Things had to go back to a regular rhythm. I couldn’t just wait at home and do nothing till this disease disappeared or I died or boredom. Not that I was completely bored, but after that much time stuck in my apartment doing nothing more than watching scary news channels, I was beginning to be afraid of actually dying in my own piss. I knew it couldn’t go on and that if I continued my situation would be more morbid than the shrinking virus itself. I had to go back to lectures and do something of my life. Every day I was seeing people casually walking outside. They weren’t shrinking or anything. It seemed pretty safe. Therefore, on that Sunday evening, when I went to bed, I put my alarm at 6.30am and decided that I would go to the university on Monday. What’s the worst thing that could happen?

Waking up was incredibly hard. My sleeping schedule was messed up and after having difficulties to find sleep, I was now having difficulties to leave my bed. That morning I didn’t turned on the TV and opened news apps while I was preparing for my day. I casually watched some Youtube videos that genuinely made me laugh for the first time in days. It felt good. So good that for a moment I totally forgot about that fucking virus that was ruining everyone’s life. I wasn’t going to be the classiest man alive today. A tee-shirt and a pair of jeans would do. I wasn’t brave enough for putting a suit on.

It’s funny to realize that even though I wasn’t sick, I felt tired. The knowledge of the virus and what it did to people stressed me so much that I was feeling weak this morning.  It wasn’t unbearable but it definitely made things harder. Facing the door of my apartment I hesitated for a second. Did I really want to go out there? Risk to catch that fucking disease and shrink? Just to be crushed by the first Twitter brat that would find me? From that perspective it made the risks hella high! However, I soon realized that this point of view was kind of dramatic. People like Anna Einhardt always existed. Bitches be bitches. I also knew that I didn’t know anyone like this psycho. So even if I was to shrink, I’d be pretty safe. Imagining myself next to a giant Emilie made me laugh a bit. As short as she is in real life, it was pretty funny to imagine.

I turned the handle, exited my place, put the key in the keyhole, turned it and there I was. Outside. For the first time in days I was out there. That dangerous place called the world. For my defense the world was actually pretty fucked up. I felt a bit stressed at first but as soon as I felt the fresh air in the street, everything was better. It suddenly felt like I was alive again. Freed from the stress and the anxiousness I felt trapped home. I put my headphones on and played some music. Random. Ben Howard. Fuck I thought. Ben’s pretty cool but at that moment I needed to keep my newly found cheerfulness active. Scrolling through my songs, I slowed down at the letter S. Shake it Off. Fuck it, it will do the job. I finally began my 20 minutes’ walk to Uni. I was surprised by how normal things were around me. Not shrunken people roaming on the pavement looking for help. No crazy psycho bitches crushing them. Nothing. I almost felt disappointed before suddenly remembering that it was a good thing. That bullshit virus wasn’t so terrible after all.

I finally arrived at the university 10 minutes before the beginning of my lecture. Finance and Accounting was a terrible subject but today it would be alright. I was glad that things were normal, like before all that drama. I began to soften the recent events in my mind. After all, I had only seen one person get crushed. Thousands of people die every day and considering the size of that poor shrunken girl, these kind of things were to happen at some point. Relativity was a bless. I arrived in the amphitheater and decided to sit at the top. I didn’t want to work too much today. Just relax and enjoy. It was almost empty. Not really a big deal considering I was early. I waited and 5 minutes passed. Only 10 people, myself included, were there. I thought that people were late or just chilling at home not wanting to take the class. But as my watch showed 9.30am, we were no more than 15 in the huge 500 seats room. The professor wasn’t there yet. I decided to move next to a friend. Her name was Amina and she was Italian. Beautiful brunette with a character.

“Hey what’s up? How are you doing, I haven’t seen you in days.”

“Well it’s not like there is a shrinking virus going around and crazy people crushing other people. I’m good, I only spent the last few days in my apartment. I was kind of scared to be honest. Why isn’t there more people?”

“Dude you seriously asking that question? People are actually shrinking. More than half of our class has either disappeared or been found shrunk. Remember Alexia?”

“The Greek girl? Always creating drama all over the place?”

“Yeah that one. Well let’s say she won’t be screaming and crying all over the place anymore. I accidently stepped on her on the way here. It wasn’t on purpose I swear. I just had the time to hear a shriek and feel a crunch under my boot. Things are fucked up around here.”

It hit me. What the fuck had happened to the world? Things weren’t okay. They weren’t calm or nice. People weren’t outside or having a casual life. Things were crazy. I felt a huge chill go through me. As I realized how fucked up things were Amina was looking at me wondering what had happen to me.

“Hey are you alright? You look like you’re trippin’.”

I wasn’t alright. I was feeling like Robin Williams coming back from Jumanji. What fucking year was that? Have I hibernated? Things were fucked pretty bad. Amina was a genuine nice girl but the fact that she was casually speaking about crushing a girl she knew showed me how common it had become. I knew she didn’t do it on purpose, but it didn’t panic her either. The way she said it, I even suspected that it was making her a bit happy to be the one shutting up Alexia once and for all.

“Hum yeah I’m alright.” I didn’t want to look like a pussy and start crying about Alexia. Even more when Amina talked about it like she just crushed a fly.

“You look surprise. You’re pale. You sure you don’t want to go get a coffee or something”.

“No I’m alright, the lecture will begin soon.”

As I said that, Ms. Petterson, our Finance professor’s assistant, came in the lecture room.

“Guys I’m sorry but the lecture is cancelled, Mr. Jones had a problem and he won’t make it”.

She was holding a red tissue. Finally that coffee would do wonders.