It was after my Italian class, and I was waiting at the bus stop for an East Campus Express. Sometimes, if all the stars and planets in the Universe align as I see a shooting star fly over a double rainbow that leads to a pot full of golden pennies that have landed heads-up, the East Campus Express will show up on time and get me to ECV early enough to run in and grab something to eat before horn seminar. But, sadly, today was not one of those days.
Instead, I was stuck pacing and occasionally looking down the street with big hopeful eyes. As the minutes dragged on, my gaze became less hopeful and more downcast and pitiful, and I slowly came to terms with the fact that I would not make it to ECV in time to eat.
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| As illustrated. |
My dreams of getting food were vanishing before my own eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it. If I didn't get food before seminar, I would have to go an extra four hours without eating due to very poor class scheduling. I might have been three-quarters self-digested by that point.
Finally, I was able to get on the bus and head to seminar. As we arrived at ECV, I could smell the strange mix of breakfast and lunch emitting from the dining hall. My stomach leaped forward, trying to steer me in to the building. While my stomach was begging to be filled with anything- anything at all- my rational side remained in tact, and I convinced myself to get to class; I was already late enough as it was.
Walking up the fifty-two stairs to the school of music, I could feel myself becoming more and more primal. "Food.." I was thinking, "Foooooooood...foood.." I was slowly reverting back to my basic instincts, becoming an animal. All I could concentrate on was food. I concentrated on it so hard that the word lost all meaning and became merely an abstract. It was something I knew I needed, and images of food rotated around my mind like they were on a carousel, but the actual word itself seemed to morph into a pained groan. "Foooood.." I was thinking as I walked up to the Choir Suite for seminar. I had forgotten why I was even heading this way, but maybe there was food in here. I was drooling a little as I opened the door and peeked in.
A wave of shock washed over me as I was met with the gaze of fifteen horn players all at once. The light bounced off their horns directly into my eyes, and their stares were just as piercing. It was so bright it hurt. I was jolted back into reality enough to realize that I had forgotten to get my horn, but not quite enough to remember that I was a human. I quickly retreated, hissing at them as the door closed.
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| As illustrated. |
Retrieving my horn took several minutes, as I thought that there might be something to eat laying about in my locker. Maybe some unlucky flies had gotten stuck, or maybe a centipede had used my locker as a tomb. I found nothing that I could ingest, not even dust, and so I trudged back up to the Choir Suite to face the humans once again.
As I slinked up the stairs and rounded a corner, I suddenly found myself face to face with a girl.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Please excuse me," she offered.
"SCREEEEE" came my response. It echoed through the stairwell, seeming only to intensify with each reverberation. My eyes were wide and wild, my teeth bared. Had she not run away so quickly, I might have taken a bite out of her. Instead, I settled with more hissing and some spittle flew out of my mouth. I arched my back and paced for a few seconds, making sure she would not invade my territory again.*
The next moments were a blur of confusion, but when I became fully aware again I was among the horn-studio people. They were all staring at me; they must have noticed a difference in my behavior. I could tell that they thought something was slightly odd about me today. Was it that all my hairs were standing on end? Maybe it was because I had gone so long without blinking. It might have been because all the blood had drained from my skin and I was now as pale as snow. Could it be the veins throbbing in my neck and forehead? Whatever it was, I knew I had to hide it and act normal.
Be cool. Use real words when they address you. You know, like use your tongue and syllables and stuff when you talk. Less emphasis on your S's so it sounds less like a hiss.
"So, Billy," the human in charge was directing attention towards me, "Welcome to seminar. Better late than never, huh?"
"Haheuhyea," I mumbled, not looking her in the eye. I couldn't decide which response of "haha," "uh," and "yeah" would be considered normal, so apparently I had combined all three without thinking.
There was a slight pause. I continued walking to my spot. Left foot in front. Now right foot in front. Good. No, don't let your arms creep up like you're a T-Rex. Keep them down. Stop arching your back! Keep it straight! You can do this..
"So did you get any nuggets to remember from this morning's master class?" she asked, slyly. But I didn't hear the end of the question. My mind was still hung up on "Nuggets." So, did you get any nuggets? Is she mocking me? I need food. Fooood. No I didn't get any nuggets!
Taken aback, I turned around very swiftly. Reflecting upon this move now, I realize that it must have looked behind me like I was in a hair product commercial. If I had long hair, it would have been the best hair toss. But I continued to look at her, about to answer, "NO! I DIDN'T." Something stopped me, though. It might have been the look on her face as she returned my intense shampoo model stare or the way the entire room had gone silent for what felt like the next five decades. Nothing moved for so long, and in that time I realized that I had not considered the whole question. Quick, think of a generic and normal human answer! Hurry! Talk about how they played. I'm sure they must have played this morning...
"Uh, I really just can remembered the way great that they can play. And their tones so effortless and easily. I would like want to copy their soundsss."
Perfect. Great execution.
"Oh. Well alright," came her response, delayed by a couple seconds as she tried to decode what had just come out of my mouth.
Everything was eerily quiet as a sulked to my stand. As we were playing, I kept seeing blackness cloud my vision. Eventually it swallowed me whole, and I awoke several hours later.
I have no idea what happened during that time, but I'm no longer hungry and there are weird stains on my carpet now. I can just ask my roommate when he gets back I guess. I'll also ask him why he left his shoes and shirt in the room and why they're covered in what looks like blood. They were already dark colored, so it's kind of hard to tell what exactly drenched them. But it's not like him to leave the room without his shoes/shirt on. He also seems to have been collecting bones or something in the corner of the room. If you ask me, he's been acting kind of weird today...
*As a side note, for me, this is actually a typical encounter with a girl. My starvation cannot be completely to blame in this event.
oh.my.god.
ReplyDeletei love you.