The Hall Speaks #fallsemester

Dr. Jekyll vs. Mr. Hyde

#Alana

Alana and Carly were still doing fire walks two hours later. To keep students under control, they encouraged them to stay in their rooms until the lights came on. Most of the residents complied, though they laughed at Alana and Carly—probably because Carly's hair had poofed out like a Chia Pet and her glasses made her eyes look cartoonishly large.

They had just approached the first floor when the lights flickered a few times, causing a strobe effect. Then the lights miraculously stayed on. Alana adjusted her eyes, the light almost blinding. Feeling relieved, Alana already couldn't wait to get back to her room, and Carly looked like she could sleep the rest of the semester. Before they could leave each other's sight, however, Alana's phone rang.

Carly grimaced with a groan.

Alana reached for her phone in the back pocket of her jean shorts. She recognized the number.

"Jesse," whispered Alana regretfully to Carly. She felt her stomach knot; Carly looked like she was about to quit on the spot.

Alana touched the screen of her phone. "Hi Jesse, is everything okay?"

"Hey, you all may want to come to the desk. There's a guy outside and I think he's a student—whoa, he just fell. He's wasted, his face is bleeding. Can you all come check it out?" requested Jesse.

"Yeah, we'll be there in a few," agreed Alana, rubbing her brows.

Carly stared at Alana, studying her face for answers. "What? What's wrong?" she asked, both interested and irritated.

Alana explained the situation to Carly as they headed down the hallway to the front desk. The lobby was almost completely empty; the lights must have caused the rambunctious students to disappear like roaches. Jesse was the only one remaining. He sat behind the front desk, staring intently through the glass lobby doors.

"Jesse, is he still here?" asked Alana. Carly nudged Alana on the arm as she too looked outside. She pointed, and Alana's eyes followed.

Alana gasped softly as she caught view of the person holding Carly and Jesse's attention. Just outside the doors was a young man dressed in dark jeans and a polo shirt, nice clothes that were now disheveled. He was currently sitting on the side of the brick entryway. He looked like a student, but Alana wasn't sure. Blood was gushing from his nose, and it looked like someone had taken red paint and splattered it all over his pink shirt.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what ya'll wanna do," said Jesse, his eyes fixated on the man. FDWs weren't really trained to confront hall violations.

"Carly, let's go see if he's all right—we can call the pro-staff if we need to," said Alana.

"All righty, I'll let you do the talking," stated Carly as she followed Alana out the lobby doors.

As they approached the student, he seemed oblivious to their presence, almost lost. Alana was the first to speak.

"Excuse me, I'm one of the RAs here. Are you okay? You're—" She stopped abruptly, a metallic smell attacking her thought process. "There's a lot of blood," said Alana in a soft, caring tone.

The student looked up at Alana, expressionless. He didn't answer. Alana's mouth fell open slightly as she recognized the student. It was Shandi's resident, Levi, the friendly resident that half the staff met in Sebastian's during move-in. Confused; Alana took a deep, steady breath. Levi was the last person she expected to see like this. She glanced back at Carly, who looked like she was bored. Maybe she'd seen tons of drunken guys considering Patrick was a frat boy. No biggie, her expression said.