Ava sat in the back. Blinking her eyes, she looked around. There were no assigned seats. The lecture hall was often near empty and she had her choice of anywhere in the auditorium to sit. However, regardless, she sat in the back. She couldn't hear the professor very well over the distance and the school hadn't bothered to install a sound system. She wasn't even quite sure what class it was she was going to, but she knew she couldn't dare miss this class and sat in the back.
It was a strange thing, Ava thought, why don't I move forward, so I can hear better? It was probably a philosophy lecture and she wasn't sure if she had missed a test already. But then, why would it be philosophy? She thought, Aren't I a veterinary student? She intended to stand, but it was as if her legs were deaf. Her arms began to move writing words in a journal on the desktop leaf attached to the seat's arm. The words read: 'ORGANIC CHEM.'
Oh, yeah, She thought, this is Ms. Byer's class. I hate having to be here this early. Her hand; however, continued on the paper writing notes for words she wasn't hearing. Then it came again, the low vibration that tickled her spine. A deep sense of discomfort that didn't come from the creaky auditorium chairs. Once more she thought, Get up. But her body continued writing and sitting all the same.
Ava tried to scan the room with her eyes perhaps the one sense that might obey her. Then she saw it, a spreading shadow at the base of her eyes that was tinged red. She searched for other students, but they were all spread about the auditorium as distanced as she was. Then she heard the door behind her open. It was clearer than all the rest of the lecture had been. Ava looked briefly at her notebook expecting to see chemistry notes, but instead it was a message. The message read: I DON'T WANT TO DIE.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmm6OIh9J0
Ava looked up just in time to hear a loud click. The other students were up and seemingly heading for the exit behind her. Her mind screamed, GET UP! Only then did her legs seem to respond. She stood dizzily trying to steadily, speedily, stealthily make it to the exit door that she knew was behind her seat.
A familiar laugh made her pause, the loud crack of the gun startled her and she fell into the seat. Her hands searched on the chair for something solid to steady her. They landed on cold metal, the armrest? Ava's gaze fell to the gun that she was leaning on. One that had been hidden in her hand bag. How did this get here? Ava wondered, then once more she willed her body to leave. In the background, a separate gun was firing off at an irate rhythm and the chorus of screams began to grow.
She felt rather than saw the bodies hitting the floor and the energy, however low it had already been, seemed to leach out of the room. "Fuck." the word slipped out of her mouth. Looking up Ava saw Jacob, the TA. Their date refreshed in her mind, an update that contextualized the scene. The gun no longer felt strange, but like a prop in her hands to a play she'd performed before. She angled it up at him, but her arms lacked confidence and her thoughts disconnected as they were to her body were reaching towards Jacob, like a sunflower to the sun.
His eyebrows scrunched in concern before smoothing out. A smugness that turned her tenderness sour, but did nothing to harden her resolve. For a second they held a standoff, he didn't wield a gun, but a knife. Ava thought, No, this isn't fair.
Jacob's laughter started anew, low and sinister. "Looks like you haven't learned your lesson yet, darling." He put his forehead to the barrel of the gun and stared at her with the intensity of a laser pointer. "Guess, you'll just have to try again." His smile dropped and with disgust in his eyes he drove his knife into her chest. Her body recoiled from the shock of the deed and she fell back towards the seats. He pulled the knife out and the pain barely registered. He shook the knife in her direction and she vaguely felt the warm droplets land.
The chaos faded into the background as her vision failed. Ava remembered his words the night before finally. "I care about you a lot, Ava, but if you want any chance to live tomorrow, you need to shoot me first. I can't control it." Then it made sense.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vU9ldmWAR
What didn't, was when she opened her eyes, she was sitting in the back...13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYKNWvMwe8
and then Add to home screen.