Dregs of Magic

Chapter 1 - All The Wrong Things

Never in his lifetime had Holden Mann found a rectangle so captivating. There was nothing particularly remarkable about it. It had the same cold pea soup color of all the other doors of the Social Science Building, but it felt like there was something more lurking beneath the thin coat of paint. He was sure if he had the wherewithal to pull out a ruler and measure the length and width himself, that every single measurement down to the last inch would mirror each and every door in the building, but for some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of this door.

"Has that door always been there?" Holden asked, turning towards Lily.

Lily, Holden's girlfriend of six years, opened her mouth to respond and paused. The question had derailed her oncoming rant before it could gain any traction. She looked at the door that had stolen his attention away from her and arched her eyebrows at him. While other women had to painstakingly pluck and prod at their eyebrows to gain the effects they wanted, Lily's eyebrows naturally conveyed a grace and beauty all but a few women possessed. Even in arched in frustration, they were breathtaking.

Holden was getting all too familiar with that look.

"I'm sure it has," she replied, but she didn't sound confident, "Are you even listening to me?"

"I'm listening just fine. You said something about me blowing off the final essay in Professor Jennings's course, so I tuned out. I don't see the point in writing down something I already know, to be read by no one other than a man with an over-inflated concept of self-importance. The guy grades papers on how well people can regurgitate information back to him, and personally, I find regurgitation downright repulsive," he replied, "But I must have walked down this hallway hundreds of times by now, don't you think I'd remember it being there?"

Lily let out an audible sigh so forceful it had to have used up all the air in her lungs. This was Lily's code that Holden was absolutely sure he was on ice so thin that a feather would send him spiraling into the icy depths of her displeasure.

"I don't know Holden, and I don't care," she said shaking her head, "You have to follow the same rules as everyone else if you want to make it in this world."

"If by 'making it' you mean get a collection of arbitrary letter grades, to get a meaningless piece of paper, that tells everyone else I can do something that I could already do before the piece of paper, I don't think I'm interested."

"Well, what are you int-"

"Do you see that brown splatter on the wall there? It starts in a straight line, gets to door and poof, nothing, but then it starts up again on the other side of the door? It's like they covered up the stain with an entire door."

"That's great Holden, but-"

"I know what you're thinking. The janitor could've prioritized cleaning the door in the hierarchy of cleaning needs. I already thought of that, but the janitors use multi-surface cleaners. It would've only took a couple seconds for them to finish the job, so why wouldn't they just wipe it all down? Even university staff aren't that lazy."

"Who gives a fuck about a coffee stain on the wall?" Lily's voice had risen an octave and was bordering on a shriek, "Your parents gave you an ultimatum, one last chance to get your act together, and you're deciding to piss it away over one paper, not even a challenging paper. You're going to get kicked out of school, and all you care about is a goddamn door that probably leads to the water heater or something."

"That door is infinitely more interesting. We already know the ending to the story of the spoiled, screw-up getting kicked out of school, but we can't explain the door of unfathomable mystery."

"Do you know what your problem is?"

"Not a clue," he said, "But I'm sure you'll tell me."

"You're focused on all the wrong things. Life isn't about flying off and satisfying whatever fancy you have for the day. Maybe you're right, maybe it should be, maybe our lives shouldn't be summed up by whatever career we choose to have for the next forty years just so we can earn enough money to exist, but that's not the world we live in, no matter how much you choose to ignore it."