[h3][center]Chase Robinson[/center][/h3]

The young college student, Chase, always went for a jog in the morning before class. He always tried to traverse the entire campus, getting his blood flowing before he had to sit in class for the rest of the day. This particular morning he really needed the rush of oxygen as he gone to bed early the previous night with a bad headache. The painkillers he took had really left him lethargic, not wanting to get out of bed when the alarm on his phone went off.

So Chase threw on a pair of track pants and a sweater, and left his apartment which was only a few minutes away from campus. So Chase began to jog down the sidewalk, the crisp morning air clearing the pain that had been in his head during the night. As Chase jogged, he passed a lot of the common haunts of his fellow students. The local coffee shop used for studying, the bar frequented by those of age, and a small vape shop.

It was only a minute or two after that that Chase was in front of the campus. Surprisingly, even though it was still early in the morning, there seemed to be a lot of people about, rushing around the campus. Chase ignored this though as he started to make his way around the college grounds. But as he neared the Red Square, he was forced to come to a stop.

The whole area had been taped off with police tape, with both campus security and the local police force present. There were quite a few students gathered outside the tape, snapping pictures and taking videos with their phones. Curiosity got the better of Chase as he also pulled out his phone and also took pictures. As he did so he decided that he could say that it was for story ideas for his writing. But a picture would be a lot better if it had a story along with it. So Chase walked up to one of his fellow students.

“So what happened here?” asked Chase.

The female student turned to him, “Don’t know. No one’s saying anything. But apparently they’ve been here since before dawn.”

“Huh,” Chase muttered, before taking a photo of the police.

Chase would spend several more minutes hanging around the cordoned off area, hoping to get some hint as to what happened. But nothing would be revealed, as many of the other students left the area and went about their day. Chase figured that he should probably get going as well. Upon looking at the time on his phone, Chase realized that he had to speed back to his apartment if he was to be ready in time for class.

The sprint back home made Chase work up a sweat. Thankfully his very small apartment did include a shower. So Chase had a quick shower, once again glad that he had is own apartment, as he would’ve hated to share a shower with an entire dorm. Once he cleaned himself off, Chase threw on a shirt, jeans, and a jacket. He then grabbed his book bag and left his apartment again.

This time he didn’t sprint, instead power walking back to campus. As Chase made his way to the lecture hall where he had his first class, he saw that the Red Square was still sectioned off. But Chase didn’t have time to lallygag around the area, as his first class was in a few minutes.

Chase entered the lecture hall just as the Professor did. While Chase had been cutting it close in time to the start of class, he still had ample seating to choose from as a lot of people tended to skip the class. This mythology course that Chase was attending had a reputation as being a crackpot, easy course. So some people didn’t feel the need to attend the class regularly, or semi-regularly, or ever.

Chase found his favorite seat, the very middle, the same seat he liked at movie theaters, was open, so he claimed it. From this point Chase could see the projector screen very easily and he could hear Professor Abraham clearly. Granted what he did hear was largely incoherent, but Chase still enjoyed the lectures as fodder for his writing. The crazy creatures and magics talked about in this course worked really well in fantasy novels.

Professor Abraham waited the customary few minutes to allow for stragglers to get in before the lecture, but Chase didn’t see a point. Even with the class half full, Chase did note that this was a very large turnout of students. So like most days, Professor Abraham began his lecture, most of the students clearly on their phones or otherwise not paying attention.

Chase felt bad for the mythology professor, so he made it a thing to pay attention. The professor went into a discussion on ghosts and undead in various cultures, Chase noting that it was more coherent then some of his other lectures. As the professor spoke of guilt and retribution in relation to spirits, Chase decided to save that idea for a possible story, typing it into his notes app. Chase even smiled a little as Professor Abraham made a joke about history majors. This was turning out to be a decent class for a change in relation to other classes Chase was taking.