nearly falling back in his chair.
I tore the picture off the wall. It was a black-and-white picture of Melanie (a photocopy of the same one I kept on my desk) that had been doctored to look like she was a severed head. The only color was the red blood gushing out of her mouth.
“You think that’s funny?” I demanded, waving the picture in his face. “You think that’s fucking funny?”
“I didn’t do that! I didn’t even see it there!”
“Bullshit!”
Darren stood up and hurried over. “Hey, hey, calm down, there’s no reason to…oh, Christ.”
I glanced back at the wall. The severed head picture wasn’t the only one of Melanie. Her face had been taped to a shot of a woman strapped to a gurney, several knives protruding from her chest. Another picture had her hanging from a meat hook, while yet another showed Melanie dismembered, her body parts stacked in a pile, bloody head on top.
I tore them down.
“Is that your sense of humor?” Darren asked. “Or were you really planning to do that?”
“I didn’t—” Will protested, right before I took a swing at him.
He blocked it easily. “You sick fuck!” I screamed, not caring if the entire goddamn dorm could hear. “You sick motherfucker!”
“It wasn’t me! Chill the hell out!”
I threw another punch. Will grabbed my hand and tried to hold on to it, but I pulled free. Darren came up behind him, dragged Will out of his chair, and pulled him to his feet.
“You touch Melanie, we’ll fuckin’kill you,” Darren said, wrenching Will’s arms behind his back.
“Get your hands off me!” Will shouted, struggling violently.
I looked at the picture of Melanie on the floor and punched Will in the face as hard as I could. His head rocketed back against Darren’s face, and as it slumped forward, I could see blood spurting from Darren’s nose.
“Oh, jeez, I’m—”
“It’s fine! Hit the fucker!”
I punched Will again, so blinded by fury that the punch didn’t even hurt my hand. Actually, it felt good. Invigorating.
The door flew open. “Knock it off!” I heard Michael, our resident advisor, shout.
I raised my fist to deliver another punch, but hesitated. “You do that again and I’ll kill you!” I screamed at Will.
“Enough!” Michael shouted, pulling me away. “Let him go!” he told Darren.
Darren shoved Will to the floor. He hit the ground hard, groaning in pain. I tried to pull free of Michael, to kick that son of a bitch in the stomach while he was down, but Michael was a big guy and his grip was too tight.
“Enough, I said!” Michael repeated. “Everybody calm down! I’ll call the police if I have to, so let’s get through this.”
For a moment nobody spoke. We just stood there, catching our breath.
“What happened?” Michael asked.
Darren picked up one of the pictures and handed it to Michael. Michael sucked in a deep breath. “Jesus, Will, that’s not funny.”
“I didn’t do it,” said Will from the floor.
“If he touches her, I’ll fucking kill him,” I said.
“Okay, now Alex, you really need to just calm down,” Michael told me. “He wasn’t threatening your girlfriend; he just has a warped sense of humor.” He looked back at the doorway and the crowd that had gathered outside. “All of you, get back to your rooms, I’m handling this.”
Will lifted his head and wiped his bloody mouth off on his sleeve. “I didn’t do it. It was probably your friend.”
“Yeah, right,” said Darren. “I’m so into the idea of covering the walls with shredded corpses.”
Now my hand was really starting to hurt, and with the initial rage fading, I wished I hadn’t attacked Will like that. It had obviously been a joke. A joke that wasn’t the least bit amusing, but still, a joke intended to be harmless.
“It wasn’t me,” Will insisted, looking at me.
My stomach lurched as I suddenly realized that I believed him.
“I don’t want to have to make a big issue out of this,” said Michael. “Alex, you’re going to be my roommate tonight. Will, I’m going to get you to the nurse. You, too,” he said, nodding at Darren.
Darren wiped some blood off his nose and looked at his hand. “I’m okay,” he said with a smile. “It was worth it to watch that freak get what he deserved.”
“Fuck you,” said Will.
“Okay, go back to your own dorm,” Michael told Darren. “Until we get this sorted out, I’m going to ask you to stay away.”
Darren shrugged. “Not a problem. Alex, I’ll give you a call.” He walked out of the