Incident #1 - The Devoid Dormitory

College has officially started. You moved in a week ago, got your stuff arranged, dividing up the dorm with your roommate. You took the tours, learned how to get food at the various cafeterias, generally got the lay of the land. Then classes began. It was a bit of a whirlwind through the week as assignments and activities started to pile up. After the first week, you were given a few days to relax. Parties sprouted all over campus, mostly confined to Greek Row, the houses the sororities and fraternities used, but a few smaller shindigs at the different dorm buildings were available.

A loud banging knock wakes you up with a start. "Hall meeting starting now! First floor. Everybody needs to be there. Attendance is mandatory!" You recognize the voice you're Resident Assistant (R.A.), one of the non-freshmen who live in the building. They are older student students paid to serve as a point of contact for any questions or concerns students in the dorms may have. They lead your floor around the other day on one of the tours. As you wake you take in your surroundings. Something seems off

You know your roommate was planning to stay out late on Saturday. In the brief time you saw each other on Friday morning they told you they planned to go a little wild before settling in for the rest of the year of study. Greek Row was their destination, but specifically which one was unknown at that point, leaving up to "vibes" of the moment.

Then it hits you...your roommate is gone. Not only was their bed empty of a body, their side of the room is empty of all their stuff. No posters, no bedsheets, no desk lamps, no laptops, no stuffed animals. A quick look around the room shows their toiletries are missing and their closet is empty. Nothing remains to show any evidence that another person ever occupied this room with you. You may have gone out partying as well, but you didn't party so hard that you would have missed them packing up and leaving in the time since you fell asleep. It would have taken hours to do and not been a quiet job.

After dressing you exit your room and join the throng of students making their way to the stairs. Most of them are bleary eyed and seem confused. A few whisper to the person next to them, their own roommate you guess.

Once you are downstairs in the lobby you see Paul Bauer, the Resident Director (R.D.) of Gainer Hall conversing with the R.A.s off to one side. They all look concerned. Students take places on the couches, squeezing in where they can, but eventually it's standing room only. Once most of the residents appear to be there, Paul turns and addresses the gathering.

"Hello everyone. Thank you for coming down. I'm sorry to wake you so early on your first weekend, I know the first week can be stressful but we might have an issue here. This morning a few of your fellow residents came to my staff..."

Paul indicates the gathered R.A.s behind him.

"...with some disturbing claims that we need to get to the bottom of. They claim...that their roommate has vanished, as if they never existed. The thing is, we have no record of anyone with the names they have given us being assigned to this building, or even enrolling in this school. At this time we are asking if anyone else has met a student going by the name Brant McCormick, Jeremy Holt, or Sheri Stewart?

Clad in a beige crop top sweater (yes, to flaunt the abs) and faded pastel-blue jeans, Jun enters the lobby well after all the seats have been taken. She finds the spot in the room least crowded with boys.

The looks of concern make her wonder about why Concetta left… and she undoubtedly has a similar wide-eyed expression when unfamiliar names come up.

"I’ve not heard of ’em," she says with a slight quiver in her voice. "What about me roomie, Concetta DiGeranimo? Might her name ring a bell, anyone?"

She suspects not. But her eyes roam the faces in the room to see if anyone reacts in some way to the name ‘Concetta.’

Paul looks over at the gathered R.A.s as they flip through a pile of paper on a clipboard and scroll an iPad. They both look at each other then Paul shaking their heads in the negative.

"Well, add it to the list I guess."

Taking only the time to slip into her black hoodie, pink sweat pants, and her Jack: the Pumpkin King bedroom slippers, along with a black wig, Sia proceeds down to the meeting. Even though there are some seats available when she arrives, the slender teen instead finds support against one of the several square wooden, support columns of the large room so as to not be brushing against others.

Folding her arms beneath the slight swells of her barely noticeable breasts in the oversized hoodie, which completely hid her hands in the long sleeves, she watches and listens from the slight shadow of her hood. Her green eyes take in everything in her surroundings; especially the room full of strangers who are only of recent becoming or to become her classmates.

As Mr. Bauer revealed the reason for this early Sunday morning interruption, Sia raises a brow in curiosity. "God nog aan toe!" She utters in a near whisper. Could it be that her problem has been solved? Was Miss Piggie really gone and no one but she remembers the existence of a Becky-Jean Tuttle? Perhaps her prayers to whatever is up there or down there, as the case may be, has bestowed a gift to her. If she stays quiet, maybe no one will realize she has a room to herself. There will be no one barraging in at the wrong time, when Sia is online and well...

Jun isn’t ready to give up on Concetta. "She’s on my contact list!" She holds up her phone.

Of course there’s a contact with Concetta’s full name. But no number. And the photo?

🅒

"Well okay, we never exchanged contact info but… it’s what? First-dot-last-at… or last-dot-first?"

She attempts to send Concetta an email using the address the university would give to someone named Concetta DiGeranimo.

Hey, Concetta. If you get this message, call me.
~🩵, Jun

Dispite linking her number, Jun doesn’t expect a miraculous fanfare in the form of her ringtone. She’s checking to see whether she’ll get an automated Message-Not-Delivered email.

Ainsleigh is one of the last students to show up, and appears in the habitually peculiar turnout - a three-piece suit, with no tie and a partially unbuttoned shirt - and stands in the doorway for a few seconds. There is a whisper or two among those present for a few seconds, but those are interrupted as the newcomer walks through the crowd, past the middle of the room, and approaches the RD, not bothering with greetings or introductions, and addresses him abruptly, yet in a gentle tone of voice.

'If you already happen to have a sizeable list of missing people, and a list of people who saw them, it might be productive to create a sheet with all the local residents - along with registered or alleged room numbers - with registered residents in the first column and the missing ones in the first row. Speaking of which, I can add another name to the list.'

'Then you could quickly quiz those present to see how many people remember each of the missing ones, do a roll-call to see who might be missing among registered students, and you can check both against your database to see if any rooms filled by missing students have been wrongly registered as housing someone else. Overall, such an approach should help spot any noteworthy irregularities . . . or noteworthy regularities for that matter. Surely you could not have had too many rooms where one of the beds is unused, right?'

Initiating rise and shine protocol...
Power save mode deactivated...
All systems ready...
Battery = 100%...
Good morning Chloe...


Chloe suddenly sits up straight in her bed. Wide awake. She turns her head and pipes up cheerfully
"Good morning Emma..."
to an empty bed.
"Oh... Emma... Uhm... Now where did she go? Geez. She is not the early bird usually. Hmmm.... where is all her stuff?"


Probability that Emma dropped out of education without telling.... 99.62%
Probability that Emma was a bug in my programming and never existed.... 0.87%
Probability that Emma has been kidnapped by space aliens who cleaned up after themselves.... 0.001%
Probability that ....


Chloe shrugs and gets out of bed. She puts on her regular pink hoodie, jeans and sneakers. Her hair into a practical ponytail and she is ready for another great day. But first, let's see what this meeting is about. If attendance is mandatory, it has to be important right?

Chloe gets to the lobby and mingles in with the crowd. She listens too Paul. Vanished roommates?


Probability that Emma belongs to this group of people.... 99.972%


Chloe steps forward to Paul. Best inform him about her vanishing roommate.

"Uhm! Excuse me! Yes... Paul... please..." she tries to get his attention quite timidly. "The odds that my roommate is.... I... I mean... I think the same thing has happened to my roomie. Emma Davidson."

Sai tried her best to shrink herself below notice but can't help but feel like people are looking at her. Scanning the crowd she gets a little relief because everyone is looking at everyone else. This is the first time since the tours that this many of the students have been gathered. If anyone is specifically staring at her, she can't pick them out of the crowd. The other thing Sai notices among the group is the nearly palpable miasma of arousal. Not too strong, not directed in any particular direction, and probably to be expected in a group of young adults like this. It has been sort of a lingering issue all week but it's very noticeable with everyone gathered in one place. She does note that most of the girls are dressed like her, bulky hoodies or sweaters. A few came down wearing sports bras and yoga pants, as though they were about to head to the gym. The guys on the other hand are overall showing a lot of skin, the athletic ones anyway. About half of them aren't even wearing shirts and cover their lower half with basketball shorts or gray sweatpants. A pair of boys shift to one side, leaning in to whisper to another set of students, and Sai sees something that makes her look twice. At the back of the hallway near the exit from the southwest stairwell stands a mousy looking girl. Her hair is the yellow-brown of harvest ready wheat, and hangs straight and unadorned barley concealing her overly large ears that stick far out from her head. Huge round lenses, too large for her face, perch on her tiny freckled nose. Her lips are thin and lacking color, but their rosebud shape would be cute if it weren't for the large buck teeth visible between them. Her hair frames her face like curtains stopping just before her freckled shoulders.

It's at this point Sai notes her entire body is dotted with freckles, a fact she knows because the girl stands at the end of the hall completely naked.

The boys move back to their original position, blocking Sai's view momentarily. As she cranes her neck to look again, the girl seems to have vanished.

Jun looks through her phone and does actually have a picture of the girl she knows as Concetta, right next to her phone number. A few moments after sending the email however she does get a "rejected" notification. Double checking the format, it seems the address matched her own.

Paul looks a little put off by Ainsleigh's abrupt approach, but chokes down his initial reaction and adopts his authoritative, but friendly customer service voice. "Right. That is exactly what we are doing here this morning." He gestures to the two students holding the clipboard and iPad.

"Danny has the resident list printed out with room assignments. Jocelyn is connected to the administration data base to cross reference the names we are collecting to see if these so-called "missing" students have any record of attending or even applying to attend Willowveil. So far we are 0 for 4. Every student claiming to be missing a roommate is misted as having a single room assignment...which of course is odd because we have don't do single room assignments in Gainer Hall. But you have another name to add? And your name and room number would be?"

Chloe manages to make it to the front of the group just as Paul asks his question of Ainsleigh, and finds herself standing in the only open space in the lobby. Right out in front of everyone. For a few seconds everyone is staring directly at her, this girl who seems to have put herself purposely in the center of attention just to claim her own missing roommate. It takes a moment but everyone soon goes back to their own conversations. The yoga pants wearing gaggle of young women do continue to glance at Chloe with disdainful expressions and whisper behind their hands back and forth.

"And your name and room number? Both of you actually, the girl who spoke up first. I forgot to ask for your name and room number." Paul replies after everyone goes back to talking amongst themselves.

Jun is pleasantly surprised that she does have an image of Concetta. And her number!

"Jun Ama," she replies to Paul. She gives her room number as well, and also shows him the picture on her phone. "Seems I’ve a photo o’ me roomie after all."

If this is another American prank…

She taps Concetta’s phone number…!

'Oh, you don't remember. That's . . .' the fresher is puzzled for a second, but then smiles slightly, 'That's a relief actually, in a way. Ainsleigh Grosvenor. And the name of the missing student is Sarnai Myagmar. We're from-' Ainsleigh takes a step forward, hand reaching out towards the stationery on Paul's desk, 'Actually, let me write it all down for you.'

'There. Also, I don't think I remember any of the other names mentioned so far, but I'll try to think some more. Maybe some descriptions and other details will help me rack my brain a bit.'

While a flock gathers around Mr. Bauer to register their various names and supposed non-existent roommates, Sia remains put leaning against the column. She glances about to see if anyone appears to have noticed the naked girl.

'Interesting. I didn't know nudism was allowed in Gainer Hall. This place may be more progressive and accepting than I thought.' She thinks to herself.

Chloe does detect the yoga girls whispering behind her back. But she thinks not much of it.
Her attention for now is at Paul. She is not focussed on whispers or mysterious naked girls.

Query: And your name and room number?
Reply: Chloe Coleman, room 317. Add flavor.

"Oh. I am Chloe Coleman, and I am in room 317. That's Emma's room as well of course."
she says excitedly.

"And I don't have a picture of Emma at hand, but I can surely describe what she looks like. I have stored her appearance in great detail in my datab... brain..."

Ainsleigh glances in Chloe's direction, curious.

'Great detail, hmm? Can you draw people realistically? Or perhaps at least assemble a composite on a computer? Perhaps that might be helpful.'

While Sia is scanning the room for reactions to the naked girl it seems no one else noticed her. Granted, Paul is drawing all of the attention in a whole other direction, no appears to have seen what Sia saw. Before she can think of doing anything else, the Resident Director calls out.

"Okay, that just leaves...." Paul turns to Danny who shows him a list, "Sia Abschied..Absch...Sia, are you here this morning? You are the last single occupant room we haven't checked in with?" He scans the crowd, clearly unsure of who he is looking for. "The Campus Security would like to speak to all of you now in the office, so if you're here we can just get that over with."

Jun calls the number she has for Concetta, but it immediately goes to an automated message from her carrier apologizing that the number is not activated.

Jun glares at her phone, like it’s its fault her imaginary friend doesn’t have voicemail.

She gladly starts toward the office, expecting a smaller crowd as few had mentioned roommates. Noting the two girls talking to each other, Jun says to them, "Chloe and Ainsleigh, is it? Jun Ama," she says, in case they hadn’t been following names. (Jun had, but she’d paid no mind to numbers.) "Are the two o’ you from the same floor? I’m on the seventh meself."

Sia rolls her eyes and raises her hand. "Here. Sia. I'm here Mr. Bauer. Room 719." Without waiting for anything further, Sia arights herself from leaning against the column and turns toward the office.

'No, I'm from the first floor,' Ainsleigh points a finger upwards. 'So if I heard it right, at least one of you can provide an image of one of the missing people. Maybe two if your detailed memory can be leveraged into producing one, Chloe?'

Concetta DiGeranimoJun takes out her phone again.

"I’ve just the one photo from when we swapped numbers."

She shows Ainsleigh the image, and Chloe and Sia as well, if they’re interested.

Chloe turns to Ainsleigh and smiles kindly.
"I do happen to have quite a big memory yes," she says with a smile and a little proudly. "I am not a very great artist, but I actually do know my way around computers more than most other people. It's like we speak the same language. "

Chloe laughs a bit, probably being quite awkward as it is, as people probably don't understand her own injoke.
I could give it a try....


"Oh..." then she looks at Jun introducing herself. "Well met. I am Chloe. I am from room 317. And yes... I am certainly willing to try to create an image. Maybe if I get a printer!" Chloe snaps her fingers. "Yes! That might actually be a good idea."

Ainsleigh chuckles. 'So you're majoring in COBOL and waiting for the year 2038 to strike it big? In any case, I feel that you may be describing the steps with an implied "magic happens" in the middle. So are you planning to assemble a composite for printing?'

After leaning in to see the image on Jun's cell, Sia continues to the office to face the tribunal of witch hunters who are going to interrogate her on the matter of missing people. She opens the door and looks in.

The group is ushered through the glass doors of the building's office. The full length blinds are closed, but you can see the lights are on inside. Inside the office the group is met with three fellow students. Two male and one female, all looking a bit worried, sitting in office chairs. The room is large, but with the desks, filing cabinets printer-copier, and now seven students and Paul, it's starting to get a bit crowded. To make matters worse, a portly security officer exits one of the two other doors revealing a bathroom, the other door is marked as Paul's personal office. He looks around the room at everyone with a dull, bored expression and says, "This everyone then? Let's get started. Son, let me sit there. My knees aren't what they used to be." The student gets up and lets the officer sit at the desk.

"Alright, so each of you claim up unti this morning, you had a roommate, despite what the records show, and somehow these kids packed up all their stuff and moved out while you were sleeping?"

The three who were here already nod.

"Right, so lets start going over it. Name, room numbers. What you remember about last night. Where did you go, where did your roommates go?"

"Um, Mex, 412, whatever story GeneCortess makes up."

"Wallen 605. Whatever YulleyBear makes up."[/b]

"Nina Ramay. 508. I went out, to Greek Row too. My friend Qadira and I went together. We invited Sheri but she said she was meeting someone. I didnt get back until almost 3 because...well, it was a fun party. I swear when i went to sleep Sheri was in bed asleep. She had a rug under her dresser and bed frame. There is no way a tiny girl like her could move the furniture to get that out without waking me up. I wasn’t drunk or anything and I'm a very light sleeper."

With that the officer turns to the rest of you waiting to hear what your stories are.

Sia raises her hand and interrupts. "Excuse me. But, I never claimed to have a roommate. i was told to come to the office because I am listed as having no roommate on your records."

Jun recalls the party. She had no interest in attending, but with much of the campus going one way, it was a perfect opportunity for Jun to explore the lake.

"Jun Diana Ama. Seven Eleven. I was doing ‘a Greek thing’ meself that night," she says without clarification. This was neither the time nor the place to come out with it: I’m a demigoddess. A water nymph. I crave a good swim now and then. It relaxes me.

They’d tell her not to go. They’d warn her of drowning. And then would Jun tell them that’s impossible?

"That is to say, I’d a late workout. I thought Concetta might wish to join me next time, her being an athlete herself. But I woke to a knock, and her things were gone.

"I thought perhaps I’d said the wrong thing and she might’ve requested a room change, but that can’t be it then. I’m not sure what it can be.

"But it can’t be we’re daft, isn’t that right?" Looking to those who spoke of roommates, she says, "It’d be different had just one of us reported a missing roomie who appears nonexistent. But six or so…?"

Ainsleigh raises an eyebrow upon hearing about the one exception to the pattern, but does not comment, and instead waits until there's a pause between others' statements, steps forward and speaks up.

'Hello. My name is Ainsleigh and I'm a single occupant. Room 207. Before now, my room was shared with Sarnai Myagmar. Yesterday I spent the evening in front of my laptop in an attempt to sort out the students' organisation activities. As far as I could tell, Myagmar was looking forward to a date scheduled for the evening, and left the room around nine o'clock. I stayed up for maybe a couple more hours, then logged off and hit the bed. In the morning, he was gone along with all of his things.'

"COBOL?" Chloe tilts her head sideway just a little. "Cute... No... I am first going to test if my idea with Emma works... Then you describe your roommate with as much detail as you...

Override:
Probability that someone else has pictures of missing roommate: 99%
Probability of obtaining those more effectively.... Analysing... 83%... 82%... 75%... Records of roomies are missing... 60%...

... or we could just ask around and see if anyone else has a picture? But we better to it fasts, odds are fading by the second."

Chloe just jumps from one idea directly to another, as if something in her mind had suddenly given her another idea.

"But if they don't, we can still try and... oh look! Policemen!"


Chloe steps to the police officer as well.

"Hello! Good morning mr officer sir. I am Chloe Coleman and I live in room 317. My roommate is Emma Davidson and she is also missing. She went to a Greek Row party, but I didn't join. My... she makes a quite obvious quote-signal with her fingers as if the next word should be taken figuratively. " 'batteries' were quite low. So I went to rech... sleep. My sleep cycle went by undistrubed and this morning not only Emma was gone, but so was all her stuff."

Sia looks around at the crowded room and shrugs. "If there's nothing more Than confirming my room number, 719, I'd like to be excused now. I need rest and time to study for my classes tomorrow." She moves for the door and opens it to leave.

"All right i guess so. He says dismissively to Sia.

"Now, the rest of you, we're going to send maintenence in a little later with mold testing. There are already carbon monoxide sensors in your rooms, tied into the smoke detectors. They'll check and make sure those are working too. The maintenance guy is just in call today so it will be a few hours until he gets the equipment together and gets here. If you aren't comfortable staying in your rooms the college has arranged for rooms in another facility tonight. Given that you are all on different floors, I don't hold much stock in the environment being the issue."

"I think we might have had a ring of identity theives. They hacked the computers, got in, took advantage of you kids and not knowing how college works and took...well...whatever they wanted to take, and left. Not sure as to how exactly, but that's my guess."

"For now, if you see any of them, call security. Don't approach them, but if they approach you, don't run. I don't they are dangerous since they didn't hurt any of you when they had the chance.

"I'm good letting you all go now unless you have further questions?"

"Counceling services would also like to talk to each of you. They won't be in until tomorrow morning, but if you need to talk to someone now we do have an on-call counselor. And I'm here if ANYTHING comes to mind."

Jun takes in the harsh truth (or most plausible explanation): ‘Concetta’ was not whom she’d appeared to be.

She looks to the others. "I guess we’re flatmates for the night then. I’ll head to me room to grab some o’ me things. I’ll see you soon."

She takes the stairs instead of the elevator, as usual. She packs a night gown, a dress, a towel, and other necessities. But before heading out, she looks at the door not far from hers.

She hadn’t a roomie. Claimed not.

Jun considers a moment… and she knocks on the door to room 719. @RageRed

Fully expecting a visit from someone after announcing her room number for everyone in that crowded office, Sia comes to the door, peeks through the security viewers, and opens it to find Jun. Not bothering to don her black wig, she brightens up slightly that it isn't one of the many annoying school bureaucrats or badge bullies.

"Oh..hi. It's Jun isn't it. I must apologize. Our first meeting was so awkward and frustrating, with having been awakens so early on a Sunday morn, for all this odd business of vanishings. Please. Come in. If you'd like?" Sia steps to one side an gives a casual gesture of one hand to indicate a presentational waving in. "Could we start over with a proper introduction, please? I am Anastasja Emeraude Abschied, but friends can call me Sia."

"Welkom in mijn ruimte. Mijn echte thuis is Amsterdam." She says in perfect native Dutch.

"Thank you, Sia. No apology’s necessary on your part," Jun replies as she enters. "It was unsettling to hear o’ people just… disappearing like that. I think the lot of us weren’t sure how to process it all."

At the end of the proper introduction, Jun only understands the word ‘Amsterdam,’ but she gets the gist of the Dutch words. "I’m Ama Jun Diana from Kildare, Ireland. Me father’s from Japan, me mother’s half-Greek… and I speak what, thirty words total in both o’ those languages?

"If I were taller, I’d fit the dumb jock stereotype, wouldn’t I?" Her pleasant smile crumples slightly to a look of frustration. "The dumbest part of all is I still miss her," she confesses. "I hardly knew me roomie, but I got all these ideas about how we’d have coffee. She’s on the swim team—said so, I mean—and I had this… thought in me head."

She looks about to cry, though it’s not Concetta she would cry for. She bottles it—she didn’t come to Sia’s room to bore her with her regrets.

"It doesn’t matter," she says in a tone that suggests it does. "Concetta, whatever her name is, really, played me like a harp. All the roommates did… that’s the bit you missed.

"You’re fortunate not to’ve had one, Sia. They disappeared on purpose. It was a ring of identity thieves, and on the night o’ that so-called ‘Greek’ party, the thieves made their move and escaped."

'No questions, thank you for your time,' answers Ainsleigh, then turns half to Chloe, half towards the door, ready to leave. 'Since we're now free to go, how about you show me those images in case I might recognise your roommate? I bet you have a notebook at hand too, and once the image is ready we get it to the nearest available printer. Oh, are you planning to stay at the dorm or take on the offer of an alternative housing?'

Closing the door to the hallway behind them as they enter the room, Sia moves over to her bed and sits down; offering Jun a seating choice either beside her or in the chair at Sia's study desk. Jun will quickly note Sia still has on the oversized hoodie with the sleeves draping to cover both of the pink-haired teen's hands and that her black bra is visible now with the hoodie unzipped. On the desk is an open sketch pad and drawing tools. On the pad is a detailed pen and ink drawing of a freckle-face young female with large glasses.



"Dumb jock? Why would you think such a thing of yourself?" Sia shakes her head slowly. "Are you really buying into Mr. Bauer and the guard's BS about identity thieves? Nonsense. More likely, all those missing people are being used as lab rats in Bauer's microbiology mad scientist lab and you were all knocked out with some type of gas through the ventilation system while it was all done." Sia shakes her head. "I don't trust these people. This place is so restrictive and uninviting to me. I'm not sure how long I am going to continue to subject myself to the general maleness of this school. Its suffocating."

Chloe lets all of the information sink in for a moment. There is a lot going on to process.

Then she responds to Ainsleigh
"If I am going to alternative housing..." for a moment she seems silent, thinking, weighing odds, ".... Which sonds totally exciting and a chance to meet more new people! But then I would require some equipment out of my room anyway. So, I would need to go to my dorm first and can pick up my notebook as well. I am quite sure everyone would need to collect some personal stuff, clothing and the likes. So how about I go collect notebook, clothes, charging cables and the like and we meet again here in...." there is a moment of silence. "About seven minutes and twenty four seconds?"

With that Chloe makes a rush to the stair case. Only to come to a complete stop and turn around.


Protocol interruption: Be polite, Chloe.


Chloe walks back to Ainsleigh. Her thoughts of collecting her stuff out of her mind for a moment. And with a chipper voice she asks.
"What are you planning, Ainsleigh? Do you stick to your dorm or will you also take the alternative housing offer? It would be fun to have several cool people around!"

'I wasn't fazed by the events enough to bother picking another place to rest my head, but since we seem to already be involved in this puzzle together, I'm open to being your company for the duration, if you want. But no strong opinion either way. Do keep in mind that the day is far from over though, so your seven-minutes-and-countdown proposal would be problematic.'

Jun’s eyes are drawn to the ink image. If not for her being on a pad, the image could pass for a grayscale photograph. "She’s beautiful. Reminds me of…" Her eyes follow the ink lines that fade to white in the right places to form the hair. "If the hair were curled…" She doesn’t finish that sentence either. Her eyes linger on a freckled cheek…

Jun finally sits on the bed. She laughs when Sia calls the school ‘too male.’

"Right, me first week in two words! I’d been in girls’ schools all me life. I come here to join the wrestling team, and it’s eighteen boys thinking I exist to ogle them and shout ‘go Cocks!’ …short-form for cockatrice, to inform you.

"Dumb jock was meant as a self-deprecating jab. But I felt some truth to it’s soon as I heard meself. I’m either fooled by Concetta as they said or fooled by them as you said."

She thinks a bit, stuck on Sia’s use of the word ‘confining.’ "It doesn’t have to be," she says with genuine optimism. "What I mean is, Willowveil’s always going to have it’s Cocks, and I can’t reverse whatever happened—whether Concetta’s victim or perpetrator.

"But it doesn’t mean I’m to sit in me tall tower, awaiting me rescue from a knight in shining badge. Gas or thievery, maybe whomever tampered with me room left a breadcrumb or two. I was about to head to meet the other victims—or victims’ roommates if it’s as you say. But, I think I’ll get a better look at me room first."

She remains seated on the bed for the moment, so her hostess can get a word in.

"Yes... you are right. I got a bit focussed on one thing that I missed checking my internal clock. But right you are, day is a long time going still. I'll be right back with my notebook! Like 5 minutes and... nevermind."

Chloe goes to her room, gets her note book and returns to Ainsleigh at the agreed place and time.

"Now, how about we find a quiet table to work at."


Once they settled down, Chloe opens her notebook. And without pressing any buttons the notebook already shows up a message
"blu tooth connected... downloading from memory banks..."

Ainsleigh's phone beeps indicating a new reply on the BBS

In the five or so minutes of waiting, Ainsleigh checks the phone and writes a quick reply, and then later - when the image finished downloading into the laptop - takes a look, trying to recall the face and name.

'This is entirely out of the blue, but how do you feel about music? I've got a hunch that you might be the sort of person who either dabbled in MIDI or as a kid or dabbles in synth arrangements still. But I could be entirely wrong, of course.'

"I like music," Chloe answers. "I remember that I was big into boy bands as a child..."

With pressing any keys, a picture created from Chloe's memory appears.

"That is Emma"

Jun contemplates the fact that this woman was nude. "I can’t say I’ve seen her. I’m not sure how society feels about nudity. Me grandmother once had a BFF who felt quite strongly about nudism and male oglers. She’d have the man shot dead." She leaves out the part where it was her grandmother who did the killing.

Jun rises from the bed. "I’m named for her, actually. But me stance is more forgiving; same as yours," she adds in reference to the look-but-don’t-touch rule.

"It was lovely chatting with you, Sia. I hope you find this mystery woman. I believe she’ll be quite flattered by your work."

Jun moves to the door, intent on investigating her room.

Sia stands sees Jun out. "It was really nice meeting you, Jun. Drop by whenever you'd like. We could exchange digits, if you'd like?" Sia tugs her cell out of the hoodies' pocket and holds it in her fabric covered hand.

Ainsleigh stares puzzled for a second, then smiles a bit. 'You make it sound like you haven't listened to anything for years. But I get that your answer was an attempt to gently point out how off-target I am with my so-called hunch. Because yeah, I was thinking of offering to join me in my quest for returning into music, but it seems our tastes are so different that this would not be an enjoyable prospect.'

"O’ course!" Jun holds her phone out, and lets the devices do the rest.

Ainsleigh does recall seeing the girl Chloe calls Emma in passing. They don't recall actually speaking to her, maybe an awkward "hello" passing in the elevator or hallways. No classes with her for certain.

---

In Jun's room she begins the search...

---

'Hmm. Maybe I recognise this face after all. Just . . . not someone I have seen a lot. Though I'm thinking, if you managed to somehow make an image of a person you've seen before, can you make another one based on descriptions and iterative adjustments until he looks close enough to real life?'

Jun starts with the vent. She’s not sure what to look for. A discoloration? An odd device inside the vent? She’s have to stick her phone on with the video recording and torch active to see deep within.

After that, she checks her drawer where she keeps personal affects. She’s got a yearbook, and there’s a lovely image of her and Addison at Debs. She and her ex are slow-dancing and smiling. And the bookmark to this page is an old photo of her maternal grandmother, Calista, the once-favored nymph of Artemis herself before her father guised himself as his own daughter and… Zeus was horrid. Jun had met her grandmother last year. She wanted to know… was it true? Was it possible a nymph could bear a mortal daughter who birthed an immortal nymph? The gills, the aromatic sweat, the perfectly smooth skin… all that was explained by her. And what could she do for Addy but wish her the best, leave her to love a mortal to age with her…? If anyone touched the yearbook or the Polaroid…

After that, Jun moves to valuables. How much was in her wallet? She isn’t sure. Some euros, a few pound notes. Dollars are all numbers with zeroes as she hasn’t paid cash for anything since arrival. Americans prefer plastic, she thinks. The Starbucks card is new. She doesn’t expect that’s missing.

Her wardrobe is kept in a particular order. Color codes. Statements. Swapping positions of outfits would be like moving blue above green in the rainbow. What idiot would miss that?

Finally, Jun moves to the tech. She’s not savvy in this area, so if the technology is all that was tampered with, would she notice? @Greel

Jun pulls a chair over to the vent. The first problem is the screws. They're tight, but her fingernails are stronger. She notices this cover used to be painted over but isn't anymore, like the power outlet are, so this cover has been removed in the past. Now...does that mean anything? Hard to say. The building is older, and has had quite a few occupants in its day. Once the over is off however...

...nothing seems out of place. No devices, or evidence of tampering jump out at Jun.

Turning to her own posessions, all of her precious valuables appear untouched untouched. Things are right where Jun remembers putting them, until she gets to her unmentionables...

And it isn't something missing that catches Jun's attention, it's something that shouldn't have been there at all. A hair tie. A one inch wide black elastic band with an oval shaped ornamentation, inlaid with mother of pearl and surrounded by cheap plastic "diamonds" that add to the shiny. It's worthless really, Jun picked it up in some shop on a whim, maybe wore it half a dozen times, bit not since coming to Willowveil.

But someone has worn it recently. As recently as last night. When the two girls were unpacking she noticed it and commented on it. Since it didn't mean anything to Jun she offered it as a gift to help build their budding friendship. As Concetta was finishing up she contemplated putting her hair up and decided that would be the look to start the night, letting her hair down like in the movies if she met someone worth flirting with. She'd for sure left wearing it.

But finding it now, in the EXACT place Jun is sure she would have placed it had she not given it to Concetta...what could that mean?

Jun clutches the hairband. Definitely, she’s not… oh, Concetta…

Now, the tears are for the roommate who could have been her friend, could have been… or could have been…

She takes out her phone and texts Sia.

Sia, I found a hairband.
Okay, that sounds rather daft. But if you know my system, you know that no one other than myself would put the hairband in the right spot.
That rules out a kidnapping.
And it rules out identity-thievery, as Concetta’d have no way of knowing where to put it. It went from my luggage to her, as a gift.
Which means, what? Did she never exist in the first place? Because if I imagined her, then I’d have just put it there.
If I’m not daft, the alternative is worse, I fear.

Sia hears the notification and rolls over to check her cell. She sees Jun's frantic texts.

Calm down

That is disturbing to learn though

Others experienced this as well. So, you're not going crazy and I doubt this is mass hallucinations or hysteria

Jun lets Sia’s message sink in.

Then it’s the alternative. Concetta was here, but somehow only I remember her.
So what does that mean for Concetta? Did she cease to exist? Did her life get altered, and maybe she stayed in Italy? Or is she in a world where I’m the one gone, and she’s wondering what had become of me?

After a minute.

Honestly, it would be easier if Mass Hallucinations were the case.
Well, I’m going to head to the alternative housing.

After another minute.

In an hour.

Alternative housing?

Like without stupid rules and a more progressive attitude?

Sounds like a dream

Jun reads the text. The word ‘progressive’ could mean many things, but to Sia?
The housing is being offered to those who don’t feel safe after what happened. But I don’t want to stay there. I’ve got a good neighbor here on the seventh floor.
I mean to share my findings with the others; perhaps learn of their discoveries.

After a minute…
I think the woman in your art is not nude because of a progressive environment. I think she’s nude despite the environment, and despite whatever so-called progress the patriarchy offers.

Immediately after that:
Sorry.

And there are "…"s for about a minute…

The "…"s stop.

There’s a knock on Sia’s door.

Sia rolls off the bed and onto her feet. She softly pads to the door and looks through the security viewer.

Jun is at the door, clad in a tight green singlet. Over the singlet is a loose crop top.She has a rather awkward look, and if left standing long, her eyes flicker down the hall in both directions before composing herself and displaying patience.

Seeing Jun, Sia unlatched the dead bolt, removes the chain, unlocks the door handle, and opens the door to admit Jun into her room again. She quickly locks everything back once they are both safely inside.

"Jun? Are you alright? You seem shaken. Is everything well with you?" Sia is concerned and insists her new acquaintance sit down, as she opens the mini frig and hands Jun a bottle of water.

Jun isn’t sure why she came in here. She’s afraid she’s just being a pest, but she is shaken. And it’s not the patriarchy or the nudity or the teammate named Artemis or the disappearing roommate or the past half hour of staring at that yearbook page.

It’s all of those things at once and more.

"Thank you, Sia." She graciously accepts the water. She sips it slowly, savoring its taste. Progress is bottling Nature’s Gift for profit.

"Would you think me daft for believing magic possible?"

Raising a brow, Sia shakes her head. "No, Jun, I wouldn't think that of you. There are many things the world of men can only guess at and even then most of the time they still get it wrong."

"Especially Artemisean lore," Jun replies. "…which o’ course is on me mind because… me teammate, Artemis is her name…"

Jun is stumbling over her own words, not sure where the TMI zones are. But Sia has been quite candid about her impression of nudism.

"…and she’s o’ mixed ethnicity like meself, possibly part Greek. And we’re named for the same goddess, so I thought maybe she’d want to share in a tradition me grandmother had told me about. Surely, you’ve read of Artemis and her retinue o’ nymphs bathing under the moon.

"So I asked Artemis if she’d join me at the lake, east o’ here, reasonably secluded. She feared for me safety, said there are those who prey in search o’ blood and souls."

She pauses a moment, not sure how believable this story is to a human. "Have you heard o’ that? Ireland has its wee folk, but they’ve never come to prank me. What Artemis spoke o’… that’s new to me."

"Ahh...Bathing in the moonlight." Sia says with fond inflection. "It does sound exquisite. Though, the natural bodies of water in this area probably too cold this time of year for my personal tastes." She listens as Jun goes on. "Hmmm? Blood and souls, you say? I have heard of those kinds before." She grins slightly. "I never discount anything about legend and myth until I know for sure either way. I have never met a faery..." She shrugs.

Jun’s eyes drop to her half-finished bottle.

"You’ve met a nymph."

—she forces the words out, and it takes a couple seconds to realize she actually just blurted it. She wanted to, but meant to ease Sia into the idea. But none of the magic would make sense to a mortal if she didn’t just come out with—

Well… shit.

She faces Sia, blushing now, not sure what else to say. Her lips part, but no sound follows. Jun’s teeth form an awkward square. She fidgets with her water bottle cap.

Sia grins with Jun's reaction to her words. "Well..no. Umm...not a nymph, but I have met a few individuals who weren't..." She pauses for a second and adds, "...Human."

June’s expression becomes relaxed the moment Sia says ‘human.’

"Well, I thought demigoddess’d come off snooty. That, and I’m only 28% Greek, so demi’s exaggerated. Me maternal grandmother’s a naiad, and there’s an oceanid a few generations back on me father’s side.

"I’m not sure I count for both. Categorically, nymph’s the broader nomenclature, and accurate: I breathe salt water as easily as fresh…" She stops long enough to breathe a little air. "Good to know I’m part of a list o’ non-humans you’ve met. It alleviates the pressure."

Sia smiles. "Well..I guess I should amend my previous statement. I have met a nymph." Sia glances down at her sleeve-covered hands, then back over to Jun. "I guess this is the part I explain why I am open to believing in those other than humans who roam this world?" She looks Jun in the eyes and grins. "I am a half breed myself. My matriarchal line are what some would call, vetalarana: emotion vampires. Not the undead kind. They are living immortals." She holds up one covered hand to show Jun. "I sense emotions and draw it off through my touch for sustenance."

Immortal…!

Jun takes comfort in this. It’s nice not to be the only one.

Her eyes lock onto Sia’s covered hand. Could the benefit of drawing emotions be mutual? Looking at that photo of Addy and herself was…

She chides herself for being selfish when Concetta might be in danger. If I remember her, she’s not gone…?

"Oh, what a fantastic coincidence this is! Then given your truth, you probably have a better grasp o’ what Artemis told me. She said if I hear me name called at night, or in the woods, and I don’t see the source o’ the voice—I’m not to respond.

"If I do, it’s how they can take me. It’s their rule." Her eyes flicker to the direction of her own room, then back to Sia. "You think they took Concetta and the others that way? A college party likely made for a target-rich environment for the nightstalkers."

"I just made that term up, just now," she confesses.

"It is possible that someone or something took the missing of Garnier Hall through a veil to another place occupying the same point in reality as this." Sia shrugs. "I can't say without searching and finding evidence of this." She looks down at the sleeved hands again. "Never a good idea to announce your presence to something unseen." Sia grins at Jun's newly created descriptive for their unknown cause for the missing and gestures toward the pen and ink drawing of the teen still open on her desk. "As passionate as I am about my art, its forensics that is my calling I think. Forensic pathology is what I persue here at Willowveil as my major. I have a gift for it."

She pauses for a moment. "In fact..didn't you say you found something in your belongings you had previously gifted your roommate? There's a slight chance I could get a read off of it."

"Oh… yes!" She thinks back on her search. "Please, come to me room. For all I’ve moved about, I never touched the hair band."

---

In Jun’s room, there is a yearbook open on her unmade bed. The page shows herself and a redhead smiling at the camera, bodies pressed together in a slow dance. Their dresses are similar in style. Jun clad in turquoise, the redhead wearing emerald green like her eyes.

A Polaroid is tucked into the open book. There is a woman who looks to be a college girl. She’s at a beach clad in cut off jean shorts and a top that bares her midriff. Her wavy blonde hair flows to her knees. The photo is old, but she appears well-tanned and muscular.

Everything else is in order, and when Jun opens her drawer, the hair bands (and also the undergarments across the divider) form a sort of ‘rainbow order,’ one that somehow includes an off-white scale: white-beige-tan-brown-black, and a means to fit pastels, brights and bolds into the standard red-to-violet order. It’s not a completely obvious pattern, but clearly Jun either has a strong grasp on color theory with a Z-axis, or OCD.

"That’s the one… with the fake plastic diamonds. Second-to-last black before the candy-striper red."

Sia joins Jun and locks her door, before taking the short path down the hall to Jun's room. She takes in all of the details, as she listens to Jun and peaks in at the hair band amongst Jun's delicates in the drawer. "She's pretty...the redhead. Someone special, if my eyes don't deceive me."

Carefully Sia reaches in with her sleeved hand and plucks the hairband up. "How long had it been in your roommate's possession before she vanished? My chance to getting any vibes from her are only slight, as the item belonged to you longer."

"Me ex," Jun says of the redhead. "She’s quite special. Lovely. Perfect. She deserves someone to grow old with."

She stares at Jun’s hand…

"Oh right, I gave it to Concetta last night. It was still in me luggage—hadn’t gotten around to sorting me hair bands. If it helps, I’ve not worn it in forever, so she’s probably had more contact with it last night I’d in o’er a year.

"Wonderful. That helps." Sia slowly pulls up one sleeve and lets the hair band touch the flesh of her palm. She closes her eyes and sets her focus on the object and thoughts of a girl named Concetta.

There on the edge of her mind Sia can sense something fleeting, as she holds the item. She rubs it around in her sensitive palm and breathes deeply; holding up the hair band close to her face to catch the faint scent of the missing girl. She opens up her supernatural senses seeks a feeling..an emotion from the last to wear it.

Jun sits in suspense, and in awe. Sia seems to know what she’s doing, so Jun thinks the best way to help is to do nothing potentially distracting.

Fear

As the vision comes into focus, fear fills Sia. The vision solidifies on the jewels of the hairband sitting atop the soft glossy hair of Concetta. The vision is very focused on the plastic pieces sparkling dully in the lamplight. It is difficult to see details beyond her hair, but there are some. She stands on a sidewalk somewhere on campus. It's dark, and silent. Then she hears someone say her name.

She Ahead of Concetta on the sidewalk a man stands just outside the circle of light surrounding the girl. He's taller than her, but his face is hidden by darkness. He is wearing jeans and a Willowveil windbreaker. In his glove covered hands is a weird device. It looks homemade, exposed circuits and wiring with cellphone plugged into it all mounted on a short selfishly stick. He says her name again and she nods. The device flashes a blinding light.

Happy

Concetta is walking on the sidewalk feeling very happy with herself. She's inebriated, but not drunk. The lamplight passes from behind to in front of her. She's walking backwards? To her left and right people come into view. They are walking backwards as well. Couples holding hands, groups of students. One boy has a football. He jogs backwards and makes a seemingly impossible toss over his shoulder while leaping backwards. The ball travels through the air to a friend who catches it in one hand and pulls it in in a very strange arc, then slapping it twice as the first boy falls in beside him, still moving backwards.

Concetta walk backwards up some steps to a porch and into a house. All around her people are dancing in the most odd fashion. Their movements seem unnatural. A girl is there, she has strawberry blond curly hair. She takes Concetta's hand and squeezes it.

Relief

Concetta and the girl are talking, laughing, and drinking. They embrace momentarily. Their words are garbled? Is it the music? That's garbled too. It's loud but not that loud.

Regret.

The two are still talking. Concetta drinks, but her cup looks fuller as she puts it down? The get up and walk, backwards, to the dance floor. Concetta says something. The other girl looks concerned, then smiles. Concetta suddenly leans in and kisses her, and pulls away as quickly as she leaned in.

Desire

The girls dance very close, swaying to the strange beat of the music. They stare deeply into each other's eyes as their bodies move against one another. Hands travel down and up probing and seeking exposed, sweaty flesh. They walk, backwards still, off the dance floor. Concetta leans against a wall and hands the other girl her full red Solo cup, and she walks backwards toward the keg, somehow dodging other party goers without seeing them. The whole time she and Concetta have their eyes locked on each other, until the blonde vanishes in the crowd.

Concetta moves away from the wall and through the party, still backwards. She sees the strawberry blonde across the room two cups of beer in hand. Someone walks in reverse past Concetta and words are exchanged. A boy,

Awkward

The boy talks at Concetta, in that strange garbled fashion. She doesn't seem to get a word in very often. Over his shoulder Concetta makes eye contact with the stawberry-blonde. He leaves, walking backwards again, vanishing into the crowd after waving.

Nervous

Concetta walks backwards through the house taking in all the sights and sounds. She greets and waves at people as she makes her way too the door. The guy at the door checks her out. As she walks past him through the door he hands her a $10 bill and she puts it into her pocket.

Happy

She walks backwards from the house. The sun's faint orange glow behind the trees gets brighter as she walks backwards across campus. The dorm shortly comes into view behind her and she looks over her shoulder a few time as she approaches. Her gaze increasingly cast upward as she gets closer to the building. Without scanning her ID she walks through the front door, the lobby and into an elevator that opens without being called by a button. She presses L and settles against the wall. The elevator goes up to the 7th floor where Concetta turns around and walks backwards to her room. She opens the door and Jun is there packing her things. She pauses after closing the door to look at herself in the mirror. She takes the hairband out and ungathers her hair. Turning toward Jun she holds out the item and gives it to her roommate. Their fingers touch and there is an electric jolt between them.

The vision turns to a harsh blue light and shatters into static staring at the edges and fades into black as the static retreats to the "center" of Sia's vision, leaving her with a final emotion.

HOPE

Sia might notice an aroma in the room. A familiar one, if she’d ever walked in a light rain in the spring—particularly mid-April when the fresh blossoms are out and their scent is carried in the moisture.

This is the aroma of a nymph’s tear.

Jun’s eyes well, and the tears roll quickly down her perfectly smooth skin. It’s hard for a nymph not to be beautiful, but Jun seems to be putting in the effort. For what she just heard is filling her with ugly thoughts.

"If it can be reversed, that would save Concetta… and… all of them, would it?" She picks up the Polaroid photo of the muscular woman with blonde hair flowing down to her knees. Maybe it’s not so obvious to Sia, but she is an empath, so maybe she can see from the way that Jun looks at the photo, she’s gained a new understanding of the person.

"My grandmother killed men for coming too close to Artemis and the others in her retinue. But now I understand.

"Those men weren’t oglers. They were predators." She glances down at the hair band, and says without anger in her soft Irish brogue, "I want this fucker to die."

Sia nods and stands. "Yes. This person is extremely dangerous. I don't know why the missing were targeted, but if he can do this to them, then it could happen to anyone."

She glances toward the door to Jun's' room. "I need to get to my sketch pad and draw out the device and the people I saw in Concetta's night. It may help us find the one responsible and stop them."

Jun rises to get the door. "Thank you, Sia. While you’re sketching, I’ll move down to that meeting place and see what I can glean from an information exchange."

Before either girl can move there is a knock at the door. "Jun? It's Paul, the R.D. I'm here with Maintenance to do that room check i told you about this morning."

Jun replies, "I’m afraid that won’t be necessary. I checked me room for tampering, and there’s been an interesting development. Sia and I chatted a bit, and…"

Jun had her reasons for revealing her truth to Sia. Sia reciprocated. But her secret is hers to reveal, including the magic.

"…well, short version’s that I mean to share information with the others who’ve lost roommates. But I mean to sleep in me own room, and I’ve personal items about."

She gestures to the unmade bed, which still displays the full page yearbook photo of herself and her ex-girlfriend paused in embrace on the dance floor. Her underwear drawer is still open.

"Nothing’s missing. I even checked me vent. So, that’ll be a no-thank-you on the maintenance. I mean to sleep here tonight. But after I change into a more presentable outfit, I’ll come to the alternative housing for the meeting." From her tone, it’s not clear whether Jun assumes there will be a meeting, or insists.

"The school still wants to do a mold and carbon minoxide test. I understand the desire for privacy, but this is a Health & Safety issue. The entire building is potentially at risk. You can stay in your room, unless we discover a real problem. We only need ten minutes and then we will be out of your way."

Jun doesn’t see the point in arguing, especially if she’ll later try to convince Paul to ‘believe in magic.’

"Ten minutes? Me shower’ll take fifteen." Jun puts her yearbook away, throws the sheets over her still-not-really-made bed, and grabs a change of clothes, a small bag and a towel. "I’ll expect your man’ll be done before I’m back."

She squeezes past the men. From her few shed tears, Jun gives off a pleasant aroma of dewdrops on spring blossoms.

Her breath is also aromatic after drinking that water Sia gave her. Realizing this, Jun doesn’t say ‘excuse me’ or even exhale as she passes the men.

She’s actually rather miffed at the intrusion, but the way she tries to keep her composure and walk tall as she daintily storms off, her gait is that of a fashion model on the catwalk.

"The only health and safety issue here is strange men forcing themselves into the girls dorm rooms, to do only Heaven knows what really, and calling it something its not." Sia retorts, as she leaves Jun's room as well and heads toward her own room.

"You...you were welcome to stay and observe? Was that not clear? We dont want to...you know what? I don't care. Let's just get this over with Lawrence. I'll stand here and keep the door open. To his word, Paul stands more or less outside Jun's room proving the door open while the maintenance man Lawrence enters with his tackle box and step ladder. The two girls hear the ladder getting set up and scoot around as Lawrence works.

Jun turns, deciding it best to watch. The shower can wait a bit.

Sia is nearly to her room by the time Mr. Bauer steps back into the threshold of Jun's door. She turns to glance back up the hallway, as her sleeved hand grasps the door knob and she slides the key into the lock. "Are you good?" She calls to Jun. "I really want to get to my sketch pad while the images are fresh in my mind."

"I’m fine," Jun says, though she obviously is a bit flustered.

She feels about as awkward as she probably looks as she stands in the hall to wait. But from Paul’s reaction to her attempt to escape the awkward situation, now she feels even more awkward about showering.

The maintenance man, Lawrence, is looking around briefly as though taking stock of the room. He seems satisfied with his quick inspection and unfolds a white towel he had stored in his back pocket. With a little work he spreads it out on the now empty bed. It looks very clean. He then puts his plastic tackle box down on the towel. He opens the box and retrieves a spray bottle, some cotton swabs sample collectors and an electronic device.

"Miss, I'm going to shift the furniture away from the wall a smidge so i can test the wall for mold but i will put it right back." and without really waiting for an answer he heaves and the end of Jun's bed slides half an inch out from where it was. He starts with the spray bottle spritzing the wall behind the bed. Then he grabs a cotton swabs and rubs it in the area he sprayed, snips the end with a pair of wire cutters from his pocket so the head falls into the collector tube and disposes of the detritus in his tackle box. Next he takes the device, a small red handheld dohicky with gray screen and a metal ball on a 4 inch rod and presses it against the wall. The machine beeps and he removes it and wipes it off with a Clorox wipe from the tackle bix. He then heaves the bed back into place with a grunt.

He repeats the process everywhere in the room that furniture is up against the wall, at and under the sink, and in the empty closet. Each area gets its own swab, of which he seems to have an endless supply, and a poke from the device. Jun can start to pick up the faint chemical smell of whatever he is spraying. It isn't exactly caustic, but given her preference for fresh and natural, it offends her senses a little

With the swabs taken he is pushing his ten minute promise. His next task involves the smoke detectors. He scoots the step ladder noisily underneath the device, which is positioned above the door so it is out of sight for anyone outside the room. He produces a screwdriver from his pocket and fiddles with it for a moment. Next he produces a small vial from his pocket, about the size of a chapstick.

"Pardon all, but if it's working right, this things about to make some noise." Everyone hears a small hiss sound then an ear piercing chirp. The chirp repeats twice, pauses, then twice again, repeating this pattern for a few seconds while Lawrence fumbles a bit putting away the vial. Then he does something and the detector stops blaring. "Welp, I'm giving that thing the all clear. The mold stuff looks clear too, but they'll want the lab to verify everything. I think your room is clean of contamination miss. I'll get out of your way now."

Lawrence packs everything back up and is ready to go in just under his promises 10 minutes.

"Hmmm, well there wasnt a planned meeting exactly. But i could arrange it if you need to speak with those affected? If you want to stay in the temporary housing,
it is almost set up over at the psychology sleep labs. We have a room for each of you where they usually run sleep studies. Or we will have them shortly. Just waiting for that call. Nina was pretty adamant about going when we spoke an hour or so ago."

"I can come to the alternative housing, just to talk. From what I learned… I’m not the victim. Concetta is. Her and the others… it’s even possible Sia and others in single rooms had roommates, but don’t remember them.

"I’m hoping to talk to the girl Concetta met at the party. Sia’s making a sketch. Then we can perhaps find her, find out whether she remembers me roommate existed."

Jun is afraid to say too much now.

"I’m getting ahead o’ meself. There’s a lot to process… how about I freshen up, and you text me a time and place."

Jun thinks an RA would have her contact info on a list, but still, she offers Paul her cell phone number for convenience.

Returning to her room, locking and dead-bolting the door, Sia grabs a bottle of water out of the mini frig and sits down at her desk with her drawing supplies. She summons up her recent memories from her connection to the hair band and begins drawing out the blonde and the guy Concetta had interacted with at the party.

"Okay...? How is Sia making a sketch of a person she never saw who met a person who doesn't exist? Sia didn't speak up when I asked if anyone knew...Concetta or the other supposedly missing people."

"Do you know how police sketch artists work?" Jun pauses, but doesn’t actually wait for an answer. "Neither do I."

Ainsleigh returns to the dormitory, saying bye to Chloe when the two part ways at the staircase, and walks towards room 207.

Once she has the base of both sketches drawn out, Sia moves her chair over to the door leading into the hallway and uses it to add an extra barrier against unwanted intrusion, by wedging the back against the door knob. She then takes a long swallow of the water, pulls the desk about to her bed, sits down facing the desk, inserts her ear buds, pulls up and starts her playlist, and continues with the inking and stippling with her grey scale markers.

Paul and Lawrence turn toward the Southwest stairwell, the closest one, but then Paul taps Lawrence on the shoulder and points the other way. The pair change direction and go to the Northwest stairs instead.

After making their way down to the sixth floor, they knock on 605, Wallen's room.

"Hey Wallen, it is Paul. I have Lawrence from maintenance with me. We need to do those Health amd Safety checks i mentioned this morning. Shouldn't take but 10 minutes."

After visiting room 207 and picking up a few things, Ainsleigh goes in search of the other single occupants, with the image print-outs at the ready. Emma's photograph was perfect. But what she produced from a description was another matter. It looked recognisable to Ainsleigh, but there was always the worry that now the imperfect reconstruction was replacing the memories of the actual persoin, making it difficult to tell which features were real and which were misremembered. If the image was faulty, that would just lead to other people being given the wrong reference to look out for.

But come what may. Ainsleigh went to the lift and picked a button at random, waited for it to arrive, and started walking through the corridor in search of the right room. On the selected floor, the single occupant with a missing roommate would be Wallen from room 605.

'Oh, hello again,' said Ainsleigh upon seeing Paul a stranger in a handyman's attire.

"Um, Mex, 412, whatever story GeneCortess makes up." "Mex. Room 412. My roommate, Jack Turner, is gone now." His voice was a note in a long song and quickly drowned out.

Foreign exchange student Mex arrived at the room in a simple pull over collarless shirt with cheap blue jeans that looks to have some wear on it. Like most of his clothing, nothing looks new down to his worn Niki sneakers. This is a boy that isn't here on any athletic scholarship and sports a cheap mustache and beard.

Like always, he doesn't say much and managed to totally avoid talking even. Story of his life is never to be noticed. He is just a 'Face in the Crowd' and easily forgotten. Usually, he only gets any notice by doing it himself.

He retired to his half empty room disappointed. He was promised that Jack was going show him a great time. He finds himself alone again. Maintenace will be here soon or later. He just lays down and waits with occasional glances out his room's window.

While waiting for Wallen to answer, Paul turns to the new arrival, "Hi Ainsleigh. What's up? We are working our way down the building, so Chloe is next, but we're on our way to your room soon.

'Cheers. I'm back, and ready for what's in store for us. Even brought some photocomposites. Well, Chloe's roommate's anyway. I'm really unsure if I even got Sarnai's features right, so can't say if anyone will recognise him. Is Wallen in? 'Cause if not, maybe I'll come back later.'

After a shower, Jun picks out an outfit for the meeting. Short skirt, tall socks, long sleeve, bare midriff, heeled boots… all browns and blues.

She checks her reflection’s pose. Her hair’s wet, but being a nymph, her hair never dries funny and always looks good wet or dry. She gets back to her room and texts Arty.

You were not exaggerating when you said people who answer calls by the unseen are never heard from again. I know someone who met such a fate. Yet, I remember her.
Arty, can we talk? I’m in room 711 at Gainer Hall, if you’d like to come over.

Artemis responds:
What do you mean someone got taken? We've only been in school a week? What were they doing? Did you take them to the lake? You know what, never mind, I'll be there in ten minutes.

See you in a bit.

Jun makes sure her room is tidy. She sits on her bed in a demure pose, one leg crossed over the other, leaning back—no, forward… hands in her lap. She angles her body toward the side of the bed where Arty may sit. She shifts away from the space to make more room… then moves a chair so it faces the bed—no. Because then she won’t sit on the be—

It’s been like nine or so minutes. Jun gets up. She smiles sweetly at the mirror. Eager. She smiles differently. Desperate. Psychotic. Submissive… but a good one for the first time she pins you on the mat.

She moves to the door. She’s here to help you help Concetta. That’s nothing to smile about…