An Encounter in their high school locker room changed Jimin's view, it leaves him unsettled. He is infected by troubling thoughts and dreams. Who will provide him peace now?
I feel relief as soon as I've done so. I'm doing something, finally. I'm fighting back.
I take a deep breath. I feel like I have achieved a small layer of security. I lean back in my chair and rub my temples.
I am sweaty and exhausted and I stink from walking around all day in the heat. I need a shower and rest. Ugh.
I remember that my laundry is still downstairs. I strip to my underwear and grab my towel. I'll go shower after putting my clothes in the wash.
I head for the stairs at the end of the hallway to get down to the basement. I hurry since I am just wearing a towel over a pair of boxer briefs and I don't really want to encounter anyone. Luckily there isn't anyone in the hallway, and I am relieved to find the stairs empty, too.
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It is an old building, one of the historic Gothic dorms on campus. The walls of the stairwell are ancient, concrete, and stone, with mysteriously exposed pipes that are constantly making ominous creaking noises. I feel a little dizzy when I finally get to the bottom of the stairwell.
I steady myself on the door handle leading into the basement hallway. Why is it always so hot down here? Sweat has broken out on my forehead, chest, and shoulders. When my head stops spinning, I proceed through the door.
The long basement hallway stretches before me. There is a loud clanking sound, muffled through concrete as I walk. The sound is emanating from behind one of the many mysterious locked doors that line the hallway.
I make a left, then a right, toward the laundry room, which is tucked away in a remote corner of the sprawling basement. There are signs with arrows pointing the way -- at least there were when I moved in. I don't see them now, but I know the way.
I walk for what seems like a long time down the third hallway and come to another intersection. Did I miss the laundry room? I turn around and walk back a bit, but there are no doors, no brightly lighted room with washers and dryers lined up against the far wall. I turn around again.
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Maybe I forgot a turn. Back at the intersection, I go right. I walk for another minute, but this also looks wrong. I'm sweating profusely now, it is really hot.
Maybe if I go all the way back to the stairwell I can reorient myself. I head back and make a left at the intersection, but then I am in a completely unfamiliar hallway. Shit.
I stop and close my eyes, trying to focus on how I got to where I am. I build a map of the basement in my head and place myself in it based on where I've walked. A path illuminates itself in the map, this is where I need to go.
I begin to walk back, confidently now, along the route in my mind. It doesn't matter that I don't recognize the hallways because I am just retracing my steps. I unwrap my towel from around my waist, it's just too hot. I feel sweat dripping down my face and neck, tracking down my back and down my chest.
After a while, I am back to where the stairs should be. But there are no stairs, just another intersection. "Fuck!", I say, loudly, slamming the wall in frustration.
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