Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 29: Fog

Saturday, August 30

Edie awoke to a blinding light coming in through her window--even through the blinds, which she'd pulled down all the way and closed as far as they could go. She rubbed her eyes to clear them of sleep, then crawled onto her knees to look around. Corrie wasn't there, and the room's fluorescent light was off. The light was definitely coming in through the window. She rubbed her eyes again, then pulled up the blinds and looked out.

Below her, starting a floor or two down, was a sea of white. The sun was reflecting off of it, causing the blinding light that had woken her. This must be the fog they'd been warned about. Edie stared down at it, her mouth partway open. It was so thick she couldn't see the ground. Did it look so thick from inside? At least it was a fairly low fog; the top couple of floors of Gilkey were free of it, and she could see the tops of a few of the other dorm buildings, looking much closer than they normally did. Everything was so clear in this fog. From her window, it appeared ringed about with darkness. She hadn't realized before how tall the trees in the forest were. It was almost as though the trees were holding the fog in. The thought made her shudder, but she quickly dismissed it. Her imagination was just running wild because she was still sleepy.

As she climbed down from her chair and began to get dressed, she wondered where her roommate was. Still on her morning run? She hoped she was all right. From here the fog looked impenetrable, but she didn't know whether it was the dangerous fog that Mark, the security officer, had warned them about. He'd said that they would have messages left on their phones, but she hadn't bothered to set hers up yet, so she couldn't check. Surely Corrie would have checked her messages and not gone out if the fog had been too dangerous, though? Then again, she might have forgotten to check, or even gotten up before the messages were sent.

Thankfully, before Edie could work herself up into a frenzy, she heard a key turning in the door and Corrie came in, her face and hair damp. "Wow! They're not kidding about that fog," she said.

"Have you seen it from up here?" Edie asked.

Corrie shook her head, grabbing a towel out of her closet, which she used to dry her face. "I glanced at it and checked my messages before I left, but didn't take a good look. Why, is it pretty?" Edie nodded and gestured toward the wall with the windows. Corrie climbed up on her own bed and opened the window. "Wow," she breathed, clutching the towel. "That's crazy! You can't even see the ground! It wasn't quite so bad from inside, but it was still pretty hard to see where I was going. I stuck to the paths--the emergency lights really did help."

Edie sat down on her bed, relieved. "What did the message say?"

"They said if today had been a school day, morning classes would have been canceled, but as it is they're keeping all the upperclassmen who are trying to move in today in town. They think the fog will clear by the afternoon, though."

Keeping the upperclassmen in the town? That seemed wrong. "Is there no fog in the town? You'd think they'd have to stop along the highway or something."

Corrie shrugged and climbed down from her bed. "I guess the college is in a valley. It is, though, isn't it? The fog in town just isn't as bad. Well, I'm all damp and gross from that fog, so I'm going to have a shower."

Edie shrugged and pulled out her knitting. Between repeats of the lace pattern on her sock, she kept glancing out the window. After a while the fog did seem to have thinned somewhat. Now she could see the shadowy forms of the academic buildings and the lower parts of the other dorms. She still couldn't see anything on the ground. She sighed and put down the knitting, unable to concentrate. Was the college really in a valley? She hadn't noticed that the walk out to meet Corrie's mom had been uphill. But then, Corrie would know better than her. Too bad she didn't really know anyone across the hall; she would ask to look out their window and see if they could see the gates from where they were.