Nerds, Players, and Detectives
1.
It was building he was looking for. The exterior had red brick walls which surrounded the lower half and the rest was solid concrete with five windows on every sides. It wasn’t much too look at, but Riker Liam knew the building uniqueness lies with its creator and interior design. The building was named “Lexiton”, after an alumni member Robert Lexiton who donated money to the university. Although the building looked simple on the outside the interior design was a marvel. The architecture that was hired to make the building had the ideal concept of efficiency and elegance. So even if people saw nothing special outside the building, once they step inside they will see the spacious hallways, rooms, and find themselves wondering how each step they take, each one feels as if they know exactly where their going. The architecture called this “Clairvoyance blueprint”. A way to organize the rooms to make it easy and accessible.
This wasn’t the first time Liam saw the building. He had seen hundreds of images online and the brochures he got when applying for the university. Thomas University is the place where future starts….that was the motto for the school. Although Liam initially wanted to go somewhere else for his college years, he could not refuse the scholarship they were offering to him. A full ride to Thomas University and a free dorm for two years was something he could not let pass. It made his family especially happy to know that they were not going to burden by his debts. Also after seeing the pictures of the dorm building he was going to stay only added to his decision for accepting Thomas University’s offer.
The front door of the building was already lining up with other students waiting to take the elevator to their new home. He knew he did not have to rush. He only brought what was minimally needed to carry up to the third floor. He would get the rest of his stuff from his home later on that week.
“Excuse me?” Liam turned around and saw a small child. “Umm…is this Lexiton dormitory?” Liam nodded and saw the relief on the child’s face. Liam knew that the child must have a hard time looking for the building because at first Lexiton was indistinguishable from the rest of the buildings surrounding it. The only indication was the small L on the front of the entrance.
“Are you also a student here?” the boy asked. Liam nodded once more and introduced himself. “Well, it’s nice to meet you L~iiam...sorry Li~am. My name is Dern Davidson. I’m also a student here”
Shocked at first, Liam could not believe that such a small child could enter college so early. While he heard about genius children entering college, he expected them to go to an Ivy League school. Thomas University was establish sixty years ago so its barely known.
“What floor are you in” he asked, realizing that Davidson notice his dumbfound look.
“The fourth floor, room 404, and you man, what floor are you in?”
Liam was little uncomfortable from a child calling him “you man”, but he ignore it and told him he was in room 307.
After making some more small chats Liam headed for the stairs while Davidson waited on line with his suitcases.
“For such a little kid, he sure has a lot of stuff” Liam said particular to no one.
Turning the key, Liam used his back to push through the door. The door was hard to open and after opening it, made a small reminder to himself to get some oil to loosen the hinges. The room was big, two windows on the left side and a third right across from the door. There were two beds, each on the opposite side of the wall from the other and two desks connected on the left of the door. There was no one in the room and it seems Liam got there before his roommate.
He put his bags on the bed closet to the two windows and allows his senses to roam the room. There was no particular smell, but the air felt refreshing inside. This was his new home for the semester and he smiled thinking how old he got. It felt like just yesterday he was entering high school and hanging out with his classmates. After taking a moment to memory lane, Liam took out his cell phone to call his parents. He had promise them he would call once he got there. Although they wanted to come and drop him off, he knew his parents could not leave the store unattended. The small business located on Grand Concourse was the only source of income.
After three rings Liam heard his mom’s voice.
“Mom, it’s me. Yeah I just got here”
“How’s your room?”
“Its nice, roomier then I thought”
“Is your roommate there?”
“No, not yet. How’s work?”
Liam knew the answer before his mother replied and regretted asking. The business was really slow the year after the Sept. 11 attack. After that day it seemed to Liam more stores were closing down and less customers was showing up.
“Same as always honey. If things don’t get better I…don’t know…well hopefully it will…hopefully.”
Liam reassure her it will, but knew the words lost its meaning after the countless other times he had said it to her.
“Well, hon, your dad said do your best and sleep if your tire from your drive”
“I will mom, umm…I’ll head home this week to get the rest of my stuff”
“Okay. Just make sure you study hard.”
“Yeah mom I will. Bye”
Putting his phone on the desk he looked up at the ceiling. While the rest of the walls were white the ceiling was yellow. He wondered if he should go check out the other students on his floor and thought against it. They were probably too busy unloading their clothes and Liam knew he should have done the same, but lying there on the bed just made him a little tire. Blinking couple of times his eyes close and last thoughts slowly vanish and he soon drifted to sleep.
2. Roommate?!
He knocked couple of times, but there was no answer. He had unlocked the door with his key and tried to open the door but it did not bulge. He figured someone was in there and was blocking the door. He could see the light being block from the bottom space of the door as if someone was moving back and forth. After several attempts, he decided to go down to the lobby and have one of the Resident Advisor to help him get the jerk to open the door. It was clearly someone having a laugh at his attempt to get into his dorm room. With a few nasty words said he picked up his bags and headed downstairs.
Liam opened his eyes and stare up to stranger staring right back at him. He was so close to Liam that he saw the stranger’s pupil.
“Whooo are you? What do you want?” said Liam trying his best not to sound too afraid.
The stranger stood back from Liam and headed for the other bed while sliding his slipper on his way.
“Shouldn’t it be obvious?” replied the stranger with a small frown.
Liam took a glance at the light Asian guy in front of him. He was wearing blue jean, a white button down shirt, with a blue tie. Liam was sure he never met the guy, but nonetheless knew who he was.
“Charles Kim. You’re my roommate”
Kim smiled and slightly lifted his head as saying yes.
“I was trying to wake you up. The Resident Advisor wants us to meet at the lounge at ten.”
Picking up his phone from his desk he saw that the time was almost ten. He had been sleeping for more than five hours. Liam regretted missing out on a chance to introduce himself to his fellow neighbors. As if reading Liam’s thought, Kim told him he’ll have his chance to get to know the other students at the meeting.
“Sorry I sort of freak on you” said Liam
“Not a problem”
It was strange to Liam to see Kim wearing a half formal and informal wear. He hadn’t seen anyone else being formal. He was about to ask, but Kim got up and walk out of the room without saying anything.
Liam figured that this was how things were going to be between him and Kim. He barely knew Kim and he guess Kim was the private type. Liam put his phone in his pocket and headed toward the lounge.
The lounge was a huge. There are eight walls, with three couches on the far end of the room, with a television right in front, and other desk and chairs lined up in the middle. Majority of the floor mates was already sitting on the chairs and desks and waiting for the meeting to begin. Liam saw Kim sitting on the couch by himself. He stared onto nothing and seemed to be already bored. Liam didn’t know if he should head toward to Kim or take one of the empty seats. He saw the resident advisor coming into the lounge and decided just to stand.
The Resident Advisor or the R.A introduces herself as Sasha Sauston. She told them just to call her “Saish”. She was a senior at Thomas University and told them that she will be responsible for any problems or questions they have about the University. She had the quirky look to her and Liam figure it was a superficial act to get people to notice her.
“So does anyone have any question?”
Everyone else in the room was already bored and Saish nodded to herself as if acknowledging their appeal to leave.
“I have a question” said Kim looking up at the ceiling. “Is the ceiling supposed to that?”
Everyone looked up at what Kim was looking at. At the edge of the room there was something dripping down onto the floor. The Resident Advisor did not have to say anything. Everyone just knew that something was wrong. Saish ran upstairs. The frightening thing that scared Liam was the color of the liquid. It was red, like blood
3. Vanishing Act
Saish return to the meeting room and tried her best to shake the shock of what she just heard. “Everyone, I need you to all head back to your dorm rooms. Until further notice you are suppose to stay in your rooms.”
“What’s going on?” asked a girl with thin pink glasses.
Saish hesitated for a second and seem to be considering her answer.
“Please, for now I ask that you hold onto your questions. Someone from the Advisor office will come over and speak to everyone. So please head back to your rooms.”
Liam saw no one protest and headed back to his room. After sitting down in front of his desk, Riker notice Charles looking out the door into the hallway.
“Is something wrong?”
Charles turned around as if noticing Riker for the first time.
“I’m curious…aren’t you?”
Riker was about to tell him yes when he heard someone scream. Riker ran up, passing Charles down the hallway. The sound seems to be coming from the meeting room. He wasn’t the only one there. The scream alerted everyone on the floor. However, when they all got there, there was no one.
Riker listen carefully waiting for another scream. As if on cue the scream was muffled, but was definitely coming from above. Riker and some of his floor mates ran back down the hall and got onto the elevator up to the fourth floor. Uncertainty was written on everyone’s faces. Riker hoped for the best, but prepare for the worst. That was his motto. Something he read in a book a while back.
When the elevator door finally opened Riker saw campus police surrounding the dorm room all the way at the end of the hall. One of the campus police had a girl around her arm, calming her. She was the one who had scream and Riker didn’t have to go far to see what she was screaming about. Although hidden by several people, Riker clearly saw a body on the floor in the dorm room. He tried to get closer and notice for the first time how wet the carpet was. He looked left and saw the bathroom door open and a campus police officer trying to stop the flood of the water on the floor.
Riker was stopped from going any farther by an officer and people were told by the campus police to head back to their dorm. Heading back Riker saw the campus police talking to a blonde girl who was sobbing. This was not something he was hoping for. He didn’t think anyone was expecting something like this, but after entering his dorm room Riker thought he saw excitement in Kim’s eyes.
For those of you who are updated on the latest Heroes episodes knows why I post a picture of Kristen Bell. She's a new character and her character name is "El". Her power is the manipulation and the production of electricity. Although I loved her on "Veronica Mars," her act on Heroes seems lacking. She's still acts witty, but for El I want her to be more quiet and mysterious. I honestly did not want her to be Veroncia with special powers. I still thinks she's hot and I hope she gets more movie opportunities.
