Another generally irritating day, where I had a list of
things to do and only accomplished half of them. I’m carrying this annoying bag
filled with the work of the day, and it’s so heavy that when it swings it
nearly knocks me over. I had to stop at the store to pick up a few things, so
now I’ve got another bag. It’s pouring down rain out, and the wind is threatening
to invert my umbrella. So there I am, struggling with these three things and
dropping my mail on the wet floor at the guard’s station as I struggle to
locate my ID and at the same time keep the soaked umbrella away from my pants.
I stumble into my apartment, violently thrust forward by the
weight of my bag as it slips off my shoulder. I sigh heavily with an air of
annoyance, and I feel the tears burning behind my eyes. All I want to do is sit
in my bed in the dark, with the covers pulled up to my chin, clutching my
lifelong friend Teddy. And cry. What an incredibly frustrating day! Nothing
went right.
Instead I find my roommate stretched out on her bed with the
blinds up, listening to music. She’s doing absolutely nothing. Most of the time
she does nothing. She’s been sleeping all day. I am instantly pissed to find
her there, invading my right to privacy again.
“Hi!” she sings cheerily. She’s only a sophomore, and
already she has her life planned out as far as graduation from Harvard Law.
She’ll probably do it. The only thing she seems to worry about is not getting
into Harvard because she only has a 3.7 GPA. It really irritates me to hear her
complain about this.
Last semester I was contemplating law school – I even have a
dusty white box in the back of my closet with about twenty bulletins. Criminal
justice is fascinating, and I’ve always been interested in helping people (and
the money doesn’t look too bad either). But then I changed my mind because I
knew I wasn’t ready to handle the workload, and I sure don’t have a 3.7.
It really bothers me that she worries over such a tiny
little thing, when she already has planned out everything else. This summer
she’s studying in Korea. Next year she wants to do the Washington
semester. She’s already got an internship
for next fall. I don’t even have that – I haven’t even begun the search for
one. That’s just another thing on my long list of “Things to Do.” It bothers me
that she already knows what she wants to do after only two years in college and
I’m still playing the guessing game after four. I want to know too! When I talk
about the uncertainty of my future and worry about graduation and finding a
job, she looks at me blankly like I’m a lunatic.
So I stumble into my room. I can’t even look at her. If I
open my mouth I’ll say things I’ll regret.
I want her to get out. I swear she hasn’t left that spot since she
crawled into it last night. I toss my bag on the floor, rip off my jacket, kick
off my shoes, and fall into bed. I pull
the covers up over my head, and lie still. I wait. The tears are stinging my
eyes. I slip one hand out from under the covers, groping for Teddy’s leg
somewhere behind my head.
She either gets the hint or is getting hungry. She turns off
the radio, closes the blinds, and leaves me in the empty darkness of our room.
I close my eyes and try to envision something peaceful – a warm, sandy beach,
blue ocean, me, and nothing but the sound of seagulls soaring overhead. But, as
usual, it doesn’t work. Something is gnawing at the pit of my stomach, and I
just want to cry and cry.
I want someone to come along, take my hand, and show me the
way. I’m on some rollercoaster ride to nowhere and I just want to get off. I
wish the end of this road wasn’t so dark and scary. I wish I had some answers.
©taraversus2016
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