Mesopotamia was known for a lot of firsts; the first organized cities, the first written language, and by using that writing system it was also the first to develop a receipt-keeping economy. As Professor Wagner droned on about this, Cole was sure that if he put his head to it he could repeat the Professor word for word. Hell, he could even lecture these students himself.

Cole felt like he was wasting his time here. He felt odd and out of place. Well, more than usual. Instead of taking notes, he was doodling weird stuff on his laptop. Everyone else was wide-eyed and diligent in their note-taking. Which made perfect sense, they were taking this course for the first time. Cole didn’t want to count how many years he has sat in this seat.

Dazed, Cole watched the bald man peer at them through his bifocals. For every fourth student Professor Wagner glanced, he looked at Cole to make him the fifth. It took Cole two classes to spot the pattern and he did his best to avoid the man’s gaze. However, whenever Wagner asked the class a question he intently focused on Cole. He watched Cole mouth the words but with no breath behind them. Usually, a couple of minutes later, someone else would declare the answer. But this didn’t satisfy the Professor.

Cole wasn’t sure if his fidgeting movements were boredom or unease. It may just be a mix of both. The only reason he was concerned about it was that his sweater was starting to pull up from his wrist. Sometimes, the reminders of his failed attempts were easily visible. He didn’t want that.

They weren’t failed attempts because he was caught, rescued, and counseled. Instead, they failed because he always remembered his mother saying “Things aren’t that bad. They could be worse.” She was right.

The rest of the lecture passed in a blur. By the time it was done, Cole had an entire panel of doodles that would be worthy of a crappy comic strip. He packed up his things and headed for the exit.

“Cole,” Professor Wagner called, “a quick word please.”

Cole wanted to continue walking but instead stopped. Wagner had never been hard on him so Cole knew he had no reason to treat him that way. Cole had an idea of what Wagner would say to him and deeply believed the conversation could be avoided. Even so, he visited the man at his desk.

“You want to answer some questions next time?” The man asked.

“You know I already know the answers,” Cole looked away.

“Right, but you should still be participating. It counts. And with this being your fifth time, everything counts.”

“I won’t be stopped this time, Mr. Wagner. I won’t let anything hold me back.”

“Usually, when things happen, it’s not up to you. Your condition has reached a point where it can act up at any time—”

“But that doesn't mean—”

Wagner held up his hand. “Let me finish. We know what you’re going through and we understand. We have accommodated students with limitations before, but there comes a time when you have to start reconsidering your pursuits.”

Cole’s heart skipped. What was he saying? Did he realize what was coming out of his mouth?

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“Reconsider… My pursuits?” The words barely escaped Cole's lips. Not even he believed them when he said them. For the first time in about two years, Cole looked directly into Mr. Wagner’s eyes. He was searching for the reason the man would say such madness.

“I know, it sounds hard. You’ve probably dreamed of this all your life and the very idea of stopping would be the farthest thing from your mind.”

No, he didn’t know. How could he? They had very different ambitions. Cole didn’t intend to end up stuck in a lecture hall with delinquent students. He wanted to travel the world. He wanted to visit archaeological dig sites. He wanted to be active in a field too shallowly explored or appreciated. No, Mr. Wagner could never understand the desire.

“The head of the department spoke with me about your performance. Your attendance concerns him since you’ve missed important exams and have been taking the same courses for more than the allotted time.”

Cole was getting angry. “So you want me to quit just because I missed a few tests.”

“We want you to do what’s best for you. You’re smart. You’re a good student. We know that. I don’t want you to quit. I’m letting you know that you’re well beyond the failure rate, and you can’t fail from here on. There are other ways to get your degree. Other paths to the same objective. Just take the time to consider them.”

He made it sound as if Cole intentionally failed his course when they both knew it was because of his condition. Cole could understand their reasoning but it didn’t mean he was ok with it. He said nothing more and left the professor to prepare for his next class.

Outside, Cole joined the stream of students shuffling aimlessly on campus. He envied their normalcy so much that he often itched to be in their skin instead of his. It didn’t matter if it was the star quarterback or the kid with seasonal allergies, Cole would take their place in a heartbeat.

A few of them probably knew what he was going through — by way of gossip due to his frequent absence of course, never from himself directly — but he doubted that anyone knew his pain. Doubted more that they would even genuinely care. After his fifth admittance to the hospital during his studies, he no longer received get-well cards. During the first two, they came from teachers and some concerned students who probably pitied him. The third was only Professor Wagner. After that nothing.

As he walked to the Ancient Culture Exhibit on campus his phone vibrated from a notification. When he took it out the notification read:

Daniel has been enjoying virtual adventures.

Your second life awaits in Fate Maker

Cole cleared the notification and continued to the exhibit. About seven other students were perusing the school’s collection of ancient artifacts the school had leased. Cole wasn’t sure how they managed to get such rare capsules of history but he was grateful they did.

This was the reason he chose Avondale University. He could’ve gone to several others but they lacked the immersion Cole wanted. No other university had a collection quite like this. They had artifacts from Ancient Rome, Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, and several others.

It was more than just the collection too. This university had the most in-depth program. All their lecturers related to the field spent time at archeological dig sites and wrote numerous papers. Cole himself had been to a few with sponsorship from the university. It was expensive but worth it.

Every time he came to the exhibit, once he looked at the artifacts, he was reminded of why he didn’t enroll in online courses. He had tried before and ended up missing the campus badly. No matter what happens, he made up his mind that he would never try that way again. But now with Mr. Wagner’s warning, he wondered if this would be his last semester seeing the exhibit and the university as a whole.

Cole spent a few hours in the exhibit studying the artifacts and working assignments he had coming up. Even though he knew most of the material, he wanted to get a perfect score on everything. That was the only way he would get any leniency from the board.

When he grew tired of that, he decided it was time to go home. Since his mother didn’t come to pick him up, he figured she was going to be late and decided that he will go home by himself. He packed his things, left the exhibit, and made his way to the front gate.

After a few steps onto the walkway, someone yelled, “Watch out!”

But the warning came too late.