Collision

I stumbled out of the university's archaeology department, every limb on my body weak and heavy, my head throbbing.

The hallway was quiet and serene and peaceful, devoid of people and all activity for it had been long past since classes were over. The lights overhead were dim, except for the occasional ones in certain classrooms that were left on. I could see some struggling chemistry students in them wearing white lab coats fiddling with some mysterious liquid that looked gnarly. The contrast between the bright chemistry lab and the dim hallway made me wince, and I instinctively darted my head downward to the comfortable darkness. A boom followed by uproarious laughter reverberated throughout the hallway from behind me, and I guessed that the chemistry students were the ones responsible.

I sighed. It would have been way more exciting to toy with a bunch of nasty chemicals and seeing what this and that would make, but no. I just had to be someone who isn't able to grasp anything science related. What a shame it is, being left out of all the details and breakthroughs relating to the sciences. Instead, my naïve young self decided to major in history. The major was a mix of things that people had stereotyped it as: boring, full of nonsensical stories, books, you name it. Yet at the same time, it wasn't the same. It involves a lot of tangled webs of accounts being vaguely related to one another, and it was our job to interpret them.

My knees bent a bit too much on one step, causing me to bend over and bump against the steel lockers at my right. I steadied myself back, and I heard a voice coming from behind me, this time not coming from the chemistry students, but rather one of my colleagues.

"You good?" she shouted from my back, sounding a bit forced and tired.

"Yeah, I think," I replied back. Glancing over my shoulder, she took relatively quick steps to where I was, ignoring the commotion inside the chemistry lab. Her name was Naya. We had been friends just recently, when we were grouped together in this god-forsaken thesis project. Our professor was kind enough to give out the assignment as grouped, but damn was this unexpected. Her hair was long, smooth, and crimson, flowing from her head all the way to dangling near her waist, where the ends of her hair curve outward. She wore a simple plain blue oblong tee and white shorts that were a size too big for her, where a brown leather belt tightened it around her.

"You sure? That impact was definitely one of the hard ones, y'know," she argued, her brown eyes now visible.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry 'bout it. We got other things to worry about."

"Right, the thing the archaeologists keep on rambling about in the meeting," she said. We walked at a slow steady pace toward the end of the hallway.

"Uh, yeah, that. What the hell about that could we even write in our thesis?" I started, feeling the frustration flowing out of me, "The professor couldn't have assigned us a different branch to collaborate with, huh? Archaeology? Are we gonna interview dinosaurs and cavemen? Decipher the scribblings on walls from an age where eating raw meat was still the norm? I can't believe this, and to partner up with this niche part of the major who only works with this *one* sphere with drawings that of a three-year-old could make is just absurd!"

Naya grimaced and tilted hear head downward. She gestured toward her ear with her left index, and I realized that I've been close to shouting for the better part of my rant. I lowered my volume. She said hesitantly, "Siyel, I understand your frustration. This is one of the stupidest things that I have to do- *we* have to do- probably ever since high school. If I had the chance, I would've never took the professor's offer. Like you, I thought it sounded rather juicy. Like, just imagine the amount of people citing our paper. But yeah, this is a major bummer. Everywhere just seemed like a dead end."

"I know, right," I replied, feeling her energy drain out of her like a running sink. Feeling like balancing over a highwire, I offered to her that we rant tomorrow, rather than in the seemingly neverending dimly lit hallway. We made our way to the exit, supporting each other with an arm over another's shoulder. This time, Naya was the one who bumped the exit. I held my tongue to hold back a chuckle, and we both opened a door on our respective sides. The door felt heavier than it did in the morning, probably due to my fatigue and carrying Naya's arm on my shoulder. Alas, we stepped outside.

The outside was a nice contrast to the indoors. It was night, the moon watching over them from the starless sky above. A soft breeze passed by, and it felt cool on my face, while Naya seemed to shiver. The trees to their left and right which were usually bustling and rustling now stood still.

"Hey," Naya managed to break the silence after mustering some strength, "when's tomorrow's class by the way?"

I twisted to grab my phone with my left hand. "7 AM, I think? The prof said something about a talkshow or something. I didn't pay attention, sorry. I think it's kinda mandatory. There's a task related to it. Don't know what."

"Ugh," Naya growled. "How long is it?"

"5 hours?" I answered in a rising tone, unsure.

Naya's eyes widened, and murmured "Probably is dense." After Naya jerked her head backward from falling asleep, she asked raspily, "And what time is it now?"

"4:39."