During lunch, Darcy sat down in the cafeteria with a lot on her mind, and not as much on her plate. After dropping such a shocking statement, that girl-or boy, stuffed back the paper in Darcy’s pocket, then left. As she looked at her plate, Darcy slowly tried to process today’s events: She woke up a little late, came in a hurry to her college, had one peaceful lecture before Classical Literature, then went out to write a little. While she had been sitting under her tree, a weird guy dressed as a girl appeared out of nowhere, claiming that she was a detective and that he needed her help with finding his missing friend. She then assumed that she was pranked and confronted him then ran away. He apparently ran after her, then told her that it was genuine. Yes. That happened to Darcy in the span of only few hours, and her brain fried itself to process it. She took a bite from her sandwich and looked down at the campus from the window. Weird day. She would probably cry as soon as she got home.

When she got home, Darcy no longer felt like crying. It was 5 in the evening and she had finished with her lectures. As soon as she opened the door, she threw her bag to the side, then dropped herself on her bed, face down. Then, with a loud groan, she turned to the ceiling.

“What the fuck?” She said to no one in particular, then reached her hand into her pockets, feeling for the paper. Finding it, she brought it to her face. Darcy’s hazel eyes scanned the numbers curiously. With her other hand, she took out her phone and typed them down. Just to make sure I wasn’t pranked, she told herself. It rang thrice before a boy’s voice answered her.

“Hello?” There was a lot of background noise and Darcy found it hard to discern whether the voice belonged to the same person or not.

“Uhm... who’s this?” She was already regretting this. There was loud music and a lot of people talking and laughing. Were they in some kind of party?

“Ah! Is this Darcy? This is Quinn. Oh I didn’t introduce myself today, did I? Well today was kinda weird. Anyway, I am the guy from this morning, I am Quinn.”

“...guy..” She muttered to herself. “Yeah, uhm. I still don’t believe this whole charade but I just called to like make sure you weren’t making fun of me.”

“Just a second. There’s too much noise here.” Darcy listened patiently to the sound of his footsteps as he walked into a quieter room (she heard a door close.) “Okay, we can talk properly now. My friend; his name is Karl. We’re roommates and we share the same courses. We’re pretty close. The last time I saw him was a week ago. I caught a glimpse of him in campus and that was it. I haven’t heard from him since.” Quinn fell silent for a moment. She heard him breathe out softly. “Obviously, I tried to contact his family and relatives, but I was shocked to know that he had none. “

“Sorry to burst your bubble, uhm, Quinn, but you should be contacting the cops, not me. Like I told you, I have nothing to do with detective agencies. ” As she spoke, Darcy was looking at her undone laundry at the corner of her narrow room. She would get to it in the weekend, she told herself.

“About that... I really need your help.”

“Why me? I don’t get it. I am just a normal person. I also don’t want to get illegally involved in a case like this.”

“You don’t have to do anything dangerous. I just need you to decipher something for me.”

Intrigued, Darcy sat up and crossed her legs, shoes still on. Her eyes glanced at her reflection on the mirror to her right. Disheveled dark hair, slightly oily face that needs immediate skin care, a shabby overworn hoodie (she liked this one the most because it hid her body shape,) and pale jeans that probably needed to be washed soon. Repulsed by her reflection, she looked away.

“Karl used to write, a lot. He and I are roommates, so I’d know. I just want you to read what he’s written, and see if he’s left a hint or anything...”

“If he was kidnapped, he wouldn’t have had the time to leave a hint I think.”

Quinn sighed through the phone. “Yeah... but who knows? It could be more complicated than that.”

“What kind of stuff did he write?”

“I don’t know, man. I am not good with these things. I did take a look at them. They’re like novels or some shit. But there are too many that I am not sure what to do. That’s the thing, actually. I want you to examine them.”

“I am not the only student in the Lit section. And there are many who could be more helpful than me. I just know about detective novels, that’s all.”

“I know you do.” Even though she could not see him, she could still somehow tell that he had that soft smile from this morning. Maybe it was from the tone of his voice. “Just take a look at them, please? You’ve nothing to lose.” He added. Darcy was silent, contemplating her options. “Hey, what are you doing right now?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, if you’re not busy, you can come take a look right now. I mean, you live in the dorm right?”

“I do, but...”

“Look no pressure, okay? If you want to, just come meet me at the back of the campus, the same place from this morning. I’ll sneak you into the boys’ dorm.”

“Can’t you just bring me the books?”

“Sure! I thought maybe you’d like to take them yourself. What room are you in?”

“Huh?? You’re coming here?” Her voice was a little more high-pitched than she had intended.

“Yes? Didn’t you say you wanted me to bring them?”

“No, yes, I mean. Yeah, okay. It’s room 50.”

“Sick. I’ll see you there in 5.”

Darcy had already stood up and begun thinking about how to organize this mess of a room in less than 5 minutes. “Oh, and thanks a lot, Darcy.”

“I didn’t say I was gonna hel_” before she could finish protesting, Quinn had hung up. Was it on purpose? Darcy sighed and threw the phone on the bed. She opened her closet and began stuffing there everything that could fit. She was about to make her bed when she heard a knock on the door. She unconsciously fixed her hair before she opened the door.

“Hi!” Quinn was smiling brightly at her in a dark red lipstick. So weird. Her eyes fell to the card box he was holding in his arms. It was full of papers.

“That’s... a lot.”

“Yeah...” She noticed his eyes wandering behind her. “Do you wanna come in?” She asked out of courtesy, hoping he’d say no.

“I’d love to.”

Sighing, Darcy closed the door behind him. Quinn looked around him curiously then turned to her.

“Where can I put this?” She pointed to the newly-emptied spot on the floor (where the laundry had been.) Smiling politely, he placed down the box then flexed his arms. Darcy told him to sit wherever he liked then walked towards the said box to take a look. She randomly took out a paper and read the first sentence. It seemed to be a page of a story of some sort, judging from the narrative style. The segment probably belongs to the middle of the story.

“Are these all of the papers? Or are there some missing?”

Quinn, who was sitting on the bed and looking at a quite-visibly overloaded closet, turned his blue eyes towards her.

“I think so. Those are the ones I found in our room, at least.”

Darcy placed back the paper in the box then stood up. “And what am I supposed to be looking for exactly?” She heard a weird creak and glanced suspiciously at the closet. Quinn apparently heard it too since he seemed to have been looking in the same direction.

“Anything, really. Any hint of him deciding to leave somewhere, or of him being followed, you know?”

“I really think that this job should be addressed to professional personnel, Quinn, not to me.” Quinn pressed his lips together, clearly conflicted.

“I can’t, Darcy. I can’t tell you why right now, but you have to trust me when I say that you’re the only one who’s capable of this.”

Darcy stared at him pensively. She didn’t feel like he was lying, and he seemed genuinely concerned for his friend. Was it a good idea to get involved in something like this? But then, she only had to read these papers. What’s the worst that could happen? She could also play detective for once in her life. Instead of writing about it, she could live the experience herself, not to mention that it can inspire her with her own writing.

“Okay, fine.” She said. “But I can’t do this on my own. I need you to help me out.”

Quinn’s eyes gleamed hopefully, and he had that irritatingly-beautiful smile again. Wow, a boy can be blessed with such fair features, while she had the face of a potato.

“You name it! I’ll do anything I can!”