He Rolled on bed and he thought to himself; "who is this knocking at the door at this early hour of the morning?"
Bang! Bang!! Bang!!! *Knocks continues*
He thought again in his mind loudly, still feigning sleep. "Oh my God who is this on this early Saturday morning, aren't they supposed to be sleeping?"
*Coughs* his roommate clears throat, and continue sleeping.
Bang! Bang!!
His roommate finally talked, "Who's at the door?"
A female voice answered, "I'm the one" stating her name.
He recognized her voice as 'Pamela' before she even stated it."Please let me in". Pamela was a friend occupying the fifth room to their right.
His roommate said, "No, I can't let you in. You are trying to set me up, who is there with you?"
At first it didn't occur to him what was happening, he thought; why would he say she wanted to set him up? Then all of a sudden he came to the realization that the day was his roommate's birthday, June first. No wonder he was hesitant answering the knocks.
In case you are wondering, why the birthday boy think he was being set up. Well, some people feel since every human being must cry when they were born to this world as a baby. So, it's only normal for anyone celebrating their birthday to repeat the crying on their birthday. Since crying at birth is not always voluntary, as small babies sometimes are being hit with ruler, or a finger lightly to give out a cry. They in turn do the same by inducing crying in older human being by beating them to stupor. This is common in colleges and high schools.
After several persuasion from Pamela, he finally let her in and true to her words she wasn't setting him up. Immediately she got in, he locked the door.
She wished him happy birthday! She was indeed the first person that wished him happy birthday physically. While Pamela and the birthday boy was chattering away, making pleasantries, James started wondering what would happen to his roommate on his birthday.
He thought,"these guys never missed "The Birthday Beating Tradition". Even though he might not have been present in all but he witnessed the beating that took place two years ago. The beating wasn't really brutal, but his roommate was the ring leader. So, there was no escape for him today, that he was sure of.
Bang! Bang!!
"Pamela someone wants to see you outside", shouted, Jane.
Jane is also a student, and a friend that stayed in the same hostel with them.
The birthday boy said, "don't answer her it's a lie".
Pamela said, "why would she be lying?"
The birthday boy answered, " 'cause she's done that before".
Now, Pamela is confused she didn't know who to believe. "Who's looking for me?" She said.
"The girl that usually visits you, the one in your department, always with an 'Ijab'." Jane answered like she was in a hurry.
For a minute James believed Jane, but then he realized it was all a lie. It made perfect sense, Jane was believable, no one would doubt her and that was why they were using her. But Pamela was convinced she was telling the truth. She asked them to open the door to let her out.
The birthday boy said "No, I know Jane is lying, I'm sure of that".
But Jane wanted to leave and since she wasn't a hostage they'd to let her leave. However, like every human, even though you know something is not right but there is always that doubt,
"What if Pamela wasn't lying?" James thought of that and so did the birthday boy.
Pamela was about opening the door to leave for her room, when the birthday boy shouted, "wait! Wait!! Wait!!! Pamela before you open the door, let me hide in the bathroom. James once she's out, just shut the door immediately."
He rushed to the wardrobe, got dressed and was in the bathroom in a blink of an eye. All along, Pamela was smiling like someone who didn't believe and thought all the birthday boy was doing wasn't necessary.
She opened the door, and was out. James stood by to lock the door after her, but what he saw next was a huge surprise which he would never forget in his life. Of course Jane was lying. . .
