Secrets All Around

As the day came to an end, the kids headed toward the student dormitories. Ran slowed as he approached the stairs and looked up at his friends, asking, "Did we get assigned our rooms yesterday?"

“Yeah, you're with me, as usual,” Reyes answered. "Dave and Dani also got paired together.”

“Mind if we switch?”

“You wanna room with me?” Dave asked. But Ran replied, "I want to room with Dani.”

Daniyel, standing off to the side, watched the old group of friends discuss amongst themselves as if this had nothing to do with him.

“Dani, mind heading up first?” Daveed asked apologetically. "We'll follow in a bit.”

Daniyel shrugged his shoulders and headed to his newly allocated room, while the three crowded the staircase.

As soon as Dani was out of earshot, Reyes directly asked, “Why on earth would you want to room with the new kid?” Ran feigned confusion. "We always room together, and Dave gets stuck with one bad roommate after the other. I felt like doing charity,” he answered innocently.

David scoffed, "Do you take us for idiots?”

"Ran," Reyes interjected, "How long have we known each other?”

"Long enough,” Ran sighed. "Why are you making a big deal out of this?"

“Longer than that,” Daveed shot back. “Which would make us really terrible friends if we still didn’t know about...” He hesitated, then waved his hand dismissively. “Your affliction.”

“My affliction?” Ran challenged. Reyes's demeanor softened slightly, "Your gift, your curse, whatever it is. We know about it. So you can't room with a stranger. What if he's too loud?”

“What if he snores?” Daveed added. Reyes persisted, "What if the arrays mess up again, and you have another episode?”

“Exactly, so this is a terrible idea,” Daveed confirmed.

Ran’s lips quirked into a soft smile, which he tried to hide by chewing on his lip. "I guess you guys knew all along." He fiddled with his robes, resigned. "Why didn’t you ever say anything?"

"We figured you would bring it up eventually, but you never did.” Daveed raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Alright, since you already know, that’s exactly why I want to pair up with him,” Ran chuckled, then hurried up the stairs, shouting over his shoulder, “So, I guess it’s settled.”

...----------------...

The limestone brick walls in the student quarters were illuminated by ornamental iron lanterns, casting soft shadows. Ran stood still under the dim light by the wooden door of his new sleeping quarters, trying to sense any movement from within.

While mustering up the courage to enter, Daniyel opened the door and directly asked, "Are you coming in?”

Ran laughed nervously, "Yup!” He twittered, earning a skewed look from his new roommate.

Ran sat by the windowsill, facing the woods behind the school. "I don't think I caught your family name," he started, thinking it was a safe question. However, Dani gave him another look and then completely ignored him, lying on the bed with study materials in hand.

Feeling rather silly, Ran shifted his attention to the room. It was well-lit, airy, and spacious. The silly feeling gnawed at him again, but he pushed it down and continued studying the room. Red and black majlis seats were arranged along the side for students to study and eat. At the center of the seating area stood a table, carved with delicate geometric patterns. Beneath it, three floor cushions rested on a patterned carpet. That silly feeling crept up again. “So, what’s your deal?” Ran finally blurted out.

“Excuse me?” Dani responded, looking up from his book.

“Are you an undead?” Ran asked, tilting his head to the side.

Daniyel slowly swallowed, staring at Ran as if he’d grown three heads. “Are you trying to insult me?”

Ran was taken by surprise. He wasn’t picking a fight; he was genuinely curious. The boy’s bodily functions were abnormal. He’d only witnessed something similar once before among the blood-sucking monsters.

Daniyel did not give him a chance to explain; he unlatched the curtains around the bed and shut him out.

Ran welcomed the silly feeling again. He and his new roommate were off to a great start.

Shortly after, Dave and Rey came knocking on their door to head down for dinner. Ran followed them with a stiff expression.

“Isn’t Dani coming?” asked Daveed, and Ran shook his head. Reyes gave an all-knowing smile, “You already managed to piss him off, didn’t you?”

When they reached the eating lounge, they were met with frustrated faces and empty tables. Curious, they approached some students and asked what was going on. The response was a wave of irritation: “Dinner is late.”

Just then, Principal Mostafa appeared, announcing that everyone should return to their rooms for the night, assuring them that food would be brought to their respective dormitories.

Dave and Reyes shared a look before putting on sly grins and turning to Ran, “Why don’t you use your super hearing abilities to find out what’s going on?”

“How about no?” Ran dusted off non-existent specks from his robes and started getting up to leave. Not taking no for an answer, his friends grabbed his arms and dragged him away from the lounge. Reasoning with him, they argued, “What’s the use of having such cool abilities if we don’t utilize them?”

“There’s nothing cool about being able to tell how many times everyone goes to the bathroom per day,” Ran whined as he let himself get dragged.

The trio sneaked towards the kitchen area underground. As they got closer, they heard the main chef yelling at the staff, going off about dirty pots and utensils. Reyes and Daveed needed no special abilities to hear all the shouting. Disappointed, the boys were ready to give up the snooping mission, but Ran told them to hold still.

“What is it?” whispered Reyes conspiratorially.

“Someone’s writhing on the ground,” Ran mumbled. “The arrays are about to come crashing down again,” he uttered the last words and went running towards the dormitories. The boys, running after, him could barely catch up.

Once Ran made it safely to his room, he huddled under the thin covers waiting for an assault that never came. He heard Dani getting out of bed and opening the door to let his freaked-out friends in. Pulling down the covers, he met their panicked faces and tried to settle his stumbling nerves.

Reyes nudged him softly. “You're okay?”

“It’s over. Someone must have stabilized it,” he explained.

“Are you sure? Could you have possibly imagined it this time?” Dave started. “You're still on edge because of what happened yesterday, maybe...” He did not finish the sentence and shifted uncomfortably instead.

Ran swallowed hard, giving a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Yeah, maybe.”

After the boys left, Dani shifted around, sneaking glances at Ran. Eventually, he broke the silence. “You didn’t imagine it, the array was infiltrated.” Ran shot out of bed, eyes wide open.

Dani continued, “Someone was ready for the attack though, the cracks were amended immediately. So, whoever fixed it, was lying in the aerial space waiting.”

“Do you know who did it?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?" Dani turned his back to him once again. "I’ve only been here for two days.”

Ran recognized the fragile truce in the room, so he hastily said, “I’m sorry, by the way, I didn’t mean to offend you earlier.” He smiled awkwardly, unsure how to continue. “I just hear things, you know? And you have very faint - um - noises.”

“Noises?” Dani craned his neck to raise an eyebrow at him.

“Your heartbeat, I can barely hear it. I hear everyone else’s, but with you, I gotta put in the effort, so I assumed...”

“That I’m an undead? I’m not. I can touch holy talismans.” He pulled out a little wrapped bundle of a goddess from underneath his collar, showing it to Ran.

Feeling suddenly lethargic, Ran slumped onto the bed, his eyes half-drooping as they looked in Dani's direction. He nodded his head, signaling that he understood but couldn’t muster up the energy to respond. Soon after, he leaned his head onto the bedpost and fell asleep.

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