Martin Luther King Day 2008

Anyone who knows me and has seen the title of this story is probably guessing that I was here to share an experience relating to something I learned about Martin Luther King Day that had changed my life. If you are expecting that kind of story, then you are mistaken this time, even though you would be normally right. Instead, I am referring to another incident, an incident that still tortures me. I remember the night like it was yesterday and it was a night that I would like to forget. Yet, it is a night that still tortures, haunts, and terrifies me in my sleep, which is why I feel that I need to tell you and get this off my chest now.

The night this happened was on Martin Luther King Day back this past January in my dorm room on the fifth floor of Lawrence Hall. It was a cold night. I remember the snow was falling down and no one felt like going anywhere. It was around eleven at night and I was sitting in my room with my roommate and his friend, while they played loud music and drank alcohol like they always managed to do every night, which annoyed me every night. However, I always let it go because they weren't pressuring me to do it with them and they never were caught for it, even though it was illegal to bring alcohol into the dorms at night or even play loud music after quiet hours. After all, they never were caught and they left me alone as much as I didn't appreciate the things they did in my room.

It was pretty late at night, probably around 11:30 at night, even though I don't remember for sure the exact time. I was minding my own business and enjoying the rest of my night off before school started the next day. I was busy typing a story that was coming to my head as I usually do when I had some free time, while my roommate and his friend were drinking and blasting their music during quiet hours. The same old stupid song was playing from Roger Waters when he was live in Berlin. I knew it was that song because it was also the same stupid song that kept me up until five in the morning another night and had me very angry at both of them.

Anyway, I was minding my own business and typing my story when I heard the door knock. "This is campus police," the male voice said into the door that was mostly closed. I thought it was a joke there for a minute. I didn't take that reply seriously and kept typing for a few more split seconds when the door opened all the way. Sure enough, there was a male and a female dressed in a blue police uniform as they walked into the room.

At that point, I was then very scared. "Who are the people who live in this room?" The male cop asked and then my roommate first answered that he was one of them who lived in the dorm room. "Show me you're ID," the male cop then ordered and he did just that. Then the female cop asked who the other one was and I reluctantly raised my hand. She asked for my ID card. I followed orders and showed her my card. After that, my roommate's friend also had to show his card to the police as well.

As they handed over their cards, they were stand up men and said I had nothing to do with this. They however were lying to the police about the alcohol claiming they had no alcohol in the room when I was sure they did. The police didn't buy it either because they then pulled me out into the hallway and asked me where the alcohol was. I wasn't sure where they hid the alcohol, but I knew they had it. I was positive. So I told them the truth about where I thought it was. "Under the bed is where I think it is, but I wasn't paying too much attention," I answered and then they went into the room.

I remained right out in the hallway as they searched the room. My legs were trembling. It was a wonder how I was able to keep my balance at that point in time for how scared I was. The woman police cop came back out into the hall. She was an alright woman. She tried to calm me down a bit and told me I was in no trouble and then asked me a few other follow questions to what I blurted out before. I told them basically the same thing and she looked like on her expression that she believed me. It made me feel a little more relieved, but I still was nervous.

She called me to go back into the room and I did as told. I went back into the room and was allowed to go back to my desk that was stationed at the right corner toward the end of the room. I looked back at them though respectfully to show that I was truly innocent because I was. I did nothing wrong except mind my own business and wanted to continue to show that. As soon as I entered the room, the police called Nicole Fest, who basically is in charge of Lawrence and Scranton Halls and said they were writing up my roommate and his friend for a noise violation. At the time, I felt relieved because they said I wasn't getting into any trouble. The police ended by giving them strong serious warnings that they were cracking down and if they were caught that they were going to get written up. They basically said crap that they were going to behave and all of the stuff anyone would say to the police and then left, slapping them the noise violation and slapping me with a warning to clean my room, which is something I never found time in doing.

Later that night, both of them thanked me for claiming that I didn't rat them out. That got me very angry later on because I really wanted to see them caught. I really wanted to see them kicked out of the dorm as I later thought about it because I then would have had the room to myself and wouldn't have to worry about getting into trouble. After that night however, I started to lay down the law, which was something I didn't do before then. Martin Luther King Day, 2008, was a night that had changed my life and will be a night I never will forget. That night made me much more cautious about the situations I get into. I always tell both of them, that if they want to make noise or drink that they would have to do it elsewhere. After that night, I do not ever want to deal with that again. It is a night that still terrifies me in my sleep on some nights like black room terrifies a little child. I am happy to say that I now make much better choices about what happens in my dorm room and the kind of people that I deal with. That event has made me a better and stronger person and will be something that I could build from when it comes to how I want to live my life in the future. Who knows, maybe as I look back, this could have also been a blessing in disguise, but was also something that terrified me and still haunts me to this day.