Study Buddy

Fiction; One suspenseful scene from two different POVs

It was a quiet September weekend. Birds chirped under the inoffensive blue sky, which had just the right amount of puffy white clouds. Since the school year had just started, the university library was relatively quiet, with only the occasional student cramming here and there.

Marcus twiddled his thumbs under the table he was sitting at, shifting uncomfortably in his pilled library seat. His feet kept brushing against his backpack, which was bulging at the seams with his heavy textbook. Marcus grimaced. Who was he kidding? This wasn’t going to work. He was going to fail calculus. Hell, he’d already failed the first test of the year. He was just lucky Roxanne was determined not to give up on him this semester.

...Or, at least, that’s what it’d seemed like. She seemed adamant enough about it when she badgered him into agreeing to let her tutor him on the weekends, but Marcus was starting to think that maybe he’d gotten the wrong idea. It was over half an hour past the time they were supposed to meet up at the library, and she still hadn’t showed.

Marcus closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. There was no way Roxanne had just given up on him after all that. No way. ...Right?

“Are you waiting for someone?” a voice asked.

Marcus blinked and looked up. A library employee was standing across from him, a fellow student from the looks of it. Her mousy hair framed her big round glasses, which magnified her big brown eyes. It almost looked goofy on her petite form.

He bit his lip. “Uh, yeah, I am. I’m supposed to be meeting a friend here. Her name’s Roxanne.” He didn’t really want to mention that that friend was meeting him here to tutor him.

The library employee smiled politely. “It’s always nice when you can study with a friend. What class are you guys taking together?”

Marcus really didn’t want to admit that Roxanne had taken calculus two semesters ago and was just helping him out of the goodness of her heart. “...Calculus.”

The girl winced. “Oof. Who are you taking it with?”

“Richards.”

“Yikes. I’ve heard he’s a hardass.”

Marcus let out a startled chuckle. “That’s putting it mildly.”

The girl laughed along with him and settled herself into the seat across from him. “I’m Olivia, by the way,” she said after a moment.

“Marcus.” He glanced around at the empty library before flicking his gaze back at Olivia. “Are you supposed to be working right now? I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss ‘cause you were talking to me.”

Olivia waved him off. “Oh, don’t worry about that. My shift’s actually ending in a few minutes. Besides, it’s not like there’s much going on here anyway, right?”

Marcus conceded her point with a shrug.

“When’s your friend supposed to get here?” she asked.

“We were supposed to meet up around noon.” Marcus said before checking the time on his phone. His foot anxiously tapped as every minute passed and there was still no Roxanne.

A thoughtful look crossed Olivia’s face. “Hmm. I wonder what’s keeping her.” She glanced at the phone in his hand. “Maybe you should try texting her? Something might have come up.”

“Yeah, I probably will.”

Olivia giggled and glanced to the side, absently playing with one of her bangs. “I should probably get going. I have homework to catch up on, you know?”

Marcus flushed. “Right, of course.”

Olivia nodded before standing up. “Good luck in calculus, by the way!” she exclaimed, “I took it a few semesters ago, so I totally get the struggle.”

“Appreciate it, thanks.” Marcus said.

With a sweet smile, Olivia left.

Once she left, Marcus checked his phone again. It was now over 45 minutes past when Roxanne was supposed to meet him at the library. A lump formed in his throat. Maybe Roxanne’d had second thoughts. Maybe she realized that he really was hopeless and just decided not to show up. It wasn’t like he could blame her, honestly, since he’d been telling her that all along, but still, his stupid heart clenched at the possibility.

He bit his lip as he fired off a text:

[sent 12:45 PM] hey ive been at the library for awhile, wya?

He stared down at his phone screen, begging it to reveal that Roxanne had just forgotten about their plans, or lost track of time, or something.

A phone distantly chimed. Marcus dismissed it as he sent another nervous text:

[sent 12:46 PM] its ok if you forgot

[sent 12:46 PM] i just wanna know what happened

Two distant phone chimes, quick in succession.

Marcus’ brow furrowed. That couldn’t be a coincidence. He stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder, wandering into the stacks as he sent another text to try and pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

[sent 12:47 PM] roxanne?

The phone chimed again. It was coming from somewhere behind the stacks, towards the back. Nerves curdled in Marcus’ stomach as walked through them before he sent another text:

[sent 12:47 PM] please answer me

The phone’s chime was definitely louder this time. It sounded like it was coming from behind the wall directly in front of him. Marcus looked around and quickly spotted an employees only door.

There was no mistaking it. The sound was coming from the back room. Marcus frowned, puzzled. Had Roxanne gotten a job at the library or something? She’d never mentioned anything like that to him before… but why else would her phone be back there?

Without thinking, he pushed open the door and screamed. Olivia was standing over the pale corpse of his friend, Roxanne’s unseeing eyes staring up at the water-stained ceiling, her blood staining the cold metal table she was splayed out on.

“Oh, Marcus,” Olivia chided him, “don’t you know you’re not supposed to be back here?”

_______________

Olivia’s shift couldn’t end any sooner.

Roxanne’d had it coming. She was such a stuck up, know-it-all bitch, and she was such a goody-two-shoes about it. They were both in the same major, so they’d had a lot of classes together, and God, she couldn’t stand her. Only, Roxanne had somehow gotten it into her head that she wanted to be friends with Olivia, for some reason. She knew she hated her. But she wanted to get together to talk about “their differences” or some other crap like that. So, Olivia had given her a time she was working at the library, and they agreed to meet then.

Only, Olivia had never planned to give her a chance to talk.

Ten more minutes. Only ten more minutes, and then Olivia could finish what she’d started. With the library as quiet as it was, though, ten minutes felt like ten hours. Olivia twirled one of her bangs around her finger anxiously. She’d shoved Roxanne’s body into the back room. She was one of the only employees working right now, so it wasn’t like anyone was going to go back there. It was okay. It was fine. Nobody would ever know what she did. Nobody would even miss Roxanne anyway. No one liked her.

There was a guy sitting awkwardly at one of the library tables, shifting in his seat like he wasn’t supposed to be here. Or, at least, like he wasn’t supposed to be there by himself. Interesting. Olivia walked up to his table.

“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked him.

The guy jumped a bit in his seat before looking up at her. “Uh, yeah, I am. I’m supposed to be meeting a friend here. Her name’s Roxanne.”

Oh, fuck. Olivia fought to keep the panic off her face. “It’s always nice when you can study with a friend,” she said steadily with what she hoped was a polite smile, “What class are you guys taking together?”

“Calculus,” the guy said after a moment.

Olivia knew that was a lie, since she had taken calculus with Roxanne a couple semesters ago and the bitch had finished top of their class. She remembered that semester with a wince. She was nice enough not to call him out on it, though.

“Who are you taking it with?” she asked.

“Richards.” he said.

“Yikes. I’ve heard he’s a hardass.”

The guy chuckled. “That’s putting it mildly.”

Olivia giggled nervously along with him and settled down into the seat across from him. Might as well ride out the conversation ‘til her shift ended.

“I’m Olivia, by the way.” she said.

“Marcus.” Roxanne’s friend - Marcus - glanced around the library. “Are you supposed to be working right now? I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss ‘cause you were talking to me.”

Olivia bit back the urge to giggle hysterically. Getting in trouble with her boss was the least of her worries. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said instead, “My shift’s actually ending in a few minutes. Besides, it’s not like there’s much going on here anyway, right?”

Roxanne’s friend shrugged as if to say, you got a point there.

“When’s your friend supposed to get here?” she asked, to gauge what time Roxanne was supposed to have met up with her friend.

“We were supposed to meet up around noon.”

Noon. That was around fifteen minutes after Roxanne had arranged to meet up with her. The guy had been waiting here for a while, then.

“Hmm. I wonder what’s keeping her,” she said, just to have something to say, really. She needed him to get out of here before he discovered Roxanne wasn’t just standing him up. Then she noticed Marcus fiddling with his phone, and an idea came to her. “Maybe you should try texting her? Something might have come up.” He could go check up on her at her place, if he thinks something is wrong. Maybe he’d get angry with her for standing him up and decide to snub her for a while. Olivia didn’t care. Anything to get him to leave the library.

The guy sighs. “Yeah, I probably will.”

This time Olivia couldn’t stop a nervous giggle from coming out. She glanced at a random book stack, an anxious finger twirling one of her bangs. Ten minutes had to be up by now, right? Right. Surely.

“I should probably get going,” she said, quickly thinking of an excuse to bail on the conversation. “I have homework to catch up on, you know?”

“Right, of course,” the guy said awkwardly.

Right. Olivia nodded and stood up, calling out before she left, “Good luck in calculus, by the way! I took it a few semesters ago, so I totally get the struggle.”

“Appreciate it, thanks.”

As soon as she was out of his sight, Olivia bolted for the back room. She pushed open the door and pulled the body out of the crevice she had shoved it in, mind racing as she tried to figure out the best way to dispose of it. Dismemberment? That was what Jeffery Dahmer had done to his victims, right? And he hadn’t been caught for like, years. Or wait, no, he dissolved people, didn’t he? Fuck.

A phone chiming from somewhere in the back room jolted her out of her thoughts. Her heart lodged itself in her throat. What the fuck was that?

The phone chimed again, twice in rapid succession. Oh no. Had Roxanne put her phone down somewhere in the room? SHIT. ShitshitshitSHITSHIT! The break room wasn’t too far away from Roxanne’s friend’s library table. There was a very good chance he’d heard the phone going off.

Olivia scurried around the room, trying desperately to find the phone giving away her location, but she turned up empty. Goddamnit, where had this bitch left her phone?!

The phone chimed again, and finally, Olivia honed in on its location. It was near the body somewhere. Somewhere… there! There it was, clenched firmly in the corpse’s left hand. Olivia wrenched its stiff fingers out of its tight grip, each one giving way with a sickening crunching squelch. The phone lit up with yet another chime before she pried it out of its hand and silenced it, but by then, it was too late. She only caught a quick glance of the most recent text before the door opened behind her. The jig was up.

Marcus looked past her at Roxanne’s body, and screamed. Olivia’s heart sank to her stomach.

“Oh, Marcus,” she sighed, defeated. “don’t you know you’re not supposed to be back here?”