Page 41 of My Roommate from Hell
As strange and unusual and exciting as these detours into the supernatural have been, I’m still human. Which means I need sleep. And I haven’t had a single full night since I moved in.
The impact that’s had on me is obvious. My thoughts are sluggish, and I’m starting to get a temper. Small things annoy me, and my emotional reactions to stuff have been totally out of proportion. It’s fine because it’s still orientation week, but part of me is already freaking out about this continuing once classes start.
In any case, a solid eight hours of sleep will fix almost everything going wrong in my life. It will be enough for me to rest and refresh, making it so I can tackle my life, and the stresses of living with Zarmenus, with a clear mind.
I put my newly purchased earplugs in, giving me blessed silence.I can’t hear Zarmenus’s game, or his foot tapping, or anything. The quiet is heavenly.
I dare to let myself hope that I might get what I want.
Something is burning.
The smell hits me first: dry and hot and smoky, then seconds later I’m pulled from a deep sleep into being wide awake. A siren is blaring—the fire alarm is going off, the sound sharp and piercing.
That’s not my biggest concern.
Our room is on fire.
The crackling flames reach all the way up to the ceiling, becoming a wall of orange fire.
I jump out of bed. Zarmenus is fast asleep, surrounded by flames. Actually, that’s not true. The flames are coming from him: he is the source of the flames, but they aren’t hurting him. His mouth is hanging open, snoring loudly, like usual.
I take a step toward Zarmenus, but the heat is so strong I know if I get any closer, I’ll be burned. I can’t just leave him, even if he does seem completely fine. I glance around the room, looking for something that could help. I spot Zarmenus’s basketball rolled over to my side of the room. I pick it up and throw it at him, hitting him square in the face. I didn’t mean to, I was aiming for a body shot, but seems like the mission has been successful. His eyes flutter open.
The fire starts to creep across the ceiling. For a split second the flames look like hands, reaching out for me.
I run for the door, pull it open, then run outside. In the hallway a bunch of people, most dressed in pj’s, are standing outside their doors. Most of them are making their way down the hallway, looking tired and annoyed.
“Emergency!” calls a robotic voice over the intercom in between the eardrum-gouging wails of the siren. “Evacuate now. Evacuate as directed. Emergency!”
Zarmenus steps out of our room, wearing only a pair of boxerswith little cartoon hearts on them. He yawns and scratches the side of his head. His hair is matted down from sleep, and if he’s self-conscious about only being in silk underwear, it’s not showing.
“Sorry,” he says. “It was just a nightmare, the fire is under control. See?”
He opens our dorm, and holy shit. This shouldn’t be possible, but I also should’ve learned to never think that when it comes to Zarmenus. The room looks completely ordinary. There’s not a single burn mark in the entire room. It was engulfed in fire seconds ago. Now it looks exactly how it did before the flames caught.
“How?” I ask.
He pats me on the shoulder. “Magic, my friend. Don’t think about it too hard.”
I very much do want to think about it too hard, thank you very much. Those might have been flames born of his magical abilities, but it was still real fire. I felt the heat, smelled the way it was burning the walls.
“I can’t help it,” I say. “The room was burned, how do you just undo it?”
“Fine,” says Zarmenus. “I used to have nightmares like this a lot as a kid. There’s a spell I know to reverse the damage, and I’m good at it because I had to do it so often. My parents weren’t exactly forgiving if I damaged anything in their precious palace, so I learned to cover my tracks.”
See, that makes more sense. As much as possible, given the circumstances. But if that’s true, why didn’t he fix the burn mark Bell left? It dawns on me that he has the ability, he simply chose not to.
“Can someone shut those off?” asks Zarmenus. “It’s over now.”
“I think we still need to evacuate,” I say.
“Ugh.”
We take the stairs down and go outside, where what must be close to the entire population of Clark Hall has assembled. People keep filing out, marshaled by RAs, until the space is crowded. Then RAs go through and check everyone’s names.
After ten minutes a fire truck arrives, which Zarmenus seems really excited by. Some firemen get out of the truck, and Zarmenus seems especially thrilled to talk to them.
He moves in close to stand right beside me. “Which one do you think is the hottest?”
