Nina

It was half past eleven on a Thursday night, and Sarah Jean was just finishing her essay on the truly boring and frankly simple topic of Conservation Ecology in Marine World (title needed a little work, she thought in passing).

Nina hadn't come back to dorm yet.

It wasn't entirely unlike the girl. And yes, in Sarah's eyes, Nina was nothing if not a child playing at going to college. Sarah Jean didn't even know what Nina was truly here for. She seemed in another world entirely half the time they had roomed together this year.

It wasn't as if Nina was rude or stuck up. Quite the contrary. She was pleasant, and sweet and really quite pretty, if skin so fair it burned in moonlight and hair so pale it blinded you in the sun was your thing. Nina's eyes were quite pretty as well, but they were so often glazed over from wherever she was in her own head at any given point in time that it was uncomfortable making eye contact when trying to hold a conversation with her.

"Don't be so mean," Sarah Jean muttered aloud, and stretched loudly at her desk.

"May as well hit send on this," she added absently, and in a moments notice she sent the essay away to her professor.

She turned to view the impossibly small dorm behind her, lit dimly only by her desk lamp and the light of her laptop. It was 11:48pm now, and just the slightest hint of worry niggled at her mind.

She brushed it away and decided to give Elaine a call. A smile of mirth appearing on her face, she pulled out her cellphone.

"Hello, Elaine speaking?" Elaine's voice came through the speaker, always cool and professional.

Sarah Jean barked a laugh into the receiver. "Cosmic!" she half shouted, shaking her head. "You know it's me! Why'd you answer like that?"

"Don't call me that," came the clipped reply. "Sorry," she added. A slight pause, the soft sound of papers swooshing together on the other line.

"I've been working so much at the center, that is just came naturally to me. What can I do for you? You do know it's almost midnight, yes?"

Sarah Jean sighed, rolled her eyes and laid down on her dorm bed. "Nina hasn't come home yet, " she said.

"How is that surprising? She practices almost every night over at the gymnasium." More swishing of papers and the sudden thwacking of a stack being straightened.

Oh. That was right. Nina was probably just practicing her silly pirouettes or whatever again. Sarah Jean really never kept up with what Nina was doing. She was either majoring in something outrageously ridiculous like Fine Arts or practicing her ballet somewhere.

"Well to be honest, Cozzy-"

"Sarah, please st-"

"-I haven't seen her for a couple days now. I've been pretty busy working on those essays for Professor Kleinstchall and Yeager that I haven't really been paying attention."

Sarah Jean sat up suddenly.

"Come to think of it," she said, staring at Nina's bed just 4 feet away, "I haven't actually seen Nina on campus in a bit." That slight worry in the back of her head returned. Is this why she had called Elaine, to be comforted like a child simply because her roommate hadn't returned home yet?

She heard Elaine sigh. "'Well I haven't seen her in almost a month, but as you know, I'm swamped with these lessons and the professors are working me to the bone for these sacred studies. Why don't you go check the gym? Or if you're that worried, just ask campus security to look around? How hard can it be to lose a girl like Nina around here?"

Sarah Jean bit her lip and nodded. "Alright Elaine. Sorry for the name thing. You know how I get about it," she laughed softly. "Are we still on for Monday by the way?"

"Yes, I'll see you around noon. I'll call if anything changes. Don't worry about Nina, you know how she loses herself sometimes. She'll probably be home by the time you're out of the shower tonight."

Sarah Jean and Elaine had know each other for years. They had gone to high school together, had graduated together and had even roomed together in a house their first year of college. Despite all this, it was only until recently that they became close.

Having known Elaine in high school had been a trip. She was still the same person she was today, maybe even a little more uptight than in high school. Born to two hippies, Elaine had to correct every teacher every new year on what her name was. It was never Cosmic Wonder Elaina O'Shea, her actual God-given name, but "Elaine".

Sarah Jean knew Elaine could never stand being called Cosmic, let alone Cosmic Wonder. She had told Sarah several times that she was going to change it after college, but some part of Sarah Jean suspected Elaine was holding onto her name like some sort of security blanket.

She turned to the clock. It was now rounding to 12:50, a near full hour since hitting send on her essay. She rolled over to her wall and closed her eyes. Nina was fine, she would be home soon.

Nina was, in fact, not fine.

If you like what you've read so far, stay tuned to my stories. This is only a preview of whats to come!