Marcus waved goodbye to his father as his SUV drove away. He was fully alone now; for the first time in his life, he would have no friends, no family, no familiar faces at all. The thought filled him with dread, just as fully as the thought of university education filled him with excitement. And, he supposed, he wouldn't be fully alone. He would have a roommate soon enough, and would be meeting people in his classes - lonely, he reassured himself, was not something that he would be feeling for long.

The door to Marcus' dorm room suddenly opened. "So, you must be Marky Mark!" came the boisterous voice from the doorway. Marcus turned around to see a tall man thrusting his hand towards him.

"Uh, it's Marcus, actually," Marcus said, not knowing what else to say as he took the man's hand and shook it.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. I'm Greg, by the way - looks like we're meant to be roommates."

"Yeah, I guess so. So, did you just get here?"

"Yeah, I just took the train up today. My folks are going to stop by during the week with my stuff. I wanted to make sure that I would be up here all week so I could get all my partying in, y'know?"

"Oh, I'm actually not that much of a partier, myself," Marcus replied. "I just wanted to be up here to make sure I had time to properly prepare for classes starting - getting my books, and everything like that."

"So you're pretty serious about school, then, huh? That's pretty cool. I suppose there is a time and a place for that, and this is it, right? I'll try not to bother you too much with my partying, okay?" Grinning widely as he spoke, Greg flopped down onto his bed, pulling a magazine out of his back pocket as he did. "So, what are you here for, anyways?" Greg asked as he started to flip through the magazine.

"I'm going to study for a science degree - physics, to be more accurate."

"Oh yeah? That's pretty cool. I'm going into business, myself - I guess that's a little less intense than what you're going for, eh?"

"Oh, I'm sure it will pose its own unique challenges and opportunities," Marcus said.

"Very diplomatically put, my man," Greg responded with a chuckle. "You ever consider a career in politics?"

"No, I can't say that I have," Marcus replied, not understanding Greg's style of humour.

“Well, you've got the diplomacy for it, I'll tell you that much," Greg explained. "Hey listen, I'm absolutely famished. You feel like going and getting a burger or something?"

The first week of classes whizzed by faster than Marcus would have ever assumed it would. Although the courses he was taking were all entry-level, he had picked out a very challenging set of courses for himself and he found that even at that early point in the year, he was forced to spend his nights in the university library just to keep up. "Hey, man, you're looking kind of stressed out. Are you sure you wouldn't like to go get a drink or something?" Greg asked him after one particularly arduous day.

"No, I'm fine," Marcus replied, turning down the sheets on his bed as he did. "All I really need to do right now is to get a good night's sleep."

That night, Marcus awoke to the sound of laughter. After waiting for it to subside, he looked over to his bedside table. The alarm clock blinked 2:57 back at him. With a frustrated sigh, he raised his head and looked across the room to where Greg was sleeping soundly. The laughter continued. After a seemingly-endless period of listening to it, Marcus realized that something needed to be done. He crawled his way out of bed, threw his bathrobe on and walked outside of the residence room. The hallway was empty, and the laughter stopped as soon at the door was opened. Set to return to his room, Marcus suddenly heard the same laughter again, this time coming from the end of the hall, near the common room. He marched down the hallway, intent on quieting down whoever it was that was making all the noise. When he finally reached the room, however, the hallway was again empty, and the laughter again stopped. Shaking his head in disbelief, Marcus decided to turn around and go back to his room.

"The strangest thing happened to me last night," Marcus told Greg in the morning as they both prepared for class. "I woke up in the middle of the night and heard this weird sound coming out of the hallway - it sounded kind of like laughter, but when I went out there, there wasn't anyone there. Did you hear anything like that?"

"No, can't say that I have," Greg said as he stooped down to tie his shoe. "Hey - do you think it could have been a ghost? How cool would that be, living in a haunted dorm?"

"No, it wasn't a ghost," Marcus replied, an air of condescension creeping into his voice.

"Well, how do you know that for sure?"

"Because there's no such thing as ghosts! There has to be a better explanation that that."

"Oh come on. Don't be so narrow-minded about this, Marcus. How do you know that ghosts aren't real? 'Stranger things that those dreamed of by your philosophy' and all that."

"I thought you were a business major – now you’re quoting Shakespeare at me? I just find it hard to believe that, if paranormal activity is as widespread as people claim, that no one has ever been able to prove its existence scientifically."

"I still think you're being narrow-minded. No one's ever actually seen a black hole, either, but scientists have no trouble believing in their existence."

"That's different," Marcus exclaimed, becoming evidently exasperated as he did. "Listen," he said after pausing for a brief moment, "I think we're pretty obviously at an impasse here. Why don't be just agree to disagree on the subject, and go have our breakfast?"

That night the laughter returned. After checking to make sure that Greg was asleep, Marcus softly got himself out of bed, and checked the hallway. It was again empty. Deciding against exploring the rest of the hallway, Marcus returned to bed. "So hey, did your voice return last night?" Greg asked Marcus when they ran into each other later the next day.

"No, it didn't," Marcus lied.

"Really? Because I could have sworn that I heard you get out of bed last night."

"Nope. Maybe you dreamed it? I did have to get up early to get some research done at the library - maybe that's what you're thinking of?"

“Maybe," Greg replied warily. "So what got you out of bed so early to go the library?"

"Quantum momentum. Professor Richards is one of the leading minds in the country on the subject, and his research team is doing a lot of interesting stuff on the subject. I heard they might be able to alter the momentum of subatomic particles – to actually change how they flow through time! It's absolutely amazing, groundbreaking stuff, and I'm hoping that I'll eventually get a chance to join his research team.”

“Wait a second,” Greg said, “my knowledge of science is pretty much limited to a few random episodes of Star Trek, but are you talking about time travel?” He paused briefly before saying the past two words, well aware of how unlikely they sounded.

“No, not really. Eventually it may lead into being able to sort of look into other times, but not traveling to them.” Noting the look of amazement on Greg's face, Marcus continued to speak. “Well, we're talking about sub-atomic particles here, right? There's still a lot about them that we don't understand, and hopefully they'll give us a bit of a better view about how time works, as a force.”

Greg nodded. “So, have you had a chance to meet this guy yet?” “No. With all of this research he's been doing, he's been keeping himself pretty locked up in his research labs. He's not even teaching any classes this term at all. It looks like the only way I'd ever be able to meet him and get on his research team is to take his advanced class next year, and absolutely wow him. I figure I'd better bone up on the subject as much as I could before applying."

"I guess that makes sense. You'll be heading back to the library after dinner, then, I take it?"

"Yeah, I'll probably be out there until pretty late, too. Don't wait up, okay?'

Marcus woke with a start, completely unaware of his surroundings. After a moment he collected himself enough to realize where he was - he was in a study carrel on the top floor of the university library, stacks of books on physics, and a few on parasychology, surrounding him. Suddenly he heard laughter again, just as he had the previous nights. Feeling compelled to explore it, Marcus followed its echoing sound as well as he could. As he walked through the narrow aisles of the library, he couldn't help but notice the lack of fellow students studying. Where was everyone? Finally, he turned a corner, entering the area of the floor where the photocopiers stood. Standing next to one of them were two first year girls, one of whom was laughing uncontrollably.

“Oh, sorry,” one of them started to explain as Marcus stood there, staring at them, “it's kind of late, and we figured that no one was still around here. Sorry if we disturbed your studying.” Without a word, Marcus turned around, retracing his steps back to the study carrel. “This is useless," he conceded to himself as he returned to his desk, picking his backpack up from its spot on the ground behind his chair. Whatever knowledge there was in those books, would have to wait until morning at least. As he exited the library, Marcus realized that he hadn't heard the laughter when he has awoken in the carrel, so he could at least discount the possibility that all of this was just an aftereffect of him dreaming.

By the time that Marcus got back to the dorm room, all the lights were off. It appeared that Greg's date hadn't gone as well as he had hoped it would have hoped. Marcus started to prepare himself for bed, and then took one last glance over at Greg to see if he was sleeping. As he did, he witnessed something that shook him to his very core. As Marcus turned around, he saw the epheral shape of a man start to walk his way into the dorm room, despite the door being closed and locked. It was only the image of a man, however - while Marcus could clearly see the man, he could also see right through him to the wall behind him. The image was wearing a simple business suit - the type that wouldn't have been out of place at any point in the past eighty years. He was tall, but otherwise nondescript - not the type of figure that one would easily be able to identify from a brief description. Marcus watched as the figure walked over to Greg's bed, picked up a phantom pillow, and forcefully slammed it down on top of Greg's face, in a manner that mimicked a smothering attempt. After a few moments of this the figure jumped backward, adjusting its gaze to the doorway. After doing so, it looked back down at the bed, and motioned as if to pull something out of its back pocket. It then made a repeated stabbing motion, thrusting down to the bed several times. After the gruesome murder scene was played out, the figure merely faded away to nothingness. Marcus was beside himself.

What had he just seen? At first glance, it appeared as though this gave some evidence to Greg's theories about ghosts. But how could that be possible? Everything in the scientific evidence pointed towards one conclusion: that there was no evidence in favour of ghosts. "So, you got home pretty late last night, eh?" Greg asked Marcus as they both got dressed in the morning.

"Yeah, I actually feel asleep in the library!"

"That's hilarious. So, were you able to find out more about what you were researching before you passed out - quantum somethingorother?"

"Quantum momentum. But no, I wasn't able to learn anything new last night at all."

"Bummer. Hey, you haven't happened to see any more of those whatever it was that we're not calling ghosts, have you? I managed to bring Jenny back here with me last night after I told her our place was haunted, but when we didn't see any, she decided to go home."

Marcus bit down on his lip, having wanted to avoid the subject altogether. "Well, I, uh ..." he stammered out.

"You did see something! And you've been holding out on me, too, haven't you!" Greg slammed his fist down on his bed as he spoke, although it was from excitement and not anger that he did so.

"Okay, fine, yes, I've still been seeing these ... visions. But I'm not any closer to knowing why I've been seeing them, so don't get all excited."

"Wait a second," Greg said excitedly. "You're seeing things now, as well? I thought it was just voices."

"Yeah, it's progressed to visions, too. But I don't think that you're going to want to hear what they're of."

"To hell with that!" Greg said. "What did you see? Was it bloody?"

"Well, kind of. The last vision that I had had this man in a suit in it - he walked over to your bed, knelt on it, and repeatedly made this stabbing motion right where you were sleeping. It was absolutely terrifying."

Greg's jaw dropped. "That is so awesome," he finally said after several moments of silence. "I'd say that's a good sign that we're dealing with a bona fide haunting here, my friend."

"There are still many possible reasons that I could be seeing what I'm seeing. It's probably just a psychological thing, or something."

"Well, I'll tell you what," Greg said. "Why don't I stay up late with you tonight, and we'll see if I can see anything. If I don't see anything, and you do, then we can say for sure that it's psychological. Doesn't that sound like a good, rational way to approach things?"

"I suppose so," Marcus said after a moment's silence. That night, the two young men stayed up throughout the night, reading their textbooks by flashlight. Greg had insisted that it was essential to re-create the exact scenario as much possible, so the main lights remained off and both men lay in their respective beds.

"It's 2:45," Marcus announced after glancing at his alarm clock. "The phenomenon would usually occur between now and 3 AM. I think it might be a good idea for us to turn off the flashlights as this point, actually. If we want to recreate the experience as much as is possible, then we should both pretend to be asleep.”

“Okay ... wouldn't it have been easier to have had the lights on before now, then?”

“Maybe, I don't know. I'm just a little nervous about this, okay? What if you don't see anything? Does that mean I'm crazy?”

“No, it doesn't mean that at all,” Greg said, flicking off his flashlight, and storing both it and his textbook underneath his bed as he did so. The next ten minutes were filled with absolute silence, each of the men doing their best to stay awake while at the same time convincingly appearing as though they were asleep. Finally it came - just as it had the night previous, the image of the old man appeared in the suit, and knelt on top of Greg's prone body. The only difference this time was that Greg was actually awake, and could see what was happening to him. It became too frightening for him to take, and as the man started the stabbing motion, he jumped up, screaming as he did. As he did, the image vanished immediately.

"I take it you saw it, then?" Marcus asked him.

"Yes!" Greg said, his voice elevated and his heart still racing from the phantom stabbing.

"Dude, we have got to figure out what's going on here - I don't think I'll be able to sleep in that bed again until we figure out what the hell's going on here!" The next morning the two men sat at breakfast and discussed what they had both experienced the night before.

“So, that was a little freaky,” Greg admitted.

"Definitely. What we need to figure out next, though, is what we plan on doing about this. Should we request another room?" Marcus asked.

"I don't know, man. As exciting as a haunting is, I don't know if that'd be a justifiable reason for us getting our room switched. No one would believe us. I think we're going to have to make a stand and find a solution to this by ourselves."

"I suppose that makes sense. I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, though - I don't really know much of anything about hauntings. I was raised in a completely secular environment. How would we go about 'solving' this, as you put it?'

"Well, I'm not really an expert either, you know? But I have seen a lot of horror movies in my day. Usually solving the murder is enough to make the ghost disappear.”

"Okay, then let's review what we know. I don't know if you noticed this, but the laughter was still present last night."

"Can't say that I did. Of course, I was a little busy getting stabbed to pay any attention to something like that!"

"However, it means that this experience is somehow linked to a party or something, maybe?"

"Yeah, Marcus, I don't know if you've noticed or not, man, but around these parts parties are pretty common. Stabbings, however, are not. I think what we really need to do is focus on that aspect. If there was a stabbing on campus at some point, it should have appeared in the campus newspaper. I think we should dig up the old editions of the paper and have a look through them."

"That makes sense, I suppose," Marcus conceded. "I have class until 6 tonight. Want to meet at the library after that and we can have a look through the old newspapers?"

"Sounds good."

That evening, the two students met at the front steps of the library. "I tried asking a few people today if they'd heard anything about a murder ever happening on campus, but no one had any idea," Greg reported.

"Well, that's kind of understandable," Marcus replied. "Every five years or so you end up with a completely different group of individuals on campus, aside from the people that work here. It'd be easy for something to get lost to the annals of time, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose it would," Greg said. "Well, let's go have a look at those newspapers, anyways, and see what they can tell us."

After four hours of intense study, they had still found nothing. "Listen, I don't know if this is going to do us any good," Greg finally admitted. "If this murder actually happened like we think it did, it would definitely have been front page news, right? But there's nothing. We've been over the front pages of all of these newspapers, and there's nothing. The only other option is that it was hidden, and that means that it might not even show up here at all. We might as well call it a night."

"Well, where else can we look? Coroner's reports, or something like that?" Marcus asked.

"Possibly, I guess. I have no idea how we'd get our hands on that, though. That information has got to be fairly restricted."

“I don't suppose you think we'd be able to just go up and ask for it, could we?”

"I think we'll be able to work our way into it. Tell you what – how about tomorrow afternoon we head down there, and I'll work my interpersonal magic so we can see what we can learn there,” Greg said, flashing his biggest, suavest grin as he did.

When they got home, Greg started to get changed for bed, and Marcus logged on to his email account. “Hey, looks like tomorrow you're going to be on your own,” he called out to his roommate after reading his messages. “Professor Richards – that prof I was telling you about before? He's got an announcement he wants to make to the Physics Undergraduate Committee tomorrow afternoon. I'm on the committee, so I've got to be there!” For a moment there was no response from Greg, and a sick sensation came over Marcus that something had happened to his roommate. He jumped up out of his chair, looking over at the other man to make sure that he was fine.

"Dude, calm down," Greg finally said, staring at Marcus. "You look like you've just seen a ghost, and it's at least a couple of hours early for that." Greg attempted a chuckle, but his attempt to lighten the mood fell on deaf ears.

The next afternoon, as he got into the committee meeting room, Marcus' heart started to race, and he felt the hair on his back start to raise. He needed to leave, and run as fast as he could back to his dorm room. Because looking right back at him, sitting at the head of the conference table, was the man from his ghostly visions. All of a sudden, he could feel connections start to form in his brain. The doctor, his research, the visions. It was all tied together. Marcus hadn't been seeing ghosts of the past at all; they were ghosts of the future!