Stories of LITA 1

XI - SlumbeR(a)in - 1

Rain was exhausted. It had been one of the worst weeks of his life. The first year at the Architecture faculty had not been easy, but Rain had managed to do a decent job. He had been very surprised when his whole group, including him, had been given places on the Student Council. While it was fun, it was tiring juggling studies, projects, and then the Council. Thankfully, the five of them had each other. Sky and he were a package deal, having met in high school. Their other two friends, Akk and Kan, were in the same Uni, but different faculties. Though they were just as busy. Plus both of them had boyfriends, which made getting together a little tough. They still lived together, but different timings, different work pressures, it was touch and go most days.

Sky and he had met Por, Sig and Ple on the very first day, the day they had come to register. And they had somehow clicked. Ple was the princess of the group, where there were four overprotective boys who took no nonsense from anyone, when it came to her. "You guys are way better than my own brother," she would complain. P'Som was one of the nastiest, most boring people in the world, and none of them could stand him. It was weird that he was a senior, because he was not at all helpful.

It was he who had come up with the idea of arranging a retreat for 1st year students. They would leave soon after their final exams and at first, they had been thrilled. Then they had come to know the truth. Since the seniors were too 'busy', the Nongs would be arranging for their own retreat. The seniors would arrive at the dedicated place, on time, and then enjoy. Rain had almost thrown his History of Architectural Design book (the heaviest in his bag at that moment) on Som's head. But had refrained from doing so when Sky and Ple had tugged at his hands. The 1st years had said that they were just as busy, but since the teachers had gotten involved (God knows what Som and his cronies had fed them), they had no choice but to do the needful. So the five of them had taken a call. They would do whatever was needed, after the final exams. It was said in no rule book that they had to leave immediately, right? So they would do it at their pace.

But the time in between studying was taken up in figuring out the best place they could go. And then Sig got a wild hair. Ple happened to mention in passing that P'Som was absolutely into ghosts and superstitious places. And that was that! Sig was determined to find the most wicked place on the planet (at least in Thailand) and ensure that he would drag Som there! Nothing else would do. And once Sig fixated on something, no way in hell was he going to back out. The others groaned in frustration. Which brought Rain to his current mood. He put his head down on the table and sighed. He turned his head to the other side and raised his eyes up as Sky carded his hands through Rain's hair. "What's got you so glumpy?" Sky asked. "Are we really going to do this? Go with Sig's hare-brained scheme?" Rain asked, sighing again.

"You know he is not gonna give in," Sky laughed softly. "Yeah but, P'Som is not the only senior who is going to be there. What if the others don't take it well?" Rain asked. "The pranks Sig is planning is only for P'Som. So we should be okay," Sky said, continuing to stroke Rain's head. "Fingers crossed," Rain said, stroking Sky's hand in return. Rain sat up when he heard the sounds of the others coming in, voices filling the doorway, Sig's sounding the most excited. "I am telling you! It's the perfect place! No way in hell anything is going to go wrong!" Sig said, bouncing with excitement. "I am already afraid of where this is going," Ple sighed, as she looked at Rain and Sky. Even Por looked a bit sick. "So where is this wonderful place?" Sky asked. "Ayutthaya. The resort is called 'The Park'. It's close to the forest and to the Ayutthaya Historical Park. Hundreds and hundreds of years of history, and a known place for old customs. Now I just need to get some brochures printed!" Sig said.