The Hall Speaks #fallsemester

Serenity Manor

#Landon

By the following evening all of the move-in and orientation festivities had come to a close. It was the first weekend of the school year, and Landon needed a break, a little separation of his own. That Saturday night he grabbed a small suitcase from his closet, packed a few clothes and headed for his front door. He was planning to venture out to his favorite getaway spot.

As he walked through the lobby, he noticed that it was starting to look as it would for the next several months. Students were lounging on the furniture, catching up on the latest gossip or texting. As he approached the front desk there stood the random student talking to the front desk worker. The scene was typical, and one that he could expect every day no matter the hour.

"Hi Landon, you headed out?" asked Jody, eagerly trying to get Landon's attention by standing up.

"Yes," he waved, walking through the exit before anyone could stop him with a question.

He strolled through the parking lot towards his black BMW convertible. Students were piling into cars, getting ready to travel to parties. Girls were dressed in high heels and miniskirts and guys were dressed in slacks and collared shirts. Landon held his head down slightly, trying to ignore the teen dream scene.

"Hey sexy!" yelled out a girl wearing a tight black and white dress. "You headed to that frat party? We have room for one more if you just want to ride with us," she added, gawking at Landon.

Landon looked up briefly to see if the question was, in fact, for him. He saw that she was still staring.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm headed somewhere else tonight," he replied, trying not to be rude, but avoided looking at her.

"Oh, well, we should hook up sometime then!" she insisted.

Landon felt his ears burn with frustration. "I don't think so," he said, shaking his head slightly.

Another girl gently shoved her friend on the arm.

"What?"

"He's a faculty member, and you're not hooking up with him!"

The female student held a perplexed expression for a few seconds before she mumbled, "Oh, wow... I thought—"

"Come on, let's go already," her friend said, cutting her off.

"Be safe, ladies," said Landon as he got into his car.

The moment felt surreal as he drove off campus. After working for a whole month with literally no days off, Landon felt a sense of relief to be leaving campus for the night. He was on his way to visit his older sister Lizzie, short for Elizabeth, who conveniently lived a few blocks away from campus. Her husband, Tim, was in the military and had been stationed in the Hampton Roads area for several years now. Tim was out of the country on deployment, and Landon looked after his sister, niece and nephew in the interim.

As Landon pulled up to Lizzie's Georgian estate, he noticed that the long brick driveway had been replaced by beautiful cobblestone with patterned tile throughout. Landon smiled. His sister was infamous for renovating when she was lonely, buying any little home décor to ease the pain from the hole that only Tim could fill. Landon knew Tim's absence made Lizzie temporarily irrational, but he didn't bother him. In a way it comforted him to know that his sister loved someone that much. He hoped to find that kind of love one day.

The house sat in a picturesque backdrop of large evergreens and oaks. Along the driveway were rows of butterfly bushes and purple lilacs which colored the landscape perfectly. The big Georgian house was three stories tall, brick-red and surrounded by five acres of woodlands that bordered a small lake. There was a quaint carriage house on the exterior of the property that Lizzie had remodeled especially for Landon. She knew how stressful his job and school could be and wanted him to have a tranquil place he could relax. On this night Landon wasn't stressed; he just needed to go to a place where he didn't have to be the supervisor, advisor, student or colleague. After a month of training he needed to get away and be Landon, just Lizzie's little brother.