Requiem Run

Most college students will wake up dreading the day, especially if a class at eight in the morning is involved. My excuse when I woke up was that it was the first day of my finals, something that any college student can relate to dreading.

Of course, everyone wakes up to the sound of their blaring alarm eventually, and I would prove to be no exception. As I slammed my finger down on the ‘Stop’ button on my phone, I noticed what I had named the alarm:

Finals begin today! You got this!

“Heh. Thanks, past Riley.” I said as I climbed out of bed and shook my hair free of the bun it had been tied in through the night, “I’m gonna need all the luck in the world.”

I laughed at my own joke, then I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom attached to my side of the room. Naturally, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked like a wreck. Usually I just left my hair in its natural state of straight and thin, or tied it back in a ponytail, and today I was gonna go with a quick brushing and leaving it at that. The idea of putting makeup on now was unthinkable - I still sometimes thought about back when I had first started classes, and would walk into every classroom with a full face of makeup and done-up hair, perfect clothing, the whole nine yards. Now I was like all the others - barely awake, if that.

All the same, I finished my shower and got dressed - nothing special of course, just a t-shirt, blue jeans, sneakers and of course, my dad’s old leather jacket, which I always wore unless it was too hot out, and on a cold December day like this one, that definitely wasn’t an issue.

Out of the bathroom, I still had time to kill, and just as I realized that, my phone dinged off a text message to me from Max - I recognized his name the moment I picked up the phone.

Hey, you wanna get some coffee before the trek through hell?

I chuckled at Max’s sense of humor. Of course, he was talking about the coffee shop in the library, right across the campus from the dorm rooms. Naturally, I texted back.

See you there, just on the way out.

With that, I slipped my phone into my pocket, grabbed my backpack, made sure my wallet was in it, and stepped out of the bedroom into the common area for me and my roommate. Ayla was already there, sitting on the couch staring down at her laptop.

“Morning.” I said as I made my way to the door, “You have your Psychology final, right?”

Ayla nodded, glancing up and nodding at me as a way of returning my greeting, then she said, “You heading out now?”

“Coffee and math,” I said, “Great combo, huh?”

“Perfect.” said Ayla, “Godspeed.”

I waved her off and stepped out into the hallway. Mostly empty, except for some girls sitting against the walls reading books, and one girl on her phone who nodded to me as I passed her to get to the stairwell. It wasn’t too surprising, everyone else was probably trying to get as much sleep as possible before they had to start cramming for their finals as well.

Either way, I took off down the stairs and out the back door of the dorms and made my way across Westconn campus to the library, welcoming the heat of the inside from the cold of the Danbury, Connecticut air outside. Max was, naturally, sitting at the table closest to the door so he could see me.

“Over here, gov’nor!” Max called in his posh-est accent, something he liked to do when I was nearby; my best friend knew that one of the things that was always guaranteed to make me laugh was playing up his natural british accent as much as possible and using stereotyped phrases.

I laughed, just like he thought I would, and made my way to the counter to get my coffee with him in tow. To anyone else we’d almost look like the perfect couple; me, a nineteen-year-old 5’7 not-fat-but-not-thin blonde girl smiling and laughing as I got my coffee from the counter, and Max, the 6’ brunette british exchange student with heterochromia - right eye blue, the left eye dark green - having coffee, laughing, joking with each other. Like I said, the perfect couple.

Of course, the only people that would think that would be people who didn’t know that I was a lesbian, and that Max was just a really good friend of mine.

After I got my full cup of dark roast, Max and I went back to the table.

“Finals week, and then we’re done,” I said, “Did you get an update on the apartment situation?”

As soon as I said that, Max’s face fell and I immediately regretted it. He looked down at the table, back up at me, and gave me a small smile.

“They’re still having issues with my student visa,” said Max, “They said that if it doesn’t get settled soon, I might have to head back home for the summer, possibly transfer entirely.”

“Really?!” I said, “What the hell?”

“I’m not too worried,” said Max, “I mean, I’ll be back one way or another, right? You know it’s really hard to get rid of me that easily, Riley.”

Max had been complaining about his visa since a couple of weeks back, since he told me that they might send him back home, something about his academics needing to be perfect and a test that he had blown a couple of weeks back. Of course, that was just one test and Max had worked his ass off to make up for it, but that was what happened on a visa - you had to be the best, or you weren’t gonna go anywhere except right back home.

“Anyway, let’s not think about it,” said Max, “We’re probably just working ourselves up over nothing anyway. So, what’s your first final today?”

“I got English, then Communication,” I said, “You?”

“Lucky,” said Max, “I have Math today, then Remedial English. God speed.”

“God speed indeed,” I said, laughing after taking a sip of my coffee. Max always knew exactly how to make me smile. We finished our coffee, talked for a little bit more, and sooner than I would have liked, it was time to get to class, so we ran off to the oldest building on campus, White Hall, where we would be taking our finals. Max and I walked up the steps inside, heading straight for the elevator since our classes were on the second floor.

When we stopped outside the classroom for my final, I looked Max right in the eyes and placed my hand on his shoulder.

“You better ace that test,” I said, “This place will lose some of its shine without you.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Max, “See you on the other side, old friend.”

With that, Max walked down the hall and turned the corner, disappearing from my sight. I nodded to Denise, the girl who usually sat next to me in class, who had her earbuds in. I did the same, putting my own earbuds in and starting to listen to music when it was interrupted by my phone ringing. I smiled when I realized it was my little sister, Diane, and answered the phone.

“Hey Doc,” I said as I moved away from the group of students so I wouldn’t bother them, “What’s up?”

“Did you take your test yet, Riley?” Diane asked.

“Not yet,” I said, “Just about to. I don’t think that’s the only reason you called.”

“Well, no.” said Diane, “I mean, I just wanted to know when you’re gonna be coming home?”

“Well, this is the last week,” I said, “My room’s halfway packed up, and I should be ready to come home on Friday. Why?”

“Well, Mom wants to know…”

Diane trailed off in that moment, and I realized she had blown some kind of secret. I smiled and held back a laugh so no one in the hall would be disturbed.

“Doc, you’ve never been all that good at keeping secrets,” I said, “You know that, right?”

“Yeah.” Diane said after an exaggerated sigh.

“Well, spill the beans then,” I said, “What’s Mom planning?”

“Well, she - “

…

“Hello?” I said after a couple of seconds, “Doc? Hello?”

I took my phone away from my ear and saw that the signal icon was missing, which meant I didn’t have service anymore. I stared at my phone for a minute after that; White Hall had been known for its internet signal being hot garbage recently, but straight-up not working definitely wasn’t normal. I slipped my phone back into my pocket, turned to head back to the lounging area, just in time to hear the thump and see someone hit the floor.

“Huh?!” I gasped as I ran to the person - Denise, it took me a second to realize - and when I turned the corner to see if anyone else was going to help her, it took me a moment to register that everyone who had been sitting on the couches and standing around was on the floor in heaps.

“What the hell?!” I said out loud as I looked at all the people on the floor. I didn’t know what to do, my mind was racing with possibilities and what to do from here. Next thing I knew, I was running down the hall and turned a corner to Max’s classroom.

“Help!” I said, “People are passing out! Max!”

The classroom door was slightly ajar, and when I got up to the door, I realized that it was because a guy had passed out in the way of the door. I, however, was hyper-focused on my best friend lying on a sideways desk he must have taken with him when he collapsed.

“Max!” I yelled as I ran to his side, turned him over, and shook him as hard as I could. My friend didn’t respond, but when I checked his nose and side of his neck, I was relieved that he was still breathing.

My mind was racing as I ran out of the classroom, resolving to just run to the campus police and start screaming until someone decided to listen to me. I slowly backed out of the room, hyperventilating and trying to avoid passing out.

As soon as I was back out in the hallway, I turned to make a run back to the double doors that would take me to the stairwell, and stopped dead in my tracks as the doors opened and someone walked through.

“Help!” I said, “Hey, I don’t know what’s going on, but…”

I trailed off when I realized what the man was wearing; a big black cloak with a hood over his head so that it was difficult to tell what his face looked like. The man started walking towards me quickly, as if I hadn’t even said anything.

A wave of fear washed over me as I started backing away from the guy, down the hall where I knew some double doors could take me to the ground floor. Just as I turned around to run, hands from the man who had been creeping up on me went to grab me.

I spun around and shouldered the man, knocking him back enough and allowing me to bolt through the double doors and practically jump down the staircase. The doors opened and the two men were there, following me briskly down the stairs. I didn’t stop, I kept running down the stairs for the first floor.

The doors were back doors, but they would still lead outside. I threw myself at the door, and fell back in a shocked daze as it didn’t move at all. I jumped back to my feet and slammed on the door again, but it wasn’t moving.

“What the hell?!” I screamed out loud, pounding on the glass and struggling desperately with the door that, as far as I could see, didn’t have a lock or chains or anything that would keep it closed.

My mind was racing as the footsteps of the men were getting closer, coming down to the second floor. I ran from the doors across the hall, tearing for the front doors of the building and jumping over some other people that had dropped like the ones upstairs. My heart was racing and my sight had narrowed into tunnel vision, only thinking of breaking through those front doors and screaming at the top of my lungs.

That might have been why I screamed when those doors didn’t open either, no matter how hard I threw myself into them. I couldn’t even break the glass on the door, since it was so strong.

“NO!” I screamed, “COME ON!”

The doors didn’t give, and the men were slowly closing in on me. In a panic, I fled down the stairs to the basement floor of the building, and ran through the hallway, jumping over unconcious people and trying not to trip, hoping I could sneak around and find some kind of way to get out of the building.

Just as I could hear the footsteps heading into the basement, I ducked into the first door on my right, an old classroom that wasn't being used. My eyes passed along the darkened room for some kind of hiding place, resting on a big closet in the corner of the room.

I ducked inside the closet and closed the door just in time as the door of the classroom opened and the shape of the big man stepped inside. I held my breath and prayed silently, hoping beyond hope that he would just move on.

The man stood silently in the room for several seconds before motioning around. I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but it looked like he was taking a small device out of a pocket, like a cell phone or something. When he held it up to his face, the small device lit up green, also lighting up the man’s face.

Suddenly, the man looked straight at the closet, almost like he was looking straight at me. To my horror, he started walking straight for the closet. My mind started racing for some way to get away.

Just as the man was going to rip the closet doors open, I shoved forward, thrusting the doors open and knocking the man off his footing. I shouldered the man as hard as I could, and since he was off-foot, I managed to knock him over even though he towered over me.

The man went toppling into several desks and hit the floor hard. My adrenaline was kicking in hard, so I picked up one of the desks, raised it over my head, and slammed it down on the man for good measure. The man grunted when the desk hit him, and I tore away for the door, ripped it open, and managed to slip from the grasp of the second man who attempted to grab me on the way out into the hallway.

I bolted back for the stairs and thought of breaking a window on the first floor. Just before I could get back to the stairwell, something slammed into my back, as though an explosion occurred behind me. Then, I fell to my knees.

I couldn’t understand it, but whatever these guys had thrown at me, or hit me with, it was paralyzing me. I knee-walked another three steps before my entire lower body gave out on me. I could feel, faintly, some kind of wetness, probably my own piss, beneath me, but wetting myself was the least of my worries as I dragged myself towards the stairs.

I made it to the first step before I finally passed out.