Ellora's Sun

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Adelaide didn't tell James about her run in with the wanna-be Italian mobster once she got home. She could barely make sense of the encounter herself, and she knew he'd have a million questions and freak out about it. She was pretty certain that he wasn't prancing her anymore, but that just left her even more confused.

"You okay?" James asked, breaking the silence between them. They were sitting in her car as she drove them to campus the next morning. She'd gone straight to her room when she got home, and had barely said ten words to him. Adelaide was lost in her head, trying to make sense of the last couple of days.

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." She lied, smiling at him, even though she knew that he'd see through her lie. James didn't push though, he knew better than trying to get her to do something she didn't want to.

"Alright...do you want to watch NCIS tonight? There's a new episode on. I can grab a pizza after practice?" James suggested, his ever present smile creeping out. Even with all the questions going through her brain, Adelaide couldn't help but smile at the idea.

"That sounds great," She added a genuine smile this time. She pulled her car into the lot, sliding into park, "I'll see you tonight then!"

"Perfect," James smiled again, before throwing his door open and jogging towards his friends waiting for him near the classroom building. Once he was gone, Adelaide didn't move from her spot in the car. Her class didn't start for another half hour, and she wasn't willing to wait outside in the November Boston weather. So instead of getting to class, she turned up her seat warmer and pulled her jacket closer.

It was only ten in the morning, and Adelaide was already exhausted. She hadn't slept much the night before. When she wasn't up worrying that the stranger had followed her home, she was haunted by more cryptic dreams. In the warmth of the car, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment of calm.

Her mind had stopped reeling with questions and worry for the moment. Adelaide was sure this had all just been some coincidences; people acting crazy because of Halloween.  That was the only thing that made sense, so that's what she was going with. She just needed to put behind her. Go to class, watch NCIS with James, go to work, go back to normal.

"Hey!"

Adelaide snapped her eyes open when someone tapped hard on her window with their keys. She pictured the sound from the night before when the key flew out of her hand and hit the wall, clanging to the ground. Adrenaline immediately pumped through her body, and every muscle tensed as she prepared for the person outside her window to be the Italian man.

Before she could act, she was deafened by the sound of every car alarm in the parking lot going off. Adelaide's hands flew to her ears to block out the terrible, screeching noise. She glanced to her window, somewhat relieved to see it was only Richard from her office. He was also covering his ears, and looking at her like she was crazy. As soon as she saw it was only him, the car alarms mysteriously stopped.

"Jeez, Ads," He chuckled awkwardly when she rolled down her window. She internally scowled at the nickname, "How the hell did you do that?"

"That wasn't me," Adelaide responded defensively. She was making an effort to ignore these coincidences and go back to normal, and this was certainly not helping.

She glanced at the clock on her dash, noting that she was already late for her lecture. She grabbed her backpack from the backseat and pushed open the driver side door, forcing Richard out of her way.

"Yeah okay..." Richard laughed again , scratching the back of his neck. Adelaide locked her car, and started speed walking towards her classroom building. Unfortunately, Richard followed her. He kept up with her pace effortlessly, his height giving him an advantage.