[wd#3delia]

Clay hurried down the stairs, two steps at a time, all the while fumbling for his earphones from the pocket of his trousers. Students began to throng the staircase, hurrying towards the cafeteria to grab something for lunch break. Clay wandered how do these people stick together and just as easily become friends. Personally he envied them, but he did not have the skill, nor the guts, nor the energy to find people who fit his preference and form groups. He was that bad in social interactions, in case you were wondering. Jim, or as he would call, Jimbo, was the only person he could call his friend after a week when he started prep school, for two main reasons; one, he was the first person who came to him and introduced himself, eventually turning out to be his room mate, and two, he was so friendly but socially awkward that it eased their communications and made him feel at home.

“Hey Clay, here, here!” Jim shouted from the corner of the lobby as soon as Clay reached the bottom of the staircase. Clay raised his eyebrow in acknowledgement and strode towards Jim but as if he could not wait any longer, he darted towards Clay instead.

“I got something very intriguing to tell you.”

“Yeah but hold on man, at least let me go get something to eat first. And you texted me during the class! What were you doing outside during class periods?”

Jim gave a very pretentiously sly smile, the one he would always do whenever he thought he had a ‘dirt’ that was going to excite Clay. Jim knew better than that. That was instead the normal sign of Jim having had the knowledge on some vapid rumours of either students, lecturers or staffs around the school; and those never excited him.

“Worry not my friend. I got your back. Here. ” Jim handed Clay a pack of sandwiches and a can of soda.

“My treat. And I had free periods during Economics just now as my lecturer was absent. So now help yourself while I tell you a very intriguing news I got from our beloved dorm janitor, Ms Morea.”

“Fine. Thanks by the way. Now, what’s this ‘intriguing news’ you are so excited about?”

Clay seated himself on a nearby bench. Jim followed suit and immediately jumped into his story.

“Okay so get this. So you know how Ms Morea not only cleans our dorm block, but also the girls’ dorm block beside ours , don’t you?”

“Yes…”

“Okay. So today instead of cleaning the boys’ dorm first, she decided to clean up the girls’ before moving on to our block. All was fine and all, nothing was out of place, she was doing her stuff, before suddenly she came across something in the balcony of one of the rooms.”

“Okay. I have a feeling this is heading somewhere predictable…”

“What do you think she found there?” Jim teased.

Clay just played along, his mouth diligently munching on the sandwiches. “Hmm, bras?”

Jim chuckled and patted Clay’s back with vigor that made him choke on his sandwiches. “Hey!”

“Clay, that was a naughty guess but we have no time for that.”

“Then Jimbo, what did she find? Come on, tell me. I’m dying to know.” uttered Clay with a flatness of tone only the dumb would find unfathomable.

“She found…”

With eyes half-closed, mocking Jim, Clay looked at him with feigned anticipation.

“…a dead cat. Throat slit. Bloods drenched the balcony in red pool.”

For the first time, the story shook Clay with curiosity. His jaw stopped munching for several seconds, his eyes questioningly fixated at Jim’s.

“What happened?!”

“That’s the mystery! No one knows! She was shocked herself, screaming and running to tell other staff around the block. Some guys handled the carcass and they eventually cleaned the area but Ms Morea herself seemed to be greatly disturbed by it. I found her telling this to the staff at the cafeteria so I jumped into their conversation, uh, you know who I am, and she ended up telling me the whole story. I asked her if it was possible that the cat died by accident but she told me the slit was very clean. It was intentionally done by someone.”

Clay put down the rest of his sandwiches. He was full. If he weren’t, he no longer had any appetite anyway.

“Wait, so who did it? It couldn’t be one of the girls in the room, could it?”

“No one is sure. According to Ms Morea, girls’ dorm are always locked and only those who have the keys could enter the block.”

“So it can’t be an outsider.” Clay continued Jim’s line of reasoning.

“Yes, and following that, the only one who could do this was one of the girls.”

Jim and Clay looked at each other in silence. Both of them were deep in thoughts, both telling each other things without any words uttered.

“I’m curious. Who in their right minds, would do such thing to a cat?” Clay admitted.

“I know right? What a freak. And to know this might have been done by a girl, wow, creepy shit.” Jim continued. “What do you think?”

Clay glanced to the students wandering around and about, chatting with each other about stuff that did not matter.

“I don’t know Jimbo. The world is sick.”

They turned silent for a moment, both absorbed into their thought processes.

“Good job Jimbo, this is the first time I’m actually surprised of the news you harbour.” Clay muttered slowly, his right hand patted Jim’s shoulder. He looked at his watch and realised it was about time he walk to the next class.

“I know!” Jim seemed to enjoy the compliment before realising what Clay said. “Wait what?! Damnit man! So all this while?!”

Clay laughed wholeheartedly and got up, ready to leave. “That’s it Jim. Thanks for the food. I’ll see you later in the room after classes!”

Jim chuckled as well. “Yep never mind that. See ya later!”