As I was putting that first book back on the shelf, maybe an hour or so out from my first class at 9:30, the first classes of the day had started about an hour ago, so some of the shorter ones had already ended and the nine o’clock classes had already started.  

              “Oh look, it’s the Ice King” I heard someone whisper making me roll my eyes, they were whispering, but in that elevated whisper you do when you want the person you’re talking about to hear what you’re saying, “We’re almost done with the year and he’s still got his stuck-up nose hella-deep shoved in a book” they added before the others around them shared in a laugh that lingered towards a cackle. I’ve always been called that sense I started my first year here, I have never been one to party or go out with people or anything of that sort, I’ve always been the one who sticks to my studies, keep to the books and do everything I need or want to do to ensure my grades are where I feel they’re best suited, I always enjoy keeping my grades high, so I do whatever I can to keep them that way. People who try to talk to me to invite me somewhere or something along those lines, I’ll shut down every single person who tries to do something like that, so…not a lot of friends, not that I mind, I’m here to study, not make friends.

              “Probably already getting’ hella…extra credit…from his professors, if you get my drift” one of the others said with a gesture and tongue-in-cheek tone to get the same crackle response as I slid a book back onto the shelf before I grabbed another and flicked through a few pages before putting it back up and going along the shelves looking at the books I was around and which ones were jumping out at me. I was guessing they were talking at a volume that was low enough they weren’t going to get in trouble for being loud, but still loud enough that I could still hear them quite clearly. People for some reason have always had the assumption that I have the grades I do because of something like sleeping with my professors or my mother being a surgeon means I basically paid for my grades or the professors are afraid of giving me a grade that’s not an A because of my mother…things along those lines, but obviously none of them are true. Those kinds of comments I’m able to brush off, but then…one of them said something that no matter how many times I hear it, always gets on my nerves…

              “You’d think a guy named Hercules would be hotter too” the third added

              “My name is Hercule, not Hercules, no S.” I sighed as I walked past them, pausing beside them as I glanced over, “And maybe if you kept your attention on your books instead of in the business of others, you wouldn’t be having to take classes again and waste the school’s resources on what is obviously a lost cause” I shrugged before walking past as they scoffed in offence as I walked past. I got my things together as I gathered up my work and the books I was checking out for this week as I got them checked out and stepped out of the library, lifting my umbrella as I walked off towards the building my first class was located in, I had about half an hour to go before it started, so I had time to stop by the campus coffee shop and grab a cortado before class, maybe I’ll get a tea instead to see if it’ll dampen this headache I’ve got.

              As I walked, the rain seemed to get heavier; it went from a heavy sprinkle to a downpour, like a sudden downspout had just went across campus, I glanced up past the edges of my umbrella as I looked towards the sky, the air seemed to take a sudden dip downwards too by the way my breath started to fog and the wind started to get a little more rough. There were no signs of the rain leaving anytime soon by the way the sky looked and the way the rain just kept coming.

              As I walked, there was the weird feeling of something cold running down my back, I thought it maybe was some rain that hit my back, but as I moved my shoulders, there was no moisture on my body like rain did hit me. It was almost like someone was staring at me, the way that shiver went down my back. It was simply weird feeling, and it was no more concerning with how I have been feeling recently; the anxiety, chills, the itchiness and the headache, there was just this…unnerving feeling about how I’ve been feeling that made me even more unnerved. This shiver however was…unlike anything I had ever felt less of that being stared at feeling and…almost more like I could feel something’s long nails drumming up and down my spine, but the actual bone and not my flesh, like someone was toying and playing with my very bones.

              I was able to go through my classes as usual, but where I usually get two or so coffees throughout the day, I was still drinking that, but I had got some tea as well to see if that was possible to settle the way my body has been feeling, maybe calm whatever anxiety I’m feeling with some good herbal or green tea, but…it didn’t work. I’ve had test anxiety before and this was…this was not it; this was much deeper, much more intense and much more bodily feeling than usual. I can usually get rid of my test anxiety through something like going over my guides and notes or just breathing deeply and telling myself that I was perfectly fine and that the test was nothing more than a sheet of paper. This was more…I think, I’d call it foreboding maybe, like that bodily pause you feel when you’re expecting a lightning strike, like any moment that strike was going to happen and my body just…couldn’t decide when that was, so it was staying at that moment before the strike.

              I breathed deeply as I rubbed the heels of my hands against my temples, trying to force the headache out; it was one of those ones where you can feel it in the back of your eyes and temples, where it just seemed to radiate everywhere and lingers in your stomach making you have no appetite and the idea of eating anything substantial made your stomach turn…it was one of those kinds of headaches. I keep just some aspirin in my bookbag for allergy headaches or something, but even after taking a couple of those…if anything, it made the headache worse feeling. At one point between my classes, I actually did have to rush to the bathroom and got sick. Sometimes your body feels terrible and the moment you get sick or something, you feel better…I only felt worse. When I caught my reflection in the mirror, I was beyond an unhealthy pale and my eyes were bloodshot, but almost blue, not red bloodshot. Each beat of my heart made my vision ripple and my legs wobble as I tried to keep myself on my feet and to keep myself from falling over.

              I had to muscle through the rest of my day, nearly fell asleep on BART on my way home, but I was able to push and power through the way my body felt to get from the station to home. I sat heavily on the couch before lying down on my side, pulling a throw pillow over my head because the dark and quiet were a bit more comforting than anything else.

              “You home, Herc?” Dad called out from down the hall in his studio, I groaned lowly as I sat myself up.

              “Yeah” I called back before standing and made my way down the hall before slowly made my way downstairs to the sub-floor, the air was cold, crisp and smelt heavily of paint and buzzed with whatever obscure form of music Dad was currently being inspired by.