Monochrome

The Dorm Ghost

Ingrid wasn't going to be able to break into the admin building until well after curfew, which left her with a few hours to kill. She decided to invest them in trying to figure out how to get into her dorm room, if, indeed, that's what the room was. She didn't really want to consider the alternative. If she couldn't get into the room, she was going to be stuck sharing with one of these art school girls. That was bad for all the obvious reasons, and also because she wasn't sure she'd be able to sneak in and out tonight without waking someone up.

She'd gotten some pointers from Johan about the dorm lock, too, and even though it was a different type of lock, she figured it would be a good chance to practice her skills. As it turned out, picking the lock was easy. But when she turned the knob and pushed, the door still didn't budge. She followed the crack around the door with her eyes until she saw a shadow that indicated there was another lock on the inside. It looked like a sliding bar lock. Whatever it was, she wasn't going to be able to pick something like that from the outside. Which, she supposed, was the whole point.

She couldn't understand why someone thought this door needed two locks. Or, more specifically, she couldn't understand how someone could get the door locked from the inside and then leave the building from the third floor unless they were half-pigeon or had some sort of rope ladder up there that they could throw out a window. Which was a lot of freaking trouble, just to keep somebody from getting into a dorm room.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden voice made her jump. She turned, and in front of her was a girl so short that her eyes were about level with Ingrid's armpits. The girl smiled up pleasantly, but there was a sparkle in her eyes that proved she knew she'd startled Ingrid. Ingrid took a deep breath and let the residual nerves fall away.

"Trying to get into my room," she said.

"That's your room? Are you sure?"

Ingrid couldn't tell if the girl was surprised or dubious. She fished the folded, crumpled piece of paper out of her back pocket and held it out.

"335," she said.

The girl studied the paper and then nodded her concession. "I guess if there was going to be a 335, this would be it. But no one ever gets assigned to it. At least, not since I've been here."

It was funny the way this girl tossed her expertise around when she couldn't possibly be older than fifteen.

"When was that?" said Ingrid. "Three hours ago?"

The girl frowned. "You trying to say I look young?"

"I'm saying you're short."

"Well, aren't you observant? For your information, I'm a senior this year. Tatiana Perez. And I'm short because God made me short. So lay off."

Ingrid turned back to the door and tried to imagine another way to break in. What would Johan do if he were here? Probably get himself expelled and be done with it.

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?" said Tatiana.

"Ingrid."

"You might as well give up, Ingrid. I'm almost positive that room assignment was a mistake. Somewhere in this building, there's a lonely girl wondering where her roommate is."

Ingrid tried to imagine what her potential roommate might be like in a school like this and decided she didn't want to think about it.

"I want this room," she said.

"Well, good luck, I guess. You won't have anybody fighting you for it. Half the girls are convinced it's haunted."

Ingrid sighed and glanced up at the ceiling. "All right, let's hear it."