Part 5

When Melissa heard her room was located in the “Annex” she had expected to find one building, maybe even a small house, and in the cab she had actually considered asking for a relocation the very next day — not that she would die unless she was around people, but a small cottage with tile roof just wasn’t her thing either, especially not if she was to share it with a bunch of crazy scientists.

Once they reached the Annex Melissa was even more disappointed. It wasn’t a small house, or even a cottage it was a forest, surrounded by a brick wall with a wrought iron gate in it. Through the gate she could see a gravel path and beyond it and in the surrounding growth she saw, or rather had an inkling of, small buildings thrown out in a haphazard way in a huge botanic garden, or forest, or even jungle.

You insisted on going here, she thought and started to examine the gate. It seemed locked and when she tried to open it, it was locked. Something the nice young man by the counter had graciously forgotten to tell her. Was she supposed to have a key?

“Asshole!” she cursed under her breath.

“You can use your pin code,” the chauffeur nodded at a small number pad in one of the stone pillars the gate was mounted on.

“What?”

Melissa handed over the umbrella to the chauffeur and stepped up to the pad. The rain was still pouring down and in almost no time she felt her hair going sopping wet and trickles of water started to find their way down her forehead and chin, finally ending up inside her collar. She shivered.

Good thing I don’t wear much make-up, she thought while reading the instructions on the pad. They were simple enough; One, enter the pin-code, two press the “Open” button, three, open the door.

“Great!” Melissa sighed, “I’m supposed to have a pin-code.”

She pulled out the paper she had gotten in the Main Office and read in the light from the street lamps. No pin-code.

“Fucking great!”

“You have your room number,” the chauffeur said and nodded at the pad.

Melissa verified that he was right with a glance down at her paper before she leaned closer to the pad and read the rest of the text. She could call her room number as well.

“Good thinking,” she said and gave him a coy smile.

“I was studying here before my girlfriend got pregnant,” he shrugged and took a step back making his dismissal of her even more evident.

Melissa pretended not to notice and punched in her room number instead.

“I hope she’s in,” Melissa said while she waited for her roommate to pick up.

There was a crackle from the speaker in the number pad followed by a female voice: “Yeah?”

“This is Melissa Newick.”

“Ah, you’re my roommate, let me open for you. Do you know the way?”

Melissa peered through the gate once more. “I don’t think so,” she replied hesitantly.

“No worry, I’ll come down and get you.”

“Thanks.”

Her roommate was already gone.

The gate buzzed and clicked open, and while Melissa held it open the cab driver carried her bags through the gate. Once through Melissa offered to let him go but he said it was okay to wait. Melissa wondered for a moment what that was about, but she reminded herself, again, about now having a roommate.

She considered continue carrying the bags at least to the end of the gravel path but she realized she had more bags than she and the driver could carry among themselves and the car was on the other side of the locked gate so if they wanted to continue down the path they would have to leave some of Melissa’s bags behind, and since the rain poured down Melissa wanted to stay around to keep her bags dry. The umbrella she had been given by the driver was large enough to shield most of them with her standing in the middle of the pile.

If this night were an indication of Moon River weather Melissa realized she would have to get an umbrella, or even a raincoat. Maybe something like what the chauffeur was wearing? A knee length black raincoat with a high collar that would keep most of her dry, but she would have to get some kind of hat or her hair would get wet as well. Maybe an umbrella would be better.

At that moment she noticed that the chauffeur was looking past her and smiling. Melissa turned to see what he was looking at and noticed a woman was approaching them. She was holding a red and yellow umbrella in one hand; the other hand was stretched out to catch the continuous stream of raindrops.

The umbrella kept her face in shadows but Melissa could still see she had long, light copper red hair that reached her to mid-chest. She was wearing a jacket and below it Melissa could see a knee length skirt.

If it hadn’t been for her sandals Melissa would have suspected her roommate hadn’t changed clothes since her high-school days — in some catholic girl school. Her sandals and especially the fact that they were made in pastel colors, took all those ideas out of Melissa’s head.

While she was walking the woman spun the umbrella around making the pattern on it turn into a yellow-reddish blur, and just as she was reaching Melissa and the driver she tilted the umbrella back — she was a redhead all right, she had copper red, almost orange, hair. Her pale skin made the color stand out even more. She opened her lips and poked her tongue out letting raindrops fall into her mouth.

“Hey Alex,” the driver said as she looked down again. “How are you?”

“Why, thank you Dimi,” she gave him an open smile while a blush crept up on her cheeks. “Just fine thanks, and you?”

“Shouldn’t complain,” he grinned as he hugged her.

“How’s Marcie?”

“She’s fine too,” he gave Melissa’s bags a glance. “We need help with these.”

Alex noticed them too and nodded agreement before she turned to Melissa. “So you are Melissa?” she said and reached her hand out to her.

Melissa took her hand. “I am.”

“Welcome to Moon River. I’m Alexandra Harris, but call me Alex.”

“Yeah,” Melissa laughed. “The ... guy at the main office tried to scare me with Alex.”

“Scare you? How?”

“He said ‘You’re sleeping with Alex,’ now since you’re Alex as in Alexandra I guess I’m okay sleeping with you.”

“What? Sleeping?” Alex’s eyes grew wide and her cheeks turned red. “You know there are two beds...”

Melissa could feel heat rising on her own cheeks. Good thing it doesn’t easily show, she thought and smiled at Alex. “Okay, let me rephrase that, I mean camping, sharing room, whatever you call it, and I promise I’ll stay in my own bed.”

Alex giggled nervously and gave Melissa’s bags a gaze. “You have a lot of bags.”

“I do,” Melissa replied, and felt a mean streak coming on, “maybe you wanna get another roomie?”

“No, my parents live here in Moon River, or just outside, so I didn’t bring my whole ... um ... life ... with me.”

Melissa grinned mischievously. “Wait until the removal firm arrives with the big truck.” She laughed when Alex’s face turned from deep red to ghostly pale in just a few heartbeats. “I’m just being funny.”

“Oh, I don’t mind roommates that have a lot of stuff, but the big truck after this ... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...”

“I promise to keep out of your bed and your closet,” Melissa grinned.

“Okay,” Alex said and grabbed a bag, effectively ending the conversation.

Melissa, Alex and Dimi managed to carry all Melissa’s bags among them and within another five minutes they reached the dorm building, on the map named “Lilac.”

When Melissa first heard the name she guessed someone had had a severe case of lacking imagination and named the buildings after colors, but she said nothing to Alex or Dimi. They reached the building, or at least a sign pointing towards where it should be located. They were in one of the far corners of the Annex jungle and the sign was pointing at a group of large oaks, surrounded by a large lilac bush.

That explains the name, Melissa thought and looked around to try and locate an opening in the mass of green. All she saw was white and lilac blooms. Her suspicion was confirmed when Alex and Dimi started to walk around the lilac’s; the opening were on the other side. They followed a footpath around the large bush and soon they found an opening. The house seemed as small and unpretentious as the bushes and trees surrounding it were large and impressive. It was a gray building and it was dark part from a few windows.