Part 15

"You're such a klutz!" The female voice piped up from behind him. A second voice followed.

"Oh man, that sounded like something broke," it was Elvis. August recognized the woman's voice as well. The voice belonged to Merriam, a friend he had made during a freshman Calculus class. She was loud, brash but also a fellow mythology enthusiast. They just gravitated to each other while studying derivatives, limits and integrals.

"You jumped like my little sister. That was hilarious!" Ever indolent Merriam liked to tease her contemporaries mercilessly. August had bent down into a crouch and stared at the box which was laying askew on the hard tile floor. Elvis and Merriam walked up beside him. The two gave each other a sideways glass as they flanked August, who seemed absorbed and just looking at the fallen package. Elvis raised an eyebrow then asked.

"Aren't you going to pick it up?"

"He's probably going to drop it again. Better just leave it on the floor" Merriam chided August while giving him a playful punch on the arm. August finally looked up at her and smiled. He did like the banter Merriam and he shared. He thought of her like a sister. Well, maybe not a sister, but definitely a cousin at the very least.

Merriam definitely danced to her own beat - and many would consider that beat to be dark and angry. She was a short and thin girl, coming up an entire foot shorter than August's lanky frame. Due to her thinness and pixie-like appearance, her age was often misquoted. She was even banned from watching a "rated-R" horror movie by an unbelieving theater manager after unfortunately forgetting her drivers license at home.

Merriam often liked to color her hair different colors and tonight it looked like she had chosen to tint it black. Her raven hair shined like a slick of oil on fresh laid asphalt. It appeared to have a purple tinge to it as well. Quite interestingly to August, Merriam had left a thick strand of white along her left brow. For additional shock value no doubt, August presumed.

With her dark purplish hair pulled back into two symmetrical pigtails and her dark shaded eye liner, August figured she was going for the "Goth" look. Merriam did not consider herself a part of this social movement. Merriam was actually another doctoral student at Saint Kristoffer's in the field of Sociology and Social Dynamics. Another genius, but not a lazy one like Elvis.

Merriam would be considered the polar opposite of lazy. Her peers and professors went as far as to say she was overly assertive, uncommonly aggressive and driven to the point of zealotry when it came to her research. And in this case, her research revolved around social stylings and patterns among teenagers and youths in America.

Her brand of genius, while definitely much more productive than Elvis', still inhabited the same region that bordered on insanity. When thinking of Merriam's research tactics and direction, August often thought of the Shakespearean line from Hamlet: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.

August had always wanted to play the part of Hamlet during his high school's rendition of the famous play, but the lead role he coveted was given to Vince Capp, a star soccer player who needed an additional Humanities credit to ensure he received his scholarship.

"What is that?" Elvis's curiosity had been peaked, "Was it fragile. I heard a crack, did you hear a crack?"

"Yeah, I heard it break. It definitely cracked," Merriam said bending down to reach for it, "let's see what happened". Before she could reach out and pick up the package August abruptly put a hand on her wrist to stop her.

"Hey!" Merriam said annoyed, "I was just trying to help you", she pulled her hand back quickly and straightened up. August ignored her reaction and continued to stare at the package on the ground. The box was lying top down so the two newcomers could not see to whom the box had been addressed.

The rest of the package looked quick nondescript. It was simply a small shipping box made of card board and sealed with a sturdy invisible packing tape. August reached out and gingerly picked it up. Just before he touched it he had a strange but fleeting thought that his fingertips would dissolve the box upon contact. As if touching the box again would be enough to crush it into dust. August pushed the strange premonition from his mind and lifted the box.

Much to his relief the box did not crumble yet held firm. The cool cardboard was reassuring to his hands. August rose to stand as he picked up the box and set it back upon the counter top. He flipped the box over just before setting it down and stared at the addressee line again.

Merriam had already gotten bored with August's odd spectacle and had withdrawn her cell phone from the small clutch purse she was carrying. She looked intently at the screen reading a new text message then began a hurried response, typing deftly into the keys.

Elvis, on the other hand, was much more nosy. He peered over August's shoulder to see who the box was addressed to. August pryed his attention from the box and finally noticed Elvis staring at the addressee line. August's first reaction was to cover the addressee line or to pull the box away to cover the addressee line.

However, August could tell he was too late, Elvis's face was contorted in concentration. The wheels of thought inside Elvis's mind began to churn. It took him a moment before he was able to connect all of it. For the first time in many years Elvis was struck dumbfounded for a moment. Elvis slowly turned his head to face August then asked.

"Is that addressed to who I think it is?