Just before Arsenal could run out of the gate, the time went back to normal, and to most students that were around at the time, Arsenal seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and was running out of campus.
He did not stop until he had gotten to the highway, and found shelter in a local bar nearby, where he sat down over a table to catch his breath.
"Oh God," He mumbled, running his fingers through his hair and keeping his mouth open while panting. He knew that running was a big mistake, especially now because everyone will have a lot more questions to ask him.
"How did you do that?"
"Do you have super powers?" All these and more awaits him when he returns to campus.
But he was scared, he couldn't think properly when it happened and acted based on his intrusive thoughts, plus the system wasn't even trying to help him.
"What are they going to think now?" He wondered, hitting his forehead on the plastic table waiting for an idea to pop up.
"Hey man?" came a familiar voice from behind, and Arsenal was startled, taking his caller by surprise.
"You are shaking," Fred said,
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Arsenal nodded his head, and tried to compose himself,
"I am alright. Just ran a marathon… literally."
"Someone chased you?"
"Not exactly.'"
"Okay… just a second." Fred excused himself and walked up to the counter to ask the bartender for some bottles of drink. While Arsenal stayed back and burried his head in his palm.
" I don't need this right now honestly." He muttered.
It wasn't a coincidence that he met Fred at the bar, because he had worked here for a few months and Fred came in daily, especially in the evening to take a bottle or two.
He gets drunk often, and would usually get carried out of the bar by the friends he came along with. So it's quite rare to see him alone, and to Arsenal it was bad luck because he didn't want to talk with anyone.
In no time, Fred returned to the table with two bottles of vodka in his hand, and a stick of cigarette in between his lips.
"So tell me," He said, passing one bottle over to Arsenal who accepted it and hesitated to open it up.
"Did you really try to do stuff with the girl? Lisa?" He inquired, before lighting the cigarette and getting down to business.
"No?" Arsenal replied with a frown, he thought it was very offensive to ask him that question, but he couldn't blame Fred or anyone else.
"The idiot framed me." He added.
"Why would she do that?"
"I don't know," Arsenal replied, before taking his first shot of the drink before him.
"I did not do anything to her, nor her boyfriend so i don't just know, man I am just… upset!"
"Relax," Fred said, after blowing the smoke out of his nostrils,
"Things happen that we can't explain, men get horny and just do stuff without knowing it."
"What?" Arsenal raised a brow,
"I didn't try anything with her… you know what, I don't have to explain anything to anybody, yall can think whatever you want to think. I have a lot more on my hand that I need to take care of before it gets out of hand."
So far, Arsenal used the alcohol to clear his mind, for someone who barely drinks alcohol he wasn't mindful of how much he had consumed. His conversation with Fred swayed in many directions, and the longer they stayed in the bar, the more Arsenal filled his stomach with vodka, until eventually he became nauseous.
"Sorry, excuse me," He said and stood to his feet. Arsenal wanted to go to the bathroom before it was too late, but for some reason everything was hazy around him.
His vision was blurry, yet he was determined to make it to the bathroom.
"Be careful man!" Fred yelled from behind when he almost bumped into a table in front of him, but not even Fred's warning stopped Arsenal from falling head first to the floor after missing a step.
"I'm alright." he said and got back up. Surprisingly, even in his drunken state, Arsenal knew where the bathroom was and headed straight for it.
Once he got into one of the stalls, Arsenal emptied every content from his bowl into the toilet. He was so weak that he just sat down next to the it, and rested his head on its seat.
"System, are you there?" He asked.
[ Always ]
"What is wrong with me?"
"Hope this is not another one of your stupid side effects?"
[ No, you are drunk. But, this may trigger a side effect, considering that you can barely control your body or even move.]
"Uhhhhg!" He groaned like a little child,
"It's always one side effect or another with you. I can't get mad, it's a side effect, I can't drink cos of side effects, what else… I can't sleep?"
[ I could reduce the effects of intoxication if you want me to, Confirm to proceed.]
Arsenal squinted his eyes. Even though he could see the display on the systems screen, Arsenal couldn't position his fingers correctly to hit touch the right option.
"Just do it, I can barely touch the screen."
[ Alright, hang in there. I'm going to help you shake off the buzz ]
"Did it work?" He asked after a few seconds.
[ You tell me ]
"Shit, why is there so much hair on my skin?" Arsenal wondered after his eyes were cleared he was no longer under the influence.
[I suggest that you do not go outside the stall for a while]
"Huh, why?"
Before Arsenal could understand why the system said that, he heard Fred's voice calling out to him.
"Arsenal, bro are you alright?"
But before he could make a move, the door to the stall was flung open, and this was such a wrong time because Arsenal looked like a beast out of a fairy tale.
"Hi?" He waved.