His roommate’s snores had awoken him in the middle of the night. He thought about wearing his earplugs

but a burst of energy surges through him, telling him he won’t easily go back to sleep. So he gets up from his bed and heads to their small kitchen. A rarely used amenity in their tiny apartment as he and his roommate relied more on fast food rather than their lackluster cooking skills. He decides to make some tea after finding a lone tea packet in a box on their counter. He puts it on and watches funny clips on his phone while he waits. When his tea is finished brewing it whistles for his attention. He stops the video he’s watching and pockets his phone in his pajama pants. He looks up, reaching for the cabinet above him. Looking around said cabinet is difficult because it could barely open with how cramped the kitchen space is. Still, he manages to pull out his favorite mug.

He places his mug on the counter and then grabs a potholder to take hold of the teapot. He pours the tea into his mug and places the teapot back on the stove. Taking a sip of tea, he allows himself to relax but then hears something startling. His roommate's snores had become frantic words. They sounded mushed together and he couldn’t make out what was being said, well, not from here at least. So he moves out of the kitchen, and over to his roommate's door. Pressing his ear to the door, he tries to make out what his roommate is saying.

“Blue.” He overhears his roommate say over and over but then a full sentence is uttered out.” Don’t believe the man in blue.”

“What?” He finds himself whispering in response.

It seemed his roommate was just spouting out nonsense. He moves away from the door ready to sit in bed and drink his tea but his roommate’s tone elevates.

“Don’t believe the man in blue, he’ll fool you with just one clue. When you see the sign to move straight go back around my child and wait. Passing by will be a cat, who’ll lead you to a code placed on a dryer in a laundromat. Get that code then run and don’t stop for anyone. You’ll come across a green building with a hidden door use that code and we’ll be together once more.”

He looks around a bit befuddled. Was his roommate watching horror movies before bed and repeating dialogue or something? Or was it a book whose words were ingrained in his subconscious? Or maybe a childhood memory he could only remember in a dream? He takes a sip of his tea as his roommate repeats the rhyme again. Whatever the source the rhyme is strange. A type of strange that perfectly matches his roommate. His roommate who never stuck around for conversation and is aloof about his source of income. And then there was his roommate's strange garden that he grew in a terrarium in his room. It was full of plants he’s never seen before and when he snuck in to do a reverse Google search to find the species nothing came up. There was also an incident where he caught his roommate speaking gibberish to a mirror on the wall. Once his roommate realized he was there, he laughed it off and claimed it was a confidence booster he did.

And maybe it was. Or maybe something else was clearly going on. Either way, his roommate always paid his half of the rent on time so who was he to complain? He just needs to mind his business and head back to bed. He takes a sip of his tea as he stands unmoving. His mother always told him that he was an overthinker with a hyperactive imagination. Yes, that’s it. It’s simply his mind going into overdrive. His roommate repeats his earlier rhyme again and as much as he wants to walk away…he’s knocking on the door.

It takes a couple of knocks but he hears his roommate stir awake.

“Mmm,” he hears, and then a groan in response.

Soon his roommate’s door opens and he’s greeted with a disgruntled look.

“Why’d you wake me?” His roommate asks in irritation.

“You were talking in your sleep again,” he responds, taking a nervous sip of his tea.

“Oh, it wasn’t the one where I’m naked in front of a live studio audience is it?”

“No…I don’t think so,” he replies, awkwardly. “You kept weirdly rhyming.”

“What was I saying?” His roommate inquires.

“I don’t know but have you been watching horror movies with creepy children singing again?” He asks with concern.

“What?”

“It’s just you were saying a really creepy rhyme in your sleep tonight.”

“What was I saying?” His roommate inquires again with a hint of desperation this time around.

“Something about someone wearing blue and not trusting them.” He replies with a shrug.

He didn’t know why his roommate wanted to know the rhyme when whatever he was dreaming was clearly just a dream.

“Bro, I need to know what I said word for word. Please.”

He repeats as much as he could remember which is surprisingly the whole thing. Its catchy rhyming scheme had gotten stuck in his head.

“It’s finally happening!”His roommate says with joy.

“What’s happening?” He says back with confusion.

“I’m finally going to meet her,” his roommate goes back into his room and he follows after.

“Meet who?” He wonders.

His roommate picks up some clean clothes from a pile of stacked clothes. At least he hopes they're clean. They look nicer than what he usually wears so they probably are.

“I'm going to meet my mom!”His roommate exclaims with a joy he’d never seen displayed from him before.

At that moment, his roommate didn’t seem like a mystery at all. No, he’s an open book and he finds himself liking what he reads.