Ensign Keith Parker stretched out on the couch of his dorm room with his math 
book out on his lap. It was an easy subject for him but there was the odd 
occassion that a problem or two really stumped him. He shared the dorm with two 
of his best friends. Lance Hamilton and Micheal Sven-Patrick Anderson, or Sven 
as he liked to go by. lance had told Keith once that Sven had confided in him 
that he went by Sven becuase he hated his first name of Micheal.<BR><BR>The only 
people that had gotten away with it so far had been his teachers. Sven claimed 
that his father had wanted to name him wholesome American names while his mother 
wanted traditional names, so they comprimised. <BR><BR>The three of them had 
joined Galaxy Garrison Space Acadamy right out of high school. They had all been 
fasinated with space and even if they couldn't get there, there were other 
careers that would get them pretty damn close. <BR><BR>Keith flipped the pages 
ahead and back, hoping that the book offered a little more insight than it had a 
few minutes earlier. He looked up and around the quiet apartment before rubbing 
his eyes. He usually didn't mind Sven and Lance around, it was better than 
trying to pay the full rent himself. It was better to share the rent with more 
than one person in a place but sometimes Lance was too rowdy or always bringing 
girls home. <BR><BR>And Sven was too meticulios for Keith's liking. He kept the 
place spotless and coasters had to go under everything. Keith couldn't 
understand why he had to be so clean. They were all single so why not show it? 
Sven's radar for dirt and dust was incredible, he could see dirt and smell dust 
a mile away. <BR><BR>Keith smiled to himself and turned his thoughts back to his 
studies when he heard Lance hollaring for him. <BR><BR>"Keith! Keith, come out 
and help me!" <BR><BR>"Oh Lord." Keith thought to himself, "Keep this up and 
you're going to get us kicked out of here for causing a ruckus past 10:00." He 
got up and yanked the door open. <BR><BR>"Lance, shut up! You wanna get us 
kicked out of here?" <BR><BR>When Lance reached the top step of the thrid floor, 
keith could see that he was burdened by something. The hallway was very short 
and echoy, whatever Lance was dragging had winded him badly. The harshness of 
his breathing seemed to get to Keith before he did. <BR><BR>"Help me get him 
into the apartment." <BR><BR>Keith got a chair and propped open the door then 
went to help Lance get the person he was dragging inside and onto the couch. 
<BR><BR>"Shit! What the hell is going on?" Keith wanted to know as soon as he 
closed the door. <BR><BR>"I was out on a date with Carly when I got a page on my 
cell phone. It was the police telling me that Sven had been arrested for causing 
a disturbance in a bar and had passed out in his cell. My name is on his contact 
info card." <BR><BR>"Shit." Keith whispered again. <BR><BR>"I called Mom and got 
her to wire me the bail money. I really didn't tell her much cause she's got a 
bad heart and doesn't really need to worry. So, if she calls, just tell her that 
Sven is fine and it was a case of mistaken idenity. I'll have to find a way to 
scrounge up the money to pay her back as quickly as I can." <BR><BR>"Shit." 
Keith whispered again "I mean I'll do that. We'll get the money, don't worry 
about it." <BR><BR>"But that's not the whole of it." Lance reached down and 
yanked back the hood that covered Sven's head. Keith hadn't seen sven when he 
had left the apartment but knew that Sven often wore hooded sweatshirts. He 
always told Keith that on cool evenings it afforded more protection than a cap 
for his left ear. <BR><BR>When Sven was a child he had a very bad ear ache which 
had lasted all day and nothing seemed to cure it. An elderly neighbor suggested 
an old fashioned remedy that finally worked but Sven found that eversince then 
if his ear got chilled it would ache and had to have heat to stop it. 
<BR><BR>But as Keith looked at Sven now, it wasn't his ear that he looked at it 
was somehting much more horrible. The beautiful, lush black locks that Sven 
sported, that he was always so proud of, were gone. He had let his hair grow to 
the middle of his back and it was rich and full looking. It attracted a lot of 
attention from the oppisite sex and Sven had enjoyed that attention. But that 
was all gone now. <BR><BR>It had been replaced by short, brilliant orange 
strands that looked like they had been hacked off by a dull pair of scissors. 
The long lengths were gone, now short only inches from his skin. <BR><BR>Keith 
swallowed hard. Usually Sven was so reserved, calm, cool and collected. What 
could have happened to make him go so completely off the wall? 

 
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