The Unlikely Resident of Room 313

Chapter 11

It was especially warm today; the wind hummed along with the sounds of the ocean beyond the trees, fading into the vastness of the cloudless sky above. I liked the mixture of salt and pine on the tip of my tongue; it reminded me of lazy days at our summer home on the coast. For the first time since arriving on campus, I felt a pang of nostalgia for the comforts of home.

Don't romanticize that place, a little voice in my mind reprimanded. Back home, I was a little bug on the sidewalk, sweltering on a hot summer day. My parent's gaze was a magnifying glass in a beam of sunlight; with just the right angle, the little bug was burnt to a crisp. Whether it was in a posh suburb or a two-bedroom in a sleepy coastal town. I managed to escape the fate of the crispy critter, but damn—did I get close.

"So we're not going in the water?" Anna asked as we entered a covered footbridge that connected campus to the forest bordering the beach. The bridge was large, seemingly ancient, and groaned when we stepped on. Our small group paused, then continued when the bridge didn't give way. Regardless, I refused to look over the lowly rope guardrails. "I've never been to a beach party where you just sit in the sand."

"You're not allowed to swim on Hadley Beach, remember?" Melody answered, flinching when the wood let out a pained creak. "Something about the current being too strong for most people. I don't think it's safe to swim at dusk either."

It wasn't just the night swimming that was dangerous. Hadley Beach became synonymous with tragedy since Oracle's conception. Nestled along a rocky embankment, the beach was the scene of many gruesome accidents and drownings in the university's history. The university had an entire orientation session dedicated to the dangers of the beach and the surrounding forest. A student fell from a cliff and their body was never recovered. A group of surfers needed to be life-flighted an hour away when a massive wave slammed them into a boulder the size of a bus. And then there were students who went into its waters or on the cliffs above for darker, more tragic reasons.

"I don't think it's as bad as they make it," Zara said, scrunching her nose. The bridge was wide enough for the four of us to walk side-by-side. Somehow, I ended on the side that overlooked the river that cut through the woods. "It's probably a control thing, you know? People who don't know how to swim shouldn't get in the water in the first place. Why should the rest of us be punished for their stupidity?"

"Obviously they considered that," I said, shocked by her cruel dismissal. I wasn't sure I could tolerate her awful personality much longer. Earlier, I ran into Anna earlier and invited to join us at the DTE party. Zara overheard us from her room and ordered everyone to be ready by six-thirty.

Zara didn't seem to care. She didn't care much for things that weren't in her best interest. Pursing her lips in a sour frown, the petite girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I think it's fucking stupid."

Before anyone could say anything, Anna's terrified scream pierced the air. "Holy shit! What the hell is that!"

The girls lunged for cover—which just so happened to be me. Or maybe, I wasn't cover. Maybe I was the person they shoved towards trouble while they ran to safety. Anna and Melody clung to either side of me and Zara cowered just behind my shoulder. I scrambled to get away but each held me in a death grip.

"It was probably a hiker!" Zara screamed right into my ear. "God, Anna!"

Sharp, hyena-like cackles tore through the silence. In an instant, Anna and Melody let go, and my knees wobbled under me. Four heads popped out from behind sapling trees barely fifty feet away, identical in their mirthful grins. Oh, thank God. Neither of the grins belonged to Eric.