I wake up on a small bed. Around me, the lights are dimmed, but the room is clearly white. It must be the infirmary. There seems to be no one here, which is strange. Nevertheless, I get up from the bed, grab my bookbag while I'm here, and look around in an attempt to find someone.
I can't believe that he threw something at me… Well, I can believe it, but still. I'll see him tomorrow in class so it shouldn't matter too much.
"Oh, you're finally up." I jut around to see whose behind me.
An extremely tall woman looms above me. She's dressed in a lab coat and wearing glasses similar to mine. "My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you there."
I fix my glasses. "You're fine. Um... Do you happen to be the nurse?"
She smiles at me, and I can feel her warmth radiate toward me. "I'm the doctor of the school. The nurses struggled to figure out what knocked you out, so they called me over."
I continue to look around as she talks to me. "Usually, it's a spell, but it was nightshade powder this time. A high-quality nightshade powder." My eyes catch the window. It's pitch black outside.
I look back toward her in shock. "How long was I out for?"
"Goodness, about seven hours. Powders and potions are not allowed on school premises; do you know who used it on you?"
I shake my head at her. It doesn't feel right to tell them it was Jiro. The doctor lady sighs but is quick to put a smile on her face again. "Alright. If you at all remember or find evidence as to who it was, please inform me."
"Yes, of course." Lying doesn't suit me. It makes my bones feel fragile as if one blow on them and my body would turn to dust.
She begins to walk away from me. "Wait!" It comes out louder than I expect. She raises her eyebrow at me. "I'm a new student here, and I was wondering where the dorms were."
"Oh yes! You're the boy from Queenbrook high."
I can feel my heart begin to race. Please don't mention the accident.
"My wife went to that high school. It's real sad what happened there last spring. You didn't get hurt in the accident, did you?"
I pause for a long while. "My best friend was killed." I keep my head aimed towards the ground.
"I'm sorry, hun. I know how hard it was for many people." she puts her hand on my shoulder.
Forcing a smile on my face, I look up at her. "It's fine. Anyway, the dorms."
"Yes, yes. The dorms."
She pulls out a wand from her coat pocket. As she mumbles words, she waves the wand around my left hand. Then she taps the top of my hand and puts the wand back into her pocket. My hand lights up in a soft glow. Not long after, a map appears on my hand. However, before I can look at it, it disappears.
"Was it supposed to do that?"
She nods her head. "The maps of the school grounds are now inside your head. Think about where you need to go, and just as if you already knew, the directions should come to you."
I think about where the dorms might be, and sure enough, the directions to them are as clear as day.
"Thank you."
"Sure, kid. Make sure that you watch your back around this school. There are still plenty of delinquents that might try to pick on a new kid like you." I nod my head and turn to leave the infirmary.
As I make my way to the dorms, I question if not telling the doctor lady that Jiro was the one who used nightshade on me. The conversation that he had with the teacher seemed as though he might be one of the delinquents the doctor lady was talking about.
Geez. I need to do a better job of remembering my superiors' names.
It didn't take too long to get to the dorms as they were only a building away from the infirmary. I shove my hands into my bookbag as I desperately look for the sheet of paper the principal gave me when I arrived here. I feel it being crushed underneath all my textbooks. As I pull it out, a small corner rips off. The paper itself is already wrinkled and torn in some places, even though it has only been with me for a day. I do the best I can to flatten it out to read.
My eyes skim over the paper until I find the section about my dorm. It's short in its description, only telling me the room number and a vague set of rules that I need to follow. I ignore the latter as I can always look at it later—room 133. At least I got a room on the first floor.
~~~
I unlock the door to my dorm. It's eleven at night, so I try not wake my roommate. I don't need to make enemies while I'm here. But, when I open the door, the lights are already on. Inside is a guy sitting at a desk vigorously writing.
The door creaks, and he quickly turns his head toward me. His hair is a bright red. However, the most alarming thing about him is that he's naked.
"Roommate!" He jumps up from his seat. My eyes immediately look at his dick, and he follows along with me. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. I study better when I'm naked. I think it's because the fancy smart juices are in the air, and wearing clothes blocks them from entering your skin." I nod my head.
I got a crazy person for a roommate. He runs over to me, still naked. Being frozen from shock, I do nothing.
"The name is Merlin. Like the famous wizard, of course." He holds out his hand, waiting for me to shake it.
I look down at it, half expecting it to be covered in chip crumbs. Except it looks clean. I grab onto it firmly. "I'm Mako Sato."
Still holding onto my hand, he yanks me over to the center of the room. "I haven't had a roommate in a long time." I'm not surprised. "So when your boxes came in, I thought they were for me and opened them all."
"Oh, that's–"
"Then I thought it would be nice of me to put it away for you, so I did that."
"Thank you."
He lets go of my hand and falls back on the bed. "I can tell that we're gonna be great friends." Merlin half sits up. Before I can respond to him, he begins talking again, "So are you gay or something?"
"What?" Why would he ask something like that?
"Well, I saw a picture of you and some guy you clearly had a crush on. Plus, when I shook your hand, I read your memories."
My heart sinks. He knows everything. I yank him up from the bed. "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you."
He doesn't look fazed at all. "Relax, sweetheart, I like men too. I don't out people."
"I'm not talking about that." He glances at me in a more serious tone.
"I know what you were talking about." He pushes my hand away and gets up from the bed. "I'm a keeper of secrets, not a teller."
He picks up a pair of grey sweatpants and slides them over his legs. Then he makes his way back over to me. As he leans closer, I feel compelled to move; however, I don't.
"You've got a lot to learn, Mako." His whisper tickles my ear. Then, as he backs away from me, he sweeps a lock of my grey hair to the side. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning, sweetheart."
He throws one of his pencils at the light switch, hitting it perfectly to shut off the lights. The room goes black, and only the sound of him thudding onto his mattress tells me that he has gone to bed.
I slide my bookbag off my shoulder and onto the floor. Then, using my hand, I grab onto the bed's railing and slowly make my way to my mattress. I plop down onto the sheets, struggling to get comfy with my school clothes still on.
Merlin has already fallen asleep as his snores fill the small room. I sit in the dark silence in fear of the memories Merlin might find.