Nicholas sat down, pulling a clunky laptop out of his bag. Instead of individual desks, this room was made of long narrow tables bolted to floor in shallow arcs around the chalkboards up front.
"Good morning," he said, smiling at the people to either side of him. Julie sat on his left - she was really into old movies and had broken up with her boyfriend right at the beginning of the semester. Ben sat at his right - Ben had snobbish tastes, but he’d actually read and thought about most of the dense classics he talked about.
Nicholas didn't see a need to talk to either of them directly. Julie had her own laptop out already, and Ben was reading through his notes from last week.
People complained about these advanced English classes, but Nicholas loved them. He knew he was lucky to have managed to get through his first few years of college. High school hadn't been a problem, most teachers were happy enough to give good grades to people who just showed up and turned in anything. And even the hardest classes didn't really require a lot of learning inside the class itself. But in college, some of the big classes were tortuous to Nicholas. Sure, some people would be paying attention, but there were always distractions.
He'd sit by someone obsessed over a long-distance girlfriend, or a girl crying over their cheating boyfriend, and then he'd end up talking them through their anxieties and worries instead of paying attention. Or maybe someone would have a party planned that night, and Nicholas would get excited for that, and forget to study or prepare in the fun of a big bash.
But ENG 3870 wasn't like that. Every single person came in focused. Sure, sometimes personal issues would crop up, but even when someone had personal problems they still made a real effort to pay attention, participate, and work through the questions posed by the professor. It was great, finding people motivated to excel. His other advanced courses were mostly the same too. Nicholas had even managed to get himself out of academic probation, even if he wasn't likely to make any Deans' lists.
The hour went by fast. He took notes, made sure he had written down the full name of the book he needed to get from the library for homework, and then he packed up quickly. No one stuck around to chat after class, and Nicholas found himself feeling an intense need to get out of the classroom fast. With a nod and smile to the professor, he joined the little crowd and moved into the wide hallway.
It was warm outside. Sunny and bright, unseasonably warm for an October afternoon, the white mist that filled the campus didn’t cool things off at all. Not that it ever did. He paused by the door, turning to the sun. Nicholas closed his eyes and basked for a minute, feeling the warmth on his skin. He glanced down and saw a girl stretched out on the grass with a book, and Nicholas realized how good of an idea that seemed. He didn't bother her, she clearly was just looking for some time on her own, but he found a spot and laid down as well. The sun really did feel nice, especially with the cool grass underneath him. He spent most of the afternoon there, napping and enjoying the sun.
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Too soon, the sun started to fall and the evening felt chill. Nicholas sat up, opening his eyes to look around. The grassy spot was mostly clear now, the girl had left a few minutes earlier, and the only people he could see were a couple of students walking and flirting idly along a path as they walked through glowing fog.
I could go home, thought Nicholas to himself. But Jim will be there, and I'm not sure I'm in the mood to listen to him tonight.
Jim worked most nights, but tonight he was off, and he usually just wanted to talk and gripe about his classes and bosses. Nicholas felt for the guy, Jim had pulled a short straw with some of his professors, but that sort of negativity wore a guy down. Nicholas was feeling nice and relaxed, and he rolled his shoulders under his backpack, enjoying how loose everything felt after his nap. Jim was all right, but he knew his relaxation would vanish the moment he entered his front door
Not much to do tonight. That big paper is already done, and no tests until next week, thought Nicholas. I can afford a night off.
During the day, the student union building was a fairly unpleasant place. It would be full of people arguing with admin over parking passes, broken computers, and other trivial frustrations; at night the atmosphere was more laid back, sometimes even wild. All the admin offices closed at five, but there were always things going on. The Memorial Hall had a little auditorium that regularly played old movies, a big arcade, and a few food places that stayed open late. Usually, there was music, live or otherwise. Sometimes it would even have good music, and crowds of people dancing along.
It sounded like that was the case tonight. There was a crowd outside, and a few people were up on a makeshift stage with instruments. It wasn't very raucous, to Nicholas’s ear it sounded like they they were playing through various folk songs, but the audience was singing along with the choruses, and the vibe was infectious. Nicholas joined the crowd, finding a place to sit in the cement where he could let the music wash past him. He even sang along, even if no one would ever complement his voice.
But as he listened he noticed something strange. His eyes had almost skimmed over it at first, thinking it was just some laser effect, but it remained motionless through the performance, and there wasn't any equipment on stage to make light effects. There was a wooden bench outside the entrance with a few people sitting on it. It had grabbed his notice as someone stood up, revealing the bare wood.
But now the bench shone with bright blue writing. Nicholas got up to go look closer. He'd originally thought that something was casting a bright laser light against the bench, aimed and focused just so as part of some artsy school thing. But nothing was shining on it. And the message seemed kinda inane for an art project. Nicholas waved his hands around it to make sure, but other than a bit of shadow cast by the big floodlights around the Student Union building, nothing happened. The blue letters shone regardless. And they weren't on the wood either, somehow they were inside. But he could still see them just fine.
Nicholas had gotten used to seeing through the white mist, that was perfectly normal, just a quirk of his eyes. This was the same, but different. This time he wasn't seeing through a fog in the air, he was seeing through solid wood. Not much wood, the blue light lay immediately below the surface, but still. Nicholas just stared, the words written there had struck him dumb.
> You're not crazy, and the fog is real. Call us, or write us, and we can help.
A phone number followed, along with an email address made up entirely of numbers.