A late spring breeze brought forth the calming sound of bamboo chimes striking each other. The warm, sunny afternoon was an ideal time to relax after a long day of stressing over classes. The sound of leaves rustling overhead made thoughts of due dates and final exams seem unimportant in the grand scheme of the world. People could be heard in the distance, bags filled with expensive textbooks pressed against slowly deteriorating lunches. The noise made as people poured outside, slowly overpowered the sounds of nature as more and more students made their way to their next class. The air was filled with the chattering of human speech as slowly, the grounds were filled with people. Some worried about their most recent exam, while others talked of the upcoming weekend.
A young man laying on a small hill in the middle of campus rolled over onto his side and checked his phone. With a demoralized grunt he let the device fall back onto the grass beside him. Collapsing his six foot frame onto his back as his blue eyes stared at the sky above him. Clear blue skies were obstructed from his view only by the freshly grown leaves of the maple tree he lay under. He sat upright and looked at his phone again, his curly brown hair tousled by its exposure to the ground.
“Alyx! Stop laying around! You’re going to be late for class!” The man grogley looked towards the sound of the voice. Halfway across the common area a girl had halted her brisk walk to yell at him. After giving her a sheepish thumbs-up she resumed her speed walk towards one of the large buildings. With a quick yawn, Alyx proceeded to grab his bag and start his journey towards the same building.
Alyx Canmore comes off as lazy to most people who meet him. Constant naps, procrastination, and an introverted nature make him seem as if he could care less about the world around him. But those who know him on a deeper level would tell a different story. Fiercely devoted to his schoolwork he is on track to graduate with multiple degrees in World History and Education. Currently in his Third year of University, he has maintained exceptional grades and has gained praise from his professors. His napping is a testament to his late night study habits and his procrastination stems from his large class-load.
Introverted is an apt way to describe him though. Preferring time to himself over time spent with others, Alyx’s friends originate from a few small groups of similarly introverted people. As a child he was a fan of video games, but in his adult life his love for them had taken a backseat to his pursuit of knowledge. A fact he sometimes regrets when sitting in classes listening to lectures about things he already knows. Such as at this moment…
“The Iliad provides a unique basis to observe the greek perspective. It is a story that defined the people who would form the greek identity. The Trojan war as depicted in the Iliad would form the basis of grecian culture by capturing the imaginations of different groups of people and uniting them in the belief that they were all a common people brought together through conflict. As such the impact of the work cannot be underestimated…” The professor droned on, oblivious to the fact that he had lost half of his audience.
Alyx had always enjoyed history immensely and had grown up wanting to explore it all. As he progressed through High School and now University he found that teaching history was even more enjoyable than learning about it. The challenge of educating someone with a less solid grasp on a subject was exhilarating. He would strive to be a better teacher than the one standing in front of him now, boring his students with lessons they learned years prior just to fill up the class hour. He watched as the clocked ticked ever closer to the end of class, jotting down a few tidbits of information which he knew would be on the next exam.
When class had ended he was followed out by the same girl that had flagged him down before, “Hey Alyx, you’re going to Baley’s party tonight right?” The perky brunette caught up to him, still trying to get her textbook in her backpack.
“Jess, why would I go to Baley’s party? The cops are just going to show up and shut it down like last time.” He said, opening the door for her as she jogged past.
She frowned for a second before perking back up, “Yeah but you’re 21 so you don’t have to worry about cops and besides, I’ve never seen you at anyone’s party! You helped me get a B on our last history test at least let me make it up to you by showing you how much fun parties can be!”
Reflecting back on how much of a pain it was to teach her was as exhausting as the actual lessons, so much so that it was hard to believe she’d managed to get a decent grade. It would probably be better if he didn’t think about it at all given the PTSD he’d gained from the lessons, “I didn’t help you so that you’d owe me one you know. Besides, you probably helped me by giving me experience teaching someone so dense.”
“Hey, that’s not fair! I’m not dense!” She mock pouted, “Come on please! It will be really fun I promise and if you want to leave you can do so anytime.”
He sighed, she had been his friend for the last three years. The least he could do was humor her this one time, “Fine… But only this one party ok? Finals are coming up and I need to make sure that I’m prepared.”
She did a small hop of joy as we stopped near another one of the campuses buildings, “Yay! Perfect, I have to go up to my dorm and get ready, meet me right here at 7:30 and we can walk over together, it’s only a few blocks.”
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She turned and went inside without waiting for a response, delighted by the concesion I’d made. Sighing I turned in the direction of my apartment. I didn’t have work tonight so it wasn’t a big deal. So what if I didn’t drink that often, it might still be fun. There might even be girls there that I could practice talking to. What had it been, a few years since my last date? Maybe it was time to start focusing a little bit more on that aspect of life.
Walking up to the door I inserted a key into the lock and felt the tumblers click into position. I’d have to get showered and sort out some homework so that I’d be ready to work on it tomorrow. My thoughts and emotions drifted towards excitement as the door shut behind me, maybe this could be fun after all.
After organizing the apartment and cleaning it up, I had been able to make it back to Jess’s dorm early. As expected, Jess was right on time and we’d set off for the party at around 7:25. The walk hadn’t been too terrible, the wind had picked up slightly and the temperature had fallen by a few degrees but the night was still warm enough to enjoy without a jacket.
Jess had been talking non-stop about her classes and her family’s expectations of her the entire walk to the party. I’d tried to listen intently, but my mind had begun to think about our past. She’d tried to tell me that she liked me two years prior but the connection just wasn’t there initially. She’d been a great friend regardless of the rejection and spending time around her was enjoyable most of the time. She had developed a completely different personality though and it had become harder to figure out how to spend any time together. She liked to drink, party, and socialize, all things which were on the opposite end of the spectrum from what I enjoyed. As such, it was probably for the best that we’d just stayed friends. There were times when I would catch her off handed comments suggesting she still liked me but I’d usually push it away as me reading into things.
I felt a cold bead of sweat drip down my neck, what if I subconsciously did like her?! She was kind of cute and why was she holding onto my arm like that?! No, stop, even if I wanted to, I’d have to wait until the semester ended to ask her out because of finals week. The thought of dating Jess sounded good now but what happens in a year when we both have to move on with our lives and…
Thud*
An impact with a stop sign had halted my internal panicking, replacing it quickly with a stinging pain in my forehead. I turned to see Jess giggling at me, “You weren’t even listening to what I was saying were you? Serves you right!” I grumbled a little, the pain started to subside as she pulled me towards a beat up house.
From the outside I could see that the house was filled with people. Some sat on the beat up wooden stairs, gouged through by years of cleat impacts while others filled the living room, packed like sardines with a lucky few finding spots on the trashy furniture. Others overflowed onto the partially destroyed porch that extended away from the house and onto the unmowed front lawn. A group of already drunk guys were leaning against the house outside, cheap beers in each of their hands.
As Jess pulled me towards the door as one of them stuck out their arm to stop her, “Hey Jess, who’s this guy?”
She looked annoyed that the drunk guy had halted her progress, “Igan how are you already hammered? It’s not even eight yet and you guys can barely walk straight.”
Igan frowned, pointing to his beer can and looked over at the guys standing behind him, “What it’s Friday night! I can't enjoy a few brews with the boys? And who says I’m hammered huh?” He staggered sideways, now fully blocking the door with his body, “It hurts my feelings when people say stuff like that about me you know.”
This guy was a piece of work. Jess looked angry, her fists clenching slightly as she tried to get the idiot standing in front of her to move out of the way. The least I could do was try to defuse the situation with this guy, “Hey we didn’t mean to offend you” I said over Jess’s shoulder, “We were just trying to get into the party.”
His attention switched to me before focusing back on Jess, his eyes drooping as he struggled to focus, “Oh and I almost forgot Jess, who is he?” His finger pointed at me as if she didn’t know who he was referring to, “You brought along some new boy toy?”
Jess cheeks went visibly red and the hand at her side was suddenly all the way across her body, leaving only a red handmark on Igan’s face to show what had transpired. She stormed inside before he could recover while shouting, “Go sober yourself up jerk!”
Initially not processing what had happened, I just stood there. What the hell was up with that!? Part of my mind wondered if she’d had prior experience with this guy. I’d better apologize for whatever that was before following her, “Hey Igan sorry about whatever that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jess that upset. I’ll go grab her and talk to her about it ok?”
Three steps towards the door was the farthest I got before I caught a glimpse of movement to my right. I hit the ground before I could process what had happened, pain radiating through my right cheekbone. Before I could get up I felt another impact to the side of my head and my ears started to ring. I heard a distant voice through the ringing “What the hell are you doing man?!”
I put my hands under me and tried to push myself up only to feel a hand grab me under my arm. I felt blood trickling down my forehead and into my eyes as another punch sent me staggering back into the banister. Using it for balance, I tried to bring my hands up to block my face when another punch hit me in the gut.
The banister gave a loud crack and broke away under the impact of the blow and I felt myself falling. With a thud and an intense pain in my chest I hit the ground. I opened my eyes, trying to locate my assailant who was still standing on the porch above me. I expected to see anger or rage in his eyes so I was surprised when I saw neither. Instead, I saw something much worse, fear. Terror spread across his face as he looked down on me, its grip spreading to me when I felt the pain in my chest intensify. I realized something was horribly wrong when I tried to exhale and could feel liquid pooling inside my mouth.
His eyes were not locked on my own, rather they stared at my chest. I followed his gaze, my eyesight already starting to fade as I traced it to the source of the pain.
The banister railing, protruding out of my chest, was the last thing I saw before my vision faded to black. The last thing I heard was Jess’s scream.