Rooming with the Wicked

1 | home sweet home

If luck was a playing field, I'd be so far out of bounds that you'd need thermal imaging binoculars to find me. And even if you did miraculously spot me, I'd probably be stuck in a ditch somewhere, passed out.

Curling my fingers around the broken handle of my suitcase, I took a deep breath. Of course, it had to break today all of days. In a building where the elevator looked about as safe as a rusty mineshaft lift straight out of Silent Hill. And where was my dorm? Right, on the third floor.

My left thumb touched the s-shaped scar on my right wrist. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a teeny tiny bit. But a deathtrap was still a deathtrap, right? Right.

So, it was either taking my chances with this metal box from hell or hauling my suitcase up two flights of stairs and then barging into my new dorm room reeking of sweat and desperation. A normal person might think that's an absolute no-brainer, but newsflash, I wasn't normal—well, my bad luck wasn't anyway. Challenging fate usually ended badly for me.

Then again, elevators didn't just break. I spied some sort of laminated maintenance checkup list on the back wall. The last entry was dated two weeks ago, so I should be safe. Even if something happened, these things had safety measures, like emergency breaks or whatever, right?

A low creak sounded from somewhere far above me as I stepped inside. Not exactly reassuring, but maybe this thing just needed some oil. I'd just dragged my suitcase over the threshold when the elevator dropped a couple of inches.

Nuh-uh. Nope.

I hopped over my suitcase, the tip of my sneaker nearly getting caught on the broken handle, and landed not so gracefully on the concrete just outside of this deathtrap. The moment my suitcase joined me, the elevator rose to its normal height again, almost like it was mocking me. Scared? it seemed to creak sardonically as the doors slowly shut in front of me. The defiant part of me wanted to try my luck purely out of spite.

Fortunately, my rational—and sane—side won.

At least the stupid suitcase wasn't particularly heavy and lugging it up two flights of stairs was probably doable without pulling a muscle. Maybe I should thank Ri for cutting up half of my clothes last week. Less baggage and all. Bet that would throw her off.

I pushed through the heavy fire door and found myself in the empty stairwell. Nice. Everyone should be either in class or out for lunch. Being the grade-a genius that I was, I'd planned this out perfectly. Encounter absolutely no one in the building and then stealthily move in, preferably without meeting any of my new roommates. I'd deal with them later. Moving in during the semester was awkward enough already, I didn't need to be seen lugging my feeble belongings through an unfamiliar dorm like some reject. Because I wasn't. A reject anyway.

What I hadn't planned on? My suitcase breaking before I even made it upstairs. By the time I stumbled through the door to floor number three, I'd only lost my hold twice and it had only slid back down the stairs one of those times.

Be positive.

Positive, my ass. This whole thing was bullshit. There was absolutely nothing positive about having to move out of my old dorm. Well, except for being able to cut ties with a trio of fake friends that wanted nothing more than to watch me crash and burn. But the jury was still out on that until I met my new roommates. There was no way they could be worse, right?

Dragging the stupid suitcase down the hall took me another minute or two, but then I was finally standing in front of my new home. I took a deep breath and just stared at the red dorm room door with the white number three hundred thirty-seven painted in the middle.

Home sweet home.

A small gray smudge on the second three caught my eye. I bit my lip to refrain from reaching out and rubbing it off. Backpack slung over my shoulder and suitcase sort of in hand, I used my free hand to insert my brand new keycard into the slot right below the doorknob. An annoying beep accompanied by a bright green light and a soft click confirmed that I had indeed found the right room. Taking another deep breath, I turned around and pushed through the door backward while using both hands to pull my suitcase with me.