Village

Village Part 1

Aalborg University in Copenhagen - Today

Celeste Balslev sat in her dormitory room, wrapped in a blanket and staring at lines of her biology textbook that were now merging in a fuzzy, unfocused mesh of e. e. Cummings and Greek. She had read the same line four times and still had no idea what it was saying. She had 40 or 50 pages to go before she could even begin to feel ready for the exam tomorrow, but at 2:30 in the morning she was exhausted. One of her roommates, an exchange student named Sai Jien, had come in from partying thirty minutes ago and passed out sideways in her bed. How she kept up her grades was a mystery to Celeste.

She had been studying and sacrificing her social life for the past year, and had only one A to show for it. The rest were B's and one C. The C she was proud of though, in Mendelson's class people were just happy to pass. She looked over at the clock one last time to make sure it was set, then pulled the covers over her and drifted quietly off to sleep.

Alarms ringing.

People screaming in the hallway.

Panic.

Celeste threw off the covers and looked over at Sai, both of them wide-eyed and confused. There was smoke in the room. It was only a light mist, something you might open a kitchen window for if you had forgotten something in the oven. But one thing was certain. Something was on fire. Sai hopped up and slipped on her shoes.

"Come on Cel', move it," she barked at her friend.

Celeste moved like a drunken sailor on the high seas, her leg still asleep and her mind exhausted from being jerked out of her dream state. Sai grabbed her book bag and a trinket from her table and made for the door. Swinging it open, Sai stood in the doorway yelling something at Celeste that she couldn't follow. She was grabbing her blanket, the one her mom had sewn for her as a child, and her pictures, and the computer had all her-

"Celeste! Now! I can see the fire! Now, let's go!" screamed Sai.

There was even more smoke in the hall. She never realized until now how many things she had that she didn't want to let go of.

"I'm right behind you! Go!" yelled Celeste. Sai took one last look at her and bolted down the hallway.

The screams in the hallway became louder. Footsteps down the hall. People running. Yelling outside, maybe from passersby or maybe from people already in safety's arms, watching their belongings go up in flame. How bad was the fire? Celeste's arms were full. She ran for the door.

Then stopped.

She was only a couple of feet from the door. She had no idea why she was stopping. She simply was not moving forward. She couldn't.

Celeste could hear the roaring of flames down the hall. This wasn't a small fire. Something that could be put out with a couple of extinguishers. This was an inferno. She was on the third floor. She had to move and move now. She began to invoke all of her will power that she could muster. Her left leg inched reluctantly forward a few inches. Her body did not follow. Her brow creased in concentration. What was wrong with her? This was ridiculous.

Move, Celeste! Move your ass!

Now she was screaming at herself. What was holding her back? She had a thought. She looked at her hands, full of things from home. Things that she had taken with her. Maybe that was holding her back. All those years of tradition and beliefs. All those antiquated practices. All the lies. She looked down at her things and then turned around and threw them to the floor. A flood of guilt hotter than the fire washed over her. She had thrown things away that were dear to her. She had thrown away part of her life. Part of her family, what of it she had left. But she had to escape. Had to get out of here.