Roommate Chronicles: Backwards in the Dark

Welcome back to the Roommate Chronicles where stories about living with roommates are so bizarre that they have to be fiction. Maybe it’s a case of life is stranger than fiction. You decide.

Disclaimer: I don’t recommend pranking roommates.

In the Dark

It was finals week. I’d been studying in the library since after dinner. I returned to my dark room. Since it was so late, I assumed my two roommates were sleeping.

I didn’t need the light. I knew where everything was in my room. Exactly where everything was.

I took off my earrings and tried to hang them on the jewelry tree. Something else was there. What? That didn’t make sense. The empty space should be right there, because that’s where the earrings were that morning.

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The small lamp wouldn’t click on. Further blind inspection revealed that there was no light bulb. No light bulb–crap. Now, I couldn’t turn on a small light. I didn’t want to risk waking my roommates, so I climbed into bed.

The blankets didn’t pull back–there was nothing that could be pulled back. The blankets and sheets were tucked in tight at the head of the bed. My pillow was gone.

What was going on?

My roommates must know something, so I whispered their names. “Jane, Aubrey, are you awake?”

No answer. I felt one of their beds. They weren’t even in the room! My roommates were still out studying. Here I was trying to be quiet so they could sleep and they weren’t even there. Ugh!

Wasting no more time, I switched on the overhead light.

The state of the room shocked me.

Backwards

Let me clarify that. My part of the room shocked me. Every single thing I owned was turned backwards.

  • My bed: Turned so that my pillow was at the other end.
  • The jewelry tree: Facing so that the empty hook was on the opposite side.
  • Every object on my desk: Turned 180 degrees.
  • My meticulously-organized closet (yes, my clothes were hung by type and color): Every hanger turned around in a new location.

Wow. I was in shock. Adrenalin was pumping, and I wasn’t tired anymore.

A note on the lamp said it all, “If you want your light bulb back, come see me… Aubrey. <3”

Aubrey, and probably Jane, had rearranged everything I owned. I laughed. It was a good prank that must have taken them hours to do (unless they had help from neighbors). No wonder they were out studying. They had to make up for lost time.

What could I do to return the harmless prank?

We all went out for ice cream, of course!

Have you ever pulled a harmless prank on a roommate? Or, were you the “victim”?

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