Freshman year.
The traffic merged and slowed to turn and look at the fresh three-car collision. A sedan waiting to turn right into the busy intersection had been pushed forward into oncoming traffic by an impatient driver, who had since made their exit. The police hadn't arrived yet, but Alitheia carried on with the traffic. Not her problem.
Seven minutes later, Alitheia saw an ambulance and a fire truck headed in the direction of the wreck, a second ambulance racing past shortly after. Intent on keeping less than a meter's length of space between her Lexus and the pickup truck in front of her, Alitheia pulled up to the last light before she could turn into the UCLA campus grounds.
She turned her music down a little, elegant gutterals and gruesome melodies that none of her friends listened to or knew of, but which she found calming. Alitheia couldn't tell whether Chris Barnes was chanting "My blood runs cold" or "I love Morse Code", but she smiled and gently bobbed her head all the same.
The traffic continued forward, and Alitheia eventually found a free space in a parking structure. Taking a deep breath, she turned her music off and checked to make sure she was presentable in the mirror. Make up was not a part of the daily routine for her, but precise hygienic maintenance was. Her nostrils were clear, her eyebrows were plucked symmetrically, and she kept her jaw positioned so that her face was not too short or too long.
Bzzz! The iPhone in the cup holder vibrated. Someone had just favorited her most recently drawn sketch on DeviantArt. Alitheia kept her school art and hobby art separate due to their subject material. Her drawings of flowers, seascapes, and animals were sent to school art contests and submitted for classes. The sketches she drew of people were uploaded online under an obscure username because she only drew people in their most beautiful form. Dead.
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Beep! Beep! Beep! Rael lazily peered out from under the covers as his hand had subconsciously turned the alarm off. He turned his phone's screen to face him and realized he had slept through his previous five alarms for the morning. He was also going to be late to class if he didn't burst out the door in less than ten minutes.
As Rael threw on a random T-shirt and jeans, he browsed Reddit posts to wake up a little. "Stocks of marijuana companies skyrocket as the genetically enhanced version of the drug is approved by the FDA." "Hurricane Martin will break the record on most active Atlantic hurricane season." "Half Life 3 confirmed for exclusive PC release next year." "Senator against gender neutrality says unisex porta potties must be discontinued." Rael wiped his furrowed brow and sighed, picking up the book on the top of a towering stack from the table and opening it up to one of the many pages marked with a Post-it flag:
"Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature."
—Plato
A few minutes later, Rael was out the door. In reality, he was not even close to late, but he liked to arrive at classes as early as possible so he did not have to walk in front of as large of an audience to get to his seat in the back. Usually, Rael would already be in his seat, fifteen minutes prior to class start, and be doodling in his notebook. Keeping his mind occupied was always a priority because it tended to remember too much or severely bother him when left idle.
Exiting the dorm building, Rael speed walked to class. Knowing that it was much easier to upset someone than it was to make them like him, he made sure he didn't get in anyone's way and yielded to the other foot traffic when possible.
