Moving away to college was exactly the insane adventure I thought it was going to be. After living in the same city for the last eighteen years with my family, I was getting the chance to spread my wings, and make my own choices. I’d chosen a school several states away for this exact reason. It had made the most sense at the time to volunteer to have a roommate. It would help cut my costs and make my meager savings stretch long enough to get a part-time job. But I hadn’t counted on actually needing to live with someone I’d never met before.
Which is how I’d ended up standing in my new room surrounded by half-unpacked boxes, as I stared down at the most disturbing doll I’d ever seen. I’ve never messed with voodoo dolls before, but I was about 80% certain I was holding one now. The doll had an off white fabric for the dress, a hot pink bow stuck in its hair and clumsily stitched on eyes and smile. The thing was giving me major creepy vibes. I was also pretty sure that the braid of brown hair was the same shade as my new roommate's hair.
“You hate it, don’t you?” My eyes snapped up to this stranger I was going to be living with, and her face looked crushed. My hands sweat a little as I hurried to lie my way out of this disaster.
“No! No, I love it!” I grinned over at my new roommate so hard I thought my smile was going to crack my face. “I...uh, have never seen one like this before. W-where did you get it?”
I must have done a pretty good job lying because she beamed at me and bounced as she pointed out the different features of the doll.
“I made it! Isn’t it great? I was so excited to hear I was finally getting a roommate that I wanted to do something special for you.” She started to give me a play by play accounting of how exactly she’d made this monstrosity in my hands. I nodded and hummed along at the appropriate moments to feign interest, and hid my growing uncertainty about this arrangement.
After a few minutes, she stopped talking and fidgeted, not looking me in the eyes.
“I’m really glad you like it. I hope we can be good friends while we’re here.” She gave me a hug, then went to finish her own unpacking.
As I turned back to put my own things away, I set the doll in a place of pride on my desk. She blushed and grinned as she saw it there, and I was glad that it made her happy.
As weird as that doll, and the start of our four years together as roommates, were, we did end up being very good friends.
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