Marco tossed the sheets off his body, gazing at the clock. ‘Seven,’ he thought to himself, ‘again.’ before jumping out of bed. Once on the ground Marco turned to head to the bathroom before stopping himself from tripping over a knelt over form on the ground.

“Oh,” Oscar said, “Don’t mind me, just going for my Sunday morning run.” Marco gave Oscar a skeptical look as he questioned, “Your Sunday morning run?” Oscar laughed as he said, “Don’t be too surprised, you’re usually asleep when I head out.” Marco nodded in understanding as he headed out the door.

After walking out Marco caught the door mid swing, preventing it from closing, and asked Oscar, “This may sound strange coming from me but… um, can I come with you?” Oscar revealed a grin as he said, “That doesn’t sound strange at all.” Marco held up two fingers, “Just give me two minutes to get myself ready.”

Oscar’s ‘Sunday morning run’ turned out to be too much for Marco, especially given the current state of his legs. Marco had managed to make it half a mile before calling it quits, “Oscar... Oscar! I’m going to... leave you here... my legs have had it.” Marco panted, doing his best to keep himself from collapsing from exhaustion.

A knowing smile spread across Oscar’s face as he stopped with Marco, “I remember when I started running, I could barely make it a half a mile.” Marco chuckled before asking, “I was hoping we might make this a recurring, uh… thing?” to which Oscar replied, “I was hoping you would ask me to make this a recurring thing.”

After sharing a laugh Oscar walked Marco back to the dorm, leaving him with, “I’m gonna do a couple more miles, then I’ll be back.” While Oscar finished his run Marco hopped into the shower to prepare for the day.

On his way out Marco stopped at the mirror and, after a moment of hesitation, looked into his reflection. Marco thought back to his encounter with death, thought about the way he commanded Marco to be calm, ‘Calm… calm. Calm.’ Marco remembered. The way he said it, the way it lingered in his mind, “Calm.”

‘There it is!’ Marco exclaimed as he felt his mind shiver, all of his thoughts swept away until the only thing left was a focused state. In his altered state Marco examined his reflection, ‘It’s almost like there’s a light in my eyes. Almost like… his eyes…’ Marco trailed off as he leaned forward, gazing deeply into his own eyes in an attempt to get closer to that light, to see what it was.

Marco pressed his hand against the mirror, causing ripples to spread across the mirror as if his palm was a rock thrown into water. The ripples grew as Marco began to increase the pressure on the mirror, all the while transfixed by his own eyes. The counter under Marco trembled as tiny cracks spread across the sink fixed beneath him.

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“...marco...” A familiar voice echoed behind him, interrupting his thoughts, ‘What was that...? Doesn’t matter.... Harder. Press harder!” Marco lurched backwards as he heard a voice that was not his own echo through his mind. Falling backwards Marco realized that Oscar was coming with him, apparently having been pulling at Marco before he let go of the mirror.

A smack echoed as the pair fell on the tiled floor, “What was that?!” Oscar yelled, “It was like you were a part of the fucking mirror! I couldn’t get you to budge an inch!” Marco shivered as he confirmed, “You were trying to pull me away from the mirror?” seeing Oscar nod Marco’s face paled, while he whispered, “I didn’t feel anything at all. I barely heard someone call my name… I couldn’t even tell it was you…”

The friends shared a silent gaze, shared the fear in their eyes, until Oscar asked, “What happened? What caused that?” Marco considered lying, “Ah! No you don’t. I know that look. The truth.” Oscar commanded Marco after seeing the lie creeping into his throat.

“Remember when I told you about death, about how he commanded me to be… calm.” Marco asked. Continuing after Oscar nodded Marco said, “Well, I may have overlooked explaining exactly how powerful that word was. When I said it I felt like there was no other choice, like it was the natural response to become calm.”

“So you were experimenting with a word?” Oscar asked incredulously, “A fucking word began to tear the fabric of time-space?” Marco stopped his explanation as he questioned, “A tear in the fabric of time-space?” Oscar threw his hands in the air as he exclaimed, “What else would you call it?!”

Marco opened his mouth to counter Oscar’s proposed explanation but was interrupted by a knock on the door, “RA!” Exclaimed a voice as the door was pushed open to reveal a slightly older looking student, “Hey Marco. Oscar.” the man nodded, “Hey John.” both boys responded automatically.

“Look guys,” John said, “I don’t know what’s going on here but keep in mind that the bathroom is a shared space. I got a complaint about some… noises that another student heard coming from the bathroom.” John held up his hands to stop the oncoming explanation, “I don’t need to know. Just, please, keep it in the privacy of your room.”

John closed the door and walked off, leaving Oscar and Marco stunned as they looked at each other, “Did he just?” Oscar asked as Marco responded, “Yep.” Silence reigned for a couple seconds before they couldn’t hold back from laughing, “He thinks that we?” Marco chuckled, “I know? What the hell?” Oscar laughed.

And so, after sitting laughing on the bathroom floor for five minutes, John had to come back to kick them out. “Sorry John!” Marco said as he walked back into his room, leaving Oscar behind to shower.

Back in his room again Marco opened his laptop and set out to find somewhere to learn how to fight. ‘Protect myself.’ Marco corrected before revising, ‘No- fight. I definitely want to learn how to fight.’