Just Dumb Enough to Try

Disappointing Diamonds are the Rarest of Them All

"We're unsure of what it is. Though it's probably viral."

Louis almost choked as the doctor placed the popsicle stick on his tongue, tickling his gag reflex. His throat had been on fire since waking up that morning. He stared ahead at the diagrams of various bones on the wall, as the doctor continued to check up on him. He winced as the doctor's fingers pressed down at the base of his antlers.

"Judging by the tenderness around your antlers, they're likely to drop early again." The doctor told him.

"Any good news?" He coughed.

"I'm writing you a prescription for a stronger cold medicine to nip this thing in the butt."

Louis walked out of the doctors office feeling annoyed. All of the prodding around his antlers had given him a headache. The bright sun didn't help either. He squinted at his phone as he texted his father the news. He got no response as expected. The train took him all the way down to the dormitory. He walked away from the campus grounds to a nearby pharmacy.

"I'm here to pick up a prescription for Louis." He said, handing the alpaca behind the counter the slip of paper.

"I'll have that in just a second, sir."

The alpaca came back after fifteen minutes worth of seconds and handed Louis a white paper bag.

"These are pretty strong so take one in the evening. I'd suggest after you're done with your homework." the pharmacist winked.

Louis coughed into his sleeve as he pushed through the revolving door. Not even a month into university and he was already sick. His continual coughing followed him his entire walk through the campus grounds. Other students watched the sick deer from a distance, knowing other students would fall.

Once back in his room, he sat down on his bed. His father had gotten him a single room. He preferred that anyway. As his father had put it, "he wasn't there to make friends." To his surprise, he was still allowed to join the college theater. Very early on he found out, they let just about anyone join. He had made plans to change that once he inevitably became in charge. For now, he would slum it at the bottom with the talentless freshman.

He tore the staples away from the paper and opened the bag. The label on the bottle warned about the same things as the alpaca. Louis looked at the papers on his desk. It was probably smart to listen to his pharmacist, but he also didn't want to deal with this cold any longer than he had to.

Taking a pill, he sat down at his desk. He pulled out his English book, pulling out the small packet he had left to finish inside its pages. They weren't the hardest questions, but there were a lot of them. Science came next. Diagrams depicted differences in various evolutionary lines. The arrows pointed down the page, splitting off into new paths. He followed them all the way off the page, to himself. Was he the result of these arrows?

Had he done English? He opened the packet to check. The handwriting certainly seemed like his.

He had to keep rereading the Calculus problems on his laptop. The screen seemed to warp and he kept forgetting the numbers he was supposed to write down. The letters didn't feel like they belonged there. Stands for something he wrote, circling the X. The buzzing from his phone made him look up from the riddles.

"Legosi!" He exclaimed, seeing the wolf's name appear on his screen.

Would you like to hang out tonight?

They hadn't done anything together in a while, ever since the one night. He felt bad about blowing him off, but he really needed to finish before the pills took effect.