Lucky I Didn’t Turn On the Light
When I opened the dorm room door, the room was dark.
I deliberately did not turn on the light.
It was past two in the morning.
Only the faint glow from the vending machine at the end of the hallway seeped in.
My roommate had said she was going to sleep early.
She had an exam the next morning.
She had been sitting at her desk since evening, her notebook open in front of her.
As I got ready to go out, I asked her.
“You’re really not coming?”
Without even lifting her head, she said,
“I don’t want to fail my exam.”
I laughed.
“You can just come for an hour.”
“You say one hour and then come back at dawn.”
I had nothing to say.
She was right.
I changed clothes and picked up the lip balm on my desk.
She was drawing lines through her textbook with a highlighter.
Before leaving, I asked one more time.
“No chance you’re coming?”
She waved me away with her hand.
“Just don’t turn on the light. When you come back.”
“Okay.”
“Seriously.”
“I said okay.”
That was the last conversation we had that night.
The party went on longer than I expected.
At first, I really meant to stay for only an hour.
But then someone changed the music, someone brought more beer, and someone suggested going to a restaurant off campus.
When I checked