Kyla’s Secret

Kyla felt the sudden need to get out of her room. Once again locking the door behind her, she strolled down toward the rec room, which was in the center of the dorm and could be entered from the front and back corridors. A couple of girls she hadn’t seen before were sitting on the couch talking. Kyla fixed herself a cup of tea in a Styrofoam cup. She turned around to find the two girls had stopped talking and turned to look at her. “Hello,” she said. The girls smiled and said hello in return. “Am I interrupting anything private? I can leave if you’d like. After all, I’m just a bored reporter.” “Oh, are you?” one of them asked, suddenly interested in the strange dark-haired girl who had entered the room. “Yeah, flew over from Hawaii yesterday.” “Oh, wow,” said the same girl. Yeah, I’m really fucking interesting if I’m not another student, right? Kyla thought to herself. Or is it because I’m from Hawaii? The other girl finally spoke. “That explains why I didn’t recognize you.” They asked a little about Kyla’s work and her home in Hawaii, then Kyla said, “I was actually thinking of interviewing some individual students about their lives here at the university and their hopes and dreams for the future. Interested in setting up a time? It’s on a volunteer basis only, and will only take a few minutes of your time. Also, if you’d like your name changed for privacy, that can be arranged as well.” The girls glanced at each other for a second or two as if seeing what the other thought of the idea. Then they faced Kyla once again, shrugged, and said, “Sure.” They set up a time for the following evening, and Kyla left the room just as three more girls entered it. She decided she would interview most people at random if they would allow it. People tended to be more forthright that way than if they had time to think about the questions they would answer. Putting all thoughts of work aside, Kyla left the building and went for a leisurely stroll around campus before all daylight was lost. A tall, lanky security guard passed her along the way as well as a scattering of students. The temperature began to drop with the setting sun, and she wrapped her arms around herself. She felt a sense of boredom and loneliness. She’d been to the continental US on other assignments in the past, but none made her feel as bored and alone as this one was making her feel so far. Until she met with Zoey again. ________________________________________ Kyla awoke with a start and realized she’d almost screamed out loud before it hit her that the falling body was just a nightmare. Meagan’s falling body. She’d been walking around the campus again in her dreams and thought it odd that not another soul was in sight. Then Meagan’s body began to fall from several of the trees scattered along the sides of the walkways, as if there had been many of her. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sat up, now aware that she’d fallen asleep without changing into her sleep shirt. She’d been so tired after staying up so late the night before that she’d fallen asleep early. Kyla glanced at the clock. It was after one. She pulled herself out of bed and shuffled down the deserted corridor. Once she reached the end of it she could see Zoey at her desk. They made eye contact but didn’t speak because Zoey was on the phone at the moment. She used the bathroom and found the good-looking night watch had ended her call by the time she reemerged into the hallway. “Hi there,” said Zoey. “Hello,” said Kyla. She brushed some hair out of her face, suddenly feeling self-conscious, and walked toward where Zoey sat. Zoey sat with her elbows on the desk, absentmindedly twirling a pen in her hand. “How ya doing?” “Woke up with a nightmare,” Kyla answered. “Oh, no. What about?” “Being chased through the woods.” “Oh, an old favorite, huh?” Kyla smiled and said, “Yup. One of those. I fell asleep early because I was up late last night.” Zoey nodded knowingly. “Yeah, I was just returning from my break when I saw you pull up.” Damn it! “Where’d you go so late?” “Out to the grocery store for snacks.” “Oh. So how do you like it here so far?” “Well, I could be simple and polite and just say ok, or I could be honest and tell you I’ve spent most of the time being bored out of my mind.” Zoey laughed. “I can see that. We’re a simple place here that isn’t always very interesting to outsiders.” Kyla laughed, too. “It isn’t that there’s nothing interesting so much as that there isn’t much going on. I don’t know why they picked this particular place to send me to. Life is simple here, and there’s really only so much I can say about it, but I am going to begin conducting individual interviews tomorrow.” “Oh, good,” said Zoey. “Maybe that will help give you more to write about. What will you be documenting, the students themselves or the details of the campus?” “Both. The college itself is pretty straightforward. The individual lives of its students are a little more involved.” “Yeah, it is. Each student has their own reasons for why they’re here and what they hope to achieve in life. Mind if I ask you something, though?” “Fire away,” Kyla said as she sat in the folding metal chair in front of the desk. She leaned forward and accidentally knocked a stack of papers off the corner of the desk. “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry!” “It’s ok,” Zoey said as she stood up and came around to the front of the desk to help her gather up the papers. “You didn’t hurt anything.” Once the papers were back in their neat little stack Kyla said, “You wanted to ask me something?” “Yeah,” Zoey said, sitting back in her chair. “Why would they send someone all the way from Hawaii to do the article when there are local reporters they could have hired?” “They wanted someone with no prior knowledge of the area because they feel that can lead to preconceived ideas and expectations when they use someone from the area for certain assignments. In some cases, it’s rather essential.” “That makes sense,” Zoey said, mulling Kyla’s words over in her mind. Kyla studied the woman for a moment and realized how attractive she was. Her dark hair and eyes contrasted nicely with her light skin. “You’re Italian, yes?” “Yup,” Zoey said with a nod. “Do you speak it?” “No, I’m afraid not.” “It’s such a beautiful language that I may learn a little someday.” “Do you know much Hawaiian, being from the islands and all that?” “No, not really. My parents do, though.” They heard the elevator doors open up and turned to glance midway down the corridor where it was located. The doors parted, and a Hispanic girl stepped out and headed their way. The girl was overweight, probably to the point of being obese, but she had a very beautiful face. “Hello,” said Zoey. “Up late, huh?” The girl nodded. “We’re getting worried about Meagan. Anyone seen her?” Zoey frowned. “The short girl with the black hair in room 22?” “Oh, yeah. No, I haven’t seen her. Why, what’s up?” “No one’s seen or heard from her for the last couple of days.” “Oh. Does she have a car?” “No. She recently had a fight with her boyfriend and had been drinking more lately,” the girl explained. “So her disappearance has some people worried.” “Oh, well, then I hope she turns up real soon.” “Me too,” the girl said before saying good night. “Have you ever seen or met Meagan?” Zoey asked her. “No,” Kyla said, hoping she sounded believable and also hoping, as selfish and as horrible as it may be, that the boyfriend fell under scrutiny and not her. They spent the next hour talking about various things, mainly their families and the states they lived in. “I love the mild climate of Hawaii, but sometimes I think of venturing out to new horizons,” Kyla said as she realized she was getting tired and yawned. “For now I guess it’s time for bed.” “It was nice chatting with you, Kyla. You have some pretty interesting stories to share.” Kyla smiled just as her chair collapsed to the floor. First, she was startled, and then her face went red with embarrassment as she pulled herself up to her feet. “My God,” she moaned, “I am really on the path of destruction tonight, aren’t I?” Zoey had immediately risen once again and dashed around to her side. “You ok?” “Yeah, I’m fine. Zoey, I am so, so sorry.” Zoey assured her with a laugh that all was fine. “Eh, it’s an old piece of shit. No worries. Besides, you sure help make my job a lot less boring.” They both cracked up with laughter as Kyla realized that having to sit at a desk from eleven at night to seven in the morning had to indeed be truly boring as hell. She laughed and said, “I can see where some chatter may help pass the time when people aren’t knocking your papers off your desk and busting through your chairs.” “Tea time now, though. I’m going to go into the lounge and get a cup.” “I’d offer to get it for you, but with my shit luck I’d spill it all over the place.” The two women laughed again. “I gotta get to bed anyway. I’ve always been a night person and don’t usually get up before eight, so maybe I’ll see you early in your shift if it’s no bother.” Zoey smiled brightly. “Oh, no, not at all. Anytime you can’t sleep, feel free to come and hunt me down.” Kyla felt herself blush as she turned to head back to her room, realizing she already had a bit of a crush on the tall, dark, and lovely Italian woman. It would be just her shit luck, too, to develop a thing for someone thousands of miles away from home. Back in her room, she quickly checked her email and then eased her tired body back into bed. She tried not to let images of Meagan cloud her thoughts. She wished to hell she could change rooms but knew she’d have to come up with a damn good reason why she wanted the change, and she just didn’t have any. “Just a few weeks,” she told herself. “It won’t even be for two months. Maybe not even one month at the rate I’m going. Depending on how many students I can get to talk to me, I just may have more to write about on Zoey’s life than on anyone attending this lame place.” Kyla still couldn’t sleep, but she didn’t want to return to Zoey for fear of not only being a pest—boring job or not—but of causing Zoey to suspect that something was wrong. Having once read that trying harder when unable to sleep was the wrong thing to do, she got up and played some games for a half hour or so. By then she could barely keep her eyes open. Preferring to sleep in the nude, Kyla stripped off her shirt and threw it on the floor in the corner of the room. Making one last check of Facebook, she then put her laptop to sleep and fell into bed wondering if her story would actually end up being about the disappearance of Meagan.