Steemit Challenge s26wk2- Mysterious Roommate

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And Timothy had finally agreed to take in a roommate, but he had never ever imagined how strange life would become to him. Ronnie here had only arrived at the university during a mid-semester, claiming to him that his parents had forces his transferred from another campus just because of “health reasons.” He did mentioned that he wanted peace and stability, a much quiet space to study, and a friend to at least share the rent with. Timothy, being kind-hearted, sincerely welcomed him without hesitation.

• Ronnie was just kind of different from the usual students in the campus, he is always looking neat, polite, and obviously strangely composed. He hardly joined the noisy laughter outside the hostel. But instead, he spent long hours indoors, either in scribbling in a leather-bound notebook or he is polishing small metal objects that Timothy never quite recognized at all. At first, Timothy thought he was just eccentric, maybe an inventor or he is an artist.

One evening, Timothy had only returned much earlier than his usual from the library. The room was so dimly lit, and Ronnie, so unaware of his presence, had pulled his bag from under the bed. Inside bag had his peculiar tools: a thin steel cutters, odd-looking keys, tiny screwdrivers, and a device with a blinking red lights that looked like something belonging in a spy film. Beside them also lay a small black pistol. Timothy looking entirely froze at the door, his mind only racing. Why would someone who claim coming here for “health reasons” need tools like these?

Ronnie quickly noticed him and rush shut the bag with an almost graceful speed. He smiled, though his eyes all carried a warning Timothy had never seen before. “Back early?” he asked casually.

“Ouh Yes,” Timothy managed, his throat dry. “I didn’t expect to interrupt anything though.”

Ronnie tilted his head, trying to study him. “Nothing you need to worry about. It is just a hobby.”

• But Timothy could not even sleep that night. His mind was only circled on questions like vultures. Was Ronnie a criminal, is he a spy, or someone running from a past too dark to reveal? So the thought of sharing a room with him now felt both thrilling and terrifying.

The following week, Timothy had observed more carefully. Ronnie left at a strange hour, midnight walks that stretched into dawn and returned without an explanation. He received letters slipped under the door by some strangers who never stayed long enough to say a word. His phone was always locked and never at a random position, and his conversations, when overheard, carried codes Timothy couldn’t really decipher.

Finally, Timothy couldn't bear anymore but confronted him. “Ronnie, I need the truth. Who are you? You obviously don’t act like any ordinary student.”

For a moment, Ronnie kept silent. Then, with an heavy sigh, he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Sincerely, I didn’t actually come here to study, Timothy. I was eventually sent here because I needed to disappear. I work for a private intelligence group and my job is to track illegal arms dealers who recruit young people. Those tools you saw are obviously not for robbery, but they’re for breaking into places that ordinary locks can’t keep shut. And the gun! well, that’s for my own protection. I never wanted you involved. That’s why I kept it all hidden this while”

Timothy’s chest so tightened. “So all this time, you’ve been living more of a double life? What if someone dangerous finds out you’re here with me?”

Ronnie’s eyes got softened, a rare crack in his tough exterior. He replied; “If that day finally comes, I’ll be gone before it reaches you. But until then, please trust me when I say, you’re safer with me than without me.”

• The room once again fell into silence. Timothy now didn’t really know again on whether to feel reassured or be more afraid. Ronnie’s truth was just so extraordinary, terrifying, yet so strangely heroic. From that day on, Timothy lived with both of suspicion and admiration for his roommate, never really knowing if tomorrow would bring him another ordinary school day or the sudden vanishing of the mysterious man whom he had shared his bedspace with.

On whether Ronnie was truly a protector or he is just another liar hiding behind noble words, Timothy would never fully know. But one thing was definitely certain: his roommate was no an ordinary student, and his life would never again return to the quiet simplicity it once had.

	Unsplash

• Just some weeks later, the silence around Ronnie shattered. One night, Timothy had returned from class to find the room completely empty of Ronnie's stuff. Ronnie’s side of the wardrobe was all cleared, the bag under the bed gone, and as well his leather notebook missing. For a moment, Timothy really thought Ronnie had simply moved out without a notice. But on his own study desk lay there a single envelope, sealed with wax.

His hands already trembling as he opened it. Inside the envelope ✉️ he found a short letter, written in a sharp slanted Ronnie’s handwriting:

"Dear Timothy, I am writing to let you know that by the time you're reading this letter, I am gone already. You really gave me a roof when I needed to disappear, and even though I never deserved your trust, you still offered it. I was eventually not just hiding, i was hunting. The people I tracked are so closer than you think, and to really protect you, I had to leave. I never doubt the facts that you made me believe in friendship again. Stay safe, and please never speak of what you saw."

Alongside the note, was a very small silver key. No explanation, not even a clue about what it unlocked. Just a symbol of trust or perhaps an unfinished business.

Timothy sat down on the bed in the quiet room, the reality sinking in. His mysterious roommate had definitely been more than a liar; to him, he had been living a life of shadows, one thing Timothy could never fully understand. The result was just simple yet profound: Ronnie had vanished, leaving behind not any answers but questions that would linger forever.

From that day on, whenever Timothy looked at the silver key left by Ronnie, he knew his life had brushed against a world so far beyond ordinary classrooms and exams, a world of spies, a world of secrets, and dangers. And though Ronnie was gone, obviously the memory of that mysterious roommate became the story Timothy could never forget in life, a reminder that to anyone out there, sometimes the people who live beside us are so far more extraordinary than they appear.

I invite @fortwis09, @bessie2023 and @nsijoro.

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 -•- Thanks Y'all for Reading -•-

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