[center][h3]Nick Waller[/h3]
[sub]November 29th- Afternoon-Evening[/sub]
[hr]
[/center]

As he finished his lunch and put in his headphones, Nick thanked the lucky stars that he'd taken a longer break period around lunch time. If he had to rush back to class right now, he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it. His foresight, however, had rewarded him with roughly another hour to fart around with. In this case, he'd have to hang up his jacket, put on the other jacket, figure out the best time to run to the dry cleaners with the dirty one, and then fart around. Putting on some [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWxBrI0g1kE]motivational music[/url] to help stave off those pesky [i]feelings[/i], he returned to his dorm. 

Grabbing a coat hanger for his jacket, Nick shrugged off the stained clothing and put the two together, reaching up to put it on the rack. [b]Crack![/b] With a loud noise that made him wince, the cheap, plastic coat hanger snapped, sending Nick's favorite (half-favorite?) garment to the floor. 

[i]SLAM[/i]. [b]CRACK![/b] Breathing heavily, Nick looked at the molding where the bottom of his fist slammed into it, and sighed. He hadn't quite consciously done that. Instinct had just...taken over, made him hit something. [i]Just like Jason[/i], his mind sneered. Shaking off the thought of his more violently-minded brother, Nick ignored his jacket for a moment before clicking his laptop and putting on a different song, this one [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tci6tC4bNEU]much louder than the song he'd played through his headphones[/url]. 

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting the music wash over him. "I'm one with the warrior inside, my dominance can't be denied..." Following along with the lyrics, Nick felt the adrenaline slowly lose its hold over him, and as the song ended, he slowly crumpled to the ground, hands pawing away at the tears falling. "I'm a fucking mess. God. If she saw me like this...hahahahahahahahahaha! 'I can't keep up with you, Nick! It's like one minute you feel one thing, and the next it's the opposite! Do you have any idea how draining it is to feel like I'm [i]constantly[/i] walking on eggshells around you?!'" The sneering impression of Nick's ex lead him back into near-hysterical laughter as the waterworks kept flowing and he slumped onto the floor completely. 

"Yeah, I know what it's like! It's every day! It's always!" Sobs [i]racking[/i] his body as he lost control again, Nick curled into the fetal position, arms curling over his head as his hands ran through and clutched ineffectually at his shortly-cut hair. 

He remained like that for a short while, not exactly bothering to attempt to measure how much time passed. The day had already taken its toll on him, and he was genuinely disappointed at how little it had taken to break him. Someone offering genuine help but unexpectedly touching him. Those weird cracks which had started appearing. Then getting a sandwich dropped on his jacket at lunch. Wow. Much difficult. Very hard day. [i]So[/i] worth having a total mental collapse over, yep, definitely, nothing pathetic about this!

The absurdity of it almost made him laugh as he stretched back out, rolling onto his back and looking up at the ceiling with a sigh. His eyes followed the long, glowing crack for a few moments before he sat up. Quickly getting to his feet, he noticed there was also another crack where he'd sort-of maybe punched the molding around his closet. "What the fuck? I didn't hit it [i]that[/i] hard." Moving over to touch the crack, Nick scrunched his face up in concentration as he felt the same warm, flowing breeze coming from it that he felt from the ones before. "Okay, that's...certainly not normal. What the fuuuuuuuckkkkkk." 

Looking between the two cracks in his room, Nick sighed as he realized he was definitely gonna get charged for this. Sure, his scholarships and the money he'd withdrawn when he left home were more than enough to cover him without saddling down tens of thousands in debts (until Law School but HAHAHA let's not talk about [i]that[/i] right now!), but he wasn't exactly keen on having to pay for spontaneously appearing magical cracks. 

That was assuming, of course, that they weren't visual hallucinations and he wasn't actually just having a psychotic break. That would be its own problem, though. 

Checking the clock and noticing that he had a few minutes to spare before his final class of the day, Nick sighed and grabbed his various belongings, hung his messy jacket up on a good hanger this time, and washed his face once again before making his way across campus and to his class. Environmental Law. Important, vital even, but boring. Much like Politics. Dumb but important. 

Class went by mostly calmly, with Nick participating much less than usual, until somebody made the fatal mistake of mentioning the impact of global trade on environmental law, and how different countries with less strict laws regarding dumpage and hazardous waste gave them a competitive edge of countries with stricter environmental regulation, like America. 

Unwilling to participate in the raging debate that started, and grew so far out of control that even the Professor lost the proverbial sauce, Nick tried to shut out the louder and more frustrating members of class who lacked the panache that Nick would humbly ascribe to himself. Despite a valiant effort, the ever-growing cacaphony of noise started drowning [i]itself[/i] out into a metaphorical buzzing inside his head that Nick knew was the prelude to a panic attack or a violent meltdown. Today was feeling more violent, and Nick quickly started shoving his belongings into his backpack before the growing pit of [i]unending fury[/i] in his stomach could get control again. He heard the Professor call his name, in what actually seemed like a worried tone, but Nick waved him off with a generic excuse about not feeling well, sorry, I'll e-mail you later, I have to go now bye before quickly making his way out of class, mind abuzz with thoughts not his own, responses he forced himself not to voice, insults left unspoken. 

As he made his way outside with rapid footsteps, Nick was surprised to see even more cracks in the concrete, flowing almost like a river. With his higher thought processes sort of on the fritz, he contented himself with the distraction and simply followed them along mindlessly, not paying much attention to anything beyond avoiding other people. He vaguely recognized that he was being lead towards the Gulf of Mexico, but he paid that no mind as well. Right now, he just wanted to see where this crazy shit lead, because it would at least be interesting, even if it was miserable. Interesting miserable was better than boring miserable, right? 

Soon enough, he came upon the gazebo and the others gathered around, some sitting, some leaning against supports, one guy even just lying down on the ground. He saw the other guy who'd gotten food spilled on him, [i]asshole[/i], the poor girl who'd done it, and even a teacher's assistant he'd seen around. 

What a weird bunch of people to be in one place. They seemed a little out of it, much like he was sure he looked, and at least one of them was still looking at the cracks. 

"Oh fucking [i]thank God[/i] I'm not hallucinating." The words just spilled out of him, unbidden and unstoppable, and Nick sighed. He was doing that a lot today.