It's been three and a half weeks now. My companion is even worse than yesterday. I'm writing this because my memory may start to deceive me and I never want to forget.
Allow me to explain this from the beginning...
We were in college, starting our fourth year. We had gotten the principal to let us share the same dorm for our forth planned year at the University of San-Diego, California. We had already had unpacked our boxes upon boxes of anything and everything we would need for our next year at the campus. I met my friend on my first year here when I was looking for somewhere to lodge in with. My old friend from high school had driven me there that day since I had a license but not a car. His name was Harry. He told me about someone he knew who was coming here and said he needed someone to help pay the fee. At first I was quite skeptical about the proposal but seeing as it was the best option I went to meet my potential roommate. I wasn't at all well-known but I knew almost everyone in my grade but when I asked who it was I was unfamiliar with the name I received; Tyrinn. Apparently, from the information I gathered from Harry, he was quiet and unrecognized but very well respected by those who did and at the top of his class in high-excelled mathematics as well as excelled science. I asked one of the kids who, by luck, had been in his original class and here's what he said. On the first day of his senior year of high school, he was doing a really hard math equation that was along the lines of pi times r squared plus something, anyway he said was working out the problem with a calculator and paper and Tyrinn was just sitting there staring at it. He just started talking to the teacher who was standing at the board watching everyone work and corrected her to a more specific answer since pi continues forever in his head in a matter of seconds. Then the teacher worked it out on the board with his correction of pi. He said he never saw him again after that day. Secretly I was amazed and intrigued deciding I should go meet this genius and potential roommate. When I asked Harry for the doom number he just smiled and told me 227A, section C. I walked across campus not sure quite what to expect. When I knocked on the door a tall, shaggy, dark-haired boy answered. He wore a striped jersey-like t-shirt that was far too big for his lean, skinny frame.
"Hello?" He asked sounding confused.
"Hi, I've been looking for a dorm-share and my friend Harry recommended I-"
He perked up and interrupted before I could say anymore.
"Yes of course! Come in, I have to much room for myself and I need a bit of help with the rent."
I walked in and it seemed there was way, way more than enough room for any one person. He must have picked the largest place available because there were six full rooms in the section.
"All I ask is for you not to disturb me when I'm working and to keep the kitchen stocked."
"Done." I replied instantly almost without thinking.
Now it's been just over three years. He took me in when I had no place to go. All those years he's payed for the room himself, the same room, year after year, the whole house we've come to know as our home. I don't really think he needed help with the rent.
We aren't in any of the same classes and are almost never at the house at the same time. The only time we see each other is if I stay up late at night or wake up at night, and the Friday nights. The only things that stay the same; the stacks of papers in the living-room and the kitchen counter and the Friday nights. Every Friday night at 9- without fail,we would go out to a small restaurant just outside of campus. The first time it was as new acquaintances but by the third week, with only knowing each other for not even a strait 8 hours, we were the best of friends and on that day of the week virtually inseparable. We'd chat and joke around until 3am when we'd go back home to our separate rooms at the house. The only thing he'd ever do to annoy me was smoke his cigarettes in my face. After about a month- translating to a day in our time- I tried to get him to stop. He'd always tell me it helped him think but he was like a brother to me, one of the few real friends I've ever had; I was concerned for him. There was no smoking on campus and if you wanted to leave you had to mark a card when you left for safety. I checked his cards and they were only touched on Fridays on the time we went to the restaurant. As far as I could tell he lives on campus where mine was repeatedly marked from where I got food from the store a few streets over. I found he was taking the highest classes starting at 5 in the morning and ending normally at 8 in the afternoon. He'd stop home to get a snack around1:30 for lunch when I stopped at 2 for my lunch and find food taken and the occasional note saying he was glad I'd picked up his favorite snack or he'd spilled a drink and had to run to class asking if I'd gratefully clean it which I would kindly do. I kept it well stocked year-round as requested. He would stop back after his classes ended at 8 and get something for dinner and then go back out probably to the library or somewhere to do his work and on the weekends when the rooms are closed he would play quiet music and work on the living-room couch. I never quite figured out what exactly his "work" was but the fact that he payed for all our dorm expenses including water, electricity, and food; given I got it at the store, seemed more than enough reason to let him keep to himself unless he wants to tell me himself.
