There is no stopping this madness. My mother has already called and confirmed everything. Mom, dad, brother, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all piling in into a rented van to come up here. It almost makes me wish I wasn't graduating.

It definitely makes me wish I hadn't spent the past 4 years procrastinating on the cleanup of my dorm room. I've got 24 hours until they get here and I haven't seen my broom since sophomore year. 

The floor is my first task. Clothes go to the hamper. I'll wash them later. All paper is getting thrown out. I don't know what's on it but as my dad always says 'If it were important you wouldn't have thrown it on the floor'. With 3 trash bags full of random floor paper, I head to the dumpster. I have to trudge down 5 flights of stairs to get down to the dumpster,  but my load is so much lighter once I'm rid of the trash.

A grumble in my stomach reminds me that I haven't eaten all day. The caf is on holiday hours due to the impending summer break and I'm too low on cash to get fast food. Sounds like it's popcorn and ramen for lunch again. 

Back in my room, I throw the popcorn into the microwave and hit 3 minutes. Then, i head to the bathroom to tackle the toilet. Ugggh! Next time I'm just setting the bathroom on fire. I'm pretty sure going to jail for arson is better than cleaning four years worth of hair out of the shower drain.

"Erica is something burning?" My roommate, Elaine, calls from the kitchen. I smell it too. It's so weird because the only thing cooking is my popcorn and I've popped it a million tim.....*BAM* 

"Ahhhhh" I hear Elaine scream. Sprinting, I reach the kitchen in literally 5 seconds. The dorm room isn't very big.

The scene I find in the kitchen is a horror show. The microwave door is swinging on one hinge and yellow liquid butter is splattered on the walls and the floor. Elaine is crouched behind the kitchen island with anger fuming from her face.

"What did you do!?" Elaine asks fiercely. 

"Nothing! I was just making popcorn in the microwave." I say defensively. She jumps up and heads to the microwave. 

"This isn't popcorn its jiffy pop!" She says as she pulls charred foil out of the microwave.

"What's the difference?" I ask, confused.

"Jiffy pop is made to be cooked over a fire." She replies

"So?" I ask, still confused.

"So it has a metal wrapping." She says as she holds up the foil.

"So?" I ask once again. 

"You can't put metal in the microwave!" She says as she throws the metal into the trash. Taking a deep breath, she grabs her bag and heads toward the door. 

"I'm going to turn in my term paper to Professor Wesly. Do you want me to turn yours in too?" She asks as she turns her head back to me. 

"What paper?" I ask in a panicked tone.

"The 15,000 word history paper that's 50% of our grade. It's due today." Elaine explains as if I'm insane. 

"What kind of professor allows a paper to be due on the last day of school?" I ask annoyed.

"You led the charge to get him to push back the due date on the term paper remember?" Oh yeah I did do that. The original due date was a month ago. Even with the due date pushed back a month, I still procrastinated writing it until last night. 15,000 words about the American revolution typed up and printed.....onto the floor! 

I run back to my room and stare blankly at the clean floor. 'If it was important, you wouldn't have thrown it on the floor'. My dad's words haunt me. I'm now realizing that important things can get left on the floor...... If you're too tired to pick them up. 

I race out of my bedroom and head to the front door where Elaine still stands, jacket half on, waiting for me to hand her my paper. I brush past her into the hallway.

"Wait where are you going?" Elaine asks as I try to leave.

"I accidentally threw out my paper! I have to go get it!" I say as I continue to walk.

"Hold it!" She says as she grabs my arm, "Did you just wake up from a 40 year nap or something!? Just print it off again. You did save it, right?" Did I save it? I must have. Computers automatically save things.

Back in my room, I open my laptop and I see something that shakes me to the core, Windows Update 5% Complete. How long has this thing been updating? These updates take forever so it could have been like this for hours. Did it save my paper before starting the update? Oh God, I hope so. 

"Did you find it?" Elaine asks from the doorway. She takes a small step back as I look up at her with wild eyes.

"It's updating." I say in a frustrated tone as I push the screen up so that she can see it. 

"How far along is it?" She asks.

"5%." I say solemnly.

"Seriously!? The paper is due by 5pm." 

"What time is it now?" 

"Noon."

"I have 5 hours left." I say quietly to myself.

"What are you going to do?" She asks as I stand up and rush to the door. 

"I'm going dumpster diving." I say with determination. I can't graduate without a passing grade in History and I can't get a passing grade in the course without a passing grade on this final paper. It's 21 hours until my family touches down in town and their expecting me to walk across that stage tomorrow as a graduate, free and clear. There's a chance that might not happen now. I can't let my family find out about this. 

"You can't jump into a dumpster!" Elaine yells. I can't hear her. I'm already doing it.

"Watch me!" I reply from inside the dumpster. I think this is what being an adult is about. You do everything you can to survive. You sling trash around if you have to. For most people tats probably a metaphor, but here I am in a dumpster. As I dig deeper and deeper into filth, I begin to realize that finding five separate pieces of paper is no easy task.

"I can't find it!" I shout.

"The dumpster is connected to a trash compactor. Your paper has probably been crushed into a tiny cube by now." I hear Elaine say from outside. 

"Seriously?" I ask, throwing my hands up in frustration. Suddenly, a rumbling noise starts from below and I feel the ground beneath me shake. The noise is deafening.

"What is that noise?" I scream the question to Elaine.

"What bnhjgjm ?" She says something but I can't quite hear her.

"What!?" I scream, needing her to repeat what she just said.

"I can't hear overdanoide!" She's still yelling and I still can't hear her.

"I can't hear you over the noise!" I scream back to her. This noise, what exactly is it? A flash of inspiration pops into my head, or is it just my brain remembering what Elaine said earlier about trash cubes.

"The trash compactor!" Elaine and I scream in unison. Oh great, now I can hear what she's saying. Behind me I hear mother noise. I turn to see that the back wall of the dumpster is moving toward me. It's pushing me, and all the garbage, toward a square shaped hole in the opposite wall.

"Get me out of heeeeeeerrrreeeee!" I scream as I scratch at the walls. They are too slick and there is nothing for me to grab on to.

"Help! Help!" I hear Elain screaming outside.

"Elaine! Elaine!" I pound on the dumpster wall as it continues to move toward me.

"Can you climb out?" Elaine asks frantically.

"No! The walls are too slick! Can't you unplug this thing!?" I ask in a worried tone.

"Ok! Yeah!" She says. I can hear her shuffling around the outside of the dumpster, pulling and tugging on things. As she does that, I try to do everything I can to keep this wall from turning me into tiny Erica cubes. 

It's not working. No matter how many tin cans and ramen packets I throw at the wall, it's not stopping. 

"How's it going out there?" I ask nervously as I find a stray crowbar in the dumpster and try to wedge it under the moving wall.

"I found the plug but it's so giant that I can't pull it out!" She screams back at me.

"Isn't there an emergency stop button or something!?" I frantically ask her. 

"I'm not a garbage man. How should I know!?" She screams back at me. Her response is a little snippy but I have to believe that's the stress talking. The moving wall is getting too close to my stomach for my liking. I shouldn't have had donuts for breakfast this morning. 

I breath out heavily to make myself as thin as possible. If I die here today because of the freshman 15 I swear I'm going to haunt the campus snack shack for the rest of my afterlife.

"Let me out! Let me out!" I scream in a panic as I bang on every surface of the dumpster. I can't die like this today. I won't die like this today! One of my punches hits a large red button on the side wall of the dumpster. Under that large, red button, I see the words Emergency Stop. Well, I guess I should have looked for that first thing. 

"Erica!? Are you dead?" Elaine screams from outside. 

"No. I found the stop button." I answer with a large sigh of relief. Not graduating is one thing but dying is another. I'm glad to still be here.

"Get me out of here!" I yell again to Elaine.

"Don't worry! I called 911!" I hear her scream back. All I can do now is just sit back and wait to be rescued.

It seems like forever that I'm sitting on to of beer bottles and old banana peels when the fire department finally shows up.

"I've heard of cats being stuck in trees but this is ridiculous." The fireman says jokingly as a crane  lowers him into my dumpster. I stare at him blankly, refusing to laugh. 

It's dark once I'm out of the dumpster. I take a deep breath of fresh air now that I'm out in the open.

"I'm so glad you lived!" Elaine says as she hugs me, "But, what about your paper?"