“I just… wanted to help”
September 10. Saturday morning.
Allyson dwelled on her side whilst in bed. Nowhere to peer. Nowhere to focus on. The surroundings blurred faster by the minute. Time ticked for 30 minutes. She thought a few minutes had passed.
An outside door then intertwined against its lock.
She quickly soared from the bed, fervently turned the door handle, and carefully peaked through the thinly opened view. Her roommate’s door was clearly accessible. Allyson nodded and alleviated herself with a deep breath. All the time needed for a relaxing time dining with a toasted bagel and coffee.
About an hour later, Allyson wore all-black athletic clothes: a long-sleeve compression shirt, pants and socks.
“Where will I run today?”
No specific routes in mind. Only a free run.
After bypassing the campus entrance, traversing on the sidewalk alongside Route 1, and making an abrupt right turn to the campus south entrance, Allyson immediately sprinted through the sidewalk leading to the vast field of Chapel Lawn.
“Think fast, run fast.”
Once she was close to the buildings on Regents Drive, Allyson halted to a stop in front of the Mitchell building, the place where she got her student ID card, and had her hands pressing on her knees. Breathing heavily, she hardly peeked at whatever was in front of her.
“Fuck, I’m not used to this.”
“Gotta practice the sprints before you try to do that.”
She discerned a man sitting on the stairs of the Administration building next to the Mitchell building and typing on a laptop while wearing gray headphones. He was fixated at the bright screen and never made eye contact with Allyson.
“Yeah,” she instinctively concurred while placing both hands on the top of her head. “Maybe I should slow down.”
“Even if you run fast, it’s not good if you go hard at a long pace, especially if you’re not used to it. Short bursts between long recovery jogs is a good start.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she snapped her fingers and pointed at him before jogging away. Quietly muttered, “What a fucking weirdo.”
The man continued with his project on his laptop.
“Hey, Michael’s still here. Sorry about that.”
Her current route led her to the main roundabout, straight through the Regents garage, the campus farm, and to the left side of the parking lot. She weaved her way through upstairs and its sidewalk before reaching a large relatively modern building.
“Here’s Eppley,” she marched inside the building. First, she was required for verification by presenting her student ID card. The initial interior preview was so monumental that Allyson was mesmerized and took no steps in front of the stairs.
“Oh the gym’s upstairs and then go to the right,” a woman with a teal fleece jacket walked right next to her. “Just wanted to say it in case you need to find the gym.”
“Cool, thanks!” Allyson slowly made her way to the second floor.
“Hey Marie! Ready to go?”
“Yep ready to go!”
That afternoon.
Allyson was preparing dinner using one of her mother’s recipes using two of the four stovetops. To the southeast, she heard a door open.
“I told you, I’m heading over right now,” Julia assertively secured her room. Her expression frowned. “If you are going to bring that up again, then don’t bother coming. I know I’m still working on it… Ok, ok! I’m bringing it anyway.”
“Uh,” Allyson left her mouth a small open gap for a moment. “Everything ok?”
“Yes,” she replied upsettingly. “It’s still none of your concern.”
“Are you sure? It didn’t sound like it.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do like cooking that over there?”
Allyson pierced her lips and resumed her cooking duties. Her eyes zoned out while facing her skillet.
“I’m getting out of here,” Julia then slammed the front entrance.
Another exasperated exhale and she dully turned off the stove. After carefully transporting the spicy grilled pork onto her red plate, she assembled the rice and kimchi on opposite sides of the meat. Bringing the plate over to the living room and sitting on the couch, she powered on the television and selected a random movie.
“I shouldn’t have talked to her.”
Sunday morning.
Allyson decided to go on another run around the campus. This time she jogged through the vast field adjacent to the main campus entrance. It was a serene breeze as the sunlight bathed her temple until a drone flew right on the skin of her face. The collision on the soft grass cushioned the impact.
“What the fuck?!” She loudly muttered to herself while her eyes nearly bulged out.
“Oh shit!” A man ran to Allyson and offered his hand to pick her up. “I’m really sorry my drone flew into you like that. The controls were wonky.”
“It’s ok. I didn’t see how fast it was going. You good though.”
Allyson waved the man goodbye as she jogged away.
“Jackson! What happened?” was all she heard.
“I don’t know! The configurations were perfect. How could it not work?”
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The next destination was the school’s track and field. Allyson elected to run around a few laps. During that run, she observed a student who was practicing free kicks on the soccer field inside the track. The soccer player took a few steps back and concentrated on the upper right corner of the goal post. Several deep breaths in. The first kick went way over the crossbar. The second one went over the crossbar. The third one went over the crossbar. Every attempt produced the same outcome.
“I can’t believe she missed all of those kicks. If she was a football kicker, she’d be a real champ.”
The player only gazed at the sky. Her body was completely still before falling onto her back on the turf. She then proceeded to slam her left fist on the field twice.
“Why is she by herself?”
Those questions were without answers. She chose to walk home despite it being quite a hassle. A group of people outside the fence were pointing fingers and muttering amongst themselves.
“She still there?”
“Fay is such a trash of a player! She can’t contribute shit to the team, so why even bother?”
“Why can’t the team just cut her? Literally, she has no reason to be here.”
“God damn,” Allyson shouted inside her mind. Her lips crawled down and narrowed her eyes. “Those guys are fucking douchebags. What did she do to even warrant that?”
Numerous feelings were engaging in a war inside her. None in particular were at a tactical advantage. She tried to take deep breaths and maintain a peaceful stance.
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On Wednesday morning, Allyson got up abruptly because of a boisterous constant vibration. Hair bent in many directions and eyes barely opening an inch, she swapped to the left side of the bed and slammed her nightstand where her phone was located. All while still lying down.
“Ugh, my alarm again. Gimme like 5 minutes.”
Except the alarm was never set off.
She saw the ember icon on her phone. Only one color appeared on the app. No other colors were displayed. In an instant, she sat up from her bed.
“Why is it only yellow?” Allyson intently stared at the app as the tiredness swiftly dissipated. She tried to open the application again.
This time the application progressed further than previously. Allyson, to her disappointment, only saw the yellow ember on her screen but bigger. Nothing else to it.
That is until a message came up that said: “This individual’s Soul is currently safe. Will you access its portal?”
“What the...actual hell?” Allyson exited the app and immediately turned off her phone. She rapidly jumped out of her bed and monitored her device from a distance.
Several minutes later, she placed the phone in her pocket and shook her head. Class was starting soon.
“Just shake it off. I’m just seeing things.”
Whatever transpired continued to rummage through her mind. The events that morning replayed in her mind continuously. She had a difficult time focusing on her class lectures. All Allyson did was mindlessly write and copy whatever the professor wrote whether it was on the blackboard or on the lecture slides.
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After getting a French Vanilla latte at the library café, Allyson faced the direction behind the library. She rugged her head and alleviated her puffed up chest. Walking up the grassy hill, she previewed the Anne Arundel dormitory across Campus Drive. To the left was the Mitchell Art-Sociology building. There were about 10 minutes before her next class commenced so she made sure to get there early to get the furthest seat from the professor as far as possible. Inside the first floor, the ground was layered in tan granite. At the center of the perimeter, several yellow couches spread evenly throughout the area.
However, there were two familiar faces near the far side of the floor.
“Is that…”
“What’s wrong? Can’t handle a little commission I have? I’m sure someone like you would have all the time completing something as simple as that.”
“I know,” Julia barely shook her forward and refused to make a single contact with the confronter’s eyes. “It’s a lot of work at the moment and I just need more time to”
“I don’t want any more lazy excuses!” Her voice slightly rose and crossed her arms. “You knew what you were signing up for, right?”
Absolute silence from her.
“You never reach the deadlines. Why is it so hard to make a simple art commission? Do you want to take this job seriously? Or are you just taking the money for your own selfish needs? Blowing it off on drugs? You can do more than just being a bum.”
Allyson's surroundings became unclear. The only sharp image visible was that woman. Her right hand tightly gripped the coffee cup almost on the cusp of dismantling its structure. Her heart pounded harder and louder.
“You know your other artists always presented and finished their jobs on time unlike you. We never had an issue with deadlines until we asked you for a commission. Maybe you should learn more from your friends. Now I want this commission finished for our business presentation next week. You need to finish 10 portfolios we want. We will not afford more time loss. Our reputation is at risk.”
“That’s too early. I won’t have enough time,” she pleaded, still looking away from her. “Please Cree, I won’t be able to finish all 10 in that span of time.”
“You’ll learn how to be efficient and productive for once. I expect quality work from you though that is not asking much. Now get to it!”
“Hey! Why don’t you fuck off?”
“Are you addressing me?” Cree spoke with aversion.
“Allyson?” Julia shook her head and begged her roommate to cease her confrontation.
“Yeah, I’m telling you to fuck off,” her furrowed brows and intense stare pinned against Cree. “Can’t you see she needs more time? How about listening to her and letting her finish everything she needs?!”
“Allyson!” Julia loudly whispered and clenched her hands. “Stop it!”
“You seriously are saying that to me?” Cree scoffed with a ghostly grin and tapped Allyson’s shoulders who then backed away. “I’m not sure if you are aware but your friend here is lacking behind her work. It’s not surprising given the ‘major’ she is studying if you even consider it.”
“And who are you to judge that?” Allyson retorted. “She is studying that for a reason. It’s her choice and you don’t get to judge people with what they want to study in.”
“Please just stop!” Julia immensely begged and tugged Allyson’s shirt who simply ignored her roommate’s actions.
Cree simply chuckled before stepping back a few steps. “So Julia, are these the kind of people you want to associate with? Even more unsurprising from you. Well, instead of 10, I’m going to give you 20 portfolios to discipline you.”
Julia was so flabbergasted that her mouth gaped open. Her arms froze.
“If you don’t finish by then, you’ll have to pay a hefty price and learn to be held accountable for your poor work ethic. I honestly expected more from you and you will understand the consequences of failures for us. Well, I need to take care of other businesses now. Bye-bye!”
Once Cree was no longer in plain view, Allyson turned to Julia with a concerned expression. She appeared incapable to muster up a word. Her roommate’s pupils pointed to Allyson.
“Julia, are you-”
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
The vociferous tone boomed throughout the building and several students turned to where the sound originated. Allyson’s heart pounded at an alarming rate. Her head swiveled and her eyes continuously blinked. Her breathing rate was faster and hearable.
“I…I”
“Seriously, you just had to be in my business,” her furrowed eyes and clenched fists daunted Allyson. Julia pointed at the direction where Cree exited the premises. “I was just fine with Cree and you had the audacity to come in and piss her off?!”
“I..”
“Just stop. Please just stop fucking putting your nose in my business. You moved into my apartment, made disgusting food, and ruined my job. I’m not your friend. You’re just a roommate.”
Allyson’s arms shook slightly but were not noticeable to anyone.
“You know what, forget this. Leave me alone and never speak to me again!”
Julia stormed out of the building and the students quietly gazed at Allyson before slowly resuming their regular activities.
Standing still and staring down at the cold concrete, she felt her body freeze in time. Her bottom lip shivered.
“I just… wanted to help.”