Chapter 7

Dallas had noticed that Ara began speaking to him less frequently. Throughout the entire week, Ara had only spoken to him a few times mainly just to check in on him. He also mentioned to Dallas that he had found the person in Rome that he had been looking for. Ara didn’t really touch on the details, but he said that the boy would also be meeting with them on the Saturday.

Dallas had began to feel increasingly more nervous as the meeting drew nearer. He wasn’t too sure why. Maybe the idea of finally meeting the person that was talking inside his head was a bit daunting. He had no idea what to expect of Ara, or the other boy. When it was finally time for Dallas to leave for the meeting, he almost backed out. It would have been easy to come up with an excuse too. He was spending the weekend at his father’s house, and he wanted to spend time with him. But with Ara constantly in his mind, Dallas knew he probably would not be able to get away with it.

By the time Dallas had got off the skytrain, it had started to rain. Only a little bit, but he knew it would probably pick up eventually. He pulled the hood of his sweater over his head, and began walking to Dr. Davies’ building. The walk to the building wasn’t very far, but sure enough by the time Dallas had arrived, the rain had picked up significantly. He could feel the water seeping through his worn out Converses and soaking his socks.

Dallas ended up arriving at Dr. Davies’ office a few minutes early. He opened the door, slowly. He half expected it to be empty, since the building had seemed eerily quiet when he was walking through the halls. But sure enough, Dr. Davies was standing behind the receptionist’s desk when Dallas opened the door and walked in.

“Dallas, hi,” Dr. Davies greeted him cheerfully, “How’ve you been?”

“Um, pretty good, I guess,” Dallas said.

“That’s good to hear,” Dr. Davies said, “Ara should be here in a few minutes. I have some things to take care of before he gets here. I’m not too sure what you want to do in the meantime.”

Dallas sat down and looked at the selection of magazines and newspapers that lay strewn across the small table in front of him. None of them really held any real appeal to him, but he chose one at random and began to flip through it.

“Sorry about the magazines,” Dr. Davies said, as he began going through his filing cabinet, “I’ve been meaning to get some new ones, but I haven’t gotten around to it.”

“Didn’t you say that about the chairs?”

“Yeah,” Dr. Davies said, “I did. But I think there’s some comic books if you look around enough.”

Dallas put the magazine down. He really didn’t feel like getting caught up on the latest celebrity gossip. He was about to start looking for a comic book, but the door to the office opened and two people walked in.

 He recognized the older of the two immediately. Even though the only picture Dallas had seen of him was a bit outdated, Ara still had not changed very much. It was a bit strange seeing him in real life for the first time. He was finally able to match a face to the voice that had been telepathically communicating with him.

The second person was a boy who looked closer to Dallas’ age. He stood just behind Ara, with his hands shoved into the pockets of a red hoodie. He studied Dallas with intense brown eyes that were partially hidden behind a fringe of black hair.

“Ara,” Dr. Davies said, “Good to see you, finally.”

Ara gave a faint smile. “Good to see you too,” He turned to Dallas, “And it’s good to finally meet you in person, Dallas.”

“Yeah,” Dallas said, “It’s good to know that you’re a real person and that I’m not actually going insane, y’know?”

I was trying to help you as much as I could, Ara said to him mentally.

“So, anyways,” Dr. Davies said, “We’ve got some stuff to get caught up on, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Ara said. He turned to the other boy. “Tristan and I just need to talk about some stuff. You two get acquainted. Try to get along or whatever.” He walked away, joining Dr. Davies. The two of them walked into the back office, leaving Dallas alone with the other boy, who walked over and took a seat across from Dallas.

The two boys sat in silence for a while. He thought about starting a conversation with the other boy, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth. Dallas couldn’t help but to think that the whole thing was a bit anti-climactic. He had been waiting for almost a week to meet Ara, and he’d left almost as soon as he’d arrived.

“I was kinda hoping that they’d stick around for a bit longer too,” The boy said, “But they’ll be back, y’know.”

The sound of the other boy’s voice made Dallas jump. He had been so quiet this whole time, that Dallas wasn’t really expecting him to say anything at this point.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” The boy said, “But it was kind of clear that you weren’t going to say anything, so I thought I’d take it upon myself to get a conversation going.” He leaned back in his chair. “So, you’re the other guy. Dallas, right?”

“Yeah,” Dallas said, “That’s right.”

“I thought that Ara would stick around long enough to introduce us, at least. But since he didn’t,” The boy extended his hand and said, “I’m Paolo.”

“Nice to meet you,” Dallas said, reaching awkwardly across the small waiting area to shake the boy’s hand.

“So, is your name actually Dallas,” Paolo asked, “Or is that just a nickname or something?”

“You travelled across the world with a guy named Ara, and you’re asking me about my name?” Dallas asked sarcastically. It was a bit out of character for him to be so snarky with someone that he just met, but he really did not like when people asked about his name. And there was something about Paolo that just… irked him.

“Ara is an Armenian name,” Paolo said, “He told me like six hundred times. So, is Dallas your real name or what?”

“It’s my real name,” Dallas said, unable to come up with another sarcastic remark, “So anyways…” His voice trailed off, hoping that Paolo would pick up the conversation. Dallas hated making small talk. It always felt so forced and insincere.

“So,” Paolo said, “Where do your parents think you are right now? You didn’t tell them that you were meeting up with a guy who’s been communicating to you telepathically, did you?”

“No, of course not,” Dallas said, “They think I’m here for an appointment with Dr. Davies.”

Paolo looked around the room. “Well,” He said, “I guess that’s more or less true, right?”

“I guess so,” Dallas said, “Why do you ask, anyways? You came here all the way from Italy, right? Where do your parents think you are?”

“Who the hell knows,” Paolo said bitterly, “More importantly, who even cares? Because my parents sure don’t.”

 Dallas could sense that he was beginning to tread on a sensitive topic. He didn’t press Paolo any further, but in truth, he wanted to know why Paolo was so reluctant to discuss his family. He racked his brain trying to come up with a better subject to talk about, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

Luckily, he was saved from another awkward conversation when the door opened. A young man stepped into the waiting room. The thing that Dallas first noticed about the man was that his hair had been dyed a vibrant shade of purple. It was impossible to tell what his natural colour might have been.

A young girl around Dallas’ age stood just behind the man. She was of Chinese origin, Dallas could tell that much just by looking at her. Her raven black hair was tied back into a low ponytail. She looked timidly at Dallas and Paolo.

“You two haven’t seen Tristan, have you?” The man asked. He had a slight accent to his voice, although Dallas couldn’t quite place it’s origin.

“He’s in the back,” Dallas said.

“With Ara,” Paolo added.

The man sighed. He pulled off his beige coat and flung it onto the chair next to Paolo. He muttered something in a different language, and stormed off into the back room.

“What was that all about?” Dallas asked, once the man had slammed the door behind him.

“He’s just a bit frustrated,” The girl said, “We were supposed to be on time, but then the bus was late and there was a lot of traffic. Ara told him he wouldn’t start until he was here, but it sounds like they’ve already started.”

“I think they’re just getting caught up on a few things,” Dallas said, “I don’t actually think they’re talking about anything important.”

 The girl shrugged. “He’s still mad about being late.”

Before the three of them could pursue any further conversation, Ara and Tristan walked back out. “You guys can come back here with us,” Ara said, “Now that we’re all here, I suppose it’s time to finally start this meeting.”

Author's Note

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