the Roommate

Our roommate was Different. 

We couldn't think of what made them Different, only that they were now, and it made us uncomfortable. There was something in their eyes that had not been there earlier that day. They smiled a little wider than they should've. And, worst of all, they looked directly at the Void.

They came into our room and instead of looking at us or rolling their eyes at the wall of posters we were leaning against, they looked right above, right into its deepest nothingness, and smirked. They smirked. I glanced back at it as it growled with unease. Nothing's more concerning than something that can make my Void uneasy just by looking at it. The Roommate just stood there, holding eye contact (or whatever the alternative would be). I tried to do our work without them noticing us too much, but I was silently yelling at us to get up, do something, dammit. I sat and acted productive and waited for them to leave. 

The second they walked out the door I threw our computer into its bag and bolted. We checked down both ends of the hall and the Roommate was nowhere to be seen. I freaked out for a second before I could convince us to run to the stairs. 

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"What are you talking about?" Joan laughed. "How could he be different? I saw him this morning and he was fine. He helped me with that dumb Cal II stuff."

I shook our head hard enough to make our hair messy. "I swear to you there is something wrong with him."

She raised an eyebrow, not taking us seriously. "And what, exactly, do you think is so wrong with him?"

We leaned closer to her so no one else could hear. "It's not him anymore," we whispered. 

Joan scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay." 

"Really, I swear, this is someone, something else taking his place for some reason!"

She looked us dead in the eyes. "I don't know what you're trying to do here, but it's getting old. There's no reason anyone would have to try and...try and replace him. You should be able to think that through and realize how dumb it sounds." 

We stood, feeling like she had just slapped us. You know she's right, I thought. This is the dumbest thing you've come up with so far. 

But you know what we saw! I retorted. There was definitely something...off. 

Well, what are we supposed to do about it? Go back and ask them "Hey, what are you, and what did you do with our roommate? Why are you making the Void uncomfortable? How are you making the Void uncomfortable?!" I snapped back. 

You know what? I intervened. Maybe. Maybe that's exactly what we're gonna do. And if they're not there, maybe the Void could give us something. 

I was nodding when I realized Joan hadn't left like we thought she had. Instead, she was giving us this weird look. "Hello?" she waved her hand in front of our face. "Where did you go? It's not polite to directly ignore someone like that, you know."

It's not polite to call us "dumb", either, I wanted to say, but I held it back. "Sorry."

"I was just saying...I don't know how on Earth you got this idea stuck in your head but I was thinking...I was thinking it wouldn't hurt to help you out...somehow." She pressed her lips together so that they made a flat line and sighed. "I don't know what you expected me to do about this or what, if anything, you've planned to do about it, but I guess since you came and told me before anyone else, I'll help." Joan let her head fall slightly to one side and gave a small smile. 

We didn't really have much of a plan besides going back to the room. We were hoping they weren't there again. But now, we were really needing our real Roommate to stay wherever he was, because this might be the last time Joan helped us out. 

We smiled back.