Seeing Red
Moving In
Carmen walked through the grounds of the school, hurrying to get to her dormitory. After she got there, she looked through all the rooms of the dormitory, looking for where Ashley and Amanda would be bunking. She couldn’t find them anywhere. She went to her room to get her phone and call them. Before she entered, she saw that all her luggage and things were put outside at the door of the room.
She hurried inside, thinking that it was another prank by her roommates. She found that there was another girl in the room, moving in. She was enraged, and barged inside and asked them what was going on.
All she got was a bored reply to go see the dorm warden. She was about to go to the dorm warden’s quarters, when she saw Amanda in the hallway. She was sipping a smoothie, and looking completely at home. Carmen temporarily forgot her anger at being kicked out of her dorm room, and went to ask her where their room was.
“Where’s your room?” she asked with utmost curiosity. “I looked for you guys everywhere.”
“It’s so naive to think that we got a room. So not. We got a suite, and you’re coming to live with us.”
She took Carmen by the arm and led her up the stairs to the first floor and entered the upstairs kitchen which was never used and always kept locked. She opened it with a thumb print key. The kitchen had been remodeled to be a small living room cum kitchen with only a stove, a small fridge, microwave, and a coffee maker. A plasma television was mounted in one corner of the room. There were stairs in the corner of the room.
They went up the stairs to the attic, which had been completely redesigned. It was a single long room with three windows across one wall, and three beds on the other side. The floor was of wooden boards. The room was divided into thirds by two giant dark blue bead curtains that made the sound of waves coming in when they moved. The walls were painted lavender. Everything was simple and elegantly decorated.
Their beds, wardrobes, the bookshelves, desks, and even the study lamps were identical. There was a door to what she assumed was the bathroom in the corner. Carmen saw an easel and an electronic keyboard in the other two sections of the room. She felt at home the minute she stepped inside, while there was a new laptop in her space.
Ashley didn’t give her enough time to recover from the pleasant surprise, and said, “Come on, we have to bring your stuff up here.”
On the way down, she questioned them without hesitation and without the slightest shyness.
“How the hell did we end up with that ‘room’, would you call it?”
Ashley was the first to answer, “It’s very simple. Remember how your grandfather owned part of the school? The principal is one of his friends, so are most of the staff members working here. Until we graduate, that gorgeous pad is ours. After we graduate, they’ll turn into a dorm room, complete with pool table or whatever.”
“Great. But how did everybody agree to this whole thing?”
“They think that we just have the kitchen, and nowhere else.
They lifted all her luggage back to their room. It took them half-an-hour to get everything organized. Afterwards, they went into the living room to grab a snack. They grabbed chips, dip and sat in front of the TV.
Ashley grabbed the remote and turned on the news. Much to her surprise, her grandfather was speaking on the screen. It was at a press meet announcing a new drug for migraines. He spoke with confidence and genuine pride for the drug.
His speech faded out to show an anchor, with a not-so-genuine expression of sadness on her face.
“The loss of Ezekiel Priest, a pharmaceutical giant who died in his home in Los Angeles two days, shall always be felt in the world of business. He was known for his pharmaceutical company, his line of clothing stores, and his active participation in funding humanitarian societies.”
Carmen looked down at her waist, trying to hide her tears from her friends. She whispered, “Looks like I can’t escape his shadow wherever I go.”
Ashley changed the channel, and they spent the next half-an-hour watching reruns of Friends. Afterwards, they went upstairs. Carmen studied physics, Ashley started painting something, and Amanda hooked her keyboard up to a set of headphones and started practicing.
“Hey, if you’re playing Mozart or Beethoven, you can play it out loud,” Carmen yelled. She was greeted by inquisitive looks from the twins. “What, the music makes you brain function better.”
Amanda laughed. She pulled out another music book, put her earphones away, and started playing a sonata by Mozart. Ashley started sketching, occasionally looking at Carmen. Carmen didn’t notice the observations that Ashley made.
It soon came to be six o’clock and they were feeling hungry. They went downstairs to the cafeteria. Just as they settled down with their pasta, salads and chocolate cake, she noticed someone who looked new in the cafeteria. Another look revealed that it was the maid from Los Angeles. She smiled at her, and the maid winked back.
They went back upstairs and did their homework together. Carmen found it a bit hard to sleep in the new room, but her fatigue soon served as a sleeping pill.
For the first time in years, she had dreams which she could never recall later. Perhaps it was due to her anxiety about the next day, which had never been there before. Perhaps it was because of her newfound happiness. Perhaps it was the result of Ashley’s light snoring.
But she slept soundly, dreaming nonsensical dream after nonsensical dream with a whimsical smile on her face. A slight wind blew in from the open window in front of her and made the bead curtains swing lightly, creating a perfect imitation of the sounds of waves brushing against the sands of a shore on a full moon night.
She hurried inside, thinking that it was another prank by her roommates. She found that there was another girl in the room, moving in. She was enraged, and barged inside and asked them what was going on.
All she got was a bored reply to go see the dorm warden. She was about to go to the dorm warden’s quarters, when she saw Amanda in the hallway. She was sipping a smoothie, and looking completely at home. Carmen temporarily forgot her anger at being kicked out of her dorm room, and went to ask her where their room was.
“Where’s your room?” she asked with utmost curiosity. “I looked for you guys everywhere.”
“It’s so naive to think that we got a room. So not. We got a suite, and you’re coming to live with us.”
She took Carmen by the arm and led her up the stairs to the first floor and entered the upstairs kitchen which was never used and always kept locked. She opened it with a thumb print key. The kitchen had been remodeled to be a small living room cum kitchen with only a stove, a small fridge, microwave, and a coffee maker. A plasma television was mounted in one corner of the room. There were stairs in the corner of the room.
They went up the stairs to the attic, which had been completely redesigned. It was a single long room with three windows across one wall, and three beds on the other side. The floor was of wooden boards. The room was divided into thirds by two giant dark blue bead curtains that made the sound of waves coming in when they moved. The walls were painted lavender. Everything was simple and elegantly decorated.
Their beds, wardrobes, the bookshelves, desks, and even the study lamps were identical. There was a door to what she assumed was the bathroom in the corner. Carmen saw an easel and an electronic keyboard in the other two sections of the room. She felt at home the minute she stepped inside, while there was a new laptop in her space.
Ashley didn’t give her enough time to recover from the pleasant surprise, and said, “Come on, we have to bring your stuff up here.”
On the way down, she questioned them without hesitation and without the slightest shyness.
“How the hell did we end up with that ‘room’, would you call it?”
Ashley was the first to answer, “It’s very simple. Remember how your grandfather owned part of the school? The principal is one of his friends, so are most of the staff members working here. Until we graduate, that gorgeous pad is ours. After we graduate, they’ll turn into a dorm room, complete with pool table or whatever.”
“Great. But how did everybody agree to this whole thing?”
“They think that we just have the kitchen, and nowhere else.
They lifted all her luggage back to their room. It took them half-an-hour to get everything organized. Afterwards, they went into the living room to grab a snack. They grabbed chips, dip and sat in front of the TV.
Ashley grabbed the remote and turned on the news. Much to her surprise, her grandfather was speaking on the screen. It was at a press meet announcing a new drug for migraines. He spoke with confidence and genuine pride for the drug.
His speech faded out to show an anchor, with a not-so-genuine expression of sadness on her face.
“The loss of Ezekiel Priest, a pharmaceutical giant who died in his home in Los Angeles two days, shall always be felt in the world of business. He was known for his pharmaceutical company, his line of clothing stores, and his active participation in funding humanitarian societies.”
Carmen looked down at her waist, trying to hide her tears from her friends. She whispered, “Looks like I can’t escape his shadow wherever I go.”
Ashley changed the channel, and they spent the next half-an-hour watching reruns of Friends. Afterwards, they went upstairs. Carmen studied physics, Ashley started painting something, and Amanda hooked her keyboard up to a set of headphones and started practicing.
“Hey, if you’re playing Mozart or Beethoven, you can play it out loud,” Carmen yelled. She was greeted by inquisitive looks from the twins. “What, the music makes you brain function better.”
Amanda laughed. She pulled out another music book, put her earphones away, and started playing a sonata by Mozart. Ashley started sketching, occasionally looking at Carmen. Carmen didn’t notice the observations that Ashley made.
It soon came to be six o’clock and they were feeling hungry. They went downstairs to the cafeteria. Just as they settled down with their pasta, salads and chocolate cake, she noticed someone who looked new in the cafeteria. Another look revealed that it was the maid from Los Angeles. She smiled at her, and the maid winked back.
They went back upstairs and did their homework together. Carmen found it a bit hard to sleep in the new room, but her fatigue soon served as a sleeping pill.
For the first time in years, she had dreams which she could never recall later. Perhaps it was due to her anxiety about the next day, which had never been there before. Perhaps it was because of her newfound happiness. Perhaps it was the result of Ashley’s light snoring.
But she slept soundly, dreaming nonsensical dream after nonsensical dream with a whimsical smile on her face. A slight wind blew in from the open window in front of her and made the bead curtains swing lightly, creating a perfect imitation of the sounds of waves brushing against the sands of a shore on a full moon night.