Room 120: No Books Yet

[Hannah Murphy]

Murphy laughs, "Thanks."

[Alex Maurell]

"Something you picked up from an animal I'm guessing."

[Hannah Murphy]

Murphy shakes her head, "Rough living."

[Alex Maurell]

"Rough living? How so?" He rests his chin on the bed, looking up at her curiously.

[Hannah Murphy]

"Off the grid," Murphy says. "Alone. Five years."

"Hunted own food. Made own clothes."

[Alex Maurell]

She couldn't be any older than him, which meant she couldn't have been any older than 13 or 12 at the start. "That sounds awful...Were your parents with you, at least?"

[Hannah Murphy]

Murphy shakes her head, "Dead.'

[Alex Maurell]

Dead, the sadness of the thought crept through him, "Oh, I'm sorry..."

[Hannah Murphy]

Murphy shrugs, "People die."

[Alex Maurell]

He was stunned by how casual she seemed to be about the whole thing. Like loosing one's parents didn't matter. No matter how much they may hate him, he still loved his parents. If he lost them...It was unthinkable. "But...they're your parents? You don't miss them at all?"

[Hannah Murphy]

"Miss them?" Murphy asks. She looks confused by the idea.

[Alex Maurell]

"Yeah, like you wish they were still around and could be with you?"

[Hannah Murphy]

"In the dorms?" Murphy asks. That would be awkward and uncomfortable.

[Alex Maurell]

"What? Well no, like..."He tried to grasp at the right words to explain it, "I miss my parent, because I haven't seen them in a long time. We haven't talked in a really long time and I would want to be able to talk to them again, even though they don't want to... I guess you could call it a kind of nostalgia."

[Hannah Murphy]

"Sounds sad," Murphy says.

[Alex Maurell]

"It is...So you don't feel it? Lucky you."

[Hannah Murphy]

Murphy shrugs. She's not sure what to say. It's not like she could explain herself very well anyway.

[Alex Maurell]

He sighs and stares up at the ceiling for a moment, looking for something to change the subject. "So...Do you know what major you're going for?"

[Hannah Murphy]

Murphy shakes her head. "You?"

[Alex Maurell]

"Biology, I'm curious to know how animals and people tick. I might switch my focus to mutant genetics."