Covered Correspondence

Chapter 35

New update! The weekend is in sight! Hang in there people! Your Faithful Writers-Steve~Lewis-
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I glanced down at the little USB stick in my fingers that Theodore had given me. What precious data was in it? Or, was there anything at all in it? Maybe cheesy cat videos. Was it possible that Theodore hadn't had a sane moment at all?
     Buzz.
     Buzz.

I felt the little alarm on my pager off. For some reason I had the natural instinct to say: "Five more minutes, Dad," as I pulled it out of my pocket. The little screen read: "Marker,"

I paused: was Chase mocking my name or something? Then I continued:  "we're in dorms 6b and 7b." I squinted at the tiny words. Why couldn't they make the words bigger or something?
     Man, I thought randomly, Philmore would need to put on his glasses to be able to read that. He has glasses. I smirked, when suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by an annoying squeaking of wheels.
     "I love it when young men smile," an old lady said, pushing a cart down the hall. "It just brightens my day. I feel like so many young children are just so dark these days." I stared at her in confusion. That was exactly what my Dad would always say.
     'Children are never happy anymore,' he said one day at the dinner table. Phill had made BLTs for dinner. 'They just sit around and dwell on the bad things.'
    
     "Have a nice day young man!" The old lady smiled. "Ah...sure," I said. I shook my head. Where did all these thoughts of home come from? I had barely given a second to consider Dad and Philmore's lives without me. I shuddered. A life without me? Mark Brenner? That's a dark world.
     Finally, I reached rooms 6b and 7b. I assumed one was for Piper and one for the rest of us guys, but which was which? I listened at the door. Nothing made a noise so I moved to the next one. Still nothing.
"What the heck?!" I shifted back to the first door. How could I even get into one of the rooms? No one had given me a key! All I could do was knock, but which door should I knock on? I didn't want to interrupt on Piper watching TV and then have her beat me up or something. Glancing down, I noticed the crack beneath the door. A bright yellow light leaked through it into the dark hallway, meaning SOMEBODY was in there.
The more I stared at the crack, the more I noticed it was big enough for me to look through.
     You've got to be kidding me, I thought, I can't believe I'm going to do this. I looked around carefully and then knelt beside the door. Giving one last glance around to make sure nobody was watching me, I made my decision, leaned down and looked through the crack. I saw feet. Several feet. Three pairs. Two pairs were clad in dark dress shoes, the other was smaller and in black flats with little black bows on the toes. This had to be it. I stood, completely prepared to knock on the door. Then I realized how still the hall was. I felt like if I knocked it would sound like a bomb exploding in the hall that was so silent, it was creepy. It might wake someone up, I thought as I glanced at my watch. It was one twenty-three in the morning. Hesitantly (I'm ashamed to say) I, Mark Brenner, once again, lay beside the door and whispered: "Piper! Fynn! Chase! Let me in!" No one answered the door. I started to panic and my whispers got louder. When suddenly I heard foot steps from down the hallway. It sounded like a bunch of feet marching, fast. I remembered the men in black uniforms and my heart rate instantly speed up. How did I forget about them? I stood up and pressed my back to the door.
     Slam!
     I began to tumble backwards as the door opened quickly, but I found my balance somehow.
"MARK! Get in here!" I felt the collar of my itchy dress shirt being dragged into the room.