EXISTENCE: Recovery

CHAPTER 8: A Thousand Words

Walking through the hallways was a girl clutching her bookbag. She seemed lost, unsure of where she was headed. she came to an intersection and paused, looking at the small bit of paper she held in her hand. She read what was scrawled on it, in what seemed like slapdash scribbles, "Room 213." As she turned to the left wing, she passed by a mirror, stopping to make sure she was at least presentable. She took a good look at herself.

The girl had scarlet hair that was held back in a ponytail and whore thin, wireframe glasses. She straightened her glasses and made sure her hair was nice and tidy before heading off. She followed the corridor, glancing at the number plates on the doors adorning both sides of the hall. The corridor followed another bend, and when she turned it, she saw two youths standing outside in the hallway. One of them had rough, unkempt brown hair and the other had blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Both had lean builds to them.

The girl walked up to the two, immediately recognizing the brown-haired youth. "Tarek! What's going on?"

The boy beside him turned and blushed. "Oi, you know this girl?" He had a London accent on him.

Tarek turned to his friend. "Yeah man, this is the girl I told you about!" He turned to the girl. "Mimi, this is Rodrick, my roommate." He gave a big grin. "I'll be honest, Rod here isn't that bad a guy!" 

Rodrick stepped forward and offered a hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mimi."

Mimi took the hand in her own and offered a kind smile. "Likewise, Rodrick!" She turned to Tarek. "And you! How is your room looking? Have you got what you need?" She stepped inside the room and stopped. Inside the room was a broken shelf and a large hole in the only window in the room. 

Tarek gave a small laugh. "You see, some things happened, and well-"

"Tarek, what did you do?! It's not even the second day of the semester and you're already breaking windows?"

Rodrick looked on as Tarek tried to defend himself. "I promise, Mimi, all I did was practice some indoor football and-"

Mimi raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Are you serious?! You know what they'll do once they find out about this? They'll fine you for this!"

The color drained out of Tarek's face. "Oh...oh boy."

Rodrick looked at the two of them. "Oi, oi, if it's really this bad, I can take care of it, yeah? I've got a bit of money to spare-"

"Nope!" shouted Tarek. He gave Rodrick a grin. "I'll handle this." He walked into his room and opened up his closet door, rummaging through his belongings. Mimi and Rodrick looked at each other, wondering what was going through the Algerian youth's head. After minutes of silence and fidgeting, he stood back up and walked over to the window, carefully placing the objects he picked up onto his bed. Without a word, he picked up a roll of tinfoil from amongst his collected items and spread it slowly across the broken hole in the center of the window. He turned to Rodrick and motioned for him to come closer, then pointed at a roll of tape beside the things that lay on his bed. Rodrick picked up the roll of tape and wordlessly helped tape the foil on all four corners. 

Tarek let go of the tinfoil and reached around his bed, taking hold of a wooden rod and sliding it through a supporting set of buttresses from on top of the windows. He then unfurled a rolled up set of curtains and set it up against the inserted rod, creating a nice setup for the room. He took a step back and admired his handiwork.

He turned to Mimi. "I know what I'm doing, Mimi, don't you worry." 

Mimi scowled. "Tarek, if someone finds out about this, you know it's all over for you, right?"