No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.
*NARRATOR'S POV*
Louis agrees that he is the worst possible tourist. He felt that since he would be living in Chicago for - it's very likely - the rest of his countable years, he doesn't need to buy food from vendors that will make him sick. That wasn't a high chance considering Chicago wasn't a North African country with no hygiene.
His university was a massive, public and popular one. He got a tour on the first day with all the other dorm-stayers - he decided to accept that fate and save his money. There was a football field that made Louis sweat by just looking at it, theatres isolated in at least three different buildings and scattered diners for meals. There was a rec-room in his dormitory with a flat screen and an assortment of indoor sporting equipment.
Against his wishes, a variety of fellow new-comers tried talking to him. Most gave up when they realised he only responded in single syllables. Most. His very energetic room-mate, Niall Horan, kept at it until Louis completed a sentence.
"Do you think the dining dollars they give us will be enough?" Niall had wandered off from the group and Louis was torn between leaving him or the others behind.
Louis chooses Niall, worried about the boy getting lost in this wonderland, and nods to answer his question.
"I don't think so." Niall puts his hands on his hips and gazes at the surrounding scenery. "If you got extra, know that I'll be borrowing your card."
Louis didn't see the harm in that, so he shrugged and waited.
Georgia wasn't attending the same college, but they wished each other well after the plane trip here. It was thirteen hours of being thousands of feet above the ground, and Louis' body is screaming for sleep.
"Let's go back." Niall proposes and Louis laughs under his breath. "Race you?"
"No." Louis' eyes widen in their sockets.
"Why not?"
"I don't run."
Niall didn't react to Louis' response, not wanting the streak to end. "Well, you're my friend so now you do."
Louis shakes his head and takes off walking towards the others.
"Come on, Lou." Niall drags out the nickname and pulls on Louis' arm. "It's a long way."
Louis sighs and gives in, much to Niall's delight. They sprint across the field back to where everyone is admiring the statue of the college's founder, Greg McHillson. It looks like he's urinating but Louis' vision is unreliable right now.
He beat Niall and the lucky Irishman - ironically from the other side of town - was heaving breaths by the end.
"Okay we're never running again, Turbo." Niall slaps Louis' back and they laugh together as Niall fights for air.
Louis gets bumped up to adequate tourist when he purchases two sets of college sweats - almost twice his size - and a corndog because Niall refuses to eat alone. The group is finally dispersed and everyone is ordered to do what they wish until the orientation at one and mini market the university organised at the start of every year.
"Are you really Irish, Niall?" Louis asks when they sit on the grass outside the English Literature building.
"Nah." Niall answers in a strong American accent. "Born in Ohio and my family moved here when my dad died."
"I'm sorry."
"Thanks." Niall lies back on the grass and tucks his arms under his head. "What about you?"
Louis' breath hitches. "Moved from Middleston with my animals. Parents died with my sisters four years ago."
"I'm so sorry, man." Niall looks at Louis with pure empathy in his eyes.
"Doesn't bother me anymore." Louis waves him off. "Gotta move on."
Niall doesn't say anything and Louis sits staring at his shoes, thinking about all that he needs done. Bolg and Bundy are asleep in their locked dormitory, but they needed to unpack so something made sense in that place.
"We should go back." Louis patted Niall's shoulder. "I'm not living out of boxes."
"Fair enough." The boy takes his time standing up, dramatically stretching afterwards and making Louis shake his head with a chuckle.
"Move now."
"You're bossy." Niall trudged off in the wrong direction, realised that and came back to Louis. "Let's go then."
Giggling, Louis grabs his satchel and leads Niall towards their dormitory for real. Not much needs unpacking, but there are lots of boxes that slide under their beds in the end. They each get a small closet and short cupboard. There are two desks with chairs on either side of the room and Niall starts up on putting posters up before all else. Louis puts Bolg and Bundy's cages against the wall at the foot of his bed on a neat rug.
"How far are the showers?" Louis watches Niall decide between The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. The Beatles ends up on Louis' side of the room because he won't let them collect dust.
"Down the hall. Thank fuck they're individual cubicles." Niall jumps off his bed as Louis sets about correcting his own bedsheets.
"I'm hungry." Louis flops down on his bed.
"Finally!" Niall screeches. "Been waiting for you to say that. Let's go."
"But-"
"We'll lock the door and come back after the market. C'mon, up."
With a lazy sigh Louis gets up and locks the dorm door with the window cracked open.
They stop at the college diner and order burgers with soda floats. Niall claims they're the best things on Planet Earth and makes Louis order one too. Louis' the kind to do whatever childish puzzle was on the menus and even asked for crayons to colour the tiger in. It looked so bland to him. Needless to say, his soda float came to him free because the waiter thinks he's autistic.
"Bastard." Niall looks stunned. "That's not fair."
"Ask for crayons, Niall." The tip of Louis' tongue pokes out between his lips as he concentrates.
"Don't you think people will laugh at you?"
"They will, if they do. I don't care."
"Hallelujah." Niall mutters. "Waiter! Can I have some crayons?!"
Their orientation is long and boring. Niall falls asleep twice on Louis' shoulder and Louis doesn't have the heart to wake him the second time. He does take a photo to remember this moment. Niall and him had the same major - Communication & Journalism - so their lectures were the same starting at nine most mornings. Except when Louis went to Criminology class that was one lecture for him every weekday at 16h00 to 17h00.
With their first lecture scheduled for the next day, Louis finally shoved Niall to wake him up and together they went outside. Niall took all of two minutes cracking his knuckles and yawning before agreeing to spend fifteen minutes in the market.
A photographer catches several candids of them in the name of the university since they had a new brochure coming out and he's never seen more photogenic people in his thirty-five years.
After not buying anything, Louis follows Niall up to their room where they fall asleep in their clothing.
Middleston has had a horrific strain of storms that started five days ago when Louis still lived here. Nothing could be done about the downpour but people still regularly attended the open bars around down, and Harry was able to mend his broken side with several doses of homicidal satisfaction.
There was Veronica, the bartender at Pissing Pete's who willing went with Harry. He wished he could feel sorry for her, because her screams were the loudest ones.
Then came Ashley, the bimbo with too many cigarettes in her bra. She offered Harry entertainment that he didn't accept and beat on her until she understood he didn't want her.
After Ashley's mutilated body was found with a chunk of flesh and skin missing from her thigh where Harry filleted her, Delilah's killer was found and all the murders were pinned on him. Harry hated that, that another man got the credit for what he did himself for years, but had other things to worry about.
Now there was Jean, an attractive young brunette in eleventh grade. How she got into a bar was beyond Harry, but she did and now she was watching him intently. It unnerved him and he moved to exit through the back. Her brownish green eyes followed his back, before she slid off the stool and went after him.
She was easier than any other Harry's taken - not in a sexual way. She was drunk and bold, unseeing to danger and aggravated Harry with her loud behaviour. He drugged her in his apartment's doorway and let her drop like a carcus before stepping over her legs. For now, he'd missed seeing the colourful printed paper that fell out of her pocket.
Jean woke up with a heavy head and cursed herself for being wherever the Hell she was. She picked up her shoes and turned the doorknob, only to find that it is locked.
"Uh. Hello?" She stepped into the beautiful complex cautiously.
Harry watched wordlessly from the kitchen where a combo of shadows hid him from her vision. He spun the knife in his hand, digging the tip into his thumb.
"Anyone here?" She dug for her purse that Harry remembers she left at the bar. He shook his head at her.
Compliments of the storm, a loud burst of thunder ensued followed by a flash of lightning. Had she been looking at the kitchen, she'd have seen Harry standing there but the sudden shower outside spooked her.
"I want to leave." Her voice shook a little now and she was still bare foot. Harry hated that about other people, not wearing shoes in another person's home.
He decide's this game is over and speaks up without moving. "You shouldn't follow strangers."
She whipped around trying to find the voice but stopped to calm her rabbiting chest. "S-Sorry?"
"A bit late, don't you think?"
"N-Not really. I-"
"What?"
"Nothing." She stared out the window and when the second flash came, she saw a man several inches taller standing right behind her.
Jean opened her mouth to scream for help, but it was futile. Harry plunged the blade of his trusty knife into the pressure point in her neck. It would hurt like a bitch before going numb. Her body crumbled and Harry didn't catch her, tilting his head as her knees bent awkwardly when she caved.
Beside her was a piece of paper, chucked out of her writhing hand Harry frowned before picking it up out of human curiosity.
Chicago State University.
He scanned the pamphlet, then stopped. When he did the room stopped spinning and the gnawing at his chest paused for a moment. That was a face he knew, beside one that he didn't know. In an effort to get to the couch in time, Harry kicked Jean's abdomen and she coughed up blood on his marble flooring. He didn't care because he was looking right at the cause and solution to his heartache.
Harry picked up the phone and dialled the number at the bottom, all the while staring at one image of a beautiful familiar boy laughing as he pointed to a dream catcher.
"Chicago State University. How may I help you?" A sweet female voice answered.
"My name's Harry Styles." He spoke gruffly. "And I was wondering if it's already too late to enroll."
Louis woke up screaming in the middle of the night and Niall's idea of comfort was throwing a pillow at him and threatening him with death. It's the fifth night in a row for Louis, and he refuses to call it home sickness.
When Niall gets Louis up four hours later, he's panicked and already dragging Louis out of bed. "We're late! We're so fucking late."
"What?" Louis takes his arm back and rubs the drowsiness from his eyes.
"We're late! Wake the Hell up!" Niall hauls Louis to his feet. "My alarm didn't go off and our first lecture starts in ten minutes."
That gets Louis moving. They bolt down the hall to the bathrooms for a two minute shower, before racing back in bath towels.
"Think he'll mind if we show up in towels?" Niall asks as he quickly chooses clothing.
"Don't think so but I do." Louis pulled on black khakis and the school football jersey. He looked horrible.
"I'll make breakfast." Niall announces.
"There's no time, Niall!" But it's pointless because Niall never skips a meal and he's already gone.
Louis sighs and takes the extra few seconds to comb his hair before bidding his turtle goodbye and locking the door. He jogs downstairs to an empty rec-room and could cry about how long Niall's taking.
"Niall!" He shouts, letting the edge ring in his voice.
"Here." Niall shoves a slice of toast covered in maple syrup at him and a mug of tea.
Louis taught Niall to make his tea, and in turn Louis learnt how Niall had his coffee.
"No travel mugs?" Louis enquires, blowing the tea to cool it and swallowing the toast.
"No. Now let's go."
Niall and he still had their mugs when they arrived for their lecture, but they weren't all that late and managed to grab seats in the middle of the theatre before the teacher entered. Louis played with his string teabag and paid as much attention as he could without yawning and tearing up.
Their Photojournalism lecturer is the most chilled teacher of them all, he believes in coming late to class so late-comers don't look bad. Louis applauds such an educator. His name is Mr. Glockenshpeel and has now arrived to greet the class.
"Horan. Tomlinson. You're lucky I saw you sprinting down the hall and decided to check if my car was locked." Is the first thing he says afterwards.
The class laughs, as do they and Louis turns pink. The lecture goes on for eight minutes before the door opens on healthy hinges. Louis' trying to copy what the slide show says and never bothers diverting his attention. He's actually thankful this person showed up and gave him more time with Slide 3.
The lecturer clasps his hands together. "Why are you late, Mr.....?"
"Styles."