Lily

University of Ashfield, North Ashfield

08:20AM } May 27

"Bye Lily, hope you have a good day today!"

"You too, Mum!"

I waved at my mother as she travelled to St. Jerome's Hospital for work. The journey was just like any other; the two of us chatting away during our walk past the South Ashfield Heights apartment complex and quickly stopping in one of the liquor stores so we could buy our lunches. Afterwards, we would descend the staircase into South Ashfield's Subway Station and head for the Lynch Street Line, so we could access the train for the northern neighbourhood. Seems simple enough ... but every time we walked past South Ashfield Heights, I always had this negative feeling well up.

I didn't know why, but... there was just something about that place which irked me.

Shaking the thoughts away, I followed the crowds of students into the building. As most universities are, Ashfield's one was massive. There were wide open spaces such as the canteen and library, along small and medium sized spaces which happen to be the classrooms in one huge white building with five floors. Bonus points go to the sports area outside for our team, the Ashfield Tigers. They're basically the stereotypical cute basket ball players who the girls fawn over... Pfft.

At least they're not gonna be playing any time soon.

The already packed reception had a very large space with the walls painted in white and the floor's tiles painted in a silver-grey colour. On my left, there was a long hallway with its' right side crowded with blue lockers and travelling down to the very end and turning left whilst on my right, there was a small area filled with two grey sofas and a white table. There was also a grey staircase travelling up to the second floor and behind it, was a pathway leading down to the toilets and elevator. A few metres away from me was another sofa-filled area and a large white desk, filled with notebooks and leaflets. After collecting my class' register from a light-grey set of shelves near the desk, I walked through the hallway (whilst attempting to avoid the other students) and just before I reached my locker at the end, I decided to sneak a quick glance through the glass windows on my left at the city outside. The sounds of cars driving past vaguely greeted my ears, influencing me to ponder on how my seventeen years of existence went.

Every day usually went like this; I go there, collect the register, walk to my classroom, try my best to get through six hours of work without mentally killing anyone and head home at 4:30. The latter was... pretty much one of two parts I looked forward to as my home was a sanctuary, somewhere I could feel safe and happy. My parents would be there and the Sonic characters would be there in their video games. We could all just be happy without having to deal with any horrible things, such as jobs or paying taxes for example. I know this may sound weird, but... that's how I feel. And the other part of my uni life that I looked forward to was, obviously, hanging out with the people who saw me for me.

Speaking of which...

"Hey! Lils!"

I had pulled myself away from the windows to continue walking, when a familiar excited voice (followed by a pair of footsteps jogging in my direction) greeted my ears. Huh? Pausing in my tracks, I turned round and briefly blinked with surprise before my eyes lit up. Oh. Andrew! "Hey, Andy,"

Brain, if I could have a word? Why is my face feeling warm all of a sudden?!

"Thanks for stopping," My 18 year-old friend, who was clad in a grey hooded jacket with rolled up sleeves, capri blue t-shirt with white horizontal and triangular lines, denim jeans and dark blue sneakers, chuckled shyly.

"That's okay," I smiled as we resumed walking side by side. "What's up?"

"Not much," Andrew replied. "Though, I have to admit - my head's buzzing because of how my morning started,"

"Why's that?" I asked in a concerned manner, quickly adding: "If you don't mind me asking, that is,"

"No, I don't mind," The older boy told me, as the two of us walked past the university's cafeteria, turned a right and began the trek down a long hallway. "I had this really bizarre nightmare, for some reason. I was wandering through this amusement park in the middle of nowhere, Lakeside - I think it's called,"

"Right?"

"And," Andrew continued a tad nervously. Oh no. "And this girl was there, too - but I couldn't get her attention. So..." A disbelieving chuckle. "I'm sorry, I'm going to sound insane here,"

"No, you're not," I tried to reassure him.

He smiled shyly, feeling more at ease. "Thanks. Anyway, she runs off and I go after her to make sure she's okay. Then, we both get attacked by these monsters - which I don't particularly want to describe and it," An anxious gulp. "It ends with the girl getting hit by a rollercoaster, that simple,"

I grimaced worriedly. "Yikes,"

"Right?" My classmate agreed, flashing me a nervous glance.

"Yeah, I-I-I'm sorry that you went through that," I said, feeling bad for the poor guy. "I, um, I don't know if this might make you feel any better as well - but I had the same nightmare too,"

Andrew turned to face me in shock. "Did you?!"

"Yep," I confirmed solemnly. "Except that it was just me, I didn't see anyone else and getting hit by that roller coaster was not pleasant," What if I was the girl he saw? Cue me forcing a brave grin on my face and shoving my thoughts back. "Besides, maybe our nightmares were completely random?"

The older boy pondered this momentarily. "Yeah, maybe you're right,"

As Andrew and I approached the end of the hallway, we turned left and began ascending a long staircase, knowing that our classroom was all the way up on the fifth floor. This is gonna be all kinds of fun... Once the two of us reached said floor, we were shortly joined by three unfamiliar students whom I politely held the door open for. They seemed to be absorbed in their conversation as they strolled on past (wow.), but a slightly annoyed Andrew gave me a small smile before he walked into the hallway leading to our class. Oh...

"Thanks, Lily," He said kindly, sending an apologetic look in my direction.

"You're welcome," I responded with a quick reassuring glance, following him.

I... I can't say I was expecting that...!