Who knew it would take the whole class period to get their sculpture to stand properly? It was such a frustrating process, that Laura decided to throw as much as would fit into her locker in the art building and just walk to work form campus. The distance was a bit long by most people's standards, but Laura didn't see it that way. The distance never seemed to be an issue, if she was running late, she could always jog to work. In fact, she liked the idea more and more. It was a lovely day out and the wind running through her hair would be rather relaxing after an arduous day in the studio applying layers upon layers of duct tape to a sculpture. She didn't want to have to drag all her belongings onto the bus then throw them all into her room and then walk from there to her work.
Only carrying her back pack which had only a couple text books in it, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She supposed it was a large weight, given all that she had earlier. Blowing out a huge sigh, she stepped out into the day and stretched. It was a while before she had to clock in, so she could take her time. A lighthearted tune began to chime out from her backpack. It had to be Angie, one of her roommates. She must have gotten out of her micro economics class. Angie often called her to chat while she waited for Laura to join her on the bus back towards her apartment. She was one of those people who didn't like times of silence and absolutely had to talk to someone, which was usually Laura.
She had just barely answered the phone and Angie was talking so fast that she could only laugh.
"I'm guessing that ego maniac did most of the talking again?" Laura was referring to a guy in Angie's lecture that was always interrupting the professor to either ask questions that always sounded like he doubted their professor to actually know what she was talking about, or to make some long winded answer to a question given in class.
"Yeeeesssss." Angie groaned into the phone.
"We hardly got through 12 of the 30 slides she had for that lecture! AND there was some stuff in the latter part that I didn't quite get! I wish that guy would wake up with no vocal cords next class!" She grumbled.
"That's a bit harsh don't you think?"
"No! He's not even helping the class! He's just wasting time! I hate how Professor Lane is too nice to tell him to shut the hell up!"
"You could always tell him to shut the hell up." Laura said teasingly.
There was a long pause from her roommate. "Hey, where are you anyway? Aren't you getting on the bus?"
"Nah, I'm just going to walk to work from here."
"Laura! It's like a two or three miles from campus AND you BETTER not take any weird back roads! There are freaks out there Laura do ya hear me?!"
And there she went. She knew she shouldn't have told her, but Angie was just trying to make sure she was safe, which she appreciated.
Angie was like the mother of the two roommates she had. She liked to cook for everyone and reminded them when stuff was due or to get shit done before it was too late. So, in a way, Angie was annoying and lovable just like a mother.
The lecture persisted for the better part of twenty minutes before Laura finally told her she had to go. In all honesty, she really didn't have to, but she couldn't handle much more of that. "Fine! But you better call me when you get your ass over there!"
"I will! I will! Promise!" She urged then finally got Angie to hang up the phone.
Shoving the phone back into her book bag, she slung it over her shoulders and continued her walk.
For the most part, the walk was very pleasant, of course there were some less favorable places, but every route had that right? Passing the lines of coffee shops and restaurants that thrived off of the college crowd, she looked up at some of the older buildings. They were older but well kept by the city's cultural committee. They put a lot of effort into preserving the more historic part of the town including some old light houses some 10 miles from the city. It was odd that there weren't a lot of people out that day. Usually there were people walking their dogs or making their usual trek from the college to one of the apartments near by. A swift breeze tussled her hair and brought a relaxed smile to her face. She loved windy days, which happened often since she lived so close to the ocean.
Not wanting to think about Angie or her sculpture, Laura readjusted her bag and started to jog a little. The exertion would help keep her mind off of things and allow her feel the breeze once again. There was something so wonderful about the experience but she couldn't really explain it to anyone else despite how often she tried to. Her roommates would chalk it up as something to do with being a 'spacey art student'.
There was a steady rhythm to her pace that she did in fact, begin to space out. So much in fact that her thoughts wondered to her dreams of falling. It wasn't the scary sort of falling either, it was like she wanted to fall. To embrace it. It wasn't always falling in a traditional sense either. It was sometimes like she was falling up or to the side and some times is was like she was weightless.
The only thing that shook Laura from her lingering thoughts was the violent and unexpected twirl she had before making contact with the harsh ground. She could hear the rough grunts of someone above her, then she felt their weight on top of her. Whoever it was that hit her was trying to wrench her arms back, pulling at the straps of her back back and trying their best to use their weight to pin her down. Heart pounding, mind racing, she struggled against them and flung her head back as hard as she could. It connected with something with a sick crack and there was shortened cry followed by a sharp pain like she had cut her head. Her attacker groaned and rolled off of her enough for her to scramble out from under them. It was a large man wear a dark university hoodie and sweats. He held his hand over his mouth and there was blood and his eyes were squeezed shut in pain.
There was no time to think about what he wanted, she couldn't risk it! So she ran, her legs eating up ground in long strides. Normally, Laura was fast but even more so when she was terrified. The amount of speed she had was almost unnatural, not that she could pay attention to that now. All that mattered was putting more and more distance between her and the man that forced her to the ground. How long it took her to get to the flower shop, she didn't know and didn't care. Rushing through the door made the two small bells attached to it clang in an awful way causing Todd, one of her coworkers to look up with a start. "What the hell happened to you?!" He exclaimed. It had taken her that moment to realize there was blood dripping off her arms from where she had skinned them on the sidewalk. The first thing that managed to tumble from her quivering lips was,
"I got to call Angie.."