The rest of the classes went through like a faze, without ever knowing what was happening from one moment to the next, still trapped in the falling of the wind and seeing the sky as it tried to come towards him, the forest eating him up. The vines wrapped their arms around him, constricting any movement he may have attempted, pulling him in and suffocating him in the musky breath without escaping it thoroughly and slowly being consumed.
Of the darkness around him, knowing he is moving but with nothing to genuinely grasp it, no sense of time or sound, just complete blackness and him just there, unable to even see his hand no matter how close it is. And the complete normalcy of everyone else, without even an eye being batted about what has happened, nobody with shock or disaster of what had begun. No end of the world news over the internet, no weird security footage going on, not even on any postings within the class saying anything.
As Norbert made his way to the local pizza shop with Jack, getting the last few bites before heading back to their place for the day to continue the craft miner journey that they began together.
Entering the restaurant was packed with the same uni kids as every other night. Just all seats were taken, and a babble of noise throughout the place; as Norbert fully entered, he was bathed in the smell of cooking pepperoni and baking pizza base, with every sniff like the weight of the day eroding off him, slowly at first until he finally could completely relax and finally put behind him the horrors of earlier today.
"Man, I sure do love pizza."
"Well yeah, I know, Norbert; only crazy people like you would insist on going here daily."
Norbert replied, "Yeah, but it isn't like I always eat here; we had a home-cooked meal yesterday."
"And what did that consist of again, hmmm?" Jack said
"Yeah, I know, Jack, it was heated-up pizza, but it was still different to the usual."
"Next, please", came the attendant at the front, the rest of the line disappearing off to the side and Jack being the next up.
As Norbert made his way to the little counter, there were lights on the side showing up the pizza that could be quickly taken, and at the centre was a yellowed cash machine, looking older than everyone in the joint combined.
And standing over the device was the epicentre of a marshmallow come to life. In blue overalls and a smiling face beaming at them to make a selection, and twinkling eyes knowing that whatever was chosen would blow the both of them away. The name 'Bob' was written in lovely baby blue on a tag over his heart pinned to the overalls.
"Hey Bob, can we get a carnivore to go, please"
"Right this way, it will be $15.35, please."
With the tapping of the card and the resounding beeps confirming the payment was confirmed, the wiring of the receipt being made and torn off ended the conversation.
Norbert stepped to the side, waiting in anticipation for the pizza to be called out and for them to leave and finally devour it.
The only tracking of time was the door being opened, the bell chiming each time, the signal of the approaching final minutes and seconds that would finally result in the prized box appearing in Norbert's hands.
And with a sigh of relief, the pizza box slid across the counter, to be stopped by Jack, taking it off the clear glass and into the waiting hands of Norbert.
Opening the box, a tsunami of steam escaped, followed by the smells. The smells of the sauce riding the waves of the steam, a surfer on the giant tsunami trying for his life to escape, followed by the cooked meat, wafting over and chasing him, hungry predators trying to get one last meal before finally meeting their end, crashing into the building that was Norbert himself, the land.
Confronted by the smells, Norbert took a half step back, slamming the lid shut and passing the box back over to Jack, a smiling Italian man on the cover with a thumbs up.
"Oh, this is a good one; let's get out of here," Norbert said to Jack.
Both of them quickly left the place, hearing the bell one last time for the night, leaving the warmness and smells of the pizza joint to be left with only the lingering hands, like a mother's warm embrace, for the day before heading off to school.
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With excitement in their steps, both Norbert and Jack headed off to their dormitory, street lamps flashing one after another.
With the final bend, they could see the building open up for them, a small four-level apartment building taking up the entire block, with a small park next to it. With its yellowed colour that was once white, cracks on the paint show the bricks underneath and the mortar in areas coming out. They quickly entered through the large wooden double doors, catching before they could bang against the wall and create more holes in the door handle.
Stalking towards the stairs, going up them two at a time until finally hitting the final flight of stairs, making a sharp left, and going down the corridor with the single light until stopping at the door marked 17. Norbert started feeling around in his pockets, looking for the key for them to open the door and finally eat the pizza.
After a couple of tense seconds, eureka was found, as Norbert presented the key for all to see, like Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone before he thrust it into the lock, twisting and, with a resounding click, opened the door and was inside their humble abode.
With the pizza box flying over onto the kitchen table, Jack went and opened it up, sectioning half the pizza and putting it on the lid before ripping the lid off and walking up to the couch and falling into it, being half consumed by a monster before putting a slice to his mouth and moaning into it as he bit.
Norbert landed into the chair, the smell overtaking him as he tore a piece off, like a lion before its prey and entering it into his mouth. A burst of flavour and juices entered Norbert's mouth, washing it all away, with slice after slice disappearing down his gullet until only the scraps were left. Before long, those too were devoured, leaving only the oily residue from the pizza to show that there was ever anything in the box.
Finally being full, Norbert reached into his pocket to pull out his phone; while pulling it out also came out the leaf from the other place, the memories once forgotten finally flooding him, with at least relief that he could have the pizza one last time.
"Hey Jack, any idea what happened with Casper earlier today."
"Come on, Norbert, "Jack replied. "You'll need to give me more details than that; Casper is always doing strange things."
"You know what I mean, with the shouting and all of that in network security and what followed after", Norbert replied, hoping that the leading on of the question would finally result in the answers he desired, confirming what happened.
"Yeah, it was weird that he just slumped down after that, almost went to sleep. And he isn't the only weird one in there; you also clonked right out a couple of seconds later and had to shake you pretty hard to get you up; I guess that was too much gaming; talk about gaming. Wanna go again?"
With the leaf twirling between his fingertips, Norbert nodded away, hoping to distract him again.
***
A week later, with no more disturbances and everything else out of his mind, back in the same class as before, Norbert looked around the room, scanning for anything weird that could have been there before to ensure nothing had happened.
And like clockwork, nothing out of the ordinary did, no weird surprises, no flashing lights, no weird signs from above, no forest falling towards him, no Casper shouting out like a madman, nothing out of the ordinary. Just him and the class were trying to pay attention to what was happening before him.
And with that, the bell ended, class, being dismissed; with almost a shock that nothing had entered, Norbert went off into the day, and through the faze of another day, he went on.
After a week of keeping it on him, Norbert still twirled the leaf between his fingers, still as green as the day it arrived with him and still as big as always.
Heading off towards the bathroom, still lost in thought and having time before his next lesson, he entered the doors, twirling the leaf between his fingers and entered a stall.
"Nice leaf; where did you get it from."
Norbert looked around, and there was Casper, washing his hands, water running and splashing off onto his hands.
"Huh, you would never believe where I got this from."
With that, Norbert entered the stall, finally having peace and quiet. The tap was turned off, and the door creaked as the toilet was quiet again.
Placing his bags on the ground, Norbert went and sighed in relief; the circle was once more on the ground and darkness consumed Norbert.
Panic gripped his heart, waiting for the view to return and the plummet.
Once the light was around him, he could barely move his body. Looking around, he was surrounded by vines all going about himself, struggling around to get his bearing. He finally positioned himself to look down, and what a sight it was. Instantly he stopped, not wanting to fall out of the little nest he found himself in.
Down below was the forest floor, or what he assumed was, as he could still see vines going across. Birds chirped, going from one area to the next, flying around all the colours of the rainbow. Sounds are coming from below him.
Across the ground, littered with fallen trees and covered in leaves, a herd of animals waltzed across the floor. Stopping occasionally, looking around, possibly grazing, Norbert could not confirm being too high up.
With a sense of excitement for the future, Norbert started to slowly make his way to the branches of the closest tree, slowly pulling himself, always making sure he was covered before moving along until, finally, there was something substantial beneath him.
Quickly going across the branch until it was thick enough for him to easily stand on it shoulder width apart without falling off, he looked down again, hoping to find a path to the floor that would take him a bit longer than the direct way down.