Westwood University (Westwood Chronicles Book 1) - Foruq

The plane ride was only two hours; it was incredible the amount of area you couldcover in such a short amount of time. Dad drove me to the airport, and I promised tocall at least twice a week. He knew better though, knowing that I fully immerse myself inmy studies and suggested he would call instead.The overcast sky calmed my nerves as I drove to the college in my white DodgeChallenger, well mine for the next month, since I rented it. The college looked like acapital building, surrounded by a large, egg shaped structure in the center with a tallbarrier wall. Beside the main domed building were smaller rectangular buildingssurrounded by trees. It could pass as a forest without the concrete and sidewalks.I parked in the nearly empty parking lot in front of the college and made my wayaround the trees and up to the silver domed building. The large concrete oval rested up afew stairs, and the barrier wall I saw from the road was encasing a large well like hole.All around me were giant, thick white columns holding up a flat roof and in the middle ofthat, sat a crusty bronze bell with a single rope tied to one of the columns.I was going to peek inside the hole but decided not to and went for the doors. Thereceptionist behind the desk looked at me with startled eyes as I approached her. “Hello,my name is Ezlynn Mitchell. I was accepted here last week.”The smug woman sniffed the air in my direction and mumbled something like“foreigner” under her breath. “Absolutely, give me one moment,” she said and stalked offthrough the door behind her.I took a moment to take in my surroundings. The inside of this building was a blindingwhite, and the dome shape above my head, hollow. Other than that, there were noarchitectural details you would expect to find in a college like this, it was bare and I foundthat refreshing.I loved details normally, but as of late I craved the simplicity of all things.The woman returned and loudly plopped down in her chair. “Tuition is four thousand asemester and due next week, at the start of classes. You can pay here until our financialaid office is done with repairs,” she said and handed me a sheet of paper.“Your schedule was emailed to you when you called us back and your booklist was

also attached. The bookstore is up the stairs in this building, you can’t miss it.” Shepointed up and then patted around her legs for a moment before she sighed, annoyed.“Be right back.”The tuition here was dirt cheap compared to other universities with these kinds ofprograms. I wasn’t worried about it because my mom had saved over one hundredthousand dollars for me before she died. I had only used a quarter of it with my first twodegrees.When the glum lady finally came back, she all but threw a set of keys at me, alongwith an envelope. “Dorm papers and keys,” she grunted. I sighed, pulling the papers outof the envelope, getting annoyed with her rudeness. She handed me a pen and told meto sign the last two pages. I signed my name on the lines by the x and gave them back toher.“All set, if you need anything, I am here till five,” she grumbled, not looking at me.“Um, where are the dorms?” I asked, not remembering seeing any on my way in here.The woman slid a map across the counter, and I took it.“Thanks,” I said and walked out the front doors.I set the map down on the ledge of the barrier wall under the bell and located thedorms, in the back of the college.“Hi!” said a voice from behind me, making me jump and drop my map into the hole.“Oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you!”I turned around to see a girl around my age, long black hair blowing slowly around hereven though there was no wind.“You must be new here. I’m Savanna, a freshman lead counselor. I heard we weregetting a new student soon, they called as soon as you parked.”I shook her hand, staring into her startling pitch-black irises. “Oh, hi, I’m Ezlynn, butI’m not a freshman.”“I know.” she laughed. “We don’t get a lot of outsiders here. Most of our students arelocals or family members of alumni. You’re something of a treat for us.”Her smile was welcoming but her hair was giving me chills. She must have seen thelook on my face because she barked out a laugh and showed me her other hand whichhad a stack of binders in it.along with a quiet, handheld fan. Now I felt stupid.“Don’t worry, I’m not a witch,” she said nonchalantly.“Oh, no, I knew that. I mean. I don’t believe in that kind of stuff anyway.” I stumbledthrough the words at my embarrassment.She narrowed her brows for a split second. Then smiled, “Well that’s good, we don’tneed any crazy people on campus. Were you looking for the dorm rooms? I see that Ms.Gretchen gave you the mighty envelope; sorry about her by the way, she gets a littlecranky in the morning.”I smiled. “Yeah, cranky is an understatement.”“C’mon, I’ll show you to the dorms. They aren’t too far of a walk.”“Can I go grab my car?” I asked, pulling the key fob from my pocket.“There’s no parking back there. Only in the front.sorry,” she said, sounding sincere.“Oh, well that’s okay. Do you mind if I get my suitcase first?”

“No problem. I’ll wait here,” she said in that chipper voice.I walked to my car thinking of that conversation and hoping I didn’t offend her. It wastrue though, where most people believed in something, I didn’t believe in anything. Mylogical brain rationalized out all of the monsters and gods. I never judged anyone whodid, I mean to each his own.but, personally, I was not a believer.I rolled my large suitcase back to the dome building and met up with Savanna where Ileft her.“Ready?” she asked.I nodded, and we walked behind the building. She was right, the dorms were not farfrom the dome building at all, maybe a football field at most. They looked like miniapartments, white siding lining the brick exterior with painted metal stairs, which wereequipped with wooden railings leading to various outside doors. They looked luxuriousand I was glad for a moment that I didn’t have to pay to live here, I was willing to betthat where tuition was cheap, living was not.“These dorms rarely get used so you could possibly have a whole building to yourself,”Savannah said, and I realized that she had been talking to me for the past few minutes,nothing I remembered though since I was lost in my own thoughts.“I’m not sure if I should feel scared or happy about that,” I mumbled, smiling.She led me to a building and stopped at a ground floor door. Before she stuck the keyin, she pointed upward. “Security cameras on every corner. We also have security guardsand just think, no noisy neighbors.”“That sounds perfect, thank you,” I said eyeing the corners and finding that she wasn’tkidding. There was even a camera under the staircase next to my door.Savanna opened my door and singsonged a, “Voila!”I laughed and followed her inside. This had to be the nicest place I had ever steppedinto. Dark wood floors caught my eye, opening into a large living and dining combination.“This dorm was meant for multiple people, but since we don’t get many, I set you uphere. Figured you wouldn’t mind having a mini apartment to yourself. Oh! The kitcheneven has a dishwasher,” she said, walking around the breakfast nook and into thekitchen. I almost dropped my suitcase, taking in the crown molding and stainless steel.“Wait until you see the bedrooms!” she motioned for me to follow her through thekitchen and into a hallway. “They are all the same so you can pick any of them, but theyall have their own bathrooms and closet.”I stopped at the last door to my right and opened it. This room was almost as large asa master bedroom. I didn’t have the chance to ask before Savanna jumped in, almostreading my mind.“King size bed, silk sheets with a down comforter. The bathroom is all white marble,except for the shower, which is black tile. Um, the TV is already set up with satellitecable, and the WiFi is an AC 1900 Smart Router, so you’ll never be disconnected.”She stood to the side of the room spouting the information at me like a robot while Iexplored. The walk-in closet was large enough for six people and I walked out with mymouth open.“How much will this cost after the first year is up?” I asked in shock.

Savanna pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. “Well typically there arefour people living here so the cost is split but for one it’s about the same as tuition persemester.But! That includes the WiFi and cable, water and electricity.”I took a deep breath and let it go. “Uh, it is free for the first year though right?”“Yes! Yep. Free, everything is covered.”I bit my lip and nodded. “Okay, this is perfect then!” I said, finally soaking in theexcitement of everything.“I’m glad you like it!” Savanna said as her phone rang.Pulling it out, she winced. “Well, if you need anything else or have any questions, I’llleave you my card. Welcome to Westwood!” she said, quickly pulling out a small papercard and handing it to me.“Thank you!” I called after her as she answered the call and walked out the frontdoor.I couldn’t believe this was where I was going to live. I quickly pulled out my phoneand took pictures of everything, sending them to Amelia and wishing more than anythingshe were here to help me gush.Her replies came back ten minutes later as I was taking my second stroll through themassive bathroom.Melia: Holy shitballs! Sign me up!Melia: p.s. I’m still mad at you for leaving me.Melia: p.p.s. Mark says to stop putting ideas in my head .I laughed at the fact that I could hear him saying that. Amelia and Mark were thecouple you loved to hate: perfect, picture book love. Mark was still mad at me for tryingto convince Amelia not to go out with him four years ago because he seemed like a tool.I’m glad she went against my caution though, because he turned out to be a great guy.I clicked my phone off without replying, wanting her to enjoy every moment awayfrom the real world as possible since she only had a few days left in paradise.By the time I unpacked and showered, night had fallen. I sat on my bed trying todecide if I wanted Taco Bell or Subway on my GrubHub app. Deciding I needed a taco inmy life right now, I ordered and sat back against the fluffy feather pillows. I couldn’tunderstand why this place wasn’t more well known.Sighing and picking my phone back up, I decided to ask the handy dandy Google; theone god I did believe in to have all of the answers. Typing in Westwood Universitybrought me to pages I had already looked at that linked to the main website. I scrolleddown a bit until I hit a Reddit site that caught my attention.The most Haunted Universities of North Carolina: #1 Westwood University.I blinked at my screen for a moment. People thought this place was haunted? I didn’thave a roommate because of ghost stories? I clicked on the link and read through variouseye whiteness accounts over the past three years. Most were generic “haunting” material,and others made me squint my eyes and laugh. People were claiming to be chased byshadows and one even spouted nonsense about being bitten by a vampire.I must have fallen into a rabbit hole for a while, because the knock on my door mademe jump. I threw my phone down on my bed as my stomach growled. I opened the door

and smiled at the delivery person holding my tacos. The delivery man looked visiblyshaken as he gave me the receipt to sign.“Hey, are you okay?” I asked while scribbling my name.“Uh, yeah.sure. Just lock your doors around here okay?” he said in a wobbly voice.I handed him back the pen and paper. “Why? What’s wrong?” I asked.He looked around quickly and whispered, “You need to research Westwood. I have togo, just do what I said and lock your doors.”He handed me the bag and ran toward the dome building where the parking lot was. Ishut my door and locked it with the deadbolt. People around here were nuts. I walkedinto the kitchen and set my food down, ready to eat my way into a taco coma when Irealized that I didn’t order a drink.“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. I walked back into my room and dug around in mybackpack for some change, there had to be a vending machine around here somewhere. Ilooked at the map online and spotted one outside of the rectangular winged buildings offof the dome.I sighed and put my Converses on. I was already wearing workout clothes since Ididn’t own pajamas. I locked the door behind me and clicked on the flashlight from myphone. The main sidewalks were lit but they also took the long way around to thebuilding. I wanted to get there as fast as possible, and to do that, according to the map, Ineeded to cut my way through the trees.The tree branches overhead blocked out any moonlight as I made my way through thecampus forest. My phone flashlight wasn’t doing a very good job of lighting my wayeither, the shadows casted from my super bright light making it hard to see. Eventually Iended up on a concrete pad attached to a white brick building. This must be what I waslooking for. The lights around this building were off and I got a strange feeling thatsomething was wrong.“Hey Ezlynn! What are you doing out at this time of night?” A familiar voice soundedto my right. Savanna jogged over to me, in running gear with a blinking light atop herblack hair.“Oh, hey,” I said, trying to mask my surprise, this was the second time she hadstartled me today. “I’m just looking for this vending machine,” I said, pointing to it on mymap as she stopped next to me.“Oh! That was moved. It’s by the dorms now actually. Come on I’ll show you,” shesaid and started to jog over the concrete path again. I followed her, jogging slowlybehind. When we passed the first building of empty dorms, she turned a corner where amotion sensor light clicked on to reveal the vending machine.“Thanks,” I whispered a little out of breath.“No problem! Hey, listen, next time you should call me before you leave to wander atnight okay? I’d feel better knowing you weren’t alone out here.”I studied her for a second, black eyes trained on me like a hawk. “Is this about all ofthe scary stories I read about online?” I asked.Savana scoffed. “Well, sometimes scary stories have a base. I just don’t thinksomeone can be too careful, and you’re too pretty to wander about in the dark.”

I put my money in the slot and waited as the mechanical arm grabbed my waterbottle. When it appeared in the dispensing tube I grabbed it and looked back at Savanna,who was looking at the sky.She walked with me back to my dorm in silence. When we got to my door, she sighed,“I didn’t mean to scare you, and I don’t think we have ghosts. The buddy system issomething recommended to all women though, and since you are the only one in thedorms, I’ll be your buddy, okay?”I opened my door and smiled at her. “Sure, I appreciate it.”“Okay! Well, have a good night,” she said and turned to leave.“Wait! What about you?” I called after her.She turned and smiled at me. “I live in the admin building, perk of being a lead. And Ialways carry this,” she said and pulled out a silver can of pepper spray from the pocket ofher leggings.“Oh, well this can work both ways you know. I can run with you too,” I said.“Aw, thanks.I’ll see you tomorrow at orientation okay?”“Tomorrow?” I asked, confused.“Yeah, check your email!” she yelled and ran back down the lit sidewalk.I shut the door and locked it behind me. My nerves must be acting up because I wasbeginning to feel weirded out by all of this. I sat down and ate my tacos in silence,scrolling through Facebook. Amelia had been tagging me in pictures of her honeymoon,and I envied her happiness for a moment.I closed the app and opened my Gmail to check about that orientation.Savanna was right, the top email read: Freshman Orientation: Mandatory Attendancefor all new to our campus. Five-Thirty PM, August twenty-seventh. I sighed loudly anddecided to just go to bed. It was only eight-thirty, but I had melatonin and silk sheets.Goodnight, Westwood.

Ispent most of the next day doing tedious things, like hunting down a decent grocerystore. After passing up a few who had definitely seen better days, I gave up and wentto Walmart. Too bad the closest Walmart to me was thirty minutes away, although withthe horsepower that the Challenger offered, I got there in twenty.Basic necessities are what I had the intention of getting, Toilet paper—Charmin UltraSoft of course, water, toothpaste.et cetera. I clicked my tongue when I ended upspending double my budget on a new school bag, an extremely fluffy blanket, and ofcourse books I wouldn't even have time to read in a few days. But who knows, maybe I’dfind time to relax.By the time I got back to my dorm and put everything away, it was well after threePM. I only had time to eat and shower before I was scurrying out the door for theorientation. I was only thirty seconds late, but by the way everyone turned and looked atme when I arrived, you’d have thought it was an hour.The group was only about fifteen people, and I stood outside the circle. Savanna washaving a heated conversation with an older man at the front of the dome building wherewe were set to meet. She turned swiftly toward the group and threw up her hands. “Iapologize for the wait, but I will not be leading this orientation. This is Mr. Jacksmith, aprofessor here at Westwood, and he is going to give you a detailed tour of the campus.Have fun!” she said and walked down the steps to where I stood.“Looks like someone checked their email.” She laughed.“I did, I must have skimmed over it the first time because I’m not technically afreshman,” I said with a touch of humor to my voice.“Yea, we know. It’s just good for you to get the full history of this place. It’s prettyremarkable.”“That’s actually part of the reason I chose it, I wanted to find a school with character.”“Good. Looks like you’ll enjoy this. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” Savanna said butdidn’t wait for my answer before walking swiftly away.Mr. Jacksmith’s voice was deep as it boomed over the sidewalk where I stood.“Welcome! Fresh new minds, to a school that will test your courage and build the

foundation for the rest of your lives. My name is Mr. Jacksmith and this is the historicalWestwood University.” His hands were out like he was presenting an award.“Let us begin our tour along the west wing, where we will dive into the mysterybeneath our grounds and debunk some theories you may have heard,” he said andmotioned everyone to follow him down a long and narrow sidewalk to the building that Iended up at last night looking for the vending machine.“This was the very first building at Westwood. Legend says that a witch was burnedhere, right in this very spot.” He spoke like he was telling a campfire story to a group oftwelve-year-old’s. He climbed a small black mound of dirt and looked at us like an actorwould, holding a skull. “It is said that the magic flowing through that witch ended up inthe soil, awakening restless beings who love to roam the grounds at night.”He jumped off of the mound and the students around him all took a step back. “It isimportant never to roam the grounds at night for this reason. I’d hate for any of you tocome face to face with a soul.”I looked around at all of the students here and realized that I was the only one notmoved by the story he was spouting. Was this a historic to

of Westwood University. It was located on the mountain range of Western North Carolina and surrounded by large, bushy trees, a far cry from where I live in South Florida, surrounded by bad drivers and heat waves. Moving so far away made me anxious, to be honest, and my dad hadn't been by himself in years.