Awakening to thunder, the streaks of lightning radiating through my room mingled in with my thoughts before me. I peered over to my right and there lay Emily sprawled across the bed, taking up more room than she should. This was a recurring issue with her; she constantly sprawled out fully while I squeezed into some odd angle. That girl could take up an entire bed like no one else in the entire world. However she twisted and turned in her sleep, she always seemed to manage to occupy an unnecessarily high percent of the mattress. I remember waking up some mornings clinging to the edge of the bed, questioning how someone could sprawl out that much without even being conscious of it. Weirdly, despite how commonplace this semi-sleepless night was-it was often humorous to be honest. It was similar to watching a thirty-minute comedy program with her as the unintentional star, often times. In the meantime, we were awakened by a clap of thunder; Emily had no idea what was happening while she peacefully slept. She looked serene and calm. While the occasional thundercrash kept me from sleeping as well as keeping my peacefulness at bay. And that was why I clutched my journal and turned the pages absent without purpose. I found myself searching around August 12th 2023 in my journal, it began with:
"I said goodbye to him today. Tears ran freely down my face. He didn't feel the same anymore. He stood there without saying a single word, which hurt almost as much as a real pain would have. I fought the tears that begged to come out of me. I couldn't manage to cry in that moment.
I felt everything we touched or shared was feeble, slipping away and ethereal, like sand through my fingers.
My lips stayed on his forehead. I held him tightly trying to keep the feeling of his touch with me forever. But, as I stood back up, I felt the loss of any future between us. To keep my emotions together, I walked away.
Every step took us further apart, as if time was pulling us away from each other. Love, what once was there, slipped away from my hands. The love that I held so tightly in my hands was now beyond my reach. Our story was fading into a memory. A love, that I tried to hold onto so tightly was desperate to leave me. I walked away with the taste of the final kiss; something that once held me near and is now gone afar forever. I let him go. I never knew love like I had loved him. He couldn't be my home, and I knew that, but I tried anyway. I loved that place. It witnessed our love, stupid fights, and now, our fate."
I don't remember falling asleep, however when I woke up, I found myself lying on the couch. The only thing that was a bother was the fact that my eyes were teary, but I didn't give it much of a thought. My eyes scanned to check my phone. I checked my phone and saw that I was in a rush as I needed to be there by 9. I took a hasty bath, put on my clothes, and to be honest, it was the only time where I managed to get ready in just 20 minutes. Usually it takes about an hour.
Going downstairs in the morning, I found that Mom had cooked breakfast. I quickly grabbed a bite, checked to see if I had my keys, and then hurried out the door hoping to reach my class on time.
When I finally arrived at university, it greeted me with the chaos of orientation, like it would have welcomed anybody else. The huge, inflated archway declaring, "Welcome to the Land of Endless Assignments!" didn't quite catch my attention. Classic university humor, I rolled my eyes.
I finally got to meet Dr. Harper, and she was smiling at me warmly, leading me then to the lab. The moment I stepped inside, my jaw almost hit the floor. The lab had been taken from some kind of science fiction movie: spectrometers, microscopes, and what really looked like an overcomplicated coffee machine.
"Welcome, Claire," Dr. Harper said. "Let's get you acquainted with the team."
I was introduced to Jenna, as effervescent as the "Happy Hour" coffee mugs that lined her lab. She was bubbly enough that I half suspected she ran on a combination of caffeine and ruthless optimism.
