It wasn’t until he was at the entrance of the girl dorms did Mathew’s eyes begin to lose their heaviness. He could feel sweat gathering in the palm of his hands as he neared the entrance doors. Feeling the cold gray metal against his warm nervous fingers as he pulled the closest door open, he wasn’t even sure if he was feeling some form of fear or excitement.

With a slow sigh Mathew gained his way forward, easily recalling what floor and room number Anna had told him. B6, the second floor, that’s where she waits. His shoes squeaked with every step as he climbed the stairs. Closer and closer to his destination, after all these years from idolizing this one girl from afar he was now going to be in the same room as her. Gripping his journal Mathew knocked softly on the door that bared the figures B6.

For a while there was only silence, then he heard a clicking- the snap of the door’s lock and then a soft squeak as the door opened. Standing at the entrance at this almost sacred room stood Anna, dressed in the same casual clothing from earlier- a long sleeved green shirt and faded blue jeans. She was also wearing a smile.

“Hello.” Mathew was the first to speak.

“Hey,” Anna motioned for him to enter. “You hungry? I ordered some pizza.”

Mathew nodded as he entered the dorm room. He could smell the strong scent of tomatoes and cheese wafting from the small kitchen in the dorm. Anna’s room was comprised of a small living room, a kitchen, and two doors that probably led into a bedroom and a bathroom. “Your dorm is pretty spacey. My dorm is only a room and a small closet.”

“Yeah, I know how lucky I am. My dad had made a deal with me when I was in high school, good grades equals a good dorm room.” Anna chuckled as she sauntered over to the kitchen area. “My poor brother wasn’t lucky enough to get the same deal.”

“Oh?” Mathew followed Anna to the kitchen. He accepted a small green plate and once again sniffed the air as Anna opened the lid of the pizza box. “By any chance, is that an organic cheese pizza?”

“It’s cheese, but organic cheese?”

“Yeah, it’s not so much a big deal… it’s just that things that aren’t organic sometimes make me feel ill, the same with meat.”

Anna merely chuckled in reply. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s all right, but why did you chuckle?”

“Oh, no reason, just remembering something.”

With a shrug Mathew reached for a slice of pizza. He was hungry, and it wasn’t like he would die from the tummy-ache he was sure to get.

“Now Mathew, what was it about the assignment you needed help on.” Anna sat down on one of the two couches in her mini living room. Matt sat down next to her. He placed his plate on his lap and opened his journal.

“Well… did you get most of Professor Harding’s lecture?”

“Yes, I always type everything a professor says I’m fast at typing.” Anna smiled as she mimicked typing on a keyboard in the air. “Let me go get my laptop and then I can pull up the notes for you. Don’t let your pizza get cold while I’m gone.”

Mathew watched Anna place her plate on the sofa and exit into one of the doors; he was guessing it led to her bedroom. He sighed as he picked up his slice of pizza and took a bite, praying all the while that a small tummy ache would be the worse of his troubles today. With his luck, Mathew took another bite of the slice, he would attempt to kiss Anna in the heat of some moment, miss- possibly kiss her nose by accident- then for the rest of his days he would have to wallow in embarrassment of losing his one true love with a nostril kiss. So no kissing, then, not today. Mathew swore as he took another bite. He placed the remaining of the slice back on his plate.

There was something unsettling occurring within his stomach. Matt pushed the plate from his lap and stood up. He suddenly felt sick, and he was sure what the culprit was, but it usually had took longer for food to have such an effect over him. This is more than a tummy ache. With his feet feeling unstable beneath him Mathew wobbled in the direction in which he believed Anna’s bathroom stood. The world seemed to sway beneath him as he reached forward to the bathroom. Suddenly his legs gave away beneath him, propelling him forward into the door ahead, and then to the ground. For a few moments there was this loud ringing noise and then everything went black.

The first noise he heard was the thumping of a heart- his heart, and for a while this was his only connection to an existence. Then from the darkness he was saved from the monotonous pounding as he slowly began to hear two voices speaking. One voice was female and another was male, they almost sounded as if they were arguing, but there was no yelling.

“If we killed him here and now, no one would be the sadder- at least no one worth counting.” That was the female voice.

“We are to not kill him, not yet, those are the orders we were given.” This time the male voice had spoke.

What is going on? Mathew struggled to open his eyes. He could hear the pounding of his heart quicken as he began to register what was going on. These two voices, these two voices that sounded so familiar, they were discussing if they should kill him.

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Ah, I'm sorry for leaving this chapter in such a way, but it seemed like a good ending sentence and also the bell is about to ring. I just want to give thanks to any and all my readers including the latest person to give me a review, Experiment Volucris who has a well written story goin' on too.