@cqckroach
Double majoring in aerospace and computer Engineering required a lot of time and energy. At this very moment, Raven was clocking in at eight hours in the library. Yawning increased as did the pressure behind her eyes. The exhaustion was making it nearly impossible to let the information sink it. She reread the sentence on the page about four times. The fifth time, she read it aloud hoping she could still cram a little more but her knowledge intake has reached its limit. Letting out a heavy sigh, she used the heel of her hands to rub her eyes in a futile attempt to alleviate some of the strain. It was the week before midterms and she couldnât afford to slow down. Her scholarships depended on keeping her grades up and that couldnât happen unless she pushed herself to the absolute limit. She allowed herself a five-minute break to grab an energy drink from the vending machine and to stretch.
Her fingers pressed âDâ and â9â, the beep sounds practically echoed in a completely silent and empty alcove. As she waited for the energy drink to dispense, she raised her hands up towards the ceiling to stretch them out. She heard a few disconcerting noises but she had been sitting all day. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a black figure and immediately turned to face it but was met with nothing. There was no one standing in the corner but she couldnât shake the feeling of being watched. The sound of the drink dispensing violently made her jump. Libraries, at night, were creepy, okay? Any building at night was a little creep. Her exhaustion was obviously just feeding her imagination. She cracked the can open, listening to it hiss as she walked back to her table. Her phone was in a different position from before. She could have sworn she left it under her textbook but not it was right on the open page. âRaven, you need to be more careful. Someone could have stolen it.â Mentally scolding herself for her carelessness.
When she touched her phone, it lit up. There was a missed call and texts from Clarke, a text from Luna, and a few texts from Monty. She took a minute to both read and respond to everyone. Clarke wanted to see if she wanted to go out for dinner⊠two and a half hours ago. She quickly sent a âSorry, I just saw this now. I hope you ate.â text her way. Lunaâs text was an encouraging âhave a nice time studyingâ. She shot back a âthanks, you too.â. Montyâs was a scientific meme that made her laugh. She sent back a laughing emoji and a heart as a thank you. After another two hours, the librarian physically tapped her on the shoulder. âSorry, Iâll pack up now. I lost track of time.â
The older woman gave her a sympathetic smile and gently patted her shoulder. Raven dogeared where she left off and packed up her bag. On her way out, she waved a goodnight at the older woman. When she walked out, her eyes immediately went to the man leaning against the side of the building. She couldnât see much beyond the black hood aside from some pale skin and how the cigarette smoke swirled as he exhaled. Something about him made the hair on the back of her neck stand.
There was nothing unusual about people smoking on campus. There was something usual about a man standing by himself, smoking, on campus in the middle of the night. Something didnât sit right. The headphones she took out were shoved back into her pocket as she walked towards the dorms.















