"Sigh"

The sound that most often punctuated my entire schooling leaked out of me once again.

"The professors could at least attempt to space out these massive projects, couldn't they?"

I was currently working on two papers, two projects, and one business plan. I'm irritated at the professors to be sure, but if I'm being honest this is also my fault. All the teachers handed out a syllabus with a schedule at the beginning of the year and I chose to procrastinate till the last week for most of my work.

Knowing that I could handle a week of hell I simply played games and read novels in my spare time instead of prepping.

I hate you, past me.

"Sigh"

And another sigh leaked out of me.

"Oh for the love of god Tony, quit sighing and finish your part of the plan."

A nasally voice to my left started to complain about all the noise I was making while staring blankly at my laptop. He was a teammate in my group for the business plan and a friend who I've known for years, Julian Tross.

Looking over and seeing the dark circles under his eyes my first thought was 'he's right, this is my fault and I just have to get it done'. However, my second thought was the one that came out of my mouth.

"Fuck off. I'm not even allowed to sigh?"

But Tony, didn't you just say this is your fault? My rebuttal to that comes in two parts. Part 1, this is a group project and Julian procrastinated just as much as I did. Part 2, it is currently 2:30 pm and I have not slept since 6 am....

Yesterday.

"Maybe if I'd gotten the data sooner then I could've worked on the recommendation portion of the paper yesterday. Who was in charge of that again?"

Julian averted his eyes but still clapped back;

"You know you wouldn't have done it any earlier even if you had it. You procrastinating moron."

"..."

I couldn't argue against that honestly. Then I heard a snicker from across the table.

"You two sound like an old married couple."

Kristen Brown; Foreign exchange student from Britain, top 3 in the school of business, a person with a good personality and a natural talent at gymnastics, somehow in my group. Also, the only one to have finished all of her part of the project, a week ago at that.

""Shut it Ms. Perfect"" me and Julian said at the same time.

That just caused her to laugh harder.

"You're even in sync, it's so cute!"

We both stared at her with dead eyes until she was done. It took a solid minute until she stopped giggling and pulled her phone out to play a game. She didn't even mind us giving her our best 'dead inside' looks. She even has a strong mentality. Tch, so annoying.

Besides these two we had one more group member. May Sullivan. She was a bright person in all ways. Her attitude, her mind, her smile. She was a healing light to suffering students all over campus. And this bright light was currently...

"Snnnnrk"

Making the strangest snore I've ever heard and drooling on the table. I'm jealous that she gets to sleep but she got done with her part about an hour ago and immediately after her head hit the table. She has the skill that all college students dream of, falling asleep at the drop of a hat.

"Sigh"

Now I'm even annoying myself.

Anyways, out team was currently in the common area on campus. This was where the school sold lunches, students came to hang out, and where groups met up as long as they didn't need it to be too quiet. It was pretty empty today due to how many students were prepping for finals in their dorms.

Oh yeah, I have to study for finals after this.

I suppressed another sigh and started clacking away on my keyboard to finish up my last few paragraphs. I was almost there. I just needed to quit going cross-eyed.

As I was nearing the end of my valiant battle against sleepiness and lines of words and data, I started to hear mumbling around me.

"Awww, I was about to get a new high score."

Kristen started whining. I heard others around our table complaining as well.

"Crap, the wifi just died."

"What?! Why now of all times?"

"Noooo, I need to submit this paper in 10 minutes!"

That last one sounded like a cry from the soul. A salute to you fallen comrade. I checked my own connection and sure enough there was a "no internet" symbol.

"Sighhhhhhh"

I'm going to go into shock if I don't sleep soon and now I can't even work on the shared document. A meteor would be a mercy for me right now.

"Oh well I'll just use my data... huh?"

Ms. Perfect gave up on the wifi but not her game, but she soon let out a confused voice.

"I can't connect to mobile either?"

Wait, really? I checked my phone. Nothing, not even a single bar. That's really weird, we're right next to a phone tower.

For some reason I suddenly felt incredibly anxious. I lifted my head up and looked around. Everything looked normal except...

"What the hell is that?"

My thoughts exactly, random citizen. Before my eyes, a giant 'crack' was spreading through the air. That's right, the air. The crack wasn't on anything but the space looked broken like a crack on a window, and it was spreading.

Suddenly the air pressure got heavy. It felt like there was something pushing on my eardrums when 'Pop'. Suddenly everything went silent.

I could see people getting up and people talking, even screaming; but I just sat there in a daze, unable to hear any of it, just watching the crack spread. It felt like time had frozen despite everyone's frantic movements. I could see Julian trying to wake up May and Kristen sitting there looking as dazed as I felt.

Then finally, I heard a single noise.

A slight 'chick', as though a piece of glass just barely got chipped.

Then, the air around us shattered into a million pieces.