It was the fall term and our freshie is a freshie no more, but for consistency, let’s just continue to call him Freshie. So Freshie is a sophie – short for sophomore, and now has a constant friend aside from his other friends – that being his roommate in the university dorm. He has moved out of his aunt’s residence as he has to put in more time to do his research papers requiring him to be closer to the library.
It is the second weekend after school started and he and his roommate had nothing else to do and they both didn’t like to lounge around the university premises nor at the bars around the area. Freshie decided to call up his aunt and asked if he could drop by for a visit to which his aunt excitedly said “Of course.” He also asked if he could bring along his roommate to which she said it wasn’t a problem. She told Freshie that his little cousin misses him and kept on asking why Freshie wasn’t staying with them anymore. Well, Freshie supposed it would be really cool to see his cousin again, though tiresome, and he missed him too. “Have dinner with us and sleep over tonight. Return to your dorm tomorrow.” An invite which Freshie accepted without hesitation.
It took Freshie and his roommate an hour-and-a-half to get to his aunt’s place. The door was opened by his little cousin, no longer that little anymore as he reached to almost Freshie’s chest, and he was only 7 years old. Little cousin bumped fists with Freshie and his roommate and then talked endlessly about his school and his new video games while leading both of them to the dining area. Freshie introduced his roommate to his aunt and uncle and his little cousin, and then all of them sat down to eat. Little cousin was still talking to Freshie asking him over and over why he was not living with them anymore.
Over dinner, still not answering his little cousin, Freshie and his roommate talked about their classes while his aunt and uncle asked about the new eating places in the area to which the family would, in the near future, be trying out.
Little cousin kept mumbling about not being part of Freshie’s life anymore and this time Freshie gave the little boy all of his attention. He and his roommate volunteered to clear and clean up after dinner and promised his little cousin that they will be spending the rest of the night together talking their voices out. Little cousin just nodded and went to the living room, picked up the visitors’ backpacks and brought these up to Freshie’s former room. “I expect a game after you two are finished in there.” demanded the little boy. The two visitors looked at each other and his roommate answered, “Sure, no problem.” “Great!” his little cousin replied.
Up to his former room Freshie and his roommate went and then after choosing who sleeps where, Freshie’s aunt came into the room to say that if they needed anything to just holler. At her heels little cousin came bounding into the room bringing with him all of his favorite and new video games to show Freshie and his roommate. “You can play solo on all of those.” Freshie told his cousin. “We’re not gonna play those.” he added. “I’d like you both to tell me stories about your dorm.” said the little boy. “What’s your interest in our dorm anyhow?” asked Freshie’s roommate. “Well,” answered the little boy, “Daddy said he had a classmate who lived there and he said that the whole building was haunted. His classmate told him a story about seeing a woman wearing a white dress walking past his dorm window. He first wondered how tall that woman was and then remembered that his room was at the second floor.” Freshie and his roommate were quiet for several minutes taking in this story from a kid who has not yet seen their dorm building. “So is it true? Have you seen the woman in white? Dad even told mom the story of his classmate about hearing somebody running down the hallway outside his room in the middle of the night and when he opened his door, nobody was there and all the lights were out. Isn’t that exciting? You could probably play ghost hunting there, right? Especially this Halloween.” Still the two friends were quiet. Freshie finally finding his voice changed the subject and asked “So how is it being a first grader?” His little cousin then talked endlessly about having a new friend, his experience of a fight – this with a girl, him bringing home the class pet turtle and then losing it in the yard. The little boy filled the entire night with his first-grade stories – playing games entirely forgotten.
The night of Sunday, Freshie and his roommate decided to buy two six-packs, one each, to drink themselves to sleep. Both wouldn’t want to admit that the little boy’s stories about their dorm scared them to death. They also weren’t looking forward to a visit from a woman in a white dress.
Freshie – 0, little boy – 3.
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