Tuesday

The professor dismissed us and I packed up my papers and books. The Creative Writing classroom, while cramped, seemed pretty empty. Most students still fumbled with their loose notes and their backpacks by the time I had zipped my pack up, put my mechanical pencil in my pocket, and walked toward the door.

                The door opened loudly, startling me as I exited the room. I felt the cool spring breeze low me away from the building and I followed the breeze on my way home. I took out the headphones that were in my pocket, packed snuggly against my iPod. I put in the right one first and heard the vacuum of air in my ear. The same happened upon the placement of the second. My pace slowed as I listened to the calming singing of the air. I closed my eyes for a second, no more, no less, and noticed that I was starting to stumble. I reacted quickly, gaining my balance once again.

I finally turned my iPod on as I walked across Red Square. The music of Extra Life played as I did my normal ten-minute stroll home. It was after I crossed the small staircase that I noticed a pain in my head. Nothing major, just like a tension, like a toddler trying to squeeze my brains out, not very powerful, but enough to be annoying.

The sun was beating down now and it became obvious that it was half passed three in the afternoon. I looked at the hill in front of me as I past the school gymnasium with grief. The backpack seemed to grow in weight, and my legs lamented being born to a college student’s body.

The back pain from days and weeks past came back as I climbed this slope. My neck was getting sore and my back started to give again. I knew I’d make it. If I was capable of getting off the dorm floor earlier this week, I would certainly be capable of getting up a god damned hill. I made this walk every Monday through Friday. It was nothing out of the ordinary. I could do the trek with my eyes closed.

My eyes took this as a cue to test my proposition. They decided to see just how long they could stay closed before letting me see the path before me. They grew heavier, as if all the weight from my head had focused in on my eye lids. This made my head start to fall forward, until I caught it, of course. It was around this time that I started hating 1 a.m. more than usual.

One a.m. didn’t hold all of my anger, however, there was more than enough for the dorm mattress I was forced to rest on. The mattress seemed to be made of stiffest material known in existence. No matter the amount of fluffy pillows, or warm comforters, or even soft mattress pads, no one is going to get a full night’s sleep if they are subjected to this mattress.

So, I continued to lose sight of the road in front of me while I passed Arntzen Hall. The lack of sight triggered my body to think it was naptime, and I started losing my balance more frequently. I grabbed my forehead, now warm from the sun and the frustration of staying awake, and pushed my hand back toward my hairline. The stretching of my face may have helped wake me up, but it only helped me realize the terrible shape of my body.

I descended the staircases by the Environmental Science building only to find that on the last step my left leg didn’t want to play anymore. I caught myself on the railing, stood myself back up, and continued on my trek. I was no more than halfway home, and I was now poised to make it as quickly as I could.

Walking across the courtyard in front of the Communications building, the wind was now in control of my body. All that weight that I thought was thrown upon me suddenly disappeared, and the wind blew me left and right. I couldn’t lift my head anymore, so I watched my feet step by step, only to see that they were wobbling worse with the wind. I started to fall to my left, only to be saved by another draft which threw me to the right.

The pain in my head was magnifying, but not conquering. It stayed in the front part of my head, though I wished it would grow out, so the pain would be more scattered and tolerable. I was no longer blinking, but wincing at the pulsation of my heart.

I was crossing Fairhaven College, when I realized I needed to stock up on food for the next week. This was food to help me get from meal to meal, since some would be over 12 hours apart. I went into the door to the stairwell above the commons, three flights above the market.

I went down the stairs clutching to the railing. Not so much to slow me down, but enough to make sure I had a grip. As I did this safety precaution, I couldn’t help but stare at the railing and wonder how many people have touched it, how long it had been since it was cleaned, whether or not I was doing myself worse harm. I relaxed my grip, so my hand as just grazing over the railing, just in case.

I got to the market and looked around at the selection, a little bigger than before. Among the many microwavable soups, clam chowder was now present on the shelf. The novelty of the chowder made it more desirable, so I took it along with my staple chicken noodle and tomato soups. I took some other snacks, paid at the counter, and put them all into my backpack.

I left the College and was less than a tenth of a mile from my room. I took out my keychain from my pocket and located the building key. I turned it so I would only have to press it forward and be good-to-go. That’s when I noticed a slight purpleness in my ring finger. I looked at it for a moment and decided it must just be a shadow.

I approached the door to the building and put my key in. I did the motions of unlocking the door, only to remember that the door was unlocked before 5 p.m. I pulled the tall door open and walked in; only three more small steps to get to the staircase. The door to the stairway was possibly the worst door in existence. Its very presence brought the growing headache to another level. Today was my lucky day though; it didn’t try to reject or eat my key, and I was even closer to getting home.

I climbed the stairs clinging onto the railing again, too tired and sore to worry about germs. I stared at the walls on the other side of the stairs. There was a paper poster made to be a crayon box with “Floor 2” written playfully in the middle. For an instant I thought I had gone into the wrong building, or was in the wrong campus, because I was convinced that I was now in a summer camp. I shook my head, gathered my bearings and realized I was one floor away.

These last two staircases were extremely difficult. I felt my swift pace slowed as I approached the final steps. I was breathing heavy when I got to the top. I opened the door to the hallway and walked slowly to my room. I whipped my keychain around my index finger and had my room key ready for action. I slipped it in, opened the door, and walked into the room.

The room looked barren upon entrance. I never found much use in buying decorations for something I knew I’d grow to hate. The white walls would only surround you, with recent, sloppy paint-jobs to play the role of eye-candy.

Immediately I took my shoes off and locked the door. My head was pulsing, yelling at me angrily to stop and help. I set my backpack down on the god-forsaken bed I attempted sleep at nightly and looked at my desk. The aspirin bottle was half empty and knocked over. There were several empty water bottles sitting or laying all over the desk. One, however, seemed to have a little bit left; just enough to get down a few pills.

As I reached for the water bottle and the aspirins, my back chimed in once more, joined in chorus by my legs, my neck, my head, and my arms. My mind wouldn’t stop racing as I swallowed the pills, trying to schedule time for all the homework and reading that lay in the hours to follow.

I set the bottle down gently and turned to the backpack. I unzipped it and took out the items I had bought. As I walked to the shelf to put them away, I collapsed onto the cold dorm floor.

Reviews

[ghostcar]

Jeez - this poor guy in a moment by moment state has only his bodily problems to keep him company. (i hope its not your actual day by day account of your own life)
Anyway I was wondering did he pass into the great went? After his collapse onto the floor?
It seems like a great opening for a much longer storyline. Anyway the moment by moment kept me wondering if there was something else that was going to change him/her during the course of the story.
I did like what I read. Especially when he reveals little details in his head. A great little story.