Mark's eyes snapped open and he woke with a start.
He had fallen asleep at his desk. He looked out the window of his fourth-floor dorm room in time to see a crack of lightning knife through the sky, followed afterward by a low, powerful rumble.
He rubbed his face, then pressed a key to wake up his laptop. Wikipedia was open to an article about Ella Wheeler Wilcox. He had an assignment.
He was about to close his laptop, but instead, on a whim, he typed Spica into the search box. He quickly scrolled through the resulting article, knowing that this was dumb, that he had no reason for being on this page. Just before closing the tab, one line caught his attention: Another name for Spica is Azimech, meaning "defenseless" or "solitary one".
He slammed his laptop shut, annoyed at himself.
He crossed to the window. The rain was beginning to slow, and the haze it left behind mingled with street lamps and traffic lights, making Eugene look like the fading embers of a doused fire.
Frowning at the image, he slowly lowered the shade.
YOU ARE READING
Life Lost and Found
General FictionMadeline found the note in her locker. Neatly folded, it held a pair of razor blades and a set of instructions. "Just die, ugly girl. No one will miss you." She doesn't know who gave it to her. Or any of the others before it. But she knows one thing...
