Why did i have to get sick? If i hadn’t then there would be no need for me to be going from professor to professor trying to collect extra work and gt back to a point where I am not drowning. It will take some time, but there is no reason I wont be able to catch up with some hard work and determination. The last professor on my roster was Professor Mikas. He was strange, but his classes were quite fun. He taught ancient history, a favorite of mine. He has this way of teaching that made it seem like he was part of the event. In this way he kept every student on the edge of their seat like they were in story time instead of an advanced college course. I knocked on Proffesor Mikas’ door, knowing he would give me somthing. He would never let a student fail for somthing so uncontrolable as sickness. No answer. Strange, it was his office hours. I knocked again with the same result. On previous occasions he had no issues with us just walking in to his office but somthing felt off. There was a strange sound coming from within, a rythmic buzzing. Unable to hamper my curiosity i opened the door. What I saw within was astounding. The rytmic buzzing sound was coming from a large metal object in the corner of the room. It was cylindrical, about the size that a grown man could fit inside comfortably. I had been to Professor Mikas office many times but this object had never been there. The metal tube wasnt the only thing, there was strange lights coming from it. It was like a disco with flashing lights in many different colors and hues. Professor Mikas was nowhere in sight, and suddenly neither was the metal tube. Just like that the lights were gone and the office was devoid of life. I looked around, trying to find any sign of Professor Mikas. Nothing. I tried to puzzle out what that may have been. Some sort of vanishing device? Maybe the reason that the professor seemed like he had been at these events is because he was? Why was time travel the only explianation that entered my head? Why was the idea of time travel not even phasing me? Those were all questions for another day. Since the professor was not here, there was no way i could ask them till his next office hours. Somthing this earth shattering couldn’t be put into a freindly email.

“Bro how did i get an f on the test?” I ask Asher as we walk out of class “Well did you study?” He says already knowing the answer “no i did not study” i say in a small grumble he laughs the sound rich and sweet it makes my heart flutter. Asher is just my friend that’s all we are friends i mean if he asked me out or something I wouldn’t say no but he doesn’t like me like that so whatever He clears his throat waking me from my thoughts and he says “are you coming to practice later?” Oh right practice “yeah ill be there” great now where just awkwardly walking down the hall ugh! Why am i so bad at starting conversations especially with him.i look up at the flickering lights in the long gray hallway filled with kids the loud buzzing of conversations i wonder what its like to not be awkward man i wish. If a genie would give me three wishes they would be 1: Asher would be my boyfriend. 2: i would be the greatest artist in the world. 3: I wouldn’t be so dam awkward.

Elle stood with her fist inches from the door. All she had to do was knock. Or she could just turn around and walk away. Go back to her dorm and figure this out on her own. But she'd spent the semester trying to figure out this teacher - an older woman who changed the subject wildly from one class session to the next, and graded papers unpredictably. What else could Elle do but ask for help, as much as it felt like admitting defeat? She'd never had to come to a professor's office hours before.

She knocked on the door. It opened - it must not have been completely closed, after all. Elle poked her head in. There was the teacher's desk, just as cluttered with papers as she had imagined it would be, but the chair was empty. Elle checked her watch. Yes, this was the right time. All university faculty needed to post office hours. Maybe she should wait inside.

Elle pushed the door open further, and that's when she saw it. It had been hidden by the door before, but it took up a whole corner of the room - a tall blue wooden box, with a light on top, and the words "Police Public Call Box" in white.

"Holy shit," said Elle.

So the teacher was a nerd. That was the most likely explanation. The kind of nerd who would build or buy her own TARDIS.

Or, said a voice in the back of her head. Or...

No, said the more rational part of her brain. It couldn’t be.

But it would explain why she only has us call her “Doctor…”

Elle stepped forward, put her hand on the TARDIS door, and opened it.

Karl knocked on Professor Jackson’s office door. This was the first time the first year student had gone to visit the professor for some guidance. Karl was just about to knock on the professor’s door again when it startled him by opening and out emerged a student, someone who appeared similar in age as Karl.

“Kathryn, please have a good think of what we discussed. It really is up to you to make this happen or not.”

Karl furrowed his brows in question. The situation he walked into appeared to be easily interpreted in so many ways, he was intrigued but at the same time wanted to respect the student and the professor’s privacy. The student named Kathryn noticed the presence of Karl as she left the professor’s office and gave him a piercing stare. Karl stammered whilst blushing;

“Hey.. are you okay?”

“Yeah… I.. I just went to see the professor because I did so poorly in my last assessment..”

“Um.. okay…”

Karl let out a mischievous grin.

“So.. y’know what, I flunked so badly, I decided to negotiate with the professor, right?”

Kathryn looked up. She replied suspiciously.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“And.. were you successful in your.. negotiation?”

Karl grinned again.

“Well.. I’m still here am I not?”

Kathryn rolled her eyes.

“That doesn’t particularly mean anything…!”

“Okay, okay, so, I actually did tell the professor that I’d do anything to get a pass mark.”

Kathryn’s eyes shot open in surprise.

“You actually said that?”

“Yeah. I figured I had nothing to lose.”

“Hmm. So then what happened?”

“Well.. he did say there was one thing I could do to make the situation better.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well what was it ?”

Karl lowered his voice and answered in a hiss;

“…He just told me to go study…”

Reggie Olsen burst through the door to Professor Swan’s office with such determination that for a passing second he worried he had knocked the old wooden slab right off its hinges. It slammed hard on the back of the white office wall, where to no one’s surprise was already quite a few marks from the door’s brass knob. Before even taking in his surroundings Reggie stormed into the office with his finger out stretched and the classic ‘Now you listen here!’ Approach.

“You have absolutely no right to fail me!” Reggie felt confident in his delivery. “I did that assignment and turned it in! You have some sick thing against me-“

But suddenly the student Reggie halted himself. His observations finally had caught up with his head. The room was completely empty. There was no professor. There were plenty of books and ancient scrolls and a very unorganized bunch of paper on his desk with tiny scribble all over it. But there was no professor.

There was also something else very strange. A suspended dark blue and black swirling circle, large enough for a single person to step through if they desired. Static electricity veined off of it in light arcs.

Curious, Reggie approached with circle with cautious apprehension. He stood to the side of the circle. It was thinner than paper. He could not even see it. He turned in front of it once more. There stood the circle, big and suspended. He stood behind it and saw the same circle. To the side once more and no sign but maybe a hair thin black line.

“Weird.” He thought out loud.

He walked to the edge of the desk, in front of the circle and grabbed a pencil. He tossed it towards the circle and watched it fold and disappear into the swirling soup of black and blue.

“No way.” Reggie’s eyes widened. “Its like… a time traveling portal. The professor jumped through dimensions! Wicked cool!”

On impulse, Reggie jumped into the black circle. “Im coming professor!” He yelled before he felt a torrent rushing across his non existent body.

Within the blink of an eye he fell upon a black rock surface, hot to the touch. He gasped for his breath, and looked first at his hands, making sure his body was intact. And then he looked up. . .

All around the poor soul was the most foul creatures anyone could imagine, with centipede legs and spider mandibles. They slithered and crawled their way across an infinite plain of lava and desolate rock. They stood on the ground, they stood on the ceiling, and in the eye of any beholder… one look upon it would be enough to shatter the mind.

Standing over him, deep in black shadow stood the most ominous creature of them all. A red boned giant with horns… a tail… picking the abominations right off the landscape like gummy worms and popping them into his mouth… which was no more than another portal of infinite razor sharp teeth spinning around like a blender. Its numerous eyes of all manner looked straight down at Reggie and it let out a deep shockwave groan. Then it reached down with its giant hands and grasped them around Reggie, snapping his bones and burning his flesh in the process.

“Dammit! I just wanted to play football!” Were the last words Reggie would ever say. And no one would hear them against the spine curling sound of teeth grinding together. . .

Monday. The beginning or the end of the week depending who you ask. A day so carefully created it deludes to the idea of new hope.

Patiently apprehensive you jig next to your belongings, waiting for the nurse to return. Without so much as a knock she materialises before you; a shower of blue glitter. Peering at her clipboard she smiles broadly revealing her lungs, “You are negative. No more Divoc. Back to college for you today. Wear your breathing apparatus and silk gloves.”

Leaping high into the air, you didn’t get the chance to thank her before she vanished. Two whole weeks had been spent cooped up in one of the sterile isolation pods. The whole space was bland, even the stinging disinfectant that rained constantly down in a fine mist. Clumsily, with excitement, you looped the strap of your breathing apparatus over your head. Fingers wiggle easily into the slippery silken gloves.

Silently you watched the roof of the world turn into a detached slate of grey. Fearing a shower of rain, you picked up the pace keeping to the edge of the path. Skirting around the lampposts and trees. Shoes pattered along, stumbling slightly where the roots had pushed up; fighting back against oppression.

Each hissing inhale served to remind you of what you had. You had a life, unlike so many people. Choices, freedom and decisions at your whim. Easily disposed never really contemplating what it would be like to have no say or control. Overhead a single shimmering metallic body of a giant dragonfly hovered. Steady whoap whoap whoap droned monotonously, four fragile glass panels twitched and stirred the heavy air.

A ghost of a smile tugs at your lips. Mysterious, known and unknown. Skipping up the concrete steps you shove open the stubborn door. Brightly greeting Mr Macintosh who sat behind the reception desk. Whose nimble fingers danced over clattering keys, angrily reprimanding college canteen.

Drifting down the endless corridors, you expertly dodge the throng of mindless students. All who had their heads stuffed full of new information. Until at last you find your professors office. Alarmed by the panting breaths creeping out under the wooden panel. Stained acid chartreuse by garish light. What only could be described as sulphurous turned the pure air into toxic soup.

Your professor was an eccentric man. Perhaps a little mad; madness is needed in a dry cut world. Neither to told nor be-folded into precise box. One of a kind. One to be sneered at by the judgmental and prejudice eyes that lurked on the street corners. Never knew what he would say next but always could rely on his good nature.

Rapping sharply on the door, you pulled your hand back unsure. Shaking your head slowly, you rolled your shoulders adjust the weight hanging between your blades. “Enter,” a seriously stern bark. Twist, turn and thrust was all that was needed to open the divide.

Temporarily rendered mute and frozen by the sight before you. Accolades lined the walls, a large bookcase, a computer; everything a professor would need to prepare high quality lessons. Nothing unusual.

Your professors wiry salt and pepper hair exploded from the confines of a hat. Not a normal hat, oh no. A large Victorian jelly balanced atop his head, a shade of rich Byzantium. Contained and shaped by a heavy black belt, to the point of ludicrous proportions. His jacket attempted to match in pansy velvet. Beneath a shirt belonging to midnight embraced his chest. Pinstripe trousers lingered confused, clinging to thick tree trunks, in case answers may be sought. Poking out from under stout table, a pair of shoes that could only be described as absurd were seen. To top it off a single beam of sunlight formed a perfect circle protecting a slither of moonbeam, hung from his ear.

Nervously, you pushed back a wayward strand of hair,“Professor, may you help me catch up on the work I missed, please?” Silence swept in on the cavorting eddies. Awkwardly, you scratched your neck anticipating the heavy hand of judgement.

At last your ears picked up the rumbling dorsal tones, “You’re not who I was expecting!” Piggy eyes squinted down an aquiline nose.

Resurfacing from your bag, clutching your notebook, you stared bewildered, “Who were you expecting, professor? I knocked on the door?”

“I was expecting President Anura,” coarse words lisped out dressed in spittle. Backing away you discreetly wiped the dropped beads from the little window in your breathing apparatus.

Click, click, click. It sounded something akin to bone bouncing off bone. Following the withered liver spot infested hands, you witnessed your professor counting. Counting various shapes, some square, some blocky, some pointed. All had varying numbers of legs…

”What are you staring at? I told you I wasn’t expecting you, you should have emailed me to schedule a meeting with me. Although, having Divoc is not really an excuse for falling behind especially with the lessons being streamed live.” He never looked up from his task, as the callous reprimand was delivered.

Stuttering through your realisation you asked, “Sir, are those teeth?”

“Yes. I covered the art of bargaining and negotiation in the democracy lesson. The PowerPoint is on Fledge if you need a recap. Drop me an email and I’ll arrange a meeting with you tomorrow.” Clearly dismissed you scuttled hurriedly out of the office.

I walked through the heavy oak door, coming upon a sight I could have gone without.

There Professor Williams stood, her teeth in the neck of her teacher assistant. The assistant’s face was pale, eyes closed as Professor Williams took another heavy gulp from their vein.

She pulled her head up to look at me, retracting her teeth from the neck of the student. “Can I help you, Miss Davis?”

My mouth snapped shut. “I—”

“Do you have a good excuse for interrupting?” asked the student as they sat on the large desk of my Professor. They crossed their long, brown legs and pushed their glasses onto their nose. “I was having a pleasant time.”

Professor Williams tightened her navy shawl around her arms and tugged at one of the many necklaces and jewels on her neck. “Well?”

I cleared my throat. “I wanted some help. My grades are slipping, and I...You know what? I should go.”

“Nonsense.” Professor Williams grinned, blood slipping out of the side of her mouth. It felt rude to point it out, so I looked at her feet. Her toenails were painted a dark green with golden lines in it.

“Really, I should,” I mumbled, reaching my hand back to turn the doorknob.

The teacher’s assistant licked the blood from Ms. William’s skin. “See you in a few days.” They reached behind me and opened the door for themselves and left me alone with my Professor.

She flicked her tongue out to run it over her lips. “Please, sit.” She gestured to the chair on the opposite side of her desk.

I gulped and took small steps to the wooden chair. “If I interrupted, I can, um, come back another time.”

I would never come again, not in a million years, no matter how far my grades slipped.

“You’re fine, darling.” She crossed her legs and fiddled with her nose ring. “Now, your lower grades are on the writing portions of tests. You do better with factual, multiple-choice questions.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I just need some guidance.”

She grinned, though it seemed awfully wicked. “I think I can do just that.”

It began the eve of Valentine’s Day. Everyone was in a good mood, sharing smiles and compliments. Each person in Louisville had a skip to their step. Some would say “love was in the air”.

But Ashlynn Kate would disagree. That is... if she could speak.

Ashlynn Kate was a good girl. She was smart, reserved-listened to her superiors. She understood righteousness and did everything she could to be the best version of herself, to show everyone a little bit of kindness. Because everyone could use a smile and encouragement to make it through their day.

But eventually, giving one-hundred and ten percent became too much for her to handle. Her school work piled up, due dates became past due, grades began to lower, her education started to slip out of her hands. Her two side jobs took all of her time, and anything extra was occupied by volunteer work at her church with the youth. She adored working with younger children and infants in the nursery, it was the highlight of her day: just to see those toothless smiles and hear their deep-belly giggles. Classes and studying had taken back seat.

It had been a few days since the end of Finals. The test results came back only a few days later and Ashlynn’s final grades were pathetic. Two ‘D’s and an ‘F’. She felt defeated. After all that time she spent slaving away looking over text books and previous notes, it was to no avail.

So now what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t retake the exam, it was done! Most of her teachers wouldn’t give a flying flip. All except for one... Professor Brand.

Oh the man was an angle in the midst of chaos. He taught through repetition, questions and answers. He brought fun into boring lectures, every week he would come into class with a fresh Halloween costume. One week it was a clown, the next-a tooth fairy. Every student in his class adored him.

And then it hit her.. Go to Brand. Maybe he could help her. Maybe he could help her study. Her grades could get a boost, she’d never have to take the classes again!

She’d go to Brand and get everything fixed. Easy. Done.

She gathered all of her stuff and headed out of her dorm, but not without telling her roommate. She made it to the Campus auditorium, and took a sharp left, finding herself at the library. Through the library and out the back door was a shortcut to the Biology Lab. Something Ashlynn and her friends had found when they all had woken up late.

After a few minutes she reached the lab, a large building with large-pane windows on the second floor. She opened the two glass doors and jogged up the two flights of stairs located to the south of the entrance, and hit her target. First door on the right.

Ashlynn gave a few sharp knocks, “Professor Brand?” With no answer she called once more, “Brand, it’s me! Ashlynn. Do you have a few minutes?”

She cracked open the door and peered in-it was pitch black. No lights were on, but she could see the slight outline of Brand’s coat and duffel bag in the distance. “Professor?” She reach in and flicked on the lights. His desk was a mess. Papers were thrown everywhere, his anatomy skeleton tossed on the floor with pieces strewn across the platform. “What on earth...”

In the corner of the room was a slumped mass, heaped up with a brown sheet messily tossed onto it. Though a hand, a human hand, bloodied and just barely seen from under the sheet sent Ashlynn’s heart rate skyrocketing. She ran towards it and ripped the sheet off. There sat Professor Brand, slumped over with a bowler hat in lap, dead.

Grey skin-absent of blood, a gash on his temple, and a bloodied whole in the left center of his chest. His eyes were rolled to the back of his head, only bloodshot veins and white was seen. He couldn’t been dead for more than a few hours.

She reached for her phone, but it was snatched from her hand. She gasped and a pillow cases was thrown over her head, cutting off a scream. Flailing hands and and restless legs dropped and it was pulled tightly against her throat, cutting off her air flow. She was pulled into the darkness. Never to be seen again.

I knew. In the back of my mind I knew that he was different, he was the youngest of all of our professors and he was here at a low ranking college.. He wasn’t terrible looking either, I mean a little homely but could be worse. I definitely wasn’t day dreaming about sinking my teeth into him but I wont deny that I has ran through my mind once or twice. What was he hiding and why was he here? I came too get my own backstory because no one I talked to seemed to have any certainty in their answers.

The University of Wauna is a colorless school, not a party school whatsoever just a place where people come to actually get some work done, which was hard for me to believe when I started here around 4 years ago. I think what drew me in was the fact that this wasn’t some flashy school with multiple bars and coffee shops and different stores on campus. That it was exactly what you paid for, you education and some guidance along the way. I’m not going to lie the buildings are actually quite beautiful made up of 5 buildings connecting in the middle as the main business hub. Also having over 25 acres of wooded lands where you saw deer and elk every great once in a while and miles of backroads that hadn’t been used since the eighties. Wauna was mostly known for their technical programs and getting young laborers ready for the union and such but they also had to have all the other accrediting classes to be able to push these students through in one go and not have too worry about transfers and such. So in the case of my aspirations to become a medical writer U.Wauna could really care less. And I liked that in this odd and sobering way, no one to tell me what I’m doing wrong or right as long as I am doing things. I don’t think everyone can appreciate the gratification that I gain from solitude.

Now almost 7pm creeping up at the last hour of the office hours and I can see that he is alone. I stop by the bathroom to make sure that I’m in order, spritzing myself to leave an impression that I wasn’t sure I wanted or not. I walk into a dimly lit classroom with his desk front and center. And he is nowhere to be seen, it is only me. The ambiance sends shivers up my spine. Something jus felt off, my curious self says go find him. But my street smarts are telling me that is a terrible idea. I peek around looking at all the books on the walls when I find one that just doesn’t seem like it belongs. It is rugged and warn and from the layer of dust on every other book this one seemed to have the most traffic. Grabbing it from the shelf and shoving it in my bag quickly before I walked into the next room. I had no time to be caught reading I had to get in and get what I came for (even if I didn’t know what I was looking for.

After several days and no answers I finally decided to open up the book. No title but very old and worn binding, I flip through the first ten or so pages and nothing. It is literally just a blank book to my surprise. As I keep flipping through pages I see several of them that seem to be almost glued together. As I try to pry then open I have no luck, but to my surprise I see that there is a slide on the side that reveals a key. Very used and didn’t look at all new nor shiny with some brown staining. I did my best to keep my fingers off the key but I knew that I wasn’t letting this one go.

Back to class the next day and there is a huge announcement at the beginning of class. There was a book missing from the decorative shelf and that it needed to be returned immediately. In the back of my mind I knew that this was big. What could he be hiding?

I try to dismiss the thoughts from my worrisome mind. At this point it has taken up the majority of my time and I’m now in the position where I have to go to his office hours for work not just play. I gather myself and work on my facial expressions to play the perfect round of poker face if need be. I walk in and the same tension is in the air from the first night I went in. the room isn’t so dark and he is actually front and center at his desk. Hellos are exchanged and the usual run around, what are you inn for? Is there any way I could help? There was a new question in the queue of what are you in for bingo. And that was that was what are you going to school for? You don’t look like you belong here in all honesty. I told him that I was studying to become a medical writer. He smirked, “Really? Our of all the schools? You seem like a bright young woman but Wauna just doesn’t a suit you or your needs.” I reflected back and honestly he wasn’t wrong. This really want the place for me but the convenience was all that mattered to me. I hissed back with the typical “you don’t know anything about me!”, followed with a devilish grin his eyes lit up. “Not yet.”

When the light of the day has been extinguished, Will the hours of the dark frighten you? When the rainbows no longer shines with all the colors Will you heart sink in the night? When daylight seems to fade always slowly Your soul begins to sink deep with in you For is it fear or is it loneness, is it the past you carry For in the light you must hide your soul with in For in the light you shine with false happiness, For only when darkness falls That is when you are alone with your thoughts, Alone with your heart and your memories, When darkness falls, you cannot escape the hours that pass You can not escape your mind your thoughts your heart When darkness falls you are all alone with you, Looking back on your past mistakes Looking into the whys and the why not Thinking what you could of changed that day Or that week or that month, When darkness falls the light with in you heart falls with it, So many days come and so many days go but one thing you can Always count on is at the end of each and every one of your days DARKNESS FALLS