Right Under Your Nose

Chapter 2

“Time to go,” mom shouted from the living room.

“Coming,” I called back. I stopped staring out the window, grabbed my suitcases and ran out the door.

Of course I needed to say goodbye to my folks. Giving them each a hug, I had to dry their tears. It confuses me why they think that having a child go away to college means cutting off all ties with them. I mean my parents haven’t spoken to my two older siblings since they went to college and they already have kids of their own. It makes me mad, but I’ve learned to accept the unacceptable.

“Promise you’ll write often,” my mother cried into my shoulder as we embraced each other. It’s been a long time since that’s happened. A new feeling I hadn’t quite prepared myself for.

“Let’s email instead,” I replied. I’m really awful at handwriting things. It takes forever and everybody complains that it’s illegible. Plus I’m much faster at typing. I can’t say the same for my mother though.

“I don’t care,” she said in between sobs. Letting me go, mom wiped imaginary tears off my face. “I just want to feel like you’re still here. I’m going to miss you so much.” She never said anything like that to my other siblings when they left for college. Was I supposed to feel flattered?

With much vigor, mom grabbed me for a final hug before passing me on to my father. This was taking forever.

“Don’t do drugs,” he said trying to act tough even though his tears were quite visible. A short embrace sufficed the conversation.

Trying not to look giddy, I shoved all my luggage in the back of my car. In a rush to sit down, I practically threw my self in the driver’s seat. Waving goodbye, I turned the keys towards the windshield. I was an hour down the highway before my parents could even think about stopping me. Perfect, I thought to myself. This is just what I need to get away from things and start over.

I like to drive. Every physical mile is about a mental half mile away from where I should be. More accurately where I think I should be.

I arrived at Truman State University dormitories two days later. Missouri, during this time of year was quite pleasant.

I walked into the dorm room slightly excited to see who my roommate was. I didn’t request a specific person hoping that I would meet someone worthy of my time. You can’t find people like that during these times anymore.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I walked into a college dorm room for the first time, but my generic thoughts were no where near what I was going to behold. I opened the door to see the tiniest room I have ever known to be. The only obscure part about it was the posters on the wall. They seemed to watch me as I walked around. Two bunk beds with desks underneath were pushed against the walls, separated by one window facing the courtyard in front of the college building itself. There were two closets on both sides of the entrance door and I was pretty sure that they couldn’t hold a single winter coat, but I eventually was able to fit most of my possessions inside. The floor was so worn it was a miracle how I found the color to be a dark blue surrounded by four, slightly off-white walls. A single luxury, to the left, was a bathroom which could’ve just been counted as a closet. Too bad there were already two quarter ones on both sides of the door.

“Hello!” Someone jumped out of the shadows which made greeting less enjoyable. “You must be the new girl!” Each word pitched higher and more damaging to my ear drum.

“Hence the suitcases,” I replied a bit rudely. When I say something rude, I like to take the opportunity to judge their reaction. It helps me to understand the person better instead of going through an awkward conversation that begins with “Hi, my name’s Melissa what’s yours person I don’t really want to talk to right now because I’d rather do something that actuallymakes my life prosper.” I feel so smart when I use this method, no matter how evil I’m told it is.  I’ve noticed that the people who find out that I said something rude are smart and fun to tick off. The people who don’t notice or seem not to care are lazy and/or dumb. They’re the best to prank.

“Well, I’m Anna Gretze nice to meet you,” the dirty blonde extended her arms for an obvious embrace. It took me a while to get the memo, but I didn’t get it in time. I was ambushed by a possibly sweet and air headed girl who had no idea the humiliation awaiting her for ignoring my evilness.

The hug lasted longer than I wished it would’ve. I didn’t hug her back because my hands were still loaded with luggage that I didn’t dare let go. They seemed to be the only real thing in the room. Anna disconnected herself from me and continued to overdo her welcoming.  

“The layout is pretty self explanatory. There’s not too much to go over other than I like posters which is pretty obvious,” she halfheartedly pointed around the room to her posters. “I hope that that’s ok with you.”

“I don’t care,” I said flatly. I really hate when people say stuff like that.

“I should probably tell you a little bit more about myself, but that’ll have to wait until tonight,” Anna attempted to make an enigma around her words as she walked towards what she had already claimed to be her bed. It didn’t work, but I thought it best for me to be polite.

“Why tonight?” I asked. “What’s going on?” Anna’s psychotically excited smile scared me.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll wake you up in time,” she wasn’t helping herself. I wasn’t  interested anyway; I don’t care about stupid people.

I finished unpacking my things and went on a walk away from this unjustifiable place. My freedom was about to start tomorrow, I can do whatever I want whenever I want and unlike my mother’s hugs, I wanted to be prepared for it.

Beginning with David’s disappearance, I studied my life as I wandered town. I spent it all in the loneliness of my achievements. I didn’t have any other friends in the years that followed other than petty accomplishments. As my life crumbled to pebbles, an effect of his absence, I became obsessed with music. I began playing as many instruments as possible. I wasn’t good at any of them, but I didn’t care. David loved music, too.

I aimlessly walked into a bookstore. With no purpose in mind, I strutted through the aisles like I was important. I found some very interesting titles and decided that since I spend all my money coming here I’d waste more money on books I might not even have time to read. But something wasn’t right. I was being watched. A peculiar black haired boy in a chair wouldn’t stop glancing at me. Quick glances became a full on stare. He wasn’t even pretending to read his book anymore. I acted as if I was still looking for books while really stepping out of his view. I knew I still wasn’t safe. I put my books back and headed for the door, but I wasn’t alone.

The dark haired boy was my new shadow. I tried losing him by taking a cab back to the dorms, but he caught up to me.