Blessed by the Dead

Chapter 3

The girl standing in front of me has beautiful black curls, sun-kissed skin and an empire dress covered in strawberries, my roommate.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know I was supposed to have a roommate but I didn't realize you would already be here- or rather, I assumed I would be the first one to arrive. Sorry again. I hope I didn't scare you too much!" I babble uselessly, I wonder if she already thinks that I'm annoying.

And yet she smiles, relieved.

"Oh, no worries." She extends her hand to me, welcoming a handshake. "I'm Colette Bellegarde."

I take her hand into mine. We shake hands as I introduce myself in turn.

"I'm Helga Van Kerkhof... French?"

She lets go and keeps smiling at me.

"Yeah, with some Congolese roots... Dutch?"

I nod.

"Yeah. My father is Dutch and my mother is Belgian. Oh but, I've never lived here. You?"

"The only time I came to Belgium was for a school trip 5 years ago... We saw the statue of that pissing kid, wanna go have a look around the city one of these days? Together I mean."

"Oh- Sure! Yeah."

I've already seen that silly little fountain. I wonder who thought it was a good idea to have it be a monument.

I look around the room, Colette's already unpacking. In fact her desk looks ready, in addition to pencils, sketchbooks and notebooks with flower motifs, there are 5 little potted plants sitting on the desk and I wonder how she has managed to carry them all the way from France to here. Additionally, I worry over the fact that my presence could accidentally shorten the lifespan of these cute burgeons. Despite my skilled hands, funnily enough, I've never been good at caring for plants, or rather, my touch is somehow good at killing them rather than keeping them alive. Same for pets, the hamsters and budgies we got died a couple of months after we got them. Death and me go hand to hand, possibly. Or maybe it's my dad's fault for being a graveyard keeper. Regardless, I can't really fault him for his job.

Both of our beds are in mid-air, our desk space sitting under them. I'm not sure how I feel about sleeping on a bunk bed but it must not be so bad. I hope. The chairs have leathered cushions on them and the wood smells of old too. In fact, all the furniture here looks old and refined in the best way possible. So despite the renovations, it seems like they've kept the dormitory's classical style as is.

I pull out my phone to take a picture, but before I do, I feel the need to explain myself.

"This is for my mom. Sorry, I can keep your space out of it if you want."

Colette immediately leaves the frame, placing herself behind me and looking over my shoulder.

"Oh no problem. I don't mind, in fact I did the same earlier."

I snap a few pictures and before I can send them, Colette cuts in.

"Let's take a selfie! You know, to commemorate or whatever."

I nod and attempt a smile but I very rarely take pictures of myself. Instead, my phone is full of pictures of sunrises, sunsets and other scenery shots I found to be beautiful. Never having been the one to take a selfie with someone else in the frame, my hand trembles a bit and I'm suddenly unsure on how to even hold my phone, what angle to take the picture from. Colette notices and nudges me lightly.

"Want me to take it? I'm a bit taller so it'll be easier for me. I'll give you my contact info as well so send it to me immediately, okay?"

"Ah, of course."