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Leia
Just follow time

Just follow time

The world around was pitch black. There wasn’t a soul to call upon. Jun scanned the area to find any form of exit or relief, but to no avail. Just as suddenly as the abyss surrounded him, light blinded him. A figure of glowing radiance appeared before him, reaching out for his hand. He reached out for it, nervous and shaken.

And as their hands touched, he witnessed horrors beyond his understanding. All at an instant, he watched his whole life come crumbling down as if shaken by an unnatural disaster. It all flashed before him instantly, giving him very little time to process it all. He fell and stumbled away in fear of this being. But quickly his legs became numb, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t run. So frozen in fear, he couldn’t even scream.

Suddenly, he awoke in a cold sweat, breath shaken and mind stirred. He could barely move, his body was limp in fear. He looked over to his alarm clock, it read 3:36 am. With what little strength he could muster, he rolled himself to the edge of his bed and took a deep breath. “What the hell was all of that?” he thought to himself. He had had nightmares in the past.

Abstract horrors that he couldn’t really make sense of. But this was different. This left him with a kind of gut wrenching feeling that he hadn’t felt in his entire life. He slowly got up and walked over to the sink to pour himself a glass of water. His mouth was cotton dry, and he needed something to ground him.

He sipped the cup down to the bottom, put it down, and walked back to his bed. He was utterly shaken by what he had just witnessed. Unsure of how to rationalize why his subconscious mind would create such a figure for him to bear witness to. He couldn’t make sense of any of it. What he witnessed, it felt so real. In the blink of an eye, by the touch of a hand. He witnessed what felt like the rest of his life in 0ne moment.

And what he saw left him speechless. He couldn’t put it into words, but the feeling was guttural and unshakable. He layed back in his bed and closed his eyes, trying to get back whatever sleep he could. But that vision, the premonition of horror. It made him restless. He eventually fell back asleep. But nothing could shake the feeling that nightmare had given him.

He awoke several hours later, the clock now reading 8;32 am. Jun slowly rolled out of bed. His first class started at 9;30, so he needed to put himself together. He got together his outfit for the day and took a quick shower to freshen up. He brushed his teeth, shaved, and got dressed. He microwaved a breakfast sandwich he took out of the fridge freezer and ate it while getting his materials into his bag. The time began to dwindle down.

He scarfed down the last bite of the sandwich, followed by a gulp of orange juice straight from the bottle. He put on his shoes, tied them, and made his way down to his first class of the semester. He was nervous, he wanted to make a good first impression on his peers and his teachers. But being late wasn’t gonna help that.

He had a map of the campus and a general idea of where he needed to be. But he was never great with directions. He stood still for a moment, looking for his first class’s room. To his utter horror, it was all the way across campus. He had 10 minutes on the clock and it would take at least 12 to get to the building and into the classroom. With a rush of adrenaline in his veins, he sprinted across the campus to get to class on time.

Narrowly avoiding other students in the process. “I should’ve worn my running shoes for this.” he said to himself out of breath.

He ran through the courtyard, dodging bushes, trees, and people narrowly. He was no more than a dozen yards from the building when he lost his footing. He stumbled over his own laces that had untied in on the run there. He fell on his side, barely covering his face in time before it scraped the concrete floor. Jun groaned in pain while picking himself up from the ground. He saved his face from the fall, but not the back of his hand. The skin off the back of his right hand scraped clean onto the pavement.

He had saved himself some time by running to the building, but he would now have to find a sink to clean his hand. And maybe some bandages while he was at it. He rushed into the building, desperately looking for a restroom to clean himself and patch up his wound. He looked around like a helpless puppy until he finally saw a sign for a bathroom. He walked as quickly as he could to it. He opened the door and quickly made his way to the soap and water. The stinging he felt on his skin was sharp.

He bit on his lip cleaning out the abrasion to even out the pain he was in. He cleaned it out to the best of his ability, opened his bag for some tape, grabbed some paper towels, and made the best makeshift bandage he could in the time he had left. He finished up, exited the bathroom, and continued searching for his first class.

He looked at the building map, and much to his relief, he wasn’t far off from it. He walked down a corridor, up a set of stairs, and on his left was his first class of the semester. Art history with Mr. Tanaka. He found a seat and placed himself in it.

He pulled out his overpriced textbook and note taking gear and waited for the teacher to show up. As he sat there, more students rolled in and found places to sit. As they sat down, a few threw glances at his hand. He knew he was gonna get some weird looks, but he wasn’t expecting this many. He lifted up the towel to see if his hand was still bleeding.

It was, but not heavily. It had mostly stopped at this point, but there was still some surface bleeding. He grabbed some tissues he had in his pocket and patted down the areas that were still bleeding over. In the middle of this, a familiar voice called to him.

“Jun? What happened to your hand?”

Jun looked to his left, and there stood Leia.

“Leia? What are you doing here!” he asked excitedly.

“Oh, schedule change! Sorry, forgot to tell you” she said with a slight chuckle.

“Now what happened here?” she said, picking up Jun’s hand. “Oh, I uh..” Jun stumbled over his words momentarily, slightly embarrassed to admit what happened.

“I fell, pretty hard. Just barely managed to cover my face. Definitely could’ve been worse, but it does sting a bit.”

Leia looked at it for another moment before rummaging through her bag.

“Lucky for you, I came prepared” she exclaimed.

After a moment of searching, in her hand, a small box of bandage wrap appeared.

“Take off that attempt of a bandage, this will do you much better”

Jun undid the makeshift cover he had made and lent Leia his hand. As she wrapped his hand, he began feeling a feeling he couldn't quite explain. It was one of comfort and mild euphoria. He chose to ignore it and just let her wrap him up. But the feeling never fully left him that day.

He went through the rest of his day casually, carrying himself the best he could. Making acquaintances in each class and talking to the teachers to see if he could pick up on their personalities. As the day neared the middle, he took off to the dining hall to see what they offered. He grabbed a tray and went down the line.

A mix of what appeared to be mostly healthy food. Chicken, rice, soup, and various mixed vegetables. He asked for his servings and found somewhere to eat. As he sat down, he felt a buzz from his pocket. He pulled out his phone and saw a notification from Leia.

Leia: where you at?

Jun quickly opened it and began typing

Jun: the dining hall, you?

Leia: heading that direction actually, where are you sitting?

Jun looked at his surroundings to give her some general direction.

Jun: at a table next to a window a couple steps from the entrance. You’ll see me when you get there

Leia: table, window, entrance, got it. I’m gonna grab some food and I'll look for you when I get there :)

Jun put his phone down and started to eat his food. It was a bit flavorless and a tad lukewarm. So he shuffled his way over to the salad bar and grabbed some crushed red pepper flake packets and some vinegarette to sprinkle over his meal. Right before he sat down, he saw Leia come through the door. He waved at her to get her attention and point where he was going to be sitting. She gave him a thumbs up and walked over to the lunch counter to grab something to eat.

While he waited, he livened up his meal with the seasoning and dressing. He got a few bites in before Leia promptly sat down. Jun looked up and said “that was quick”. Leia nodded and said

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“yeah I know, I’m not incredibly hungry so I just grabbed a few things. Didn’t look all too appetizing anyway”

Jun chuckled in agreement.

“Yeah it honestly isn't, that's why I grabbed these” said Jun, shaking the sauce packets in his hand.

“Ooh smart!” responded Leia. “Do you have any extra?”

Jun nodded his head while chewing. He handed her the extra packet he grabbed which she promptly opened and spread over her small meal.

“Sho, hiw ire you njoyin your clathes sho far” asked Jun.

Leia looked at him with a look of great puzzlement.

“Care to repeat yourself without a mouth full of mush?” she asked in a jokingly

Jun snickered through his chews.

“Let me try that again. So…” he began. “How are you enjoying your classes so far?” he asked earnestly.

“Not too bad so far. Since it’s only the first day I haven’t been able to get a good read on my professors or classmates. But everyone seems to be pretty excited so far.” said Leia with a tone of optimism.

“Yeah, first day’s are always a little euphoric. For me anyway” replied Jun. “New place, new people, it’s something different. And that’s always something to look forward to.”

Leia nodded in agreement.

“I will say, the campus is a bit bigger than I keep thinking it is. It feels like I've gotta walk a mile just to get to my next class.” said Leia sarcastically.

Jun chuckled and said “yeah, hence the grievous wound upon my hand.” he said sarcastically, gesturing at his bandaged appendage.

“Oh yeah, is that feeling any better?” asked Leia.

“eh, it’s not stinging as much as it was earlier. But it’s still a little bit sensitive.” Jun replied.

“I’m just hoping it heals over before the end of the day. It’s hindering my hands’ movement a bit. And I've got notes to write and sketches to make.”

“hmm..hold on.” replied Leia, as she looked through her bag once more.

“I probably should've applied this right as I saw you, but it didn’t cross my mind for some reason.” she said, pulling out a small green bottle.

“What’s that supposed to do?” Jun asked confusedly.

“It’s aloe vera, it helps speed up the healing process at least a little bit.”

“Here, give me your hand.” she told Jun. She slowly unwrapped the bandages to reveal that the cut had barely healed. It wasn’t bleeding heavily, but it hadn’t scabbed over either. As she applied the aloe, Jun jerked back slightly.

“Relax, it’s gonna feel weird but I promise it’ll help.” said Leia in a reassuring tone.

As she slowly applied the aloe, Jun chimed in. “I’m really glad you’re helping me out here but, it begs the question. How did you just happen to have this stuff on you? Not that I’m complaining, but it’s a very interesting coincidence.”

As she began applying the bandages, Leia responded

“oh, I always have these things on me. I was incredibly accident prone as a kid. My mother was always having to bandage me up after hanging out with my friends after school ‘cause I’d always come home with some sort of knick or scratch on my arms or legs.”

Leia pulled out some scissors to cut the bandages and continued

“At a certain point, she got tired of always having to do it herself and eventually decided to buy me a miniature first aid kid and have me bring it around wherever I went. And even after I became a little less clumsy, I started bringing it around and periodically refilling it. Just in case a goofball such as yourself falls and hurts themselves.” she said, finishing with a playfully mocking tone.

“Oh whatever.” Jun said, replying to her mockery.

“Well, that is coming in handy so, thanks for being a clumsy child so this clumsy adult doesn’t have to bleed everywhere” he said with a light chuckle.

“What else do you have in there?” asked Jun inquisitively. Leia rummaged through her bag some more.

“Lets see, other than what you’ve already seen. Some tylenol, neosporin, tape bandages, hand sanitizer, disposable gloves, a tourniquet-”

“a tourniquet?” Interrupted Jun. “When in the world are you gonna need that?” he asked.

“Hey! You never know! You’ve gotta be prepared.” Replied Leia sternly.

“Yknow, that’s fair. I guess I can’t question it seeing how having any of it has helped me here.” said Jun.

“Exactly, never question a woman’s intuition.” replied Leia.

Jun nodded in agreement while eating another bite of his lunch.

“Ah, speaking of childhoods” Leia chimed in. “What was school like for you here in America growing up? I imagine it’s a bit different from what I experienced in Scotland.”

Jun finished chewing his food and replied

“Well, what do you want to know? There’s a lot that could be different that I’m just not aware of.”

“Well, are those buses real?” asked Leia curiously.

“School buses?” asked Jun confusedly.

“Yeah! Those! Do you guys really get on those to go to school?” Leia asked energetically.

“I mean yeah, I did till highschool when I could drive.”

“That's so cool! A bus full of your classmates! Sounds like a great time.” said Leia optimistically.

“Eh…not exactly.”. Leia looked at Jun with a puzzled look and asked

“How come?”

“Well…” Jun started. “You get a tin can on wheels and fill it full of hormonal assholes. You make them go to the one place they hate the most while also giving them a breakfast of sugary cereal and energy drinks. I’m sure you can imagine the ramifications.”

Leia looked at Jun with a face of mild horror.

“Oh jeez. That’s not nearly as fun as the movies made it out to be.” she said with a tone of concern.

“Yeah, Hollywood has never been the best at showing the actual experience. A lot of, let's just say, shenanigans, happened on my bus. Our driver had to be replaced multiple times because the school refused to punish the kids who were acting a fool, and the drivers refused to take that route because of it. It was crazy.”

Leia gazed at Jun with a look of pure disbelief. “What did they do to cause such a stir? That sounds utterly insane.”

Jun chuckled and responded

“it would be easier to list the things they didn’t do.”

Leia’s look of disbelief turned to one of mild horror.

“For starters…” Jun began. “They were the vice principal’s kids. So there's already some bias there. They almost never got in trouble for anything ‘cause their father was such a weak hand. He probably never punished them for anything at home either. They would graffiti the bus walls, poke holes in the seats, instigate fights in the back rows, blast the most horrendous, ear bleeding electronic music you ever heard. It was a new flavor of awful every day. The drivers did their best to control the situation, but they never listened. And I'm sure you can imagine, they were no better in class.”

There was a slight pause between them before Leia spoke up.

“If something like that happened in a Scottish school, we woulda taken them ‘round the back and beat the crap out of them.” She said intensely.

“Oh trust me, people tried. But they are as annoying as they are hard to wrangle. And the second someone tried something, the VP found out and had them expelled immediately. Anything to keep his precious little babies safe.”

“Damn,” replied Leia. “Nepo babies” she continued. Jun gave a hearty chuckle and said

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So they never got in trouble for anything?” asked Leia confusedly.

“Not a damn thing.” responded Jun. “It got so bad that we had to get the superintendent involved. Unfortunately for all of us” He paused for a breath “those two happened to be friends. The most he got was a slap on the wrist, and all we got out of it was the taste of disappointment.” finished Jun, as he took a bite of food.

“They never learned a damn thing did they?” asked Leia. Jun finished his bite and responded

“Nope, but it’s okay. We all got the last laugh anyway.” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Ah, and why might that be?” asked Leia with a tone of curiosity.

Jun gave her a mischievous grin.

“Well, for starters, one got caught in a highschool drug trafficking ring sting operation. It was all over the news, school was crazy for a few days after that. People were starting fights over the whole ordeal to defend him or something stupid like that. It was absolutely insane.”

Leia looked at Jun, mouth agape. “Oh my god” she eeped out wearily. “And what happened to the other kid? Did he also get caught up in something sketchy?” she followed.

“Oh boy, where do I even start?” exclaimed Jun. “Well for starters, he was also in on the trafficking ring. But in comparison to his biggest crime, that would make him look like a saint.” said Jun with a serious demeanor.

“He was taking his part of the money and using it to buy black market weapons for a gang he was creating. He was very much a white supremacist type. His family weren’t publicly racist, but you could always tell. He was just the only one brave enough, if you could even consider that bravery, to say the quiet part out loud. Thank god he got caught in that operation, ‘cause if he wasn’t it’s entirely possible I could’ve died in what he was planning.” said Jun with a look of mild dread on his face.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Jun. That must’ve been traumatic to say the least.” responded Leia with a tone of deep sympathy.

“I appreciate your concern, but it’s okay, really, I’m fine. I mean, clearly I’m still alive. And I'm grateful for every day he’s locked behind bars. For society's sake, I hope he never sees the other side of them till the day he dies.” Jun said coldly.

“But uh, yeah, they’re not our problem anymore. At least not for another 25 to 30 years or so.” he continued.

“That’s not nearly long enough for the other guy, I think he should rot there” exclaimed Leia strongly.

Jun took another bite of food and nodded in agreement. After finishing his bite, he responded

“I doubt he’ll even be alive by then to be honest. He was always very aggressive, always trying to start fights with people who looked at him the wrong way. If karma exists, he’ll pick a fight with the wrong guy and not make it out the other end.”

Jun continued to eat his lunch, trying to get it all down before it got cold. He noticed Leia had hardly touched her plate and jokingly asked “you gonna finish that?” through bites of his own meal. “Oh jeez yeah, I’m not hungry but I probably should still eat something.” said Leia before taking a few bites of what she grabbed.

As the two sat there, Leia sat on what Jun had told her. It was all down to luck that that kid was caught before he carried out his plan. The thought that she might have never met Jun if that kid hadn’t been found out cut her deeply and mortified her. As Jun finished his meal, he looked at his watch and realized

“Oh shoot, I might be late for my next class!”

Jun quickly finished the last bite of his meal before quickly standing up, he grabbed his plate and put it in the bin where they collect them to wash. Right before he left the dining hall, Leia called out to him.

“Jun! Wait!”

Jun stopped in his tracks and looked at Leia as she walked over to him. She stopped a foot before him and paused. For the first time in quite a while, Leia was nervous. Her mother raised her to be strong and independent, unafraid of anything that stood in her way. But all that came crashing down when she realized just moments before that she could lose Jun. Silence between the two was broken when Jun asked

“Is there something you wanted to say?”

With that question, she spaced back into reality. Quickly, she rummaged through her bag and grabbed out a small spool of bandages and a miniature bottle of the aloe she had used on him earlier.

“Here, have these incase you need to change out the bandages. I'd recommend doing so if the bleeding doesn't stop within the next few hours.”

Jun grabbed the items he was handed and put them in his backpack.

“Thanks Leia! Honestly, you’re really kind. I appreciate it.” said Jun earnestly.

“Well, I've gotta head to class, don’t wanna be late on the first day. It was lovely chatting with you! See you later!”

Right before he left for the door, Leia called out to him one more time, stopping him where he stood.

Before she could think about it, she quickly came up to him and hugged him closely. Jun was completely caught off guard by this. He was incredibly flustered by this act and wasn’t sure how to respond. Leia looked up at him while she held him and spoke.

“Please be safe.” she said shakily. Jun looked down at her, embraced her, and responded “I will”. With that, Jun walked to his next class. Filled with that same feeling from before. But he wasn’t the only one who was feeling that tender sentiment. Something was brewing in Leia that she couldn’t explain, nor could she ignore.

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