“Julia?”
Walking down a long vertical hallway. Black and white tiles beneath. On the left wall, various paintings were proudly displayed. Symmetric with the right wall. All signed by only one artist who made all of these artworks possible. A short-haired blonde woman was running through the hallway, panicking from the seemingly never-ending corridor.
Behind her were numerous unidentified entities chasing her.
The woman continued sprinting until a brown monotonous door appeared at the end. She hastily pulled the door and immediately tripped from a canvas that spawned in front of her. She abruptly stood up and bolted through the wide gallery only to find that no pathways existed.
Running to the left. Running to the right. Running upward. All in vain. Only more canvases in each venture. Portraits unfamiliar for those unaware but familiar to those who discovered the secrets behind them.
“Stop this! This is scaring me!” the woman breathed heavily before sliding down the wall and covering her ears from the entities who caught up to her. She masked her eyes and covered her face with her knees.
“I worked sooooo hard to make all these creations by myself.”
“Do they know? Do they know the truth behind all of these drawings?”
“I needed the money… and I will get it no matter what and no matter how.”
“I’ve become what I’ve sworn to not become. Oh, how I’ve tarnished my integrity but who cares as long as”
“STOP! ENOUGH OF THIS! STOP, STOP, STOP!”
Her eyes awakened from her deep slumber.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“What… the hell was that?” Julia swiped the sweat from her forehead and hurriedly walked to her restroom. Mindlessly took her yellow towel and wiped the sweat covering her body. Splashing some cold water before scrutinizing her eyes through the mirror.
“It’s not true. I did what I had to do to get by.”
September 15 - 2:00 pm
Julia tried to shake off that vivid dream by not thinking about it during her lectures. She lacked energy to focus on studying the material in her morning lectures. During her lunch break, the artist hardly finished her hamburger and fries. She trashed the contents in the garbage can and exited the Stamp building. Crossing Campus Drive, she stood in front of the Health Center building.
A notification pinged her phone and revealed a contact messaging her.
Roommate: Hey Julia, I’m really sorry what happened with you and Cree. I hope we can talk soon!
Rolling her eyes over and placing her phone in her pocket, she entered and walked up to the reception desk and called for her scheduled appointment. After verifying her identity, Julia passed through the right side hallway and arrived at the last room waiting until the appointment officially squared off.
“Hi, Julia!” A man in white robes appeared. He presented a hot cup of Black Tea and placed it on the small table. “I brought some tea for you. Please have one”
“Thanks!” Julia got up from the couch and took a long sip of it before laying down again.
“There’s something on your mind. I can sense it from your expression,” the man sat on the other couch that was behind Julia. “I would love to hear what’s on your mind.”
“Well,” she exalted a long sigh after closing her eyes. “This past week has been nothing but shit. My roommate, my job, and this vivid dream I had last night. My roommate keeps sticking her nose into my business. Because of her, my job’s been getting worse with too much work with the expectation of finishing them in a short amount of time. What’s worse is that-”
The session lasted its entire scheduled time.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“And that’s how I fucked up.”
Allyson met with Jansen at the Stamp building after their classes finished for the day. They decided to walk behind the building, down the stairs, and through an athletics field and continued with their conversation.
“You were only trying to help Julia out,” Jansen reassured before crossing Fieldhouse Drive and following the sidewalk alongside the street. “She has a lot going on for about a good year.”
“If you didn’t bring up about those rich kids earlier, then I wouldn't have intervened. Now, Julia has her hands tied behind her back… all because of me.”
“Come on,” Jansen shook his head and pierced the right side of his lips. “It’s not your fault. You stood up for her and it was the right thing to do. Being punished by getting more workload from your employer doesn’t make Julia feel better and it makes it worse for her.”
“Exactly!” she clenched her neck and arms. “Julia is going to spend these days working non-stop and it’s going to kill her. I honestly don’t know if she can handle that.”
Allyson solemnly stared at the cloudy skies and took a deep breath. “Is there anything I can do to help her?”
“It’s tough,” he pierced his lips before nodding his head once. “Give her some time to decompress since she doesn’t want to talk to you. When her work is done, hopefully, you have time to talk to her and make some amends. If it doesn’t work out, then honestly, you might need to either respect her boundaries or move to a different apartment.”
“Yeah,” she let out a defeated sigh before slightly furrowing her eyes. “When the time is right, I’ll try one more time to talk to her. I rather not move to another apartment.”
“It’s a lot of work. In any case, I hope for the best between you two.”
“Thanks, Jansen,” her bright smile eased his nerves. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to about this.”
He grinned and snapped his left fingers at her. “I’m always here to talk. Got to help a friend in need.”
“So aside from that,” Allyson took a small breath and pointed in the direction of the vast parking lots. “Are there some food spots over there?”
“Well, yes in that direction,” he vertically shook his head a few times. “But if you really want to find a decent spot, we have to walk a lot more down there. Think you can keep up?”
“Is that an insult?” She scoffed. “I should be asking you that.”
Without warning, Allyson speedwalked after a rapid start leaving Jansen standing at the far end of Lot 1b.
Jansen chuckled and waved his head. “You are such an interesting person, Allyson.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 18 - Sunday morning
Across Lot 1b, passing through Alumni Drive on the second exit in the roundabout, going through Mowatt Lane, and making a left on Mayer Mall field was the Van Munching Business building. Julia rushed from the opposite of the field while holding her backpack and tablet. Right before the front entrance, she made sure to keep herself composed before proceeding further.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Still breathing heavily, she found the first room on the right and entered to meet Cree, Scott, and Joe. Julia immediately unloaded her backpack to the closest seat and her tablet.
“I’m…*pant*… sorry that I’m late…*pant*. I managed to get 20 portfolios.” She presented the USB drive from her left hand. “It’s all here and…*pant*... each file is labeled specifically for your portfolios.”
Cree slowly clapped her hands while maintaining a stern expression. “You think you should get praise for doing your assignment? You did nothing to go beyond expectations. Just be lucky that you met the deadline.”
Julia finally caught her breath and tidied her light yellow jacket. “I’m just done with the job and you will need them for your presentation.”
“You didn’t even say ‘thank you’ to your boss,” Scott crossed her arms and kept a stoic stare at Julia. “How can we keep our employment with you if you cannot give a token of appreciation to your employer?”
“I’m sorry for my lack of gratitude to Cree. Thank you.”
“You forgot two more people.”
“Scott and Joe.”
“Much better. Now you can leave as we have to prepare the presentation.”
“Thank you,” Julia slightly bowed before packing her things and immediately charged out of the building.
Upon returning to the apartment, Allyson was on the couch studying the lecture materials from her classes.
“Hey,” she greeted her roommate and raised a hand to wave at her.
Julia made no eye contact. Not even a single response. She shut her room.
Allyson scoffed, shook her head, grabbed her laptop, and closed the door to her room.
“Can’t even fucking say ‘hi’ to me you fucking bitch?” Her arms were tense. Allyson dropped her laptop on her desktop with more force than normal. She then swiftly changed to her black compression pants and solid teal running shirt. Once she locked the front door, Allyson opted to take the stairs. “I’m not going to bother even trying to make up with her. She can fuck off for all I care.”
Noon
Julia, all by herself in the apartment, finished dusting her desk, shelves, and cabinets. She also vacuumed the perimeter. While logging onto the computer to order lunch, the artist received a phone call. Recognizing the number, she let out an unhappy groan.
“Hello?”
“Julia…” Cree’s voice was quiet. “What happened?”
Her heart pulsated faster and silently gulped. Her body was tensing up. “Come again?”
“Do not feign ignorance,” her tone unfazed. “Do you think you are making a fool out of us?”
She closed her eyes and scrunched her face. Silently cursing her tongue, Julia shook her head. “I did not make you guys look-”
“Enough of your pathetic innocence,” Cree vociferously exclaimed, causing Julia to flinch. “All of your so-called artwork is a mockery of the fine arts. Presenting this blasphemous work was an embarrassment for me and my family. I now have to explain to our business partners and shareholders why we represented so poorly in front of them. Your work has caused damage to my business partnership with potential candidates for the funding of this school. Do you realize the affliction you have caused?”
Julia became speechless. Her eyes began to water. Her mouth was left open. Her left hand was grabbing the top of her hair.
“You have disgraced us for the last time. We no longer wish to keep your employment with us.”
“B-but,”
“Let me finish you plagiarist,” Cree sternly addressed her remarks. “Not only will you no longer be employed by us, but you will pay for your insolence. You know how we paid you for each completed portfolio? You are going to repay us for every single portfolio assigned.”
“No!” Julia pleaded while closing her eyes. “That’s so much money I have to pay back for the two years I’ve been doing this! I don’t have enough to cover rent!”
“Well, if you weren’t so financially irresponsible, you wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
“This is wrong. You can’t do that!”
“It’s in the contract you signed. As I said before, you know what you were signing up for.”
Julia fell silent.
“You will know the consequences of not upholding your end of the bargain. I expect you to pay in full by the end of this week. Otherwise, missing the deadline will increase the interest rate. No excuses. Now…bye-bye.”
The call hung up and Julia immediately dropped her phone. In an instant, tears rained down on her face.She sat against the side of her bed. Both of her hands covered her eyes. Unrestrained by her emotions, she uncontrollably bawled.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Later that night.
Julia kept her door shut and remained dormant since that call. Allyson microwaved a frozen meal of basmati rice and curry chicken including one large naan bread on the side. She had her wireless earbuds on and watched a podcast about the psychoanalysis of dreams.
The door opened.
She noticed her roommate’s eyes were puffed up and red. Julia tried to search for her leftovers inside the fridge. She quickly closed the fridge and searched for a bag of chips from the cabinet.
Allyson inconspicuously peeked and glared at her roommate longer than expected. She opened her mouth but no words were uttered. Shaking her head, the transfer student resumed her activity. As soon as she finished her meal, she returned to her room to decide what to do for the rest of the night.
Julia was still in a depressed stupor. Opening a bag of chips, she only had one bite before throwing them on her desk. She pulled her hair and then exalted a desolate sigh. More tears flowed down her face as her mind was slowly on the verge of exploding. On her nightstand, she got a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of sleeping pills. She continued to gaze at those and contemplated.
Then her phone vibrated.
“What now?” She unlocked her phone’s lock screen and swiped down to see the notification.
Allyson tidied up her cabinet and organized her clothes from undergarments on top, shirts below it, pants and shorts after, and the rest at the bottom. After finishing that chore, she went to her TV stand to power on her gaming console.
Then a vibration noise went off.
She abruptly turned to her nightstand and saw something displaying on the screen. Approaching closer to the phone and picking it up, the yellow ember icon appeared again.
“What the hell is going on?” Allyson quietly queried as she tried to open the application.
The phone vibrated again.
The screen became all black.
Allyson tried to power on her phone but nothing happened. She pressed the location of where the home button was on the screen but it never showed up.
The ember icon appeared yellow once more before dissipating.
The screen initially was static. Then, as the staticity dissolved, the phone displayed an unusual surreal environment.
Walking down a long vertical hallway. Black and white tiles beneath. On the left wall, various paintings were proudly displayed. Symmetric with the right wall. All signed by only one artist who made all of these artworks possible. A short-haired blonde woman was running through the hallway, panicking from the seemingly never-ending corridor.
“Oh my god…” Allyson’s body froze, and her phone slid off from her right hand. Eyes widened, brows furrowed, and mouth left a gap. Her breath began breathing at an alarming rate.
“What the fuck is that?!”
Allyson turned her head on the floor and picked up her mobile device. She was unable to decipher the sound and the apparatus. Her intent stare at the phone caused her to move closer to the screen.
The woman continued sprinting until a brown monotonous door appeared at the end. She hastily pulled the door and immediately tripped from a canvas that spawned in front of her. She abruptly stood up and bolted through the wide gallery only to find that no pathways existed.
Running to the left. Running to the right. Running upward. All in vain. Only more canvases in each venture. Portraits unfamiliar for those unaware but familiar to those who discovered the secrets behind them.
Then her TV suddenly powered on.
Startled, Allyson walked slowly to her television and gazed at the image on display whilst gripping her phone.
“Stop this! This is scaring me!” the short-haired woman breathed heavily before sliding on the wall and covering her ears from the entities who caught up to her.
“I worked sooooo hard to make all these creations by myself.”
“Do they know? Do they know the truth behind all of these drawings?”
“I needed the money… and I will get it no matter what and no matter how.”
“I’ve become what I’ve sworn to not become. Oh, how I’ve tarnished my integrity but who cares as long as”
“STOP! ENOUGH OF THIS! STOP, STOP, STOP!!!”
The woman suffering was the main focus on display. She was the only person on screen, just like presenting a picture to the audience. Once Allyson identified the hair color and face structure, she fell to her knees. Her head leaned closer to the TV but no physical contact.
“Julia?”
Without warning.
SLAM!!!
A deafening noise of a door from the outside.