The archive of the forgotten

roommate included

I wake up, the sun shines lazily on my face. As if it is shining against it's will, just like I feel. I am living against my will. I sit up and look at the wheelchair in front of me. I take a deep breath, today will be my first day at university. I have no idea if I will enjoy it, I am going to study literature. I hope it will give me some type of hope. I roll to the bathroom and make sure I don't get stuck, because if I get stuck today I will have a problem.

Thankfully I don't need to use the bus or the underground to go to the UNI, it is really near to my new apartment. I like my new apartment, but I know it is actually too expensive if I keep living there by myself. I need a roommate, although I really don't want one. Roll into one of the lecture halls and sigh when I see the way it is modeled after a greek amphitheatre. "You can sit on the first row." The professor says. I smile and nod apologetically. Why apolegetically? I take a deep breath and roll towards the place I deem fit to sit. I listen to the lecture, I am the only one sitting on the first row. After the lecture I plan to go to the dining hall. Only problem is that two meters in front of the dining hall are just two steps. But that does mean I have to go all the way back and go in the other side.

"Do you need help." I hear someone say with an elegant accent. I look at him, he is stand beside me, you can't see his face clearly because the sun is shining brightly from behind him. "No, I will just go another route." "Than half of the lunch will already be over. It's not a big deal." He says. "No I don't want to bother you." "Come on." He says. "Alain! Help me for a moment." He yells to a friend the friend runs towards him. "Are your brakes fixed?" I nod. They lift the wheelchair (with me in it) and put it down in front of the dining hall. "Thank you, I appreciate it." "My name is Blaise and this is Alain, an old friend of mine. He is in the year above us, I saw you in the lecture. I study literature too." I smile, "Do you have an accent?" He laughs. "I am english I promise, just grew up with french and in boarding school we spoke both so I do have a bit of an accent." I smile and cut the conversation short with a curt thank you.

But when I sit down I see his face in front of me. I can now see him clearly, his golden hair is halflong and unruly and he has a face scattered with freckles. His eyes are indigo in shadows but almost aquamarine when the sun catches a glimpse of them. "You never said your name" He says with a bright smile. "I was planning to read actually." "What book?" He says enthusiastically. I take a deep breath and grab my copy of the Bell jar. "Sylvia Plath!  You have good taste...... what a shock...." he says with a smirk. I sigh, "Konrad." He smiles, "Nice to meet you Konrad." He shakes my hand.

I do not know what it is with Blaise but he will not leave me alone. Everyday he sits beside me in the lectures so I am not the only one on the first row it's been quite a long time, he has even take me to his family estate. We are both reading when my phone dings. "Shit!" I exclaim a bit harder than I wish I had. "What?" "My rent is increasing again." "Is that legal?" Blaise asks. "I don't know, these rich cunts can do anything they want." "Where do you live?" "Greenwood street." "Really? I always wanted a place there. It is so beautiful. I didn't know they were wheelchair accesible." "They're not, I don't use the other floor." He smirks, "So.....you have enough room for a roommate?" "Mate you don't want to live with me, I am a bother." He smiles. "I don't agree." "You are not going to be my roommate." "Alright, but atleast give me a chance to see the place?"

A week later

It's six in the morning when the bell rings. I groan and scream that I am coming. I open the door to an infinetaly happy Blaise. "What are you.." I cannot finish. "My parents bought the place and we are going to make things accesible for you!" He says with a smile. "New cabinets where even can reach the highest ones. A wheelchair lift on the stairs a proper bed instead of sleeping on the couch." He says with a smirk. "And a roommate included!" He says with a smirk. I frown, "I hate you." "I love you too!" He says putting down a recordplayer and putting on some queen. I smile, "Maybe it won't be that bad." "Oh believe me it will be bad." He jokes.

The next morning we are at the first floor, we are looking for the things that are problematic with the chair. We find out the entrance for the bathroom isn't big enough. "Well, I guess I will just use the other bathroom." He shakes his head and grabs a hammer and proceeds to smash the wall. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" "Oh no! The wall needs fixing." He says with a smirk. We decide to share the big room, he is putting his old bunk bed back together as people put my king sized bed together.

That night we are sitting in the window. "It was your turns for the dishes" He says with a smile, "But I am in a wheelchair" I say with puppydog eyes and he laughs. "The real eyes realised that the icy real eyes were not real, the eyes, he had realised were far from real eyes........ Don't you think that is poetic, Konrad." "No blaise, it is stupid and not very creative." "Pff, Can you do it better?" I shake my head. "Probably not. I used to be far more poetic, but I lost it when......when I lost joy" I say while breathing out smoke. He takes a deep breath. "Why did you lose joy?" I shrug, "I don't remember Blaise." "Were you born paralysed?" I shake my head. "What happened." "A motorbike accident, I had a new bike and I let him drive it. I swear I didn't know he was drunk........" "How old were you?" "Sixteen." He nods. "To be honest that is one of the things I miss most, motorbikes, running and the beach." "The beach." I nod.

"Blaise?" "Yes?" "Why do you help me?" "You seemed lonely and I know somebody who used to be in a wheelchair. Life can be cruel to them." He answers. "Why do you think I deserve this kindness Blaise?" "Why don't you?" I close my eyes and feel a tear stream down my face. "Blase, when I was a month out of the hospital I woke up. My parents had left, I tried to contact them but their lawyer said they didn't want contact. I didn't know what I had done wrong, so I thought that I must've been a burden." He is silent for a little while. "You know Konrad, I admire the way you think. Everything you see you hear has a deeper meaning, you are eager to know it but sometimes, just sometimes we need to realise that some humans are......cruel. But for every cruel person you meet there are hundred kind ones. And I am honoured to be one of the kind ones for you. We should go to bed, tomorrow we need to get up early." "Why?" He chuckles as he climbs into his bunk bed. "Surprise." "Blaise?" "Hm?" "I love you." "I hate you too." he says with a smirk.

The next morning we drive towards the surprise. When we are almost there I begin to realise. "Are you take me to the beach?" He nod. "Whatever it takes." He says as he picks me up and carries me towards a good spot on the beach. As we sit there I look at the waves and close me eyes, a smile paints my face. I feel normal, I feel happy. He picks me up again. "What are you doing?" I ask. He chuckles and runs towards the water. "Nooo, don't ruin my clothes!" But I am already too late as we sit in the salty water of the see and the waves tickle our skin. He splashes some water on my face and I laugh. "Next time we'll go skiing" He jokes and I laugh and at that moment I realise, I remember what joy feels like.

I really like them, they might get a chance to appear more than once