She had decided to remain in the break room and do a bit of studying on her own before heading back to her dorm. She texted Phil an apology and explained what happened with Kairus. He responded with a lazy “Okay, no worries. I’ll see you in class on Friday.”
Josephine sat her phone back down and continued reading through her psychology textbook regarding the topics of insomnia and sleep deprivation. She read about how sleep directly affects a person’s brain and how not getting enough sleep can lead to many different health problems and conditions.
She had never experienced any sleeping issues herself but knew many people that did. She had a hard time recalling who many of those people were, but Loren at one point came to mind. He used to come to school looking like he hadn’t slept in days back when they were younger. She always worried about him, but he’d assure her nonstop that everything was fine.
Staring at her phone, she thought about texting Phil again to see how he was doing, but just as she started typing out the message, “Hey, Phil. How are y–” She was interrupted by her phone ringing. It was a restricted unknown number. With sudden curiosity, she quickly answered the call.
A strange, low, but familiar voice began to speak. “Hey, Josi…” the man said softly.
Confused and a little anxious, Josephine muttered, “Uh hi… Who is this and how did you get my number?”
“You gave it to me…” he started, talking slowly like he was void of all energy. The sound of wind blew through the receiver and made it difficult for her to hear him. “It’s me. Loren,” he said.
“Who? I’m sorry. I can barely hear you. It sounds really windy wherever you are. Maybe try calling another time or not at all.” She was audibly annoyed and spoke aggressively.
“Wait!” He shouted. “It’s me. Loren! You gave me your number… uhh… a couple weeks ago… you remember, right? You said to call you or text you if I uhh… ever needed anything…” He tried desperately to remind her, but he was still difficult to understand fully. He seemed overly shy, nervous, or embarrassed.
“Oh, Loren! Hey! Yeah I totally remember that…” she lied. “Well anyway. How are you? You doing alright at this big scary school?” She teased, knowing just how shy and awkward Loren was.
“I’m doing alright… I just wanted to warn you to stay inside,” he said coldly with very little expression.
“Uhh why do you want me to stay inside?”
“It’s going to storm… really bad… I heard some of the meteorology majors talking about it… The weather is… strange… so I believe them.”
“Should I just go home then if it’s gonna be that bad?” Josephine asked as she got up to peek outside through one of the large glass windows. She peered out into the sky, searching for a sign of a storm, but saw nothing particularly alarming beyond some harsh wind blowing and bending tree limbs around.
“No… don’t… do… that!” he insisted with long stretched pauses between his words. It sounded like he was being choked by the wind outside.
“Okay, Loren. I won’t, but don’t you need to get inside too?” Josephine asked with a hint of concern.
“I… will… be… fine…” He reassured as he began to gasp for air.
A burst of wind came howling through the phone, followed by the sound of rustling and plastic rolling on the ground. Then, Loren’s phone suddenly disconnected.
“Loren? You there?” She asked, but there was no answer. She then sent a worried text to Loren asking if he was okay, but there was no immediate response.
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She waited a few more minutes until Loren Finally replied, “I’m fine. Don’t worry. Just dropped my phone.”
Josephine nodded her head and responded, “That’s good. I’m glad you’re okay.” She then proceeded to get up from the couch, pack up her school items, and return to her room.
When she opened the door, she noticed Alana with towels wrapped around her body and head. She had just returned from a shower, and was about to get dressed.
“Hey, Josephine,” she said with a blank expression as she unwrapped her towel and started putting clothes on.
“Hi, Alana,” she spoke in an annoying tone. “It’s Josi, by the way… for the 100th time.”
Josephine laid down her breath and sighed, throwing a pillow over her face, making irritated sounds and exhaling obnoxiously.
“I would ask you what’s wrong, but at the same time, I don’t really care,” Alana joked mockingly.
“You’re so annoying,” Josephine responded, removing the pillow from her face.
“Okay for real. What’s wrong, Jos?”
“Just annoying boys being annoying boys. The usual.”
“Kairus again?”
“Yep. Kairus again, but I’m hoping he’ll keep himself in check this time.” Josephine sat up on her bed and started feeling around for something. “Hey, have you seen Mr. Pumpkin Spice?”
“Uhh no… I haven’t. What happened with Kairus this time?” Alana began to look around for Mr. Pumpkin Spice alongside Josephine.
“He was just acting real protective and stalkerish today. He saw me and Phil walking together and came to our room looking for me and then when he saw us in the break room, he flipped shit.” Josephine sighed again, feeling under her sheets and pillows. Where the hell is he?
“Damn. He’s way too clingy. If my girl was like that, I’d have dumped her ass already,” Alana said, nonchalantly.
Josephine nodded her head and plopped down to the floor below. She rested on her hands and knees, quickly searching under her bed. Unfortunately, she found nothing but a few cardboard boxes.
“Still can’t find it?” Alana asked while concluding her own search.
“Nope,” she responded, crawling out from underneath her bed. She then stood up and sat back down, facing Alana’s side of the room when she noticed something orange and white beneath Alana’s bed.
“Lana, is that Mr. Pumpkin Spice?” She asked in a very annoyed “I know what you’re up to” kind of tone.
“Where? Did you find him?” She responded unenthusiastically.
“Yeah, bitch. Is that him under your bed?” Josephine got up and headed towards the bottom of Alana’s bed.
“I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would he be there?”
“Because you think it’s funny to mess with me obviously,” Josephine snapped back, reaching under Alana’s bed and retrieving her orange and white stuffed cat.
“As funny as it would be for me to hide him from you, unfortunately, I didn’t do it. Rest assured, hon.” Alana claimed her innocence, speaking calmly and convincingly.
“Well, if it wasn’t you, then who? Kairus???” Josephine’s eyes lit up and she frowned. “Oh that son of a bitch. He probably moved my toothpaste and toothbrush too because he was jealous of you. What hell is he trying to do?” Josephine pulled out her phone and started to write out an angry message to him.
“Woah woah woah slow down, sugar tits. You better calm 'em before you bust ‘em. You don’t know that for sure. It would be a really weird thing for him to do. Don’t you think? And what would be the point anyway?” Alana spoke calmly and rationally, trying to get Josephine to think before she acted.
“Well, Lana, If it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t Kai, who else does that leave?” Josephine was getting impatient and angry, raising her voice as she spoke.
“Hey. I personally think it was you. You do some pretty stupid shit sometimes, especially when you’re with Merideth. So, I wouldn’t put it past you or her to have dropped him and accidentally kicked him under the bed or something while you were messin’ around.”
Josephine thought about it for a moment, and calmed down as she convinced herself that Alana’s suggestion was more likely than what she thought at first.
“I don’t know. I’m still gonna blame Kairus. At least in my head. We’ll see if something else winds up in the wrong place.,” she responded as Alana shook her head and buried her face into a book called The Rotten One.
It was a story about a child that was expected to have been cursed by a witch before he was born. This would then lead him to a life of heinous acts, family murder, and a very tragic death.
Josephine let the issue go for the time being as she got comfortable in her bed and scrolled through her phone, texting a few friends, watching a couple videos, and of course, reading some news articles.