Unknown

LOCK & KEY

KEVIN

The darkness inside the professor’s office was absolute. A thrill shot through me, sharp and cold.

For a few seconds, I stood perfectly still, letting my eyes adjust, my ears straining against the oppressive silence.

The air was stale, thick with the scent of leather and lemon polish. It reeked of money.

This was it. The heart of my enemy's territory and I was in it!

I pulled out my phone, using its screen as a dim, low-profile light source. The faint glow made this highly organized room visible to my eyes. It is just so ironic that with all the mess he has created, he loves to show himself as a neat and organized professor. Quite smart, huh?

Books were perfectly aligned on mahogany shelves, awards were displayed in a neat row, and not a single paper was out of place on the massive desk. It was the office of a man in complete control. But everyone has a secret, and I am determined to find it.

I started with the desk, my movements swift and silent. The top drawers slid open with a soft, oiled sound, revealing nothing but neatly organized stationery. I was looking for something that was out of bounds for the people who visit him here. Something locked. Something hidden from the plain sight. While checking, the lower drawer resisted from opening. It was locked.

My pulse quickened. As I knelt, my light caught a faint scuff mark on the wooden paneling behind the desk, near the floor. It was almost invisible. Curious, I pressed against it. A section of the wood gave way with a soft click, revealing a small, hidden compartment. And inside, nestled on a bed of dark velvet, was a small, heavy box made of dark metal. It had no visible keyhole.

This was it. This had to be it.

My fingers had just brushed against the cold metal when I heard a sound from the hallway. The distinct jingle of keys, followed by the heavy tread of footsteps approaching the office door.

Security. f**k!

Adrenaline flooded my veins. I shoved the wooden panel back into place, the click sounding like a gunshot in the silent room. I couldn't risk taking the box—not yet. I scrambled back to the window, my breath held tight in my chest as the key slid into the lock of the office door. I threw my leg over the sill, tumbling out onto the soft grass just as the light from the hallway flooded the office. I didn’t wait to see if I’d been spotted. I sprinted, disappearing into the deep shadows of the campus, the image of that locked box burnt into my mind. I hadn't found the evidence, but I had found its cage.

MIA

A single, hot tear finally escaped and trailed down my cheek. I was done. Done trying to be nice, done trying to understand.

Happy now, are you Universe? This is what you wanted, didn't you? Well, Congratulations! You got it!

The loneliness and the curiosity about Kevin were suddenly crushed under an overwhelming wave of pure frustration.

My stomach rumbled, a pathetic reminder that I hadn't eaten since lunch. The thought of the bustling dining hall made me want to scream, but the gnawing hunger was worse than the thought of seeing people.

Fine. Vending machine it is.

I stomped down to the dorm's common room, a sad, dimly lit space that smelled like stale popcorn. Just like what I was feeling right now.

I shoved my money into the snack machine, punched in the code for a bag of chips, and watched as the little metal spiral turned… and stopped, trapping my prize against the glass.

Of course.

A laugh bubbled up out of my chest, dry and completely humorless. On a day when my roommate had bailed, and I'd just potentially witnessed a felony, it only made sense that I'd be personally defeated by a freaking vending machine.

“Nice one, Universe,” I muttered to the empty common room. "Real nice!", smacking the machine with the palm of my hand.

“Hitting it won’t help.”

The voice came from the shadows behind me, low and gravelly. I whipped around, my heart leaping into my throat.

Oh My God...It's him!

Kevin stood by the doorway, his black hoodie making him look like a phantom. He was breathing heavily, and there was a smudge of dirt on his cheek.

He stepped into the light, and his eyes, dark and intense, landed on the stuck bag of chips. He walked over to the machine without another word, then slammed his hand against the side panel at a specific spot. The bag dropped.

Well, he also hit it, just at a different spot. Wayyyy to go mister after being all mysterious with...hitting it won't help! Bleh!

He turned to leave.

Should I? What if he kills me for witnessing that! Well then he'll be caught. There are cameras everywhere here, heh joke's on him.

“Wait,” I said, my voice coming out stronger than I expected.

Okay, do not threaten him, maybe.

I softened my voice a bit and asked him curiously, “What were you doing at the Business building?”

He froze, his back still to me. He slowly turned his head, and the look in his eyes was chilling.

If he could kill with his eyes, I would have been dead by now. Jeez!

All traces of the boy from the cafeteria were gone. This was someone dangerous.

“You saw that,” he stated. It wasn’t a question.

I lifted my chin. “It’s hard to miss someone breaking into a professor’s office.”

He took a step toward me, closing the distance between us until I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “Then you need to learn how to miss things,” he said, his voice a low, threatening whisper. “Forget what you saw. Don’t talk about it. Don’t think about it. And stay away from me. Got it?”

I won't be backing down, mister, just because you are all criminal and stuff, okay?

I just stared, my mind racing. The boy from the cafeteria and the criminal at the window, and now the man standing in front of me threatening me, they were all the same person.

He held my gaze for another tense second before turning and walking out, disappearing into the night as silently as he had appeared. I was left alone in the quiet common room, the bag of chips completely forgotten at the bottom of the machine. The mystery of Kevin wasn't a puzzle anymore. It was a warning.

Seriously, this is what I stood up for against Sofie...Ugh now I have no roommate because of a person who just threatened me. Great! I am such an i***t.