Personifying Moria: "The Roommates" by Beka Kamemoto

Athena timidly straightened her skirt, as she stood in front of her new dorm room. Her dorm room. Well, not exactly her dorm room, but the dorm room . . . the dorm room she’d be sharing with her roommate, Moria.

“Can I help you?”

Athena whipped around, knocking down her roller board in the process and eliciting a look of irritation and wild bemusement from her counterpart.

“Oh, uh . . .” Athena quickly picked up her bag and stretched out her hand. “I’m Athena! This is my dorm room. Well, not my dorm room, I share it with--”

“Me. I’m Moria.” Before Athena could even process what was going on, Moria shook her hand--firmly--and walked past her into their dorm room. After a few seconds, Athena followed her. Moria was sitting at the room’s left desk, with an open laptop.

“Did you get the email I sent you this summer?” Moria asked, not looking up.

“Uh, ya . . . the one where you introduced yourself? You said you were a writing major, right? Funny, I am too.” Athena toyed with the loose strings of her sweater.

At this, Moria turned around. “What? No, that email was just some idiotic thing we had to do for the school. I’m talking about the one where I sent the guidelines for our living arrangement.”

Athena bit her lip. In truth, that did sound familiar. But when had she gotten it? June? July? It had seemed long and boring in the middle of summer break, so she told herself she’d get to it eventually.

“You didn’t read it.” It was a fact, not a question. Moria rolled her eyes. “You’re a freshman, right?”

Athena nodded. “Yeah, and it’s crazy because only a few months ago, I was a senior in--”

“Which means you should be old enough to know this,” Moria interrupted. “But I’ll spell it out for you anyway. Keep your side of the room clean. Don’t get drunk and vomit in the room. If you’re going to bring anyone into the room, please let me know a few hours in advance, and no matter what, I do not want to wake up at 2 AM to the sound of an old mattress creaking. Got it?”

“Uh . . . ya. I got it.”

Moria smiled. Despite how scary Athena found her, she also actually found Moria’s face pretty.

“Good. Oh, and Athena? Welcome to Woodbury.”

…

Since the warmth of August had solidified into the lull of December, Athena had to admit that she was really enjoying college. She could make her own choices, have alcohol, and do whatever she wanted . . . provided she didn’t piss off her roommate. Now Joey had invited a bunch of them out to his house for the weekend, and everyone had gotten pretty drunk. While Athena was generally careful about alcohol, last night she had let herself go a bit. Truth be told, she barely remembered the Lyft ride home because all she could think about was the massive migraine that was festering in her skull. Willing her eyes to open in the morning, Athena noticed a tall ginger standing over her.

“Wow, you are so hungover,” chuckled Moria, as she crossed her arms. Athena just closed her eyes, praying to whoever might be listening in heaven for the strength not to vomit.

“I put a barf bucket next to your bed. Don’t miss.” Moria began to walk to the doorway.

“Where are you going?” Athena croaked.

“I’m going to get you something for that hangover . . . plus, I really don’t want to be here when you hurl.”

Beka Kamemoto

Beka was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii, and is an animation student at Woodbury University. Growing up, she attended an all girls school, where she was given the confidence to speak up and take charge. She is dyslexic and for a long time hated reading and writing, but her fifth grade teacher Mrs. Thurman fostered the love of stories in all of her students. At any given time, you’ll find her drawing, swimming, or storytelling.