Assistance Required

Late Nights

It was late when Virgil finally finished his reading assignment. Instead of going to bed, he decided to grab a coffee and work on calculus. A few of the others were still with him in the student center. Slowly, they each left to head up to bed. Patton, still worried about leaving Virgil alone, stayed with him. He tried to convince him to come upstairs with him and leave it for tomorrow, but Virgil kept putting him off. Eventually, he stopped asking. Virgil worked on his calculus in peace. It took a while before Virgil noticed the reason Patton had stopped asking was because he had fallen asleep. Virgil took off his hoodie and placed it around Patton's shoulders before turning back to his work.

It was well past midnight when he finished his calculus. He was starting to drift off, but he couldn't let himself fall asleep. He needed to finish his work. He had to keep going. He pulled out his history textbook. Even though he had taken the class in high school, he still made sure to do the assigned readings before class. He pulled out some paper to take notes while he read. He sipped his coffee and shook himself to stay awake as he pushed on. Just a little more. Then he could be done. Just a little bit more.

He woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. He peeled his face out of his textbook and looked around groggily. He found Roman smiling at him.

"You two stayed out here all night?" he asked.

Virgil looked to his side to see Patton waking up beside him. He nodded.

"Wow! How much sleep did you get?"

"I don't know when I passed out, but it was before Virgil."

"You fell asleep around 11:30, I think. At least that's when I noticed."

"What about you?"

Virgil shrugged.

"What time is it now?" Virgil asked.

"It's almost eight. I have a class soon," Roman said.

"Okay, have fun," Patton said.

Roman hesitated before walking away. Virgil sat there for a moment staring at his books. Crap. He had lost his place. He looked over his notes. They didn't make much sense. He wasn't sure where he was in the reading. He'd probably have to start over and see where that led him. He sighed as he packed up his stuff.

"Virgil?"

Virgil turned to look at Patton.

"How late did you stay up?"

"I don't know. I at least managed to finish my reading and my calculus homework. I think I'll have to reread the history text though. My notes don't make much sense. I think I'll do that after class today."

"Virgil, you aren't answering my question."

"Oh. I think it was around two or three last I remember. I'm not really sure when I fell asleep. One minute I was reading the next Roman is waking me up."

"That's not good, Kiddo."

"I know... but at least I got a lot of work done yesterday. Roman helped me catch up in Spanish and I even got a bit of a head start on tomorrow's assignment!"

"You still need to sleep!"

Virgil waved him off.

"Eh, sleep's overrated anyway."

He slung his bag over his shoulder and left Patton gaping behind him. Patton ran to catch up with him. Virgil took a shower to freshen up before getting ready for the day. Logan walked him to class again. They had grabbed coffees before heading to class which Virgil was very grateful for.

He was only half paying attention to the discussion. He had finished the book and now they had to write a five-page paper on it. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have to read half of a new book by Tuesday. At least he had a couple of weeks to work on the paper. He decided to at least come up with some ideas for topics to discuss while the information was fresh in his tired mind.

After class, he went back to the student center with Joan. He knew he had planned on rereading the history text, but he'd rather get started on the paper. He came up with points for his ideas and flipped through the book to find quotes he could possibly use to back up his claims. He sipped on his coffee only to find the cup was empty. How could it be empty so soon? Once he was satisfied with his planning, he decided to pull out his history textbook and retake the notes.

Hours later he went to his writing class. He was assigned another paper. Great. He was also reminded that midterms were coming up towards the end of the month. Just a few weeks away. He suppressed the panic at the thought of a big exam. There was still a lot of time before then and he had too much to do to worry about it.

He grabbed some paper to do some of his art assignments during his late lunch with the others. He was supposed to draw a banana with some books to work on perspective. He had some pasta and soup while he worked. He went back to the student center after dinner until it was time for his studio art class.

He lost himself in his work. Each stroke of his pencil felt right even if it wasn't. He didn't care that his hands were covered in graphite as he worked on getting the shading right. He smiled as he sketched. Nothing else mattered. All too soon, class was over.

He didn't want to stop drawing. He went back to the dorms and sat down with his sketchbook. He couldn't just draw whatever he wanted, but he did have some art assignments he could do. The professor was going to collect all of their assignments as their midterm grade. It felt good working on his art. As long as he was sketching, the rest of the world didn't matter. He felt waves of calm wash over him as he did his assignments.

Once the others went to sleep, he used the light of his phone to keep going. He wasn't ready to return to the real world yet. He caught up on his art assignments and started working ahead. Luckily the professor had posted all of the assignments for the semester. He had to move things around to draw the items. He stacked books. He moved chairs around. He made sure to be quiet so he didn't wake the others while he positioned everything. He moved all around the room to gain new perspectives to draw.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

He froze as Roman stirred. Was it really morning? Virgil quietly placed his sketchbook in his bag. He stood up and stumbled as a wave of dizziness hit him.

"Morning," Roman said not noticing Virgil almost falling.

"Morning," Virgil croaked as he stretched.

Had he really stayed up all night? He didn't know why he felt somewhat energized. He knew he was going to crash later, but he hoped it would wait until after his classes. Maybe he could take a quick nap before work? He got ready for the day before walking to class with Roman.

Virgil could feel his energy slowly draining from him as the day dragged on but he didn't quite feel tired. It was weird. Instead of taking a nap like he promised himself earlier, he started his reading for pulp fiction. Around four he got ready for work and left. It was an exhausting day. He ended up in the kitchen prepping the orders. The dinner rush was insane and he was stuck running around trying to fill the orders. By the time he was done with work, he wanted nothing more than to lie down in bed.

He grabbed himself a cup of coffee before closing up to drink on the drive back. He was struggling to keep his eyes open. He was trying so hard to stay awake. He turned on the AC and drank his coffee. Just a little further.

He blacked out.