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“Look at me!”
I yelled.
“Look at me!”
Part V
was looking forward to the new term, but Occupy
I Central was upon us. The students were all on the
streets, and numbers dwindled over a week until
one day, no one at all showed up. No one, of course,
except for the lovebirds. They appeared in their
customary spot just as I turned my back. It struck
me as a fine chance to apologize for my deplorable
behavior over the summer; I called out, asking them
to come closer.
They did not respond.
I called out again. They said nothing. They did
not even look up. They just sat there: Joanna, with
that same red scarf dragging on the floor.
I was filled with a rage I cannot explain. My
every failure rose to the front of my mind, my every
shame. Everything I had done, to end up here in Hall
44. I could not bear that they would ignore me. I ran
towards them across the room, blind with anger.
“Look at me!” I yelled. “Look at me!”
I slipped on her scarf, I think. I hit my head,
I think. When I opened my eyes the couple was finally
looking at me, and their eyes were black and full of
hate, and they knew me. They knew what I had done.
Part VI
I
ran. I ran through the campus with rage and fear
and those eyes dogging me. I ran literally into
Winston, the most reliable and stupid member of
my class. He saw my panic and took me to the side,
offered me a box of Vita lemon tea. I begged him to
tell me about the couple in Hall 44.
He looked even stupider than he usually does.
“How did you find out about them? We were
told not to say anything.” But the fear in my eyes
seemed to drive him onwards. “They loved each
other, but they both lived at home. Lectures were
the only time they could spend together.
“Our last professor… he loved her work. Said it
was brilliant, just like his own research. He became
obsessed. Insisting that they had the same mind.
Whatsapps all day and all night. He started following
her home at night, begging to work together.
The couple complained to the university.”
“They fired him?”
“No, no one would do anything about it. The
Vice-Chancellor said they were ‘overreacting.’ So
Joseph went to Hall 44 and confronted the professor.
The professor pulled out a knife and stabbed him
in the stomach. Said he was getting in the way of
their research. When Joanna found Joseph, I heard
the scream from across the campus. The way I hear
it, she pulled the knife out of him and killed herself
with it. They never saw the professor again.”
18 HK MAGAZINE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2014