especially around the beginnings. When I was reading it, I felt as if the story just drone on and on about every single minute detail: what he do, what he wear, why he do it, etc. etc. It just slowed down the pace somewhat.
The second is the plotline. My eyebrows were raised in desbelief the entire time I read about their meeting. I mean, come on, a relationship just sparked like that? And between two individuals with such personalities? It just seemed very wrong.
But enough about those. It may be that only I felt that way. Regardless, you are one very good writer and I salute you.

Well, as far as your first point goes, that is something that I have a lot of trouble with; I love to have detail and it's something I do go overboard with sometimes.
The second point... Well, I know it is unbelievable.. but I tried to make the fact that he basically had a preminition (his dream) about it at the beginning as a way of justifying it. I also liked the idea of there being love at first sight; that Fate so decided to bring two people together. To me, that's rather romantic.
(I'm not trying to say you're wrong by any measure, I'm just explaining my reason behind it)
I realize it's not exactly true to reality, but this story was written with a certain page limit and deadline in mind.
Thank you for reading, though, and I'm glad to know I used my language well.

Yeah, I know about the premonitions you wrote but somehow I lost track of that as I continued reading.
A way to make the meeting more natural would be accidental meeting, like maybe under the rain and sharing an umbrella, as always advocated by television dramas. As it is, yours gave me the impression that the gal was hitting on the naive guy, but it turns out that the gal was decent in personality anyway. It gave a conflicting view on the couple and that reduced the natural feelings somewhat.
And don't worry about me getting offended. I don't get offended easily and I always appreciate an honest conversation.

Quote from Dagger

Yeah, I know about the premonitions you wrote but somehow I lost track of that as I continued reading.
A way to make the meeting more natural would be accidental meeting, like maybe under the rain and sharing an umbrella, as always advocated by television dramas. As it is, yours gave me the impression that the gal was hitting on the naive guy, but it turns out that the gal was decent in personality anyway. It gave a conflicting view on the couple and that reduced the natural feelings somewhat.
And don't worry about me getting offended. I don't get offended easily and I always appreciate an honest conversation.

Hmm... that's true; that would've been a better way to go. Do you think if I'd made more references back to the dream that would've helped as well?

It will. Maybe a few lines interspersed in between somewhere to gently remind us of the dreams he had. It will certainly inject certain breaks into the story.
Anyway, wish you the best in your future writings.