February 21, 2025

I found myself waking up in a school building but had trouble determining if I was too early or late for my classes. I started walking in a direction that felt familiar, letting muscle memory guide me to whatever classroom I was supposed to appear at. I passed by a friend who observed that we somehow always had classes in adjacent rooms.”Maybe we used to?…” I said, still not really sure where I was going. In any case, it must’ve meant that I was close.

I got to the doorway when it finally recognized the room as my English classroom. However I realized that I also hadn’t been attending classes for nearly an entire semester. In fact, it was possible that I’ve also been missing my math classes.

I awkwardly walked around the room looking for a free seat when I learned that apparently it was a test day. I redirected my search for a box of napkins when felt an itch in my nose and a deep cough coming up. One of the students tugged at my sleeve and put their phone in my face. “where the hell have you been?” was written on the screen.