Dakota Downey

11/17/2013

Chapter 1:

His alarm sounded, the blare of the song waking Alex up from the deep sleep he would soon miss dearly. He opened his eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling before they adjusted to the influx of light filtering in between the slats covering his only window. This one window, making his dorm room seem more like an actual living space rather than a bleak closet space someone shoved a person into. He had requested a single, but hadn't expected the spartan furnishings the university had provided for his room. They had managed to fit in a simple bed frame, a desk and a mini-fridge with a small microwave on top.

With a sigh he sat up, giving a good stretch before halfheartedly getting out of bed, wincing at the feel of the cold hardwood floor beneath his feet. Walking over to his desk he grabbed one of the small boxes of k-cups, fiddling with the shrink wrap. With a satisfying clunk he closed the top of the machine over the single serving instant coffee. Pressing the start button he bent down, reaching into the small fridge to grab the staple of college students everywhere: a hot pocket. All of a sudden the back of his neck began to burn, the smell of fresh coffee suddenly brought to his attention. He dropped the hot pocket, the frozen chunk of enriched flour and red paste breaking into upon impact with the cold floor.

He straightened up, knocking over some papers that were on top of the microwave in the process. They landed in the slowly expanding puddle of hot coffee on the table, the paper drank up the water like a man dying of thirst. Pressing the off button on the coffee maker he picked up the now limp pages, they were some intro material outlining rules and regulations of the dorms. But there was also a campus map, upon which the ink had ran down the page forming illegible blotches. Spilling coffee, losing some stupid rules and regulations, these were things he could deal with, but now his perfectly planned route between classes was gone.

With a sigh and the enthusiasm of an elderly dog he tossed the papers out and turned took out his sleek new Macbook Pro. As it turned on, fans whirring and the familiar soundbyte of the OS chimed he rummaged under his bed, making sure the jungle of cables for his printer were plugged in where they needed to be. A few clicks later he had a new list of classes printed out, unfortunately without optimized directions. Glancing at his alarm clock he panicked, he had forgotten to adjust for the change in time zone, he was no longer living in Colorado. Instead of having an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready and get to class, he only had fifteen, twelve minutes and 43 seconds of which he had already wasted.

Shoving his textbooks and notebooks into his bag he raced out of his room without zipping up his bag. Running out into the common area of the dorm his books came tumbling out, crashing onto the ground like a ton of bricks. Alex stopped in his tracks, taking one strap of his backpack off his shoulder, dropping his bag onto the ground.

Turning around he bent down, picking up his books and shoveling them back into his bags, being ignored by his fellow freshman and laughed at by a group of upperclassmen playing cards at a nearby table.

As he got to his class, he slowed his pace. Pausing a second before opening the door, hoping that somehow he had gotten his class time wrong. That somehow no one would notice as he slipped through to doors, slinked to his seat and join the rest of his class in mindlessly taking notes. He took a step in, the doors shutting behind him with a reverberating thud. Before him the lecture hall spread out, three sections with rows upon rows descending terraced to a platform with a lectern and a large green chalkboard. Slowly, the man standing in front of the chalk board turned around, settling a calculated gaze on Alex.

"Ah, and here comes the last member of our excellent class" the teachers voice was low and gravelly, with thick Scottish accent. "Well then, don't stand there like a frightened deer, pick a seat. Talk to me after class."

Alex stood for second longer before fully registering the teacher's words. "Ye-yes sir." He stammered, before quickly taking the nearest available seat, slouching down in an attempt to be less visible.

The professor turned around, taking in his writing on the chalkboard before clearing his throat, continuing with his lecture. "Before we were interrupted by our late friend here we were talking about the history of philosophical views on space and time around the world."

He turned around, continuing to lecture with a slight grin on his aged face. "And now we continue to the Incas. They believed in a single concept for space and time, which if anyone of you remembers was the secondary character in the Disney animated movie Emperor's New Groove…" he continued on, going on tangents about various things mostly unrelated to the topic of the days lecture.

Nodding off, Alex jerked back awake several times throughout the lecture, put to sleep by the dullness of the class. Managing to keep his eyes open, he perked up when the days reading was assigned, managing to write it down before getting up with the rest of his class, stretching as he rose. The teacher looked up from his papers, giving Alex a brief look before looking back down, putting the rest of his things into his bag.

Alex walked down to the front, wishing he had had more time so he did not need to bother with this. As he got close to the front he addressed his professor, "Sorry sir, rough morning today. I will not be late again."

His professor gave a short laugh, before pausing briefly. "It's quite all right. If I expected every freshman to not make mistakes I'd be sorely disappointed. The irony of the matter is you walked in during our lecture on the philosophy about time. I want to see you pass this class. I've got some extra reading for you, come by my office hours tomorrow and we can talk about the class."

Alex stammered out, "Yes sir. Excuse me sir, what's your name sir?"

The professor calmly said "You can call me The Doctor."