Spending what's left of his vacation stuck in a boring, old university, wasn't exactly Salem's definition of "fun". But when strange things start to happen and memories he never knew he had starts to resurface, Salem Vicari finds himself unearthing...
After going up three flights of stairs, he finally found his room –room 329– and with a deep breath, turned the knob.
Salem was surprised to learn that the door unlocked, but he figured his new roommate must've came in early. Inside were two beds, two study tables and two closets, one on each side of the place. The beige-coloured paint looked new and so were the white bed sheets.
The room itself was airy, but he couldn't help feeling a little... trapped. He felt like he was catching his breath for a long time and he was getting light-headed and panicky. He threw his bags on one of the bed and then ran up to open all four of the windows in the room.
When he got his head out for some air, he immediately felt relieved. After some long breaths, he went back inside rubbing his temples –a habit of his to calm himself down.
"Hey, are you alright?" a voice asked from the direction of the door.
Salem lifted his head up and saw a guy, who he guessed was his roommate. The first thing he noticed about him is the eye patch on his left eye, and the deep-blue hue of his right eye.
He was about the same height as him and had a fairly toned physique. He was wearing jeans and a black shirt with a printed 'X' enclosed in a circle; Salem wondered if the guy was a fan of creepypastas. He also had short, unkempt hair which actually suited him. Makes him look like one of those cover boys on Candy magazine.
Well, he could have, if it weren't for that eye patch he's wearing.
The guy made his way towards him and asked once again if he was alright. Salem answered with a stuttering "yes" and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Thank goodness. I thought you were gonna pass out or something." He grinned.
"Nah, I'm good." Salem chimed, "So anyway, you must be my roommate."
The black-haired male stretched out his hand to Salem, "The name's Noah Blackwood."
He shook Noah's hand. "Call me Salem."
From up close, Salem noticed how familiar Noah looked with his thin lips and prominent cheekbones.
It's like I already met him from somewhere, but I'm not sure when or how.
"Salem huh? That's an interesting name. I hope you don't mind me taking this bed."
"It's cool."
"Thanks. You know, we should probably start unpacking, it's almost time for lunch." Noah said as he started to take out some stuff of his and set them down on the table.
Salem nodded and sat down on the bed to test out how comfortable they were. When he did, he noticed a crumpled sheet of white paper laying on top of the blanket near his pillow. There seemed to be something written on it with red ink.
He had to read it twice to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
Ups! Gambar ini tidak mengikuti Pedoman Konten kami. Untuk melanjutkan publikasi, hapuslah gambar ini atau unggah gambar lain.
"Vicari Bell tower at 3:33 –AM"
"Did you say something?" Noah asked from the other side of the room.
Salem was a little freaked out about this, so he hid the note in his pocket. He didn't want his roommate to think he was a total weirdo with some sort of anxiety problems.
"Uh... nothing." Salem answered, trying to sound as composed as possible. He tried to change the topic, "I was just uhm, wondering about your eye patch. Were you hurt or something?"
Noah defensively covered up his left eye patch with his hand, "You could say there's something wrong with it."
"Is it bad?"
"Well..." Noah looked as if he wasn't sure himself, which was probably the case. "...not really."
"Then why'd you decide to hide it if it's not that bad?"
"Because that's what people do, they hide the things they don't want others to see." Noah answered silently, "I'll just show you some other time. I feel weird whenever people see my eye. It actually pisses me off at times."
"Oh. Okay."
Noah gave him a small smile, "Don't worry about it bro, it's nothing."
Salem looked over to Noah's study table and saw some notes scattered along with some a couple of notebooks here and there. When his back was turned, Salem quietly went over to take a closer look. Unfortunately, Noah was on to him.
"Hope you don't mind the mess."
Salem shrugged a little, "It's fine as long as you fix things up every now and then." He then spotted a white notebook with the words 'Draft no. 23' sprawled over the front with a black marker. "Do you mind if I take a peek?"
"Not at all. Knock yourself out."
Salem nodded and opened the notebook to see random things like, "parallel universe", "livingcurse", and "brokendoll" written in it.
He was about to ask Noah about the notebook when a couple of loud knocks from the door stopped him. Noah walked over to the door and opened it.
"Hey there lads! Put everything down and follow me. Your tour around the campus will now officially start!"
