la campanella

seven

accompanying music for this chapter: gymnopédie no.1 by erik satie and philippe entremont 

The week before Thanksgiving seemed to crawl by slower than I had originally expected. Despite being swamped by midterms and projects, I still had time to fret at the end of the day about Thanksgiving and wallow in my own loneliness.

After Naomi had broken the news of our parent's sudden departure, I finally received confirmation from them the following day. Either Naomi had made them feel guilty enough to say something ... or they just finally remembered. All I knew was that it was confirmed that I would not be returning to Friday Harbour for the break.

And that sucked.

It also became apparent that none of my roommates would be staying around.

Kira, who was going on a tropical vacation with her family, had even left a few days before the break began. Although she hadn't wished us all a formal goodbye, I woke up one morning at four A.M. to the sound of her banging around in her bedroom beside mine. She was clearly finishing up some last-minute packing before she hopped in a cab for the airport.

Matt and Reece were planning on busing upstate, meeting up with Matt's family before Reece continued along his way to his own family holiday plans.

Christian, although not quite as enthusiastic as the others, told us at dinner that he would be out of town for the weekend. He didn't quite elaborate anymore, but I knew that would mean he would be gone as well.

No one seemed too disturbed that I would be staying back by myself. Despite Reece offering good-naturedly to have me for his Thanksgiving dinner, I felt a bit weird imposing on him. Even Daniel, whose family lived in the city nearest to Bartley, suggested I could bus to his house for dinner on Sunday. But that felt out of place too.

Thus, no one else made any sort of effort and didn't seem too worried about me being by myself and I tried my best to not seem dejected. Although it did suck to not be with my family for the holidays, I was more so worried about living in an empty house for almost a week.

What if someone tried to break in?

I considered inviting Audrey over to stay with me for the remainder of the time but she too was flying back home and I didn't have the money to join her.

And so, I spent the week before all my friends and roommates left, sort of moping around my bedroom and drowning in my workload.

Wednesday was the last official day of classes before the Thanksgiving break began on Thursday. I had spent the day writing a midterm and then mostly just kicked around campus. Audrey had to speed out of our lecture in order to make it to the airport on time, so I was mostly alone.

The campus itself was also pretty empty. A few students trickled in and out of lecture halls, but the cafeterias, coffee shops, and the library were pretty much dead. Even Bean Scene was closed over the break, meaning I couldn't even use work as a distraction. It was a weird sight, usually, Bartley was bursting with activity. Now the campus laid quiet and still, save for a few bundled-up students and the occasional stirring of leftover snow on the paths.

Once I felt too depressed to linger on campus any longer, I headed back to Fox Hall. On my lonely walk, home I listened to some fantastically sad music which allowed me to hunker into the sombre mood I was creating.

Heaving a heavy sigh, I kicked off my boots as I entered Fox Hall and nearly tripped over Daniel's shoes scattered by the entrance.

Furrowing my brow, I removed one headphone and listened to see if I could hear anyone in the living room. It was quiet, save for some loud humming and rustling that I assumed was coming from Reece's bedroom.