Sabrina Carrel, English 1030 section 15, Parker King
I wake up for my 9am class and my roommate has already left for her 8am, "she finally figured out how to not wake me up while getting ready" I think, as I drag myself out of bed. A long night at the library makes for a difficult time getting up the next morning.
I'm so tired from the previous night of studying I hardly notice the emptiness of the bathroom as I get ready or the lack if conversation filling the tiny halls of the dorm. If anything I'm thankful for the peacefulness and that I get a little time to myself before joining two hundred other kids in my biology lecture.
An average day on library bridge looks something like suffocation and deafness rolled into one overcrowded walk way and it is usually the most distracting and long portion of my walk to class in the mornings. The bustling tabling of my srat "sisters" and the horse girls from my animal science class and the other premed students going abroad this week (and apparently last week too?) attempt to drag me into their super special and unique form of fundraising and eventing, but as usual I'm late and not in the mood.
Up until my usual walk-jog to my 9am, I hadn't really noticed the lack of people I'd come into contact with that day. I finally reached library bridge and immediately blocked out my peripheral vision from habit. When I finally realized it was empty I stopped dead in my tracks and lost the rest of the breath caught in my chest as I realized I hadn't actually seen anyone yet today.
I forced myself not to panic, and told myself it was an odd fluke, immediately remembering I was well on my way to being late for lecture. "Maybe my clocks were off and everyone is already inside" I tell myself, and I can already feel my breaths returning.
I hurried into my lecture hall to find an entirely empty room. The seats creaked with the lack of weight in their cushy beds and my heart fell through the floor. "I'm alone." the only sentence that ran through my head for at least ten minutes. I hadn't even questioned where everyone was, only why I was the only one not there. No one thinks about the fears they have until they're faced with them. Turns out I'm afraid of abandonment.
With the realization that I was the only one on campus though, came the realization that I truly was the only person on campus. There are so many things I have wanted to do since being here that I just hadn't had the time or courage to do. I essentially had an entire free day to play. I guess the lack of other adult humans caused me to revert back in maturity and age, regression theory, but that wasn't all bad. My fear quickly turned to curiosity and I ran around Clemson as if I had no parents or people watching. The giant diving boards at the fike pool, the Clemson house roof, the bell tower of Tillman, campus was very literally my play ground. I never did figure out where everyone had gone that day, but when I woke the next morning, exhausted from my long day of adventure, I found my roommate quietly sleeping in the bed beside mine. I guess it's best to not ask questions you don't need answers to.