The need for sleep was drawing my eyes shut no matter how much I tried to fight it. The pen in my hand seemed to become immovable, and the notes I had been taking were turning into small squiggly lines. My head drooped, the weight of my falling head jerking me back awake. At the front of the room Professor Miles just droned on. I made a brief effort to figure out what he was saying but tarted thinking about what kind of superpower he’d have. My eyelids started dropping again and this time I decided not to fight it.

I was walking in a dark hall in the old warehouse where bands used to play. I heard a crowd of people in the other room, but I couldn’t figure out how to get to them. I walked a little faster, head swiveling from side to side, searching for a door to go through, but they were all locked. I turned a corner and saw the outside. It was very bright. My eyes were watering from the intensity of the light, but I was inexorably drawn to it. I walked slower, unable to see where I was going but overwhelmed with the dazzling quality of the bright unknown ahead of me.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was all alone. The class must have ended while I was sleeping. Talk about embarrassing, I felt like an idiot. I gathered my things, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fit all my papers and books in the bag. And it seemed like every time I got one in, two more would fall out. I looked down, and saw that there was a pile of books and papers so deep, I’d need 10 backpacks just to make a dent. I stuck my hands in the papers below and felt a sharp pain in my left hand. I pulled it out to look at it. I couldn’t see any mark, but the whole hand seemed to be swelling and turning red. I looked around again, but there was no one there to help me. I opened my mouth to cry out, but couldn’t speak above a whisper. I waded through the papers and headed for the door.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Professor Miles was still going on about whatever he goes on about, but he seemed to be the only one oblivious to my laziness. Everyone else in the room was staring right at me. I looked from angry face to angry face, and wondered why they were so mad. One by one, they returned to their work, but I couldn’t concentrate. I listened hard to what Professor Miles was saying, but I couldn’t seem to make out a single syllable. Every word sounded alien, and mushed up. Everyone around me was scribbling their notes like mad, clearly they weren’t having trouble making out what he was saying, but the more I tried, the more impossible it was to discern any aspect of language in the sounds coming out of his mouth. I took a quick glance around to make sure the coast was clear, then peered over at the notes of the girl closest to me. The lines on the page were twisted into bizaare shapes I’d never seen before, writing as alien as the language the professor was speaking. She looked up at me, and moved her notebook so I couldn’t see it. I tried harder to hear what he said, but then, I looked out the window.

I was outside. I was walking in the field near my aunt’s house. The grass was tall and lush, swaying under the kind of gentle breeze you only get for a few weeks a year. The flowers were fragrant and in full-bloom. Everything was a living cliche of what spring’s supposed to be. I walked for awhile until I noticed that the sun was setting too fast.

“And that’s why he chose springtime as the season of his work…”

I opened my eyes and looked around. No one seemed to have seen me sleeping.. I looked down at the useless mess of notes I had half-taken and thought about what kind of dog I’d get if I could have animals in my dorm.