January 14, 2026

I was studying for a chemistry exam and the period was almost over which meant that we had to vacate the room for the next class. I vacuumed the floor on my way out. My next class was supposed to be Japanese but I wasn’t sure where the classroom was actually located. A friend asked me if we were doing the same activity in class this week as last week. I couldn’t give a straight answer as we weren’t in the same section.

I looked once more at my schedule: Room 14442. I had a strange feeling that I had somehow been skipping this class for the entire semester. I walked through the endless hallways in search of the classroom, wondering if this was why I never went. I had to keep double checking my phone because the the layout of the floor seemed to make no sense. I finally decided to walk into one of the offices to ask a professor for directions. They told me the class was actually at C44+e9. I made my way to room C44, went through door e on the other side, walked down the hallway, and opened the door to room 9. It was empty.

I walked to the end of hallway e and ended up in a common room. People were hanging out on the couches and playing games on the TV. I asked them if there used to be a Japanese class here. “Maybe they moved to somewhere more convenient”, someone suggested.

I woke up. I looked up the professor’s name who surprisingly had her own website. She was an old white woman who grew up in the rice fields of California.