「 The Professor & I 」VOLUME II

(315) Detained

Lynn's POV

We cruised around the halls, glad to find them deserted by the students; for the rules explicitly stated that they were not to wander once after hours.

While faint murmurs predictably resonated from some bunks as roommates happily chatted into the Friday night, a particular single occupancy one radiated with same sounds, albeit on definitely pardonable grounds.

Smoothly concluding the impromptu errand, Raven and I made a brief pit stop at my current bedroom before proceeding off to her old one. Surely, she had too moved to her husband's after their marriage but all our childhood residences were still remarkably preserved.

With excellent company and girly conversations that evoked endless laughing, the time passed wondrously. Unknowingly, we had been taken by the sandman and offered into restful land, consequently forcing the jarring buzz that woke up us to be more than bizarre.

There was an acute ringing, accompanied by an odd rattling presumably as her phone simultaneously vibrated on the nightstand. Both of us stirred under the covers, lethargically shielding our ears from the irritating noise that thankfully ended after several moments.

Unfortunately, the therapeutic peace was suspended almost as quickly as it started, repeating on the account of an apparently persistent caller. Whining frustratedly, I shoved Raven towards the edge of the bed as I egged her on towards her mobile in a sleepy slur, and she growled at me grumpily but obviously was the least equipped with reasons not to concede.

"Dammit," she cursed in a malicious tone and listlessly crawled out of her side of the quilt, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed, as she grudgingly reached towards the bothersome gadget.

"What?!" Raven snarled into her mouthpiece.

I slumped back into the plush pillows and inviting mattress as a cool male voice weakly rambled on through the speakers. Whatever he spoke was soft and honestly, I was too exhausted from all the nostalgic activities to be bothered or even interested to eavesdrop.

Likewise, Raven seemed extremely reluctant to participate in any dialogue and the man over the line hardly received any verbal responses apart from some gibberish of acknowledgement that sluggishly bounced off her catatonic tongue. Eventually, the indistinct mumbles of her and the unidentified male both faded into the atmosphere but uncannily, the luxury of serenity was incredibly elusive this morning, vanishing as soon as it materialized again.

"What's going on?" I croaked, rubbing my eyes sleepily as I frowned to the sudden ruckus that sounded rather disastrous.

Ironically, the boisterous commotion was ensued by another streak of pure silence spanning an obscure period until it was tainted by an unusual crackle of shaky breaths frantically gulping for air. Certainly startled, I scrambled towards Raven and hurriedly lugged myself up, only to be welcomed by her severely rattled front as her cerulean scales morphed erratically, unveiling intermittent flashes of Caucasian skin.

Beaming with tremendous fear, her miserable eyes stared feebly at me like they had lost all power. The bright yellow that commonly burned with tenacity, exuberance and even cheekiness were oddly dull and essentially, hopeless. As she convulsively gasped, exhibiting largely the symptoms of hysteria, she looked at me speechlessly but her lips quivered as if they yearned to convey a message so dear.

"What's wrong?" I probed, kindly caressing her cheek but she simply gripped my hand and only after freezing awhile did she guide it to her head as she gazed at me with ultimately pleading eyes.