Snippet #2346256

Edmund Malkin

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

A tall figure in a long, beige coat carrying as much as humanly possible and then some could be seen lumbering towards the university’s arched gateway. This was Edmund. If you could see his face, you would notice that it was twisted into an angry scowl, not at anyone in particular, but more at the university itself. The buildings, the students, the teachers; he hated them all. Every time he returned to the university, he had a sledgehammer of disappointment swung into his emotions. As he dragged himself through the arched gateway that loomed before him, in his mind the gates slammed loudly shut behind him, and stayed that way.

Now, you should remember that I said Edmund was carrying more than humanly possible. That may have been slightly exaggerated, but he still wasn’t travelling light. This could have been easily avoided if he wasn’t so passionate about his music. But he was, and there’s no use crying over spilled milk. His bass was slung over his back, his acoustic guitar was slung round his front, he carried a large guitar amp in his right hand and his electric guitar in his left. All of his guitars were in soft cases, so he needed to watch where he was going, lest he bash and damage them. As for the stuff that most people bring with them, he had made sure to leave a good supply of clothes and toiletries in his dorm. There was no way he would leave his guitars there; he wasn’t going to go an entire holiday without practice and quite frankly, he didn’t trust someone not to steal them. He could leave his clothes and toiletries there, nobody was going to nick his toothbrush, but they might well nick two thousand dollars’ worth of musical equipment.

In tow was Edmund’s faithful companion, the Eurasian Eagle Owl Malphas. Malphas was significantly less burdened than his master, and fluttering along beside him with ease. He usually perched himself on Edmund’s right shoulder, but Edmund’s guitars prevented him from perching comfortably. In his usual attempt to lighten Edmund’s mood, he spoke up:
“It’s such a glorious day. The sun is shining, there’s a cool breeze in the air and the birds are singing beautifully.”
“If only the birds would be quieter.” Edmund retorted.
Cheering Edmund up was not an easy feat, and in his current state even Malphas could do nothing to raise his spirits. Malphas was well aware of this, and so he didn’t make any further attempts, as they would only rile Edmund up.

The pair progressed through the campus in silence paying no heed to the surrounding area that would surely startle any newcomers to the university. They had since grown used to the peculiar mishmash of architectural styles that bore the name “the University of Diversity”. Edmund often wondered if the diversity it spoke of was regarding the buildings, not the students. The students Edmund passed seemed to watch him with confusion in their eyes; why was he drowning in musical gear when he didn’t even have a suitcase? Ignoring their gazes, Edmund continued to drag himself through the campus towards the vampire dorm building.

Finally Edmund carefully removed all his luggage and laid it down carefully against the wall. He slumped down onto his bed and took a series of loud, deep breaths; he was tired out from having to shift his gear to the far edge of the campus, and the dorm building’s stairs didn’t exactly help. He stared up at the dorm’s plain, brown ceiling for a while before sitting up and looking around the rest of the room. It wasn’t huge, but Edmund made use of the space. Along the wall opposite the door there was a kitchen surface, some cupboards, a bread bin, a kettle, a microwave, a sink, a dishwasher and a fridge. Along the right wall was Edmund’s bed, his guitars, his amp and the door to his closet. His desk and chest of drawers were pressed against the room’s left wall. The room’s fourth wall had a large bookshelf on the right side of the door, put there as opposed to the left side to conceal a large strip of paint that was dangling off. The carpet was beige and fairly grubby, but this was normal for the vampire dorms. It wasn’t pretty, but Edmund made do with what he had.

It was a minute or so before Edmund stood up. When he did, he walked over to sink, filled the kettle with water and turned it on. He simply stood and waited while the kettle boiled, and instantly poured out the water into a cup before dropping in a tea bag. He waited in the same silent, motionless fashion that he had waited before while the tea infused. After discarding the tea bag he slumped down into the wheelie chair by his desk, blew on his tea and took a sip. He smiled and took another sip; while no person could calm Edmund while he was in such a state, tea certainly could.
“You know, Malphas, perhaps you were right about it being a nice day outside.” Edmund apologised, “I think I’ll go outside once I’ve finished my tea.”
If Malphas had lips he would have smiled, but his expression still made it obvious that Edmund’s change of heart had pleased him.

Once he had finished his tea, Edmund put his cup by the sink, slung his acoustic guitar over his shoulder and opened the window. Malphas groaned internally, he knew what Edmund was about to do. Edmund climbed out of the window and began to scale down the wall quickly, using whatever he could to grip on. Within a matter of seconds Edmund had reached the ground, unscathed. While he was unscathed now, Malphas was concerned that he would fall off one day and break his back, or worse: die. However, he knew that he couldn’t talk Edmund out of doing it since it was far quicker than using the stairs. He flew from the open window, closed it and flew over to Edmund to perch on his shoulder.
“Where are we going?” Malphas asked.
“Somewhere quiet.” Was Edmund’s response.

The campus was huge, so it didn’t take too long to find a quiet spot where Edmund could keep to himself. The spot Edmund chose was beneath an oak tree that stood near the banks of a stream. He sat back against the tree, took his guitar from his case and gave it a quick strum to ensure that it was still in tune. When Edmund was sure it was, he began to play the first song that came to his mind: an old song named “Games People Play”. Edmund particularly liked the lyrics, which address hate, intolerance and hypocrisy. He wasn’t much of a singer, so he simply hummed along with the guitar line while the lyrics went through his head. Malphas perched on a branch above Edmund and listened intently to Edmund’s playing. He enjoyed watching Edmund playing music, since it was just about the only time he was happy, other than when he was drinking tea.