The Roommate - Trillie

Chapter Seven - Flickering Light

The four of us wandered down the collage hallways, trying to be quiet. We all were exhausted, and Mike and Jason had decided to crash in our dorm for the night.

We all reached the door to my and Tré's room, and I reached in my coat pocket for the room key.

It wasn't there.

I quickly checked all of my pockets, and I couldn't find it. The guys stared at me weirdly.

"Where's your room key?" Mike asked after a moment.

I shrugged in response. "I swear I brought it with me." Sighing, I turned to Tré. "Do you have yours?"

"Of course." He reached in this front pocket. "It's right—Damn." He quickly checked his sweatshirt and jean pockets. "I don't have it." He said in dismay.

"Well, we could always stay at our dorm instead. Until you guys find your room keys, anyway." Mike suggested.

Before anyone could reply, every light in the hall started to flicker. We looked around in confusion, staring at the bright flashes.

Then, one by one, each light shut off, leaving the building in darkness.

Everyone was quiet.

"Um, okay. Is anyone else finding this weird?" I felt as worried as I looked.

Then all the lights flickered on again, like nothing happened.

"Alrighty then." Tré searched around. "Should we look for the key now?"

I nodded. Then I glanced over at where Mike and Jason were standing. "Will you guys help us?"

Mike glanced around slowly, a puzzled look on his face. "Um..."

Tré noticed it too. "Where'd Jason go?"

I stopped for a second. Surely he was walking with us, but I hadn't paid much attention to him. How long had he been gone?

"Yeah.." I began. "Where did he—"

The lights flickered off again, and then turned back on after a minute. This time Mike had been the one to disappear. Tré jumped back from where he was standing next to Mike, with a panicked expression.

"Dude, what's going on?" Tré's eyes were wide.

I had no clue. But I was going to find out. I glanced around the hall for anything that would give us an idea of what happened, but nothing seemed out of place.

Nothing except for the shining plastic room card, resting on the ground a few feet away.

Hurrying over to the card, I picked it up and noticed there was a small piece of paper taped on the back. There was tiny writing on it that read:

Jason - check
Mike - check
Tré
Billie

I ran a hand nervously through my hair. I felt slightly anxious about all this, but brushed it off immediately. I peeled off the paper and tucked it in my pocket. Then, walking back over to our door, I slid the card through the lock. Sure enough, it worked.

Tré and I uneasily stepped inside our dorm, worried that something might happen. Someone might have been pulling a stupid prank on us, or we might be facing a much more serious situation. I didn't want to think about that too much.

Tré started searching for places where someone might have been hiding, but found no one. After a while of looking together, we decided that no one was here. And we were getting tired of looking anyway.

Before bed, I brushed my teeth and jumped in the shower. Once I was done with that, I yawned and headed to the bedroom with a towel around my waist, feeling exhausted. It was almost ten, and I needed to attend class tomorrow. There was no way I would miss my classes two days in a row.