Chapter 1: Introduction
The glow of the computer screen illuminated my face, casting long and gangly shadows across the room. I blinked, allowing my eyes to adjust as my fingers danced over the keyboard, their movements barely audible as I sailed through webpage after webpage—mostly Reddit, some Twitter. I was killing time under the weak veil of night before I dove into the recommended assignments I had neglected all day.
Moonlight swept across the floor as it streaked through the window between the blinds.
I Savored the silence, the stillness, and my solitude before the cacophony of dorm life inundated my small, cramped space once more. Perched precariously on the edge of the bed, I scrolled through social media accounts in search of distractions from the responsibilities awaiting me.
My room, a hodgepodge of a college student's life, was nestled neatly between mine and my neighbor's rooms. The aroma of stale pizza and sweat hung heavy in the air, competing with the lingering tang of cleaning solutions and fresh laundry.
My gaze roved from the scattered textbooks adorning the makeshift bookshelf to the half-empty pizza box beneath my textbooks, flattened and abandoned on the creaky floor.