Your aunt, who loves the outdoors, took you camping in the desert one time. When night came and the fire died down, you sat outside your tent and stared up at all the stars in the night sky, the faint band of the Milky Way stretching across the heavens.
Now all of that space is in your head, and it's pulling you apart.
It's more than just that space. It's countless spaces, stacks on stacks on stacks, all pressing down. You struggle to breathe.
An empty gap cuts through those stacks like a saw through wood. In that gap, something turns. You are seen in a way both awful and awe-ful.
Next
You come to on the floor. Manish lies beside you.
"Shit, shit, shit," Darcy mutters, on hands and knees next to you. She's mopping up vomit with a pile of paper towels. You don't know if that's yours or Manish's. "I can't get expelled. I can't lose this."
"Darcy?" Your voice comes from far away, like you have to remind yourself how words work.
Darcy scrambles over to you and throws her arms around you. "Thank god." She helps you sit up. Your limbs feel like they've formed independent federations and aren't taking your calls anymore. "I slammed that book shut when the two of you locked up but then both of you fell and started shaking and heaving and I didn't know what to do—"
"Did I throw up?" Manish croaks, rolling on his side. "I think I threw up."
Darcy throws sodden paper towels in a trash can and takes the trash bag with her. "Dr. Cohen's class ended two minutes ago. We've got to jet now."
Darcy does her best to support you and Manish out of the office.
Next