|| First Draft ||
Upon a college campus just outside Washington DC lies home to the people of tomorrow, who all live relatively everyday lives.
This narrative accompanies Poppy, Sawyer, Abigail, Jared, and Nadine as they go about their lives after...
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Jared Madden had been sharing a room with Harrison for forty-eight hours. They didn't talk much and were informed that parts of their Greek house would be open; this included Jared's room, which he was sharing with Ben, but like Hayden, he had no half-empty room with a dead roommate.
Jared preferred to spend time alone and found wandering around at five in the morning super calming. He always found himself heading towards the canal where he would spend much of his weekend's rowing, though, by its sound, the school had given up on rowing this season. Their team didn't win trophies like the swimmers of the basketball team, but they had a laugh, which was one of the most important things when it came to sport.
Jared sat on the bench, watching the sun taking its time to rise as we entered a new day. Jared's mind had been filled that it was a little hard to process, and it made it even harder for things like studying, but he just had to get through this week and then it was spring break, and that was all that mattered. He needed a break just like everybody here; we were all scared that two people had been killed in the space of a month, and the police had no idea where to look. By now, the police had called all Ben's and Hayden's friends in, but everyone had an alibi.
Hours could have passed, but in reality, only thirty minutes had passed when Jared's thoughts were interrupted by a boy. He stood in a long-sleeved black t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans, and without a word, he took the seat next to Jared. They sat in silence, staring at the canal.
Jared chose to break the silence. He shared a couple of classes with the boy next to him, they had spoken a handful of times, but they ran in different groups. He said.
"Why are you up so late?"
"Early." The guy replied; Jared was about to correct himself, but he answered the question anyway. "My parents call me every day before sunrise, hoping I will pray. They believe the devil corrupts me. If they don't answer, they stop giving me money. If they do, and I answer, they shout at me." Jared looked over at the guy; he didn't seem bothered by the whole thing. "I appear different because they are against drinking and being an American teenager." Jared laughed at this comment; although he didn't know the effects of some religious nuts, he knew his conclusion had grown up in a similar environment. His uncle was a reverend and treated the children the same. However, he changed a little bit after his teenage daughter came home pregnant at seventeen and decided that simply banning children from doing things puts them in the worst situations.
"I get that; my uncle did the same with my cousins; my oldest cousin is twenty with a four-year-old and working as a waitress in some small town in the middle of nowhere. My uncle tried to help her, but he wouldn't financially support her for her mistake. His words, not mine." Jared said, catching the experience of the boy next to him.
"My parents forced my sister to get an abortion, and they started saying they were against it. I play along because it makes things easier." Ahmed said neither of the two boys knew why they were sharing this, but they carried on telling the stories about how fucked up their families were until the sun started to rise.
When the sun was directly in their eyes, Ahmed decided to ask the question everyone had longed to ask Jared. "So who do you think killed Hayden then?" Jared didn't answer straight away. He had been thinking about this for a long time. When Sawyer had told him about his cheating ways, he was naturally amused it was one of the girls, but he had spoken to them all. Some of them didn't even know he was in a committed relationship, but it wasn't such a surprise with a campus this size. Other girls said they didn't care if he had a girlfriend, and everyone had an explanation for where they were the night he died.
"A lot of people didn't like him. Unless you were friends with him, he tends to annoy people. There is probably a long list of people who want him dead. A list of both personal and political. I know that the cops are interviewing many people to do with his dad. They are treating Ben as a separate case." Ben had been a problematic death to be dealing with, it was unexpected, and the dead body had been haunting his dreams. He never saw Haydn, stiff and lifeless, but Ben had been ripped apart. Ben had always been so good to him, and he was incredibly drawn to him.
"So, no idea?" Jared laughs at the comment, he knew he was fishing, but he had been used to it. He might not get it as much as Poppy or Sawyer. "That is kind of boring," Ahmed says, looking highly disappointed.
"Hayden was frustrating. I won't deny that there were times I would have happily strangled him." Jared pauses, licking his lips and going on saying. "But he looked out for his friends. There was an allure around being friends with him, which you don't see unless you are. He knows how to get what he wants and habitually collects favours. His word was law, but it always came with strings." Jared had said too much with those words and took the opportunity to clear his throat and get to his feet. "Look, I should probably try and get some sleep; otherwise, I won't be able to function later." Ahmed is so absorbed in his thoughts that he doesn't say anything as Jared walks away.
Jared wanted to talk to someone about Hayden, which is probably why he had said too much in those moments, but he knew what those around him thought. He knew he had the words murderer over his head, following him wherever he may go with no way to escape.
He was walking around the campus; some people had started rising for the new days while others were sleeping for the first time. It was a mixture of different people in different states. The athletes looked ready to run a marathon, while those who had been out all night were holding fries and other food types as they wandered to their bedrooms.
Jared pauses at Poppy's dorm room; he can hear Harrison snoring on the loud side of things. He didn't want to wake him because he wouldn't ever want someone to wake him in the early hours of the morning. He carefully creeps open the door and tiptoes in, wandering over to the bed and falling on it. The room was dimly light with the sunlight but still dark enough, so it was easy for him to slowly drift off to sleep and let the dreams take over him.
