Drea sat silently in the middle of the classroom, the scratching of pencils and chalk seemed to echo in her head. Her mind had been wandering once again. The professor had a droning and repetitive tone, and Drea really wasn’t that interested. She stared out the window, the fog made it opaque. Faintly, Drea could see the outline of the rest of the school buildings, but they were dark and hidden. Yellow lights fought fiercely to stay visible and slowly disappeared into the darkness. The fog rolled up over them and spiraled off the buildings like smoke.

“How beautiful…” Drea said out loud. The sound of the chalk stopped as the professor looked around to Drea, who wasn’t really paying attention. The room filled with sniggers and a few short outbursts of laughter. All the noise came to a halt when the professor slapped a menacing looking and metal stick down on her desk. She waddled over to Drea’s desk; the musty and stale air seemed to move as a solid when she walked. The professor was not an attractive woman; she had long white hair that was always pulled so tightly into a bun that it pulled out the wrinkles in her face. She had graying-green eyes that saw almost everything. But the worst feature about this huge woman was the fact when she spoke, it smelled like all of her cats had slept in her mouth the night before.

“Did you say something, Miss Schmitt?” Drea tried not to fake vomit when the professor talked, but she did gag to herself.

“No Professor Primnickle.” Drea didn’t shrink down like she was used to doing, this time she was going to sit up straight and stand up for herself.

“I see.” Primnickle looked her over closely. “, So you won’t mind telling me why my class was interrupted?”

“Because you thought you would come over for a visit?” Drea was surprised by her response, she usually respected her elders.

“Do you think you’re funny, Miss Schmitt?” Primnickle got very close to her face.

“No, ma’am.” Drea was very close to vomiting, the smell of unbrushed teeth and cats was excruciating.

“Lines for you Miss Schmitt, three hundred of them.” Professor Primnickle turned quickly and waddled slowly away from Drea, who welcomed the stale air into her lungs, which felt like new life. The laughter subsided and the sound of chalk and pencils continued once again.

Drea’s attention was again held by the foggy window. Somehow it fascinated her. She stared intently at the frosted rim of the window and the opaque center of fog. It seemed to spiral through the window like it was beckoning to her. She felt the fog brush against her face which felt as comfortable as an old friend.

A loud ringing erupted from the front of the room and Drea snapped back to reality. The dismissal bell had rung and the class was packing up their things. Professor Primnickle was saying something about their homework assignment, but Drea left before she could hear the rest. The halls were crowded as it was a normal day and Drea pushed her way through the cliques and crowds. Lunch was an hour, sometimes shorter, and she needed to stop by her room before the bell rang again. She found an exit out of the main building and hurried down the stairs to the center courtyard. The fog was so much thicker out here and it seemed to compress the oxygen level. She ran across the courtyard and lifted the latch to the Dorm hall. The heavy door swung and creaked open. Drea shut the door and hurried along the corridor, running up two flights of stairs and through two other hallways. She finally came to her room out of breath and she swiped her card in the sensor. It beeped three times and the light turned green, unlocking the door. She took a deep breath and entered her room. It was a standard room; her family hadn’t been rich enough to afford her a better one. There were two beds, two dressers, two desks, and a few other things. Her roommate had not been in the room yet today or her stuff would have been here. Drea dropped her things next to her desk and went to check her computer. She had a single new message waiting for her. She didn’t recognize the address and she didn’t have time to enter all the information that was required to read it, so she saved it for later. Drea walked over to her bed, which creaked slightly, and sat down. She opened the drawer to her bedside table and pulled out a picture with a hole burned into it. It was a picture of Drea, her mother, and her father. Her father’s face however, was where the burn mark was now. She had burned his face out of the picture after he had gone to prison for molesting her. A tear ran down her face as she put the picture to the side. Drea finally found what she was looking for; it was an old diary that she had written in for sometime. She started a new entry:

Something doesn’t feel right. The fog hasn’t lifted for days and it makes this awful place feel even more so. Mother hasn’t come to see me and she hasn’t called. I can’t find a reasonable explanation on why she doesn’t want to see me. I just wish I knew why she sent me here in the first place.

Drea closed her diary and set it back in the desk drawer. She had completely forgotten why she had come back to her room. She gathered up her things and was headed out the door, when something caught her eye. The message she had saved for later was once again on her screen. She clicked on the button reading ‘Read Later’ and checked the folder. Now there were two messages from the same address. The subject of both was “I need you…” Drea realized that she had stopped breathing and took a deep breath.

The bell rang in the distance and she ran out the door.

The day seemed to go by more slowly. The messages were on her mind the whole day. By the end of the day however, she had simply marked them off in her mind as junk mail. Things like that sometimes got through the school security system. Drea sat alone halfway through dinner until her roommate joined her.

“Mind if I join?” Her name was Kuran and she was a sweet girl. She had long blonde hair and bright green eyes. No one would guess that they were friends, let alone roommates.

“Nah, go ahead.” Drea continued to look down at her plate. Her greasy black hair swung out from behind her ear, like a curtain, and covered her blue eyes. Kuran tucked Drea’s hair back behind her ear and smiled. Kuran sat her down at the table and started to serve herself from the many plates around her. Tonight’s dinner was roasted duck, mashed potatoes, new potatoes in garlic and herb sauce, fruit cocktail, and an assortment of other foods. Kuran looked over at Drea’s plate.

“You know, you have to eat something. Or they’ll force you again.” Kuran scooped new potatoes onto Drea’s plate.

“I keep telling you Kuran, I can’t eat. I’m just not hungry.” Drea pushed her plate away.

“Would you rather have it in a liquid form and have a needle shoved into your arm?” Kuran worried about Drea.

‘Okay, okay. I’ll eat.” Drea stabbed one of the tiny potatoes with her fork and stuck it in her mouth.

“Good, now some duck.” Kuran took some of the smaller pieces of duck and placed it on Drea’s plate. Drea eyed it wearily and cut it slowly. She stuck the piece of duck in her mouth.

“Happy now?” Drea asked humorously.

“Eat a bit more and I will be.” Kuran looked on as Drea slowly fed herself. Drea was very thin, especially for her age. She was about six feet tall and weighted only one hundred and ten pounds. Drea finally finished her plate.

“There. I’m done.” Drea let herself smile a bit. Kuran’s face beamed.

“Do you feel any better?” Kuran asked.

“I feel the same.”

“Then what’s bothering you?”

“I got these messages at lunch from an address that I don’t know.”

“What did they say?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have the time to enter the override codes and the info.”

“Well did they sound important?”

“The subject line was ‘I need you…” I have no idea what it meant.”

“Well, let’s go see.” Kuran got up from the table and pulled Drea behind her. Kuran was a better student than Drea so Kuran had more privileges. Kuran swiped her card over the scanner out of the dinner hall and pulled Drea across the courtyard. The fog was still heavy and perhaps even lower than it had been at lunch.

“This fog is insane. It’s like it’s alive.” Drea said to Kuran. Kuran ignored her and kept pulling. They finally reached their room and Kuran scanned her card. Only once they were in their room did Kuran let go of Drea’s wrist.

“Okay, open your inbox and enter your override info.” Kuran had a look of adventure in her eyes.

“What is your problem?” Drea asked.

“I really don’t know I just have a feeling that this is really great news.”

“How is this great news? It’s just junk mail.”

“But I never get junk mail. Even though I hate to say it, you’re really not that popular and it’s mostly the popular kids who get the junk mail.”

“Thank you Capitan Obvious.”

“I’m just saying Drea, this could mean something.”

Drea sighed and started to enter the override information. Kuran lay down on her bed and started to flip through a magazine.

“There.” Drea said finally after she had entered the information. The message opened up and Kuran hunched over Drea’s shoulder.

Miss Drea Schmitt,

I need you for a special conference. You hold a very important key to the Discovery. I need you to report back to me, your reply will determine the best time and place to meet. If you do not comply with this message we will meet at the best time that I find available. If you are coming to meet me come alone.

Sincerely,

M.D.

“That is so cool!” Kuran had almost pushed Drea out of the way.

“It’s probably one of the jocks trying to freak me out.” Drea spun in her desk chair as Kuran moved in front of the screen.

“I am so responding to this.” Kuran began typing wildly.

“What? No! You can’t do that!” Drea tried to pull her away from the keyboard, but Kuran pressed ‘Send” before Drea could erase anything.

“You’re meeting this M.D. character tomorrow, during lunch, on the two four two arts tower balcony.” Kuran smiled.

“Great the only friend I have has set me up to meet a guy that I don’t even know.” Drea put her head down onto her chest.

“Oh com’on, you won’t be totally alone. I’ll be there.” Kuran had a courageous look in her eyes now.

“But the message said for me to come alone.” Drea looked at the computer screen. Its glow paled out her skin so much that it looked bluish green. No new message appeared on it.

“They do make these little things called cameras and radio transmitting equipment.” Kuran gave her popular laugh and Drea cringed comically. She hated that laugh.

“Yes I know that, but they are banned.” Drea tapped her foot impatiently on the floor.

“Only to poor kids, no offense.” Kuran’s smile quickly disappeared.

“None taken.” Drea hadn’t looked up. Kuran sometimes forgot that Drea had little or no money.

“I’ll hook you up with a pair of shades and an ear piece. How does that sound?” Kuran turned to her footlocker with a smile.

“Seriously Kuran, I don’t think we should do this.” Drea once again looked back down on the floor.

“Drea, I want to know what’s going on. And the message never said that you couldn’t come with a recording device, or two.” Kuran pulled out a pair of sunglasses and a skin match ear piece. “, Here put these on.”

Very clumsily, Drea inserted to ear piece into her ear and put on the sunglasses. She looked at herself in the mirror and groaned. Kuran went on with an everlasting smile on her face.

“Seriously, Kuran?” Drea slouched her body and looked once again into the mirror.

“You have to look somewhat appealing. We don’t know if this guy is cute or not.” Kuran stood behind Drea, moving her hair out of her eyes.

“The message never said it was a guy.” Drea moved away from the mirror and sat down on her dark covered bed. Her fingers danced gracefully across the satin comforter.

“I’m assuming.” Kuran sat on her bed and gazed at the ceiling. “, How ‘bout you wash your hair tonight when you shower?”

“You know what they say about assuming. And why should I wash my hair? It doesn’t smell does it?” Drea laughed. She had no body odor to speak of, no matter how filthy her hair had ever become. Kuran laughed too, her giggle echoed into the now silent room.

“You know you don’t and I envy you for that. I have to shower twice a day.” Drea gave a very sarcastic laugh. “, I was just thinking that you could, you know, maybe-“

Drea cut her off.

“Maybe what? I’m not dirty, and my hair has always been this way? Why does it matter anyway, I don’t’ even know the person I’m going to see.” Drea was feeling angry and rolled over on her bed, her back facing Kuran.

“Okay, whatever.” Kuran got up and left the room.

Drea didn’t feel bad for yelling at Kuran. They fought sometimes and they always managed to make up afterwards. It was none of her business about how she looked or who she was going to see. The lights dimmed themselves and the room echoed a programmed response.

“Good night, Drea Schmitt.” The room said this every night. Drea didn’t know if it ever said it to Kuran for she usually got in later than Drea did.

“Good night, Room.” Drea quickly fell asleep.