Short stories collection
Roommate. They can either be your next best thing or the worst encounter of your life. However for my story , I have to say – it was rather a terrible experience. I was eighteen at that time and it was my first time living away from my family. I had to rent a room a few blocks away from my university because I couldn’t secure a place in the residential college.
What a bummer !
I mean, HELLO? I’m a freshman , shouldn’t I at least got a place until my sophomore year?
But the staff said first come, first served . And guess who’s the last person to send a “Yes, I do!” confirmation ? Yep, me.
Anyway , the reason most students are renting outside was because a few of the residential buildings are still in renovation. As a result, we have to wait till next semester to obtain a place. Whatever.
I met my roommate in front of the house when I was unloading my luggage. She looks very helpless and lost.She seems like she need a place too. I figured I should help so I offered her to share my room.
She was dumbfounded.
She didn’t say anything and stared right at me.
Well, that was rude so I rolled my eyes and walk inside.Not so long later, I noticed she followed me into my room. Out of the blue, she jumped onto my bed and fell asleep.
“Excuse me, I don’t even know you and you slept on my bed ?!?” I guess she pretended like she didn’t hear me because she gave me no respond. Another rude behavior. Urghh.
I ought to kick her from my room but then I didn’t have the heart to do that. I mean, I was the one to give such offer and by the way she does look pathetic. I guess I’ll let her off the hook this time.
Told you it was a terrible first encounter. Could you imagine, I lived with her the whole semester?
One time, I just got home and I bought myself a serving of nasi ayam penyet. I’ve been craving for this legend.. wait for it……I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because it’s going to be dairy! Legendary! Legendary nasi ayam penyet!
The best one in town and I couldn’t get myself to buy one lately because my class got dragged and by the time I arrived at the stall , they already sold out. Luckily on that day, I remember it precisely – it was Wednesday- my class got cancelled so I rushed to the stall and quickly brought it home.
I put it on my study table and decided to perform my zuhur prayer first. As I ended my prayer and gave salam, I looked around just to find out that she ate my nasi ayam penyet. She almost finished them and didn’t leave anything behind except for some salad and a slice of cucumber.
“NOOOOOOO!!!!!!” I screamed at her. She make her poker face again. I blamed myself for not buying two servings, I mean there’s no point yelling if the person is not going to hear you. Better come out with a solution, so ever since then I either bought two take-away servings or I ate lunch before going home.
I really wanted to call her bitch , but describing her as a female dog would be an insult to her and all of her generation. Urghhh… Was I being too nice?
She wasn’t just annoying, but she was a total creep too.
After performing my subuh prayer, I would go to our house compound to hang clothes that I just washed. My roommate and I were a morning person. The other housemates already went back to sleep after prayer.
It was early in the morning so there’s not much people on the street. However, it had become a routine for her to laze in front of the house at that time.
What creeps me was that every time she laze in front of the house, the pug owned by Miss Chen who lived across the streets always barked. You do know why dog barks , right? Her pug only barked when my roommate is out. If it just me, the pug would just stay quiet.
Sometimes, I woke up in the middle of the night only to find that she was sleeping next to me. On my study table. On my wardrobe. On the kitchen counter. Not to mention, on me. She pretty much a heavy sleeper who sleeps everywhere.
I’m not sure she realize that or maybe she just sleep-walking. We all got her a bed already , but she seldom used it.
The things that I despise the most about her is that she likes to put weird objects among my belongings. I was sweeping the floor one time, and as I reached the area under my bed I discover a dead mouse under my bed. Not that mouse you use for computer. That mouse who had a long tail, black-grey fur and pointy nose.
No wonder our room smells horrible- I thought it came from my roommate not having shower. I’m sure she put the mouse there. She grinned when I asked her about the mouse.
Meanwhile mouse is very common of her. On special occasion, I did get her special gift of pigeon head or big large spider. Jokes on her, neither of that scares me. Maybe next time eh?
You guys must be thinking, why the hell would I keep her for the whole semester? I should have just kicked her out of my room because she definitely was a pain in the ass trouble.
The answer for that was because of our friendship. She’s like Sam when I was Carly. Or drake when I was Josh. Or Stitch when I was Lilo.
She might be annoying to the bone but she was very cool.
Whenever I felt homesick, and started crying. She would sit next to me. We didn’t say anything to each other but she being there for me was very meaningful.
Whenever I felt lonely, it won’t be for long because then I have to deal with her mess. Despite her disorganize life, she was so relaxed and calm. It’s like nothing ever disturb her. Meanwhile me, yeah she bothered me the most.
Before ending the semester, I told her a few times.
“I’m going to move into residential college next sem. We might not be roommate anymore. It’s not like I can bring you and make you my roommate.”
Like I said, it didn’t bother her at all. She stared into thin air as I said those words. Little did I know, I was the one who got consumed with my own words. As days goes by, I started to feel distant with her.
She frequently out.
She no longer lingers in the room. Most of the time, I had no idea where she went. We aren’t like how we used to be.
On our very last day together. I was loading stuff into the car trunk at that time. After I finished, I went back to our room to find her. She sat on the bare floor, looking at me. I spoke.
“I guess this is goodbye”
I gave her a very tight hug and a kiss on her forehead. Tears rolled down my puffy cheeks.
“I’m going to miss you so much. Take care and thanks”.
I let her go. She walked away gracefully. I never see her since then.
When the new semester begin, I called the house owner and asked if she still lived there. The house owner said she was no longer seen after I left.
Now that I think about it, it was not so terrible. It was wonderful when she was around.
I miss her.
Every time I do, I closed my eyes and pictured her next to me. Her tabby coat and green eyes. She was a very beautiful cat and will always be.
