Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 28: Dizzy

Lorelei's room was on the first floor. Dawn had never been to it, but she knew that much. She didn't expect to have any trouble finding it: considering how much of the first floor was taken up with the common room and kitchen, there shouldn't be too many doors to choose from. In fact, it was even easier to find Lorelei than she had thought; both RAs had large whiteboards by their doors with their names painted at the top. She saw Charlie's first, but Lorelei's was just across the hall. She hesitated a moment before knocking, but decided that whatever happened when she asked, she had to know. Hopefully Lorelei would remember Annie, but if not, at least Dawn could be confident that she was the only one.

"Just a minute!" she heard from inside once she'd knocked, then the clicking of high heels. The door opened and Lorelei looked out. "Hi, Dawn!" she said. "What's going on?"

She took a deep breath. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course," said Lorelei, opening the door wider. "Come on in." Dawn followed her inside, shutting the door behind her. Lorelei sat down on a slightly shabby brown couch and patted the other end of it. "You're not having roommate problems already, are you?"

Dawn sat down slowly, shaking her head. "That's not it. Uh, do you remember what happened last night?"

"Last night?" Lorelei paused for a moment, thinking. "I'm not sure what you mean."

She clutched the edge of the couch. This couldn't be happening. Lorelei had known something last night, or at least thought she did. How could she have forgotten now? "Annie. What happened to her?"

Lorelei's face remained blank for a moment, then understanding slowly illuminated her face. Dawn took a quick, sharp breath. Did someone else remember? Was she not crazy after all? "Annie! Of course," Lorelei said. She shook her head as though trying to clear it of something. "I forgot about her, didn't I? How could I let that happen?"

Dawn let go of the couch as relief washed over her, leaving her almost as dizzy as she'd felt when Salome had claimed to not remember Annie. "No one else seems to remember, either," she whispered. "Just me."

"Of course," said Lorelei slowly, giving Dawn an odd, penetrating look. As if she was being the odd one--what kind of a thing was that to say? She would never have expected anyone else to forget what had happened. Lorelei sighed. "And of course now it's night again, so it's too late." She stood up and walked over to her desk, rummaging in a drawer until she found a pack of sticky notes. She scribbled something on the top one and stuck it to the front of her desk. "There. I wrote myself a note. Now I won't forget. I can get Annie in the morning."

Dawn stood up. "Are you sure?" she asked anxiously.

"Absolutely," Lorelei said firmly, leading Dawn to the door. Dawn wasn't so sure, but she'd done what she could about it. "Don't worry about a thing, Dawn. Good night."

"All right. Good night, Lorelei. See you tomorrow." She allowed herself to be led out the door and walked away slowly down the empty hall, made even quieter than usual by the carpet that only the first floor had. Tomorrow, everything would be back to normal. She hoped.