A New Start

Julie’s luck had only gotten worse since she left Texas to get away from her family. She got a teaching job in Denver and was fired after one year.  Her friend encouraged her to take a teaching position at a small University in South Carolina. All of her other friends thought she was insane for wanting to go to SC, but she didn’t want to go back to Texas. She wasn’t planning on spending the rest of her life in SC. She wanted to get some experience and put herself out on the market in a couple of years.

She loved her family, but she felt  her parents had been putting her siblings’ needs above her needs. Her brother had been causing a lot of family drama by losing jobs and her mother had been subsidizing his rent. Her parents fought over her brother all the time.  Julie used to have a good relationship with her sister, but Alice started correcting her all the time, and the two had never gotten along the same after Alice hit her car numerous times and Julie retaliated by stealing her library card.

Then there was the hellish roommate. Julie’s roommate in Denver was bipolar and had a mixed state when Julie lost her job. She’d smashed pictures, threatened suicide, and Julie had tried to get her roommate committed. She still had strong feelings for Mary, but Julie didn’t think Mary would ever speak to her again.  Her friends and family worried Mary would hurt Julie. Julie never really believed Mary constituted a physical threat, but she did embellish on some of the things Mary did. She did miss her roommate’s unique personality. One night she found her former roommate lying on the floor. Julie was worried her roommate had fallen, so she shook her. Mary stood up and said, “I was practicing being homeless, but it’s really too much work,” and went back to bed. Mary was obsessed about her father kicking her out, and Mary frequently obsessed over things like becoming homeless and starving. Julie teared up when she thought of her former friend and wondered if any kind of friendship was possible.

Even though SC was never on her bucket list of places to go, she liked all the green. The trees in SC were so much prettier than the stubby, shorter trees in Texas. And she liked that upstate SC had seasons. The leaves were just starting to change colors. Julie felt the same excitement she did when she was a kid when school started. There was some grief for the end of summer, but she was always excited about starting a brand new year.

The chair of the English department, Bernice Steen had been very welcoming. But there was a concern about a student who allegedly made a bomb threat. Summer, the young woman who had been arrested, was in Julie’s class. Summer was a very quiet student and was always polite. Julie liked to work late in her office, so Bernice advised her to get security to escort her to her car.

There had been other strange things going on at the University. Julie had been receiving these mysterious hang-up calls. Bernice had been asking all of the professors if they’d received strange calls. The calls had been traced back t the University, but no one was seen on the cameras.

There was something very odd about the entire English department that went beyond the usual faculty politics.

When Julie worked in her office at night, sometimes she’d feel a breeze or hear someone walking around in the department. She’d open her door and no one would be there. Bernice sometimes worked late at night too but complained that she no longer felt safe at the university because of “that girl.”

Julie wondered if Summer somehow had access to their offices. The story about Summer seemed too bizarre to be believable. There certainly was some truth to the adage that reality was stranger than fiction.

Julie thought about the past decade when she drove down the moon thrilled roads back to her apartment. She often called her mother on the way back from the office. Her blood pressure went up every time she thought about her most recent conversation with her mother. Her mom had tried her best to manipulate Julie into coming back to El Paso.

“I need you closer to home,” her mother had said while Julie was on her way home. She had put the phone on speakerphone.

“I can’t get a job there,” Julie said.

“Well, you haven’t tried. It’s because you’re still angry.”

Julie bit her lip.

“I just want a fresh start. These past few years have been so rough. Once I get some experience and publications, I can put myself back on the market,” Julie said.

“You should’ve pursued some other career. You can’t make anything teaching college anyway.”

Julie had regretted pursuing an academic career. Now she felt trapped, as she would have a hard time finding another career. She already owed thousands of dollars.  

“Mom, just give it some time. I love you,” Julie told her.

“I love you. Has Mary tried to contact you?”

“No,” Julie said. “She wouldn’t come to SC anyway. She’s afraid to get on a plane. And her car wouldn’t get her here. I’m not worried.”

Julie hoped her mother would calm down about her former roommate. Alice accused Julie of always getting in abusive relationships.

When Julie got home in the evening, she’d go out on her balcony and look up at the stars. Would prayer make her luck any better? It couldn’t hurt. Things would get better if she worked harder. But there was such an oddness in the air at the University. All of her colleagues seemed a bit off, and she didn’t know what the student was capable of doing. The hang-up calls could’ve been from her former, psycho roommate, but her gut feeling said the calls were from someone else. 

Every night before bed, Julie took a cocktail of Ambien, Seroquel, and antihistamines for her skin rash. Every morning she took Adderall, Wellbutrin, and her blood pressure and thyroid meds. Her psychiatrist also added Lamictal into the combo after Julie lost her job. Julie had been taking more Zanax since she started her new teaching job.

But surely things would get better. Bernice would be a good mentor, and the disturbed student would get expelled. There probably was a simple explanation for the phone calls. her mother would eventually accept Julie’s autonomy, and maybe just maybe she could repair her relationship with Mary. Even though Mary was toxic, sometimes toxic people were better than having no one.

Maybe that person who kept calling and hanging up was also lonely. What if she tried to talk to the person?   Sometimes people just needed someone to listen. And that could make all the difference. Julie sat alone in her dark apartment and blew into a tissue. The phone rang again, but she decided not to answer. She took another pill and tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day, and she’d have to work harder than she ever had before in order to change her luck. Someone obviously didn't want her at the school, but Julie wouldn't give up, and she would never wind up in another situation like what happened in Denver.