Apocalyptic Thought

Photo by  Sheri Hooley  on  Unsplash “You’ll never believe this.” “Now I’m certain.” The air is heavy, cumulative of dust of thousands of students entering and exiting the classroom, which settles at the end of each busy class day, only to be tossed in the air by the next. Two students whisper in the back of the classroom, one retelling the tale of his weekend escapades, while the other struggles to pay attention to the lecture. He’s unamused by the weekend story. “It was the end of the night, and we’ve been talking the entire time. She’s in my Alchemy class, the chick with the red hair and the giant—” “Yes, Shaina. You mention her all the time.” “Yeah, yeah, Shaina. Well, like I said, we were talking the whole time, and—” Ralfe tunes Zadle out. He doesn’t care about the almost hook up he’s setting up for the story. He knows nothing happened, because he was back in the room before midnight. Ralfe happened to be studying at the time, so he doesn’t appreciat

Blood drips from a knife. Each drop stains the floor, disrupting the normally pseudo-clean kitchen. My friend is there. His breathing steadies, with his focus on me. My phone is hard to hold on to, making it difficult to dial. The assumption of being able to take him dissolves in every passing moment. “Please! Help me!” Ariel cries from the bathroom. She’s just as scared as I am. Death watches both down his girlfriend and I. “Help me.” Roger, my roommate pleads, though his voice is flat. It’s almost like someone speaks for him. “We’ll never talk about this again.” Everything links together. Past conversations, jokes, mannerisms, fights; the memories flip through my mind, looking for something that makes sense, a pattern that explains what’s happening right now. “I won’t help you.” The condition of his girlfriend thrusts to the forefront of my mind, her trying to hold everything in place. “I’m calling the police.” I wish it didn’t sound like I’m