I continued to hum to a song on the radio as I drove the winding road, sometimes admiring the green slopes out my window. I couldn’t have been more tired-but more so, I couldn’t have been more confused as to why my university had a dorm building so far from campus. All the way out here, away from the normal buzz of life, no matter how small a town it was. Just one building. And with just my luck, I’d been assigned to it since there were no more vacancies in the other seemingly safer dorms.

Perhaps I should have enrolled earlier…right. Or maybe my life-long streak of bad luck was far from over.

I blinked exhaustedly, trying not to think about how difficult it was going to be for me to live away from a grocery store, let alone the actual university. But it wasn’t too hard to do as soon as I took a turn and, in the far distance, I saw it. A tall, brick, fortress looking building with menacing square windows. Though the sky was bright and a perky blue, there was a circling vortex of dark clouds above the building….and above the building only. With my windows down, I felt the change in temperature. Cold wind instead of the stiff humid breeze I’d grown accustomed to for the last five hours.

Not able to tear my eyes from the unnatural phenomenon, a chill went down my spine as I sped on.  ‘Welcome home’ whispered into my head; for some reason, it had the opposite effect of a hospitable feeling for me.

This was not home. Nonetheless, I shrugged to shake off the weird gut wrenches, I would tolerate it.

*****

My battered old yellow Camaro chugged up the steep hillside. When I’d finally made it to the top in one piece, I straight away tugged on a sweater I thought I wouldn’t need for a few more months and set to work piling my things into my new place. Small, in need of certain repairs, but doable. I was just grateful that it was pretty much already furnished.

The evening came quickly, sooner than I had hoped. Curled up in bed, I finished my cup soup and turned out the light. I lay there thinking about the norm, what any 20 something year old college student would think if she left behind everything she was familiar with for something new and unpredictable. My legs huddled up against my body, trying to keep myself warm from the frosty air. I grimaced. Of course the building would be old. Drafty.  Yet then again, whoever heard of wintery breezes in the middle of a baking summer?

I smeared away the tear that had escaped. My eyes continued, as they did for the last hour, to penetrate the moonlit, almost ethereal world outside my window. No, I was going to be strong. My coming here had substantial purpose, right? Right. Absolutely.

Yawning, I closed my heavy eyes.

*****

Though I didn’t think I would, I quickly got accustomed to my life here. Back and forth I went. It was frustrating a lot of times. I thought I’d develop hyperthermia between the freezing weather at the dorm and the hot stickiness everywhere else. But amazingly…I’m fine. Being independent most of your life does that to you I guess. You can adapt on a different planet.

But…I’ve been here for a week now. Haven’t seen any other students yet, though there are always cars parked. At first I thought nothing of it- who ISN’T busy as a college student? Then I noticed I neither saw anyone leave or come-no matter what time of day. And there’s no way I could miss EVERYONE with my  scattered schedule. Plenty of people stayed here. Sometimes I heard voices. Laughter. Sometimes, on a desperate whim, I went outside in the middle of the night to “catch” these mysterious neighbors. No one there. And the voices always vanish…

Unlike those clouds though. It seemed they and the creepy building were a package deal. Threatening rain all the time with lighting and thunder, yet never letting a drop go. I’d ask around about it…if I ever saw anyone. Maybe people on campus knew…?

What a really weird place…

*****

My mother and grandparents were in town. I was slipping out in my Sunday best and locking the door when another door opening down the way caught my eye. Carefully I watched….two guys. A black guy pushing someone in a wheelchair…when the handicapped individual turned to me, my heart nearly stopped. He was Asian, and though he wasn’t smiling, he was beautiful. Obviously, the other guy stopped chatting when he noticed his friend wasn’t listening anymore. Suddenly my face was hot in the chill.

“H-hello.”

The beautiful boy only smiled slightly while his more able friend was more verbal. “Hi there! You must be new.”

“I am,” I laughed softly. What he didn’t have for his friend’s looks, he made up with charm. I could already see he was the immediate bubbly type. “Been here a week.”

“Really? Wow. Can’t believe we haven’t seen you yet!” I almost said I could say the same for everyone else who lived here but I caught myself. He smiled wider. “What’s your name?”

“Alexandria.”

The Asian guy’s look intensified. As if my name somehow excited him… Nonsense girl

“Keith.” He gestured to the other guy. “And this is Kwang. We’ve been here for a year.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said politely. To my surprise, Kwang nodded at me and spoke in a deep voice. “Welcome.”

“T-thank you.”

Our conversation went in that fashion –me, nervous and awkward; Keith, warm and talkative; and Kwang, withdrawn and thoughtful. His eyes never left me, even as I had to end the meeting with the fact that I was going to be late to my luncheon. Keith rang that we should hang together some time as I climbed into my car, and I hollered back that that would be nice. Hitting the road, I couldn’t help but feel giddy about my new friends…or maybe friend. Kwang let off an odd vibe I couldn’t decipher, and I knew it had nothing to do with him being mentally off. Maybe he thought I was weird and was only forcing himself to be nice-Keith was definitely more sincere.  I thought about what their relationship might be among other things….yet the thing that suddenly stood out to me the most was what I’d vaguely noticed before I took off.

Kwang’s legs were horridly twisted and thin. I’d never seen anything like it.

A lump formed in my throat. If he wasn’t born like that then I…I wonder…

Poor guy. Maybe he thought I was staring at him because of his handicap. I could see why he’d act like that…

That is what I convinced myself as I zoomed down the forest sided highway.

*****

Keith and Kwang quickly became everyday acquaintances. And while I found myself joining them in almost all my spare time, I noticed that after our first meeting, I started to see the rest of the students that lived in the building. It was odd….but stranger still was the fact that all of them…well…looked like outcasts. There was a Gothic couple that lived above me that didn’t speak to the others at all; a short Hispanic chick who dressed like a more youthful version of those gypsies that you saw at traveling carnivals. Some dude –though sweet as pie- who resembled Quasimodo. I hated to say it, but I think Keith, Kwang and I seemed to be the only normal ones there.

Kwang…well…I don’t know still. Even though we’ve been chilling with each other for the last couple of weeks, he still stares at me funny. Sometimes with a hint of a smile….sometimes with the hint of a sadistic smile. And sometimes with a look so hard, I start stuttering and end up leaving early.

I also noticed he seemed to be…really moody. Often while at their apartment, I witnessed sporadic arguments-usually about nothing. Kwang would throw something at Keith and Keith would take it up until the objects started to get harder; then forgetting I was there, they’d fight. I felt like there was more to it than what it seemed on the surface. But then I tried to convince myself once more that maybe Kwang was in a lot of pain and was depressed about his state; he was just (unhealthily) taking his frustrations out on the only person who was around all the time. Keith his caretaker…boyfriend…still didn’t know about that either. I hadn’t seen them kiss or do the things couples normally do to show they were together. At first I thought that they didn’t do it because of me. Yet the Goth couple showed some indication so... I don’t know.

Besides all that, I was happy to be with them. Still was homesick, but at least I wasn’t lonely anymore. They treated me like family. Keith helped me with my dorm repairs. We baked together, shopped, ran errands for and with each other, went to the movies; I even had some of their classes. When Kwang wasn’t being creepy, he was actually nice to have around. Sure was handy to have around when I did laundry; he folded better than most people knew how and even better, held interesting conversation to pass the time. At one point I thought he was going to tell me about his legs but the phone rang, interrupting the anticipative silence. When I’d hung up with the person on it, he’d already come up with a new subject. I was surprised that I was actually disappointed.

It was on that day, as I escorted him out for the night, that I noticed someone standing up on the balcony a few floors above Keith and Kwang’s place. He wore all black clothes with a hoodie that completely shielded his face. Hands stuffed in his pockets and….I couldn’t see his face, but something in my stomach told me he was staring at us. He was so stiff and unsettling that he reminded me of the Grim Reaper; I tore away from him and subtly picked up the pace. When I questioned a concentrated Keith on the Xbox, he vaguely said he didn’t know who that was either and  he’d never seen him before, just like me.

After seeing the mysterious guy that evening, I started seeing him every day. When he wasn’t on the balcony, he was in the laundry room at the same time as I and Kwang (what for though; seemed like he wore the same thing every day) or was just coincidently around when I was. Never at school though. He never spoke. Only stared at me from that black void of his hood.

I thought him the strangest out of all who lived at the dorm on the hill.

I decided that one less neighbor as a friend was alright.