Tyler’s Roommates--Marisa

"Tyler, Tyler..." I open my eyes. I'm sore and I don't know where I am or how I got here.
The girl sitting in front of me, waking me up is named Brianna. Brianna has the most beautiful tan skin and curly black hair, that highlights her green eyes so well. I think I love her, but I have a sense I can't touch her. I sit up and ask, "Where are we?" and Brianna tells me we're in a house staying with other children. She reminds me that my mom never told me why or for how long, but we can ask her when she visits on Sunday. I take in the information and look around. There are four other beds in this room with me. Three have my friends, Natalia, Jaime, and Frankie, and the other is Brianna's. Having my friends as my roommates makes this strange house more tolerable. Frankie asks me if I want to join him and Natalia watching our favorite movie, so I carefully sit up and make my way to Frankie's bed in front of the TV. A few minutes in, we hear footsteps coming towards the room. Jaime says, "Hurry, back to bed," and I turn off the movie and hobble back to my bed. Right as I close my eyes, a woman walks in and walks right up to my bed. She gently shakes me and I sit up again. She asks how I'm feeling and says something about roommates. I tell her I'm feeling great since I have my four friends as roommates. The woman shifts her weight between her feet and starts messing with the button on her blouse. Maybe she doesn't have many friends, so she's feeling sad. I decide not to ask her any questions

so I don't hurt her feelings and after a minute, she leaves the room. My friends jump back out of bed and run over to me, all talking over each other with questions about the woman. I wait for them to quiet down, and then I retell our interaction. After I finish, they all share concerned glances, but I don't think much of it; I'm happy they're here.

All of a sudden, a cute little song begins playing from a speaker up at the corner of the ceiling. It ends and the same woman who visited my room announces that it's snack time. My friends start packing up their things and walk to the door. Realizing they're going to leave, I call, "Wait, guys! Where are you going?" Natalia giggles and tells me to come to snack time with them. I get up and we go out to the living area of the house. I grab my string cheese, gold fish, and capri sun and we grab a table with exactly five seats. My friends and I are laughing and talking, and I notice the children at the other tables are looking at us and whispering. They seem to be friends, but maybe they don't like our jokes. After snack time, my roommates and I head back to our room to finish our movie. After the movie, the same announcement song is played, and we're told it's time for bed. Today was a great Tuesday. I still don't understand why my friends and I have to stay here, but I'm ready for Sunday so I can tell my mom all about the fun we're having.

Each day, the routine is the same, which means for my room, each day is as fun as the last. It's finally Saturday evening, and when the announcement song is played, I yell with happiness, "Natalia! Brianna! Frankie! Jaime! When we wake up, it's parent day!" We get ready for bed and turn out the lights as fast as we can, but then the woman walks in again. She sits on

the side of my bed, brushes a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear, then she looks at me. "Tyler, you're a real joy to have in our house," she tells me, "but I have to ask you to promise me something for tomorrow." The woman pauses until I nod and says, "When you're telling your mother about your time here, you can't talk about your roommates." They're the best part of being here, so I ask her why. She tells me that they're top secret. I promise to keep quiet, because my best friends being top secret sounds pretty cool to me.

Parent day was a blast! I talked with my mom for the whole three hours. I talked about the movies I watched, the snacks I ate, and learning to braid in arts and crafts. My mom seemed relieved in some way, but I don't know what about though. Anyway, she also had stories to tell about my dad and learning to cook new dishes. I miss my dad, but he gets to come next Sunday. I hope that by the time they are both here, I will be allowed to talk about my secret roommates. At the end of the three hours, I said goodbye to my mom, but then the announcement woman comes into the room and my mom follows her into an office. I finished telling Brianna my story, and she seems upset. I tried to give her a hug, but she got up and got into her bed. I decided to go to bed too and ask Brianna if she's okay in the morning.

I sit up in a cold sweat from my dream. I get up to check on my friends, but they aren't in their beds. All of their stuff is gone too. I start running and throw open every door I see. Eventually, I get to the room of the announcement woman. She brings me in and sits me down. She puts her hands on my shoulders, and says, "Tyler, you realized something about your roommates didn't you?" I nod and look down. "They aren't real."