The Story of an Anti-Social

Chapter 2

I find myself shaking out of his grasp and walking towards his door, but he quickly yanks me back by grabbing my wrist. I do nothing but look at him, I can't do anything but look at him. My mind is dangerously faraway, but that doesn't mean my fear has gave way.

"Talk to me, Kristen, I want to help you." His voice is full of despair. I pry his fingers off of my wrist and decide to walk towards his window instead. He jumps up and quickly follows me, out of fear, I assume. I ignore his gesture and unlock his window and pull it up, letting the cold wind flow into the dorm. I jump up onto his desk and slide onto the windowsill. Caleb continues to just watch me silently as I swing my legs over the edge, making them dangle in the air. Without another sound, I heave myself off of the windowsill and land perfectly on the platform that sticks out half-way from the dormitory building. Once I gather my balance, I walk over to the edge where a tree meets perfectly with the platform. My hands grip one of the branches and I swing my body off of the platform onto the sidewalk. No, I was not about to deal with all of those people in the hallway in my condition.

I immediately start to walk to my dorm when I glance at one of the giant clocks on the buildings. 1:00. One hour until Chemistry121 and I forgot to do my homework. I curse under my breath and speed walk to my dorm.

****

My feet tap rapidly against the floor of the Chemistry121 room as people continue to flood in. I feel sheepish at how once again my fear is settling in and taking control of my movements. A bead of sweat rolls down the side of my face and I quickly wipe it away. Get a hold of yourself, Kristen. I try to breathe in and out, try to slowly disconnect with my surroundings, but my mental state hasn't fully improved since the... incident. My eyes look up from my desk and scan the room with a nervous tick. The professor finally walks over to the big doors and closes them with a boom. Thank God. That means no more people could possibly have this class.

Professor Thapa clears her throat and starts writing on the small board in front of the class, indicating class has started. Everyone gets out their notebooks and pencils in a synchronized fashion and immediately start to copy down the notes. I try to focus, I really do, but I just can't. My body is still slightly shaking. Nothing that bad has happened since-

The sound of the door opening in the painstakingly silent room gathers everyone's attention, even mine.

"Caleb, why are you late?" Professor Thapa questions.

"I, um, really don't know, Professor, sorry," he answers honestly and sits down two desks behind me. Professor Thapa just nods her head and continues writing the notes on the board. Just like everyone else, I continue copying them down.

Ten minutes later, I hear my name being constantly whispered from behind me, Kristen, Kristen, Kristen...

My hands automatically tear out a piece of notebook paper and scribble down the words, I need to leave, please excuse me.

Without another moment's hesitation, I get up and walk down the steps directly to Professor Thapa. I hand her the piece of paper and don't bother waiting for her approval as I immediately walk out of the classroom. When I reach the end of the steps outside, I stop in my tracks. Where do I go now? I look around helplessly to find a destination, but it seems like there're people everywhere. If I go back to my dorm, I'll just end up going insane with the walls closing in on me. As I begin to feel helpless, an idea comes to my mind and I mentally yell at myself for not thinking of it before.

My feet begin moving quickly out of the Main Squad and towards the glass library. I curse under my breath as I remember the only way to get into the glass dome library is to go through security at the normal library connected to it. With every step up the library stairs, my heartbeat begins to quicken. Calm down. Breathe. Just breathe.