Alexa ran into the classroom panting and dripping sweat. Her creative writing professor, Mr. Malcomson did not look pleased.
"8:16. You know Ms. Cardin, if you left your house at a reasonable time, you wouldn't be near death trying to get here." he said wearily. "Now, please have a seat."
Alexa sheepishly took her seat. She nervously looked around and noticed her crush, Scott Balkan. When he looked at her for a brief second, she turned away quickly. "Now for today's exercise, I'd like to engage you in a thought experiment." Mr. Malcolmson said. "I want you to write about yourself, but from the third person. Can you view yourself outside of yourself? What does that look like?"
For reasons she could not understand, Alexa picked up a pencil and started jotting on her notepad aggressively. "Ms. Alexa Cardin opened a door and is pulled towards what is on the other side. She must find herself or she will be locked away forever."
Alexa's writing started to get rapid. Without understanding why, she felt her eyes begin to roll into the back of her head. "As Ms. Cardin learns to embrace the chasm, she will find herself reborn, prepared to undertake all that awaits her." she finished. She noticed a red spot on the paper and realized she had a major nosebleed. She rapidly gathered her notes and handed them to the professor. "I'm sorry, here's my draft...I have to go" and rushed out.
She ran into the bathroom and started splashing water on her face. "What the hell is happening to me?" Alexa muttered to no one in particular. She looked at herself in the mirror and could only stare. Lurking behind her was a seemingly gray humanoid figure. She blinked and the figure was gone. She grabbed her face in exasperation. I'm not old enough to go into a bar and I'm already losing my mind, she thought to herself.
Alexa walked out of the bathroom and was surprised to find Scott standing there.
"Hey, are you okay?" Scott asked her gently.
"Yeah...just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Alexa said, hoping to get out of there quickly.
"I'm barely functional myself." he responded. "I could use a coffee...did you want to grab one with me?"
"I...I...yeah that would be nice." Alexa said.
As Alexa and Scott started walking outside, she was oblivious to the tiny black patch beginning to appear on her eye.