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Craig Williams found that, out of all the crappy gen ed classes he was forced to take at college, the worst one by far was Survey of American Literature.
It wasn't that Craig didn't see value in books and stories, it was just that this professor found a way to suck any interest out of the stories they read for class.
He didn't care what his students' own personal interpretations on the material were, only that they landed on the right (his own) interpretation.
But, Craig was required to take at least one English class for his degree, so he had to spend this afternoon listening to a lecture (or a rant) on the "failings of postmodernism" and why Tim o'Brien's The Things They Carried was overrated trash.
Thankfully, it seemed like the professor had miraculously finished on time today, and Craig was able to leave with a good two hours before his next class.
It was about noon, so Craig had an hour before the food hall's lunch period ended. He was hungry, so he decided to grab some lunch before getting to attend a class he actually cared about.
While walking over, Craig pulled out his phone to see if Vanessa wanted to meet him for lunch before her next class. He also thought about texting Kelsey some of what his Literature professor had said (she usually had some very charged responses to his "ignorant and stupid" opinions).
The first thing Craig saw when opening his phone, however, was a message from Kelsey that said, "They caught him. We're safe."
Craig had no idea what she was talking about, so he went looking through the group chat to see if there was a clue in there.
And what he saw in there sent him spiraling.
Apparently, there had been an active shooter situation at Kelsey and Stacks' college. Omar had been the first to hear about it, sharing a tweet he'd found saying the campus had been put on lockdown. This had been shared right after Craig's class had started.
Some of the other members of the group chat started expressing concern. Stacks didn't say anything, but Kelsey just said she didn't know why they were on lockdown and left it at that.
Then, about 5 minutes later, JP shared live news coverage from a local station. Apparently, some guy had robbed a convenience store in the area and now he was suspected of hiding somewhere on Kelsey and Stacks' college campus.
And he was reportedly armed.
And that's when the group chat blew up.
Everybody was freaking out, trying to figure out whether Kelsey and Stacks were OK. It didn't help that now neither of them were texting.
After about half an hour of panicking, worrying, some attempts at reasurance, Kelsey finally sent out a text saying her and Stacks were fine, the guy was caught, and the lockdown was over. The rest of the texts expressed relief and said either of them could reach out if they needed anything.
Craig was horrified. He couldn't believe he'd missed all of this. Kelsey could've died and he wouldn't have even known until after it happened because he was in some stupid class.
Craig wasn't sure why Kelsey had texted him separately, maybe she thought he wasn't getting the group texts, but he responded to Kelsey's message, explaining he was in class and missed everything that had happened, expressed relief her and Stacks were OK, and said if she needed anything to let him know.
She thanked him for reaching out, said she understood, and explained her and Stacks were shaken up but fine.
Craig had lost his appetite at this point, so he just sat in the quad until he had to get up and go to his next class.
And while he sat, all he could think about was what almost happened to Kelsey, how close he came to never seeing her again, how he couldn't do anything about it, and how he wouldn't have even known until after it happened.
And these thoughts wouldn't leave him alone. They just kept coming. During class, during meals, during dates with Vanessa, when he was lying in bed at night.
Craig didn't want to talk to anyone else about this, though. He wasn't the one who almost got hurt or worse. He shouldn't be troubling the others with this, especially not Kelsey.
So, he tried to ignore it at first.
But it all came to a head about a week later.
After some tossing and turning, Craig had managed to fall asleep. Usually sleep gave him some respite as he tended not to have dreams he could remember.
But that didn't happen tonight.
Instead of a nice, dreamless sleep, Craig found himself in a massive classroom he didn't recognize. He thought he was alone in the class at first.
Then, he heard some jostling behind him. He turned around and he could see Kelsey hiding under a table, all alone and scared. He tried running over to her, but he just seemed to stay in the same place no matter how much he ran.
He tried looking around again and calling out for help, seeing if there was anybody else here.
Unfortunately, there was.
Craig heard a scream behind him and looked back to see somebody had grabbed Kelsey and shoved her onto the desk. She tried to fight him off, but he didn't even seem to react whenever Kelsey hit him.
Then he put a gun up to her head.
Again, Craig tried to run over there, he tried to scream, but now his legs and vocal cords didn't even seem to work. All he could do was watch as the psycho started to pull the trigger and...
That's when Craig woke up.
He looked around to make sure he was back in his dorm, kicked his legs to make sure they worked, whispered to himself to make sure he could talk again.
But Kelsey...
Craig couldn't take it anymore. He didn't care how late (or early) it was. He needed to know she was still OK.
So, he grabbed his phone and dialed Kelsey's number, thankful that his roommate had gone home for the weekend. He didn't bother putting it on speakerphone, he just prayed she would pick up.
The phone kept ringing.
And ringing.
And ringing.
Why wasn't she picking up?
Craig was starting to freak out. Had it really happened this time? Did something happen and he was asleep and-
"Craig," a voice on the phone questioned. Was that Kelsey? Was she really OK?
"Kelsey," Craig asked back.
"Craig, what's going on," Kelsey continued questioning, "Is everything alright?"
It was her. She was fine. Nothing had happened. Craig let out a big sigh of relief.
"Craig," Kelsey questioned again, starting to sound a bit more aggitated.
Right. It was late (early?) and Craig had probably woken Kelsey up.
He didn't want to say why he really called, because that would mean talking about the nightmare and showing how selfish he was being about this.
So, he had to make something up.
"Hey, Kelsey," Craig nervously, "How-how you doin'?"
Silence on the other end.
"Craig," Kelsey deadpanned, "I am standing outside my dorm hall in my pajamas. Please tell me you didn't call me just to ask how I'm doing."
Dang. That wasn't working. Better change tactics.
"I just thought you might be still up studying, so I wanted to make sure you were in bed," Craig nervously brushed off.
More silence on the other end.
Well, not quite silence. More like muffled curse words.
"Craig, it's obvious your hiding something," Kelsey ranted, "You better tell me the real reason you called right now or I'm hanging up and blocking your number, I swear to God!"
"No no no, wait," Craig called out.
He still didn't want to admit why he really called, but he did wake her up and make her pick up the phone, she deserved to know how selfish her friend really was.
"OK," Craig admitted, "The real reason I called is because I had a nightmare about you."
"You," Kelsey stammered, now more confused than frusturated, "What?"
"About you at school," Craig clarified, "Last week, when the guy came on campus."
"Oh," Kelsey replied. She didn't need Craig to clarify what he was talking about.
"Yeah," Craig guiltily admitted.
Kelsey wasn't exactly sure where to go from here. She wasn't usually the one to be comforting her friends, especially about things like this.
"Was it really bad," Kelsey asked.
"I...it just," Craig stuttered, "You were in the school, under a desk, then this guy grabbed you, and..."
Craig trailed off, unable to even say what he almost saw.
Kelsey was a bit shaken being reminded of what could've happened, but she's come to terms with it and was just glad her and Stacks were still here.
Both of them were silent for a second. Kelsey really wasn't sure what to say now.
"I'm sorry," Craig apologized, "I wasn't even the one who almost got hurt. I shouldn't be overreacting like this. But I was just freaking out and I couldn't...I'm sorry."
Kelsey was a bit shocked. That wasn't exactly the response she was expecting to hear from Craig.
But, it did give her a bit of an idea on what to say to him.
"Craig," Kelsey stuttered, "Can I tell you something?"
"Yeah," Craig responded.
"When that whole...thing was going on," Kelsey admitted, "I was scared, but not for myself."
Craig was a bit confused at first, but let Kelsey continue.
"Stacks was all the way across campus at the time," Kelsey continued, "I tried texting her while it was happening, but her phone died earlier so she couldn't get them. I was freaking out, I really thought something had happened to her. I almost thought about running to her just to make sure she was OK. But I knew that would probably just make things worse, so I stayed put. She was fine, thank God, but I was really scared for a while."
Craig hadn't thought of that. He'd been so focused on his own fears regarding Kelsey that he didn't realize she also had someone she cared about that could've been hurt.
Especially since losing Stacks after already losing her Mom probably would've destroyed her.
"And the next few days after everything," Kelsey admitted, "I wouldn't let her out of my sight. I was convinced something could happen to her if I wasn't there to protect her. It really started getting on her nerves. She finally just told me that she was worried about me too, but we couldn't live our lives always scared like this and we just had to appreciate the moments we had with the people we loved."
Another thing that Craig hadn't thought of.
"And, yeah," Kelsey concluded, "I still could get a little scared after that, but whenever that happened, I just started thinking about how excited I was to see her again at the end of the day. And that did help."
Of course, Craig always cherished the time he spent with his friends, his family, everyone he loved, but maybe that time was supposed to be what let you know they would always be with you, even when you were scared for them.
"Wow, I hadn't ever thought of it like that," Craig gasped.
"Yeah, well, I hope it helps," Kelsey stated, "I know I'd be scared too if something like this ever happened to you or JP or the rest of the gang."
Even though Craig thought maybe that shouldn't comfort him, it admittedly still did a little.
"Alright," Kelsey started wrapping up, "Well, you probably have a busy day tomorrow, so you should probably try and get some actual sleep."
"Yeah," Craig acknowledged, "Thanks for talking to me."
"Thank you for listening," Kelsey added on, "It actually felt good to get that out."
Just before he was about to end the call, Craig decided there was one more thing he wanted to make sure his friend knew.
"Hey, Kelsey," Craig admitted, "I love you."
They'd never really spoken quite so openly about their feelings before, but Craig knew he couldn't afford to hide how important his friends really were to him anymore.
And, even though she'd probably never admit it, Kelsey appreciated this more than Craig could ever know.
"I love you too, Craig," Kelsey responded.
As the call ended, they both were happy the other knew how important their kinship was. Some outside observer might think this was some cheesy confession of romantic feelings long hidden, but they both knew what the other really meant.
Kelsey went back into her dorm room and collapsed on the bed. She was glad she had this talk with Craig, but it was still early and she was ready to go back to sleep.
Stacks, having been up since Kelsey's phone first started ringing, moved closer so her and Kelsey could get back to cuddling.
"Craig or JP," Stacks questioned.
"Craig," Kelsey answered, "So I can probably expect a call from JP pretty soon."
"You know they just worry because they care," Stacks rationalized.
"Yeah, I know," Kelsey responded, "It was a nice talk, at least. I'm glad we had it."
Kelsey scooted closer to Stacks.
"Wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world if we had it when the sun was up," Kelsey joked.
Stacks chuckled, agreeing that not being woken up by Kelsey's phone would've been nice.
"I love you," Stacks admired, "And I'm really proud of the progress you made after what happened."
"Thanks," Kelsey responded, "I love you too."
So Kelsey and Stacks let sleep reswaddle them, preparing for a full day of classes tomorrow.
And as for Craig, he still worried about bad things happening to his friends at times, but that didn't mean he should always be scared for them. It meant he should cherish the time he still had with them.
And he intended to do just that.