Room 413
The rain pelts the window of the cab.
“This the place?” The cab driver glances in the rearview mirror at his passenger. The cab lights shine on the monestrous steel gates. The passenger stares at the paper in her hand. The crest on the stationary matched the one on the gate.
“I. . .think so.” She stammers.
“What?” The cabbie barked.
“Yes sir!” She squeaks. The driver honks the horn. The gates screech aside. She folds the letter and places it in her pocket. The headlights disappear into the darkness beyond the gate.
“Finally.” The cab slowly lurches forward into the darkness. Steadily, the rain slacks off. The car comes to a circle path. “Which.” He notices a direction sign. Dorms pointed to the left. The rain had stopped. They pulled in front of a four storeys high. The cab driver huffed as he removed the three suitcases from the trunk onto the curb. “That everything?” He opened the passenger’s door.
“Yes thank you.” A young girl climbs out of the back. She watched as the driver back down the road. She glances at her watch, five fifty five. “I’m really early. I hope someone’s up.” She turns back to the building The four storeys of windows stare like curious eyes, and the mouth open to see the foyer inside. There was lettering on the door. “Day Dorm”
≻☆❤☆≺
It was dark inside, despite the sun creeping above the horizon fighting the haze of the clouds. The room was in a elegant in decor. Four small circles of antique couches with tables in the center. There was two floating stairs that lead up to the second level.
“Now what?” She had managed to get her three suit cases in the door. The bags on her shoulders were heavy too. She moves them to a cluster of couches near the left window. The whole wall around the door was windows, peering out into the early morning.
“DONG!” The sound resonated. It shake the girl. “Dong!” Her heart was racing. She looks at her watch, six o’clock.
“There must be a grandfather clock somewhere.” She smiles. At her old house there was a crazy grandfather clock that rang fifteen after. How much she missed it, but they had to move. Her father had gotten another job, and at the same time she got a letter of acceptance to a school she had not applied for.
“It’ll be a great experience,” her father’s voice echoes in her memory. “You can be there till you graduate, and it’s a great school too boot.”
“But dad, I don’t want to. I’d rather move with you.”
“Honey it’s a school for arts. Arts! Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Yes dad.”
“Then it’s settled.” And here she was, alone in the dorms of this ‘great’ school. The sound of a piano pulls her from her thoughts. The melody was soft as a lullaby. It drew her down the hallway between the stairs, entrancing her to find its source. At the end of the hallway, light escaped through a cracked door. The melody came from within. She peeks through the crack. A boy sat at a piano with his back to the door. The girl leaned against the wall listening. She is startles when the door opens wider.
“Oh hello there.” The kind looking man looked surprised to see her. His attire was that of a bartender.“I’m sorry but I’m not opened yet.” The music stops.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t, um. I.” She struggles to make a sentence. The boy at the piano had disappeared.
“You look lost, new student?” He gave a ginger smile.
“Yes sir.”
“May I see your entry form?” The man puts forth a hand. She hands him the paper that she had folded in her pocket. “You need to be on the third floor.” He hands the paper back to her.
“Uh. Thank you.” She wonders back done the hallway. The man smiles as she evaporates into the light from the foyer.
“You noticed it?” He turns back facing into the room. The boy sits on a barstool leaning on the bar counter.
“You’d have to be stupid not to. Only question is, how long will she last?”
