Two Weeks With Chelsea

Chapter 5

The sound of students returning to the dorms on a Friday night in mid-October turned Chelsea's attention away from her reading. She gazed out the window of her room and saw a few female students making their way towards the entrance to the building. She went back to reading for a few minutes and was once again interrupted by the sound of laughter in the hallway followed by the sound of the door a few rooms down closing with a heavy thud. Emily was home a little earlier than usual.

Chelsea took the empty water bottle from her night table and slipped the lanyard attached to her room key over her head. She stepped into the hallway and gently pulled her room door closed, then made her way towards the stairwell at the end of the hall. As she approached the room two doors down, she could hear Emily and her roommate, Trish, giggling. She continued past slowly and smiled as she whispered to herself, "Keep it down orI won't be the only one that knows your secret."

After descending to the main floor and opening the fire door into the hall, Chelsea could hear the phone in the common area ringing. She slowed her pace and listened until the ringing stopped. No one had answered. She continued her walk until she reached the open space at the mid-point of the hall. On one side was the entrance to the girls' showers, on the other side was a small kitchenette where students could heat up snacks or get a glass of filtered water. A small ice machine hummed in the corner and startled her when it dumped a fresh batch of cubes into the bin.

Chelsea had almost finished filling her water bottle when the phone started to ring again. She looked around and contemplated a quick dash towards the stairwell before anyone could possibly notice her. Then again, it was against protocol for anyone over the age of twelve to leave the phone unanswered. She sighed and hesitantly stepped to the phone then shyly answered. The woman on the other end of the line spoke in a frantic tone as Chelsea scribbled a message for Alina Keen on a note pad.

She peeled the paper from the pad then checked for Alina's room number on the list above the phone. She had known Alina since they were in the first grade but wasn't part of her circle of friends and only knew her room was on the third floor. She made her way up the stairs and located the room. Since the message was urgent, she knocked on the door and waited a moment before knocking again.

"Your mother called the phone in the common room," she whispered, rehearsing words she wouldn't actually speak. "Your mother­­—"

"What?" Alina said before she had even pulled the door open enough to see Chelsea standing in the hall.

Alina was wrapped in a navy-blue silk robe, held closed with one hand. A crashing noise and a boy's voice cursing from inside the room caught Chelsea's attention. The girls looked into the room then back towards the floor at the threshold. Philip Truman was completely naked and splayed out on the floor. He scrambled to his feet and ducked back out of sight with hands covering his crotch. Alina snatched the note from Chelsea's hand and started to close the door then hesitated.

"You better not tell anyone!" Alina hissed.

There was no tragedy in Alina's family, no uncles or sisters clinging to life in hospital, her aging cat hadn't choked up his last slimy ball of fur. Alina's mother was simply drunk and trying to check up on her and got no answer when calling her cell phone. With each sip and missed called she had worked herself up into a panic. But now that Chelsea had delivered the message and seen Philip in Alina's room well after 8PM she was suddenly transported eight years back in time. She didn't care that Phillip was stumbling around naked in Alina's room, she just hoped they would never be caught, and she wouldn't be accused of tattling.

For most of her time at Well Stone, Chelsea kept to herself for reasons such as this. She dreaded answering the phone in the common room because it meant having to interact with people like Alina. She showered late on weekdays and earlier on weekends and hid in her room whenever she was in the dorm building to avoid being privy to the secrets others kept. She convinced herself that if she didn't know about "it" she couldn't be accused of ratting anyone out to administration.

The library was her favorite place to pass her leisure time because she would almost always be alone.