THE HAUNTED ROOM.
Sarawat hated moving because he never got around to unpack his shit. There were probably boxes that had been left unopened since his last move. At least it spared him the tedious task of repacking everything once more.
He finally deposited of the last cardboard box, dumping it on the floor and exhaled, standing upright with hands on his narrow hips. The young man looked around the rather generic dorm room. There was a bed, a closet, a mini fridge, a desk and a chair cramped into the tiny space. He would probably have to leave his other stuff in a rental storage somewhere or try to pawn it off to his friends. Or maybe not, those guys were such cheapskates.
He rubbed at his nape frustratingly as his big eyes kept flickering around the sparse room. A sliding door was leading out to a balcony, a flimsy curtain hanging in front of it and a regular door inside lead to what he presumed was a bathroom. The kitchen was obviously shared and outside, down the hall. He sighed, bow shaped lips twisting downward. What a mess.
Sarawat's family was rich and they had let him rent a really nice, modern apartment close to the university campus. However, as soon as he mentioned that he was dropping the social sciences faculty for fine arts they dished out an ultimatum; the family money or the fine arts, the usual rich family trope. He certainly did not think his parents would go that hard on his ass since they have never been particularly traditional before. His mother was the CEO of their family empire, a top rising fortune company, while his father had been a stay at home dad when Sarawat and Phukong were younger. The old man was making money off of stocks now, having lots of free time on his hands with the kids out of the nest.
So despite losing Sarawat to the fine arts, they still had another successor in his genius younger brother Phukong. Sure Sarawat had the brains too but his brother was brilliant and should be the one to get the opportunity to shine next to their mother, especially since he actually wanted it. Sarawat did not really understand what the whole fuss was about, really.
The phone buzzed in his jeans' pocket and he picked up the device, answering the call with a slide of his finger across the screen.
"Wat," the static voice of Man exclaimed. "The moving truck's left now. Do you want us help you unpack first or should we just head out for some food?"
Sarawat narrowed his eyes at the boxes and bags in piles around him. Yeah, that was not happening. He would at most need his laptop and his guitar, maybe a change of clothes. That should be enough. It was kind of Man to offer but Sarawat would probably just live straight out of these boxes for the unforeseeable future. That would be the only way to keep this room tidy.
-----
"Cheers, man," Boss shouted, thrusting out his bottle of beer to clunk it against Sarawat's, beads of perspiration making the green glass slippery. "Finally, the gang is back together." He wiggled his brows out of context and Man sniggered behind his own bottle. Sarawat just rolled his eyes, taking a lazy swig of the drink. It was not like they had been really apart while he lived off campus. These hobos had practically been squatting at his place for several days at a time, enjoying the merits of a big, flat screen TV and free food, all of which had been the curtsey of his parents.
"How're your folks, are they still not talking to you?" Man asked on a more serious note. Sarawat slumped on the backrest of the faux leather couch, angled brows furrowing.
"Yeah, kind of. Mother did call me this morning to yell at me not to change faculties but the application has already been processed," he shrugged. "She's just grasping at loose ends."
"What about Phukong?"
Sarawat looked to the side, lips parting slightly on a frustrated exhale. That was however another, a little bit more complicated matter.
"He's pissed at me, since he's grounded right now." Sarawat smirked mirthlessly, eyes hard. "Mother thinks he's going to follow my footsteps and run away or something, never mind that he's actually been looking forward to his internship at our company next year."
"Your mom's crazy," Boss supplied. "But so is mine, she's been trying to set me up with girls based on fortune readings, paying loads of cash to a fortuneteller to assess our spiritual comparability. What the hell's going on in their heads? Are all parents like this?" He clucked his tongue. "How're your old folks, Man? They must be over the moon since your boyfriend is an educated dude."
The easy smiled dropped off Man's face and he shrugged his built shoulders.
"Yeah, dunno about that. I haven't heard from him in a while. The distance is killing all the looove," he whined and propped an elbow on the table, resting his chin forlornly in one hand. "My mom's constantly asking to meet him but right now, even I don't know if we're actually still dating at all."
Man had pestered his boyfriend to date him for a long time and once everything seemed to work out the guy had dropped the bomb of moving to study overseas, leaving Man to fend for himself in their still seemingly one sided relationship.
"Dude," Boss said compassionately, shuffling a bottle of beer closer to Man's side of the table so that he could drown his sorrow in the brew. Sarawat thumped his back in consolation, not really controlling his strength and making the other guy elbow him away in annoyance.
"Fucker," Man admonished. "Stop." Sarawat just smirked, raising his hands in the air innocently, his eyes glinting mischievously in the bad lighting of the bar.
"What room are you in again?" Boss asked suddenly, now munching on some spicy snacks that they had ordered with the beers. He was currently picking through the cracker mix in the bowl very thoroughly, looking for ones with his favorite seasoning. Sarawat stared at that in disgust, taking notice not to eat any of the snacks since Boss' grabby hands had been all over them.
"It's five-four-five," Sarawat replied a little belatedly, once ripping his owlish eyes away from the other one's ministrations.
"What? Seriously?" Boss suddenly raged, surging up to his feet and accidentally hitting his knee against the table. "Fuck!" His face scrunched up in pain. The bowl with snacks tipped instantly over, crackers spilling in all directions over the sticky bar floor while the beer bottles clattered atop the table. Idiot.
Sarawat reached out a hand to stop his beer from tipping over. He then looked up, only to notice that Man and Boss were sharing a strange look over his head, trying to communicate with their eyebrows and obviously failing to, since no one could ever read what was going in Boss' head.
"What's going on?" Sarawat asked puzzled, nimble fingers grazing at the soggy paper label plastered on the bottle.
"You've got the haunted room," Boss whispered theatrically and a little excitedly, one hand shielding his big mouth, as if just talking about it would bring out the wrath of the spirit. Man just hid his smirk behind a fist, still leaning on his hand that was propped atop the table.
Sarawat's brows arched, clearly unimpressed.
"You're so full of bullshit." Sarawat shook his head in exasperation while taking a gulp of his beer. Boss could sometimes wear people's patience a little thin with his antics.
"No!" Came the outrages reply. "Every student that was assigned to that room moved out of there in less than a month," Boss exclaimed excitedly, his eyes huge and hands motioning in the air at the magnitude of the paranormal activity. "You don't understand. All of them have witnessed some weird shit going on in your room," he finished while thrusting his hands out, still refusing to sit down and was now starting to draw attention to their table with his obnoxious movements.
"What are we, ten?" Sarawat drawled, not the least bit interested in this topic. Boss was acting silly, as always. Sarawat had other, more real problems that he needed to deal with instead of some kind of imaginary ghost spun from Boss' vivid imagination.
"Suit yourself then," Boss pouted and finally flopped down onto the bar couch. The faux leather made a squeaky noise as his pants slid along its surface. He then folded a pair of sturdy arms over his chest, turning his nose up at Sarawat's skeptic approach. There was no way of talking sense into Sarawat once he was in one of his moods.
Man on the other hand furrowed his brows, thinking.
"Maybe you should consider changing rooms anyway? Something's evidently making people move out, I don't think it's a ghost-" he sent a reprimanding glare Boss' way when it seemed that the other man was about to interrupt him. Boss gaped outrageously at Man.
When had he suggested changing rooms? On the contrary, he wanted to persuade Sarawat to let him stay in that room with him, so that Boss could experience the paranormal activity as well. No one was allowed into that room unless they had received a key from the dean.
"If there's a malfunction with electricity in the room or whatever that might be happening, then it might be best to keep a safe distance," Man continued and Sarawat furrowed his brows slightly, taking in the more reasonable suggestion. "I just don't understand why they don't close that room off for renovation. Ghost or no ghost, there are still rumors floating around the campus," Man concluded with a shrug. It was now up to Sarawat.
Man did make a valid point, Sarawat should totally examine the room more thoroughly to make sure nothing was out of order. However, there was not much to the room itself, so what could even malfunction in there? The desk chair having a missing wheel? All this talk however did make Sarawat a little curious. Only a tiny bit.
"Imagine the lamp falling off its hanger," Boss supplied suddenly, voice low and eyes glinting. "What would be your first thought, that it's a ghost or that it's bad handiwork?"
Sarawat rolled his eyes hard.
"There's only built-in spotlights in dorm rooms," he supplied, arching his brows at Boss' spluttering expression.
"Oh, yeah? Well imagine if the- the shower starts running on its own, huh?"
Sarawat shook his head, downing his beer, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. It seemed that this would be the prevailing topic for the remainder of the night. Sarawat had never imagined that they would seriously talk about ghosts at their age. He needed something stronger than beer to survive this, seriously.
-----
Sarawat threw his shoes off and flopped on the bed face down, his fluffy hair bouncing around. The past couple of weeks had been exhausting. His parents were overbearing, creating any imaginable obstacle to keep him in the faculty of social sciences, thinking that he would come running back home once they cut him off the funds, then kicking him out of the rental and then finally trying to disown him.
Well, they had another thing coming. Sarawat was stubborn, they should be perfectly aware of that. Besides, he always made plans head of time, they should have been aware of that too. It was not like he was going to do this, breaking loose from the family, before making sure that he had a steady inflow of money or at least some kind of budget to work with.
He rubbed his cheek against the comforter drowsily, noticing how it faintly smelled of mothballs. His inky eyes blinked lazily through the gloomy room while his thoughts strayed aimlessly. The flimsy curtain in front of the open balcony door fluttered slightly in the chilly night breeze and a hazy outline of a silhouette bleeped in and out of existence between the folds of the fabric, as if sweeping around a body, a figure standing stock still by the sliding door. This sent an instant jolt of surprise through Sarawat.
What the-
He blinked out into the darkness alertly with his big eyes, head raised slightly and long fingers gripping the sheets. There was obviously nothing there. Fucking Boss, telling all those stupid stories while they had been drinking, now making Sarawat drunkenly imagine things.
Sarawat turned around frustratingly, flopping around onto his back instead and stared up at the grayish ceiling, dark hair splayed around his head like a sinister halo against the pillow. His gaze was tracking the shadow play projected on the ceiling from the outside.
He was so fucking tired of everything. However, it could only get better from now on. Right?
Life needed some downs to make the ups peak, or something along those stupid lines, he mused drowsily while being lulled to sleep by the chilly breeze sweeping over his cheeks and forehead, cooling off his worries.
The curtain fluttered noisily as the wind picked up throughout the night. The tall, unclear shape of a figure kept flickering inand out of existence amongst the folds of the fabric. The thing, well, the ghost tried to reach a foggy limb towards the unsuspecting young man that was sleeping restlessly on the single bed, however, it required far too much energy and in a sudden burst of foggy dust the ghost disappeared.