Royal Spirit

I sighed as my mom's car sped off behind me. I knew she wanted me to be independent and get checked in at the housing office, but I really wish she had come with me. For as long as I could remember, it had been just me, my mom, and my sister, Kylie navigating through life. My dad had died when I was young, pretty much too young for me to really remember him, but my mom took it harder than my sister and I did. She experienced supreme depression, which made it really hard for her to be a mom. I had no idea what to do without my mom or sister, mostly my sister at my side.

My mom had always been distant due to her depression, but I knew that she wanted the best for me. Even though she was not a very supportive mom, I would still miss her presence. I knew they were just a call away, but still, it just was not the same as having them by my side. I sighed one more time, grabbed the handle to my suitcase, and walked off toward the front doors of the housing office.

The campus was utterly gorgeous. Even though it was evening and the sun was going down, the campus still seemed to glow with power. There were woods surrounding the campus, with buildings evenly spread out. There was one main sidewalk, with little connected paths that led off to each of the buildings. There were brick buildings of various sizes that must have been dorms. Along the sidewalk, there were benches and picnic tables for people to sit on to study or eat or whatever it was college students did in their free time. It sounds cliche, but it was very cute and cozy. Trees were everywhere on along the path, and every so often there were little patches of flowers and shrubbery. The students that focused on the element earth must tend to them, as there was not a dead flower or leaf on any of the plants.

Eventually, I encountered a two-story building that said "Housing and Residence Life Main Office". Assuming this was where I was supposed to go to check-in and get my rooming assignment, I headed for that building. Luckily, I was late, meaning most other new students had already checked in and settled into their dorm rooms. Good. Less crowd meant fewer people to gawk at me and my awkward nervousness. I opened the doors and walked into the building.

“Welcome to Crimson University!" A blonde woman who looked about my age, maybe a few years older than me, exclaimed, as she waved me over to her table.

“Hi. My name is Lyla Jacobs.” I said, handing her my I.D.

“Hi, Lyla! I'm Emily, one of the R.A.'s here." She said as she checked my I.D. and referenced it to her sheets where each dorm had its own list of residents. She highlighted my name and gasped excitedly. "Oh my gosh, no way! You're not only in my building, but you're one of my roommates! We get to share a suite that's so exciting!" She exclaimed with a smile.

“Oh, wow. Nice to meet you!" I said and returned her smile as I took my I.D. back from her. I could not match her extreme enthusiasm, but being the roommate of a resident assistant meant that I would always know what was going on and have a so-called "friend" that had already experienced her freshman year of college. It also meant I would be expected to follow the rules, which had never been a problem for me anyway. I did not like to party or anything crazy like that, and I definitely did not like to get in trouble, so I tended to follow the rules in order to stay under the radar.

“Here are your keys to your room and your school-issued identification card. Your identification card will swipe you into your dorm and serve as your meal ticket at the dining halls and restaurants. Make sure to carry this on you at all times and please don't lose it. It's such a pain in the ass to get a new one, trust me, been there done that!" Emily laughed as she handed me the keys and a red and white card. "I only have to sit here for ten more minutes and wait for any more late arrivals. If you want, you can wait for my shift to end and then I can show you the way to our room. That way, we can start to get to know each other and you won't have to worry about getting lost!" Emily said.

“That sounds perfect, thank you." I sighed with relief. I was so nervous about getting lost, but having a roommate that worked for the school was already coming in handy.

“Awesome! You can have a seat right over there while I start cleaning everything up." She pointed to a brown couch across the room near the door. I walked over to the couch and sat down, relieved for a chance to catch my breath. It was soft and comfy, definitely the opposite of what I would expect in an office building of a college. I let my mind wander as I waited for Emily to finish up.

It felt like no time had passed at all when Emily appeared in front of me. "Come on, let's go! Our building, Shadow Hall, is only about a five-minute walk from here. I can't wait to show you our apartment!” She gushed. Of course, our dorm was called Shadow Hall, because this college couldn't be any more stereotypical for a vampire college. Hello, it was called Crimson University for a reason! Crimson-as in red-the color of blood, because, you know, vampires need to drink blood to survive. We don't go crazy and murder humans for their blood like the vampires in the books and movies. Humans willingly donate blood (and are paid handsomely to do so) to the vampire blood banks and that is how we get our blood. We also can eat human food (another fictional stereotype), we just need blood every once in a while in order to stay strong. We can also drink directly from humans, but it has to be 100% consensual so most vampires just stay away from that so they don't have to worry about getting sued. It helps humans not fear us as much, which contributes to a peaceful society.

Stereotypicalness of my new college aside and mental tirade aside, I found myself getting more excited as we stepped outside and started walking toward our dorm. Maybe college wouldn't be so bad after all.