“Yo, Eric! This is Merideth. Meredith, this is my roommate, Eric. This is the girl from my criminal justice class I was telling you about.”

“Oh what’s good, Merideth? How the hell did this man manage to convince you to hang out with him? I know damn well it wasn’t his style.” The dark skinned curly haired boy teased as he gestured to Justin’s outfit.

“Hey! You’d better leave my fit alone, brother, before I get started on that scraggly ass beard of yours,” Justin retorted, sharing an exchange of soft friendly banter with his roommate. “She was just hanging out in the hallway by herself. I just thought she might want to get her ass whooped in some Mario Kart.”

“Excuse me?” She intervened. “The only one that’ll be getting their ass whooped in Mario Kart is you… and maybe you too, Eric, if you’re planning on playing.”

“Yeah. I’ll play a few. I ain’t got nothin’ goin’ on with this rain comin’ down so hard.” Eric sat up on his bed and turned on the TV and Nintendo Switch, tossing both Merideth and Justin a controller. “Ight’ let’s play.”

Thunder roared relentlessly through the large glass window panels in the room, making Merideth jump in her couch seat. She gripped her controller tightly, focusing intensely on maneuvering her digital motorcycle. She veered left and right through the winding courses, dodging obstacles, retrieving boosts, weapons, and assuming a commanding position in front of the pack.

“Wow you guys are getting your butt’s whipped!” Merideth exclaimed with a hearty grin.

“That’s alright, girl. I got something for that ass,” Eric ensured as he activated the blue shell honing power-up that automatically chased down the first place racer and attacked them, slowing them considerably.

Meredith intentionally slowed down and let two other racers pass her, including Justin who had been in third place. After a few seconds, the blue shell honed in on the new first place character, attacking them and Justin, allowing Merideth to resume her position in first.

“Damn alright. You clever for that,” Eric praised as they completed the race. Merideth finished in first, followed by Justin in second, and Eric in fifth.

“Yeah. She is pretty good at this game, huh?” Justin added, looking over to Merideth’s bright smiling face. She looked very pleased with herself, almost gloating with just her face and body.

“Ight’ run it back,” Eric said, waving his controller in the air.

They proceeded to play another game while thunder continued to roar in the background. Lightning struck in the distance leaving behind a loud echoing crackle. Cascades of thick and heavy rain pounded the glass windows with thumps and clinks. For a moment, it almost seemed like the grass would crack, shatter, and come blowing through the window.

The hefty wind howled like a pack of wolves through the ridges in the walls. It was a storm unlike any other that had happened this year, potent, powerful, and harsh. Even with all of her attention focused on the game, Meredith shuttered at the bolstering thunderclaps outside, continuing to jump in her seat.

“It sounds like the end of the world out there.” Meredith chuckled softly, feeling a bit unnerved about the thunderstorm.

“No kidding. I had no idea it was gonna get this rough. I wouldn’t be surprised if the–” Justin paused as all of the lights and the video game shut off. “...power went out.”

“Yeah uh. I wouldn’t be surprised neither…” Eric spoke through the pitch black darkness.

“Well. It looks like I’ll be staying here with you guys tonight. Is that cool?” Meredith asked with an invisible smile.

“Yeah sure. Of course. You’re definitely welcome to stay here till the storm blows over,” Justin offered as he laid back on his bed, unable to see anything around him until a bright light met his eyes from across the room.

“I’ll use my phone so we can see until the backup generators turn on. It should be about 10 or 15 minutes probably,” Meredith informed while flashing her light around the room, illuminating the two boys one at a time.

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“Just don’t point it at my face,” Eric spoke, sounding annoyed.

“Sorry.”

“No worries. Why do you know about backup generators like that?”

“Oh. I’m studying electrical engineering, so I tend to know things about electrical stuff.”

“Hmm. I would have never guessed you were into electrical engineering.”

“Yeah. Most people wouldn’t, but it’s my passion. I like working with electronics, circuit breakers, transformers, PLC relays, all that fun stuff. That’s actually how Justin and I met. It was in an electrical engineering seminar my freshman year.”

“Yup!” Justin exclaimed. “That was my sophomore year if I’m not mistaken. We were partners for a project that she carried me through. I had almost no idea what I was doing, but she knew everything there was to know about that class.”

“Yeah! It was nothing. I enjoyed working with you.”

CHUUU-KAAAW! Lightning crashed and exploded outside creating an ear shattering boom that resonated through the pipes in the walls, bounced between the windows, and lingered with an oscillating but depreciating crackle.

“Jesus!” Merideth exclaimed, jolting up explosively in her seat.

“God damn that was a loud one.” Eric got up from his bed, plopping down onto the floor below. He then proceeded curiously to the window. With his face and nose pressed to the glass, he stared out blankly into the black captivating darkness.

“Man it’s dark out there. Don’t look like nobody got power now.”

“Can you see any lights coming from the city buildings?” Justin asked, walking up to the window behind him.

“Uhh don’t think… actually yeah. There’s some light coming’ from a couple buildings if you look really far out to the left. They back up generators must be up n runnin’ already.”

“Well that’s good. That means that those are at least working. Ours should be on any minute now, I’d think,” Meredith ensured.

“Yeah I hope so. I had things to do tonight.”

“Like what?” Justin asked while Merideth pointed her flashlight at him. He briefly shielded his eyes and smiled as she lowered it.

“Meeting up with a girl. Shit, I better text her and let her know I ain’t gone make it probably.”

“I think she knows that,” Meredith responded kindly.

“Mmm. She might not. This girl ain’t the smartest, lemme tell you.” Eric returned to his bed, retrieved his phone, and began typing out a message.

“Who are you even talking about, Eric?” Justin insisted while continuing to stare out into the black abyss, watching the pouring rain slam and splash onto the window.

“That girl, Clementine.”

“Oh god, you’re still talking to her?” Justin responded with slight disgust.

“She ain’t smart, but she got that good poonani if you know what I’m saying.”

“Oh jeez. I don’t think he asked for that detail, Eric.” Meredith facepalmed herself and shook her head.

“I mean if I had just said ‘Oh why yes, Justin, I am still talking to her’, you know damn well he would have asked why.”

“He’s got a point there,” Justin added, returning to his seat with Merideth’s flashlight honed in on him. “It’s been like fifteen minutes, when these damn backup generators gonna kick in?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. It’s possible there could be flooding where the generators are; that might be blocking them from turning on safely.”

“You’re probably right. I hope it gets resolved soon though,” Justin said as he climbed back into his bed and laid down.

Roxanne had been searching the hallways for Merideth, calling out desperately to find her. She was trapped inside a building where she knew no one and had no idea where to look. She tried texting and calling her, but the service was bad, and messages would not be sent initially. She sent a message asking “Where are you?” Not sent. “Can you come get me?” Not sent. “Merideth, answer the phone!” Not sent.

She continued to roam the hallways calling out, “Merideth!” at the top of her lungs. To anyone viewing her outside, they would have thought she was clinically insane, but that wasn’t it. She was simply desperate to find someone that would take her in and calm her down.

Wandering the dimly lit hallways of the residence hall aimlessly brought her no success, but she happened to bump into someone else who seemed to know exactly where they were headed.

The mysterious person wore a coat and a top hat, creeping through the hallways silently. Roxanne noticed them and gave a dirty look.

The hatted person stopped Roxanne, grabbing her by the arm and saying, “I know a place that you can… stay for the night if you’d like,” their tone came off subtly creepy but honest.

“Uhm first of all, you betta’ let go of me before I slap yo’ ass into next Tuesday, bitch. And second, I do in fact need a place to stay the night so gone ahead and help a sista out’.” She obliged, feeling confident in her decision.

The two talked for a few moments until the hatted one led her to a room with one other person. They introduced Roxanne to the other individual then disappeared down the hallway and left the building.