Hi. This happened three weeks ago. I'm still trying to process it, honestly. I'm a sophomore at UVM, University of Vermont. Living in the dorms, which I know, most sophomores get apartments, but I liked my room from freshman year so I stayed. So I had this roommate, Yosef. Israeli guy, really quiet, kept to himself mostly. Nice enough, we got along fine. He was doing some kind of engineering program, always had his nose in textbooks. We'd maybe exchange a few words in the morning, that kind of thing. Not best friends or anything, but it worked. The room was small, typical dorm setup. Two beds, two desks, one window that looked out at the parking lot. The door was one of those heavy fire doors with a deadbolt on the inside. I always kept it locked at night because the building was old and creaky and it made me feel better.
Yosef had gone home to Tel Aviv for winter break. This was mid-December, and he wasn't supposed to be back for another week, maybe ten days. His family does Hanukkah and then he usually stays through New Year's. So I had the room to myself, which was nice. Spread out a little, you know? I'd been studying for finals. This particular night, December 18th, I'd been at the library until maybe 11:30, came back exhausted. The heating in our building is terrible, so it was freezing. I cranked the radiator, made some instant ramen, just wanted to crash. I remember I was annoyed because I'd spilled some of the broth on my statistics notes. Stupid thing to remember, but that's what I was thinking about when I heard the sound. This clicking noise. Not like a pen clicking or anything mechanical. More organic, if that makes sense. Like someone making sounds with their mouth, but wrong somehow.
I looked up from my desk and Yosef's bed was across the room, maybe eight feet away. The lights were on, the overhead fluorescents that make everything look kind of sickly. And I saw movement on his bed. Under the covers. At first I thought maybe he'd come back early, and I just hadn't noticed because I'd been so focused on studying. But that didn't make sense because the door was locked from the inside, deadbolt and everything. I would've heard him come in. I would've had to unlock it for him. The clicking got louder. Faster. And the lump under the blanket started moving more. Not like someone rolling over. More like something was vibrating, almost. I stood up. I didn't know what to do. Part of me thought maybe it was some kind of prank, but that didn't feel right either. Then the blanket fell away.
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