Dark Night

Not the best start to spring break

I quickly made up two beds in one room of the suite with our clean sheets and towels. The pillows were still a little damp and I thought we'd have to put them back in the dryer here, but then thought again and smelled them carefully. Scratch that. We were going to need new ones. I put them into bags and tossed them before I changed into my own clothes so that Carmen could return the ones I'd borrowed briefly from Fiona and went down to the lobby to wait for Serafina. I was looking through messages on my phone when I heard my name. Looking up, I saw John with his girlfriend.

"Hey, Leia, what's up?" he asked, smiling, and introduced his girlfriend Jenna.

I sighed. "So I came back from my calc final this morning--"

"How'd that go?" he interrupted.

"Good, I think, at least there wasn't anything that I didn't recognize," I said, cheering slightly. "I get back to the room and it's filled with smoke. Gail let her boyfriend and his buddy hang out while she was gone--gave them the combination to the door lock, in fact--and they'd been smoking pot apparently for a good long time. So I stomp out to get an RA to deal with this and when we get back, Serafina's on the floor and one of our hall mates is injecting her with an Epipen. Apparently she's really allergic to pot. So the ambulance came and took her to the hospital, our room is being treated as a biohazard, and we've been put here in an empty room while they decontaminate it."

"Holy shit," Jenna said.

"Leia, are you ok?" John asked urgently. "Is there anything I can do?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine, I'm just so pissed. The second dipshit was sprawled out on my bed, leaking rainwater and mud onto my comforter. My roommate could have been killed. But everybody on our hall couldn't have been nicer. They took our dry cleaning and immediately put things in the laundry. Serafina's on her way back, she's been released from the hospital, so I thought I'd meet her down here."

"The silk comforter your grandpa got for you in China during the Olympics?" John asked, and I nodded.

"I live in this dorm. If there's anything I can do today, let me know," Jenna said. "I'm going home tomorrow for break, but I'm sure Marta, one of my roommates, will also help if you need anything."

"I appreciate it," I said, trying to smile. "It's too bad that you're going home, though. We're planning a party on the beach later next week. We went to one during Zero Week and it was a lot of fun."

"Maybe next time," she said.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do," John said. "I'll check in later."

"Thanks, John," I said, then Carmen and Serafina came in and I thanked the others before hustling over. We went up to our temporary room and Carmen didn't linger, taking Fiona's clothes with her and promising to check in before she also left for spring break. I updated Serafina on what was going on in our room and she scowled before unleashing a flood of profanities. I felt the same way, so I nodded along.

"So our laundry is here, everybody who was around helped, getting it done and brought over here, but our pillows still smell slightly. I'm afraid we're going to need new ones." That brought more cursing, then she stood up. And sat right back down.

"Shit. I don't have my wallet."

"I can cover it and you can pay me back later," I reassured her, grateful for the generosity of my brother once again.

"Can we go now?" she asked. "I've still got a lot of the epinephrine rocketing around and I'm probably going to need a nap when it wears off."

So we went to Target and picked up some pillows and some toiletries. Serafina was drooping and we finished as quickly as possible. She fell asleep as soon as we got back to the room. then I was left with new concerns as I looked at her sleeping. I went into the main room and called the hospital, explaining what had happened and if I needed to watch for anything.