What is one to do when they are utterly dissatisfied with life? With the world around them and the people in it? It's a question I've asked myself for years. One that I ask myself whenever I'm forced to walk around people in public. Sometimes, I wonder whether this world needs another brutal dictator of old. Perhaps we could do with another Genghis? One of the many negative thoughts passing through my mind as I make my way home.
As soon as I'm back on campus, I'm greeted by the large sets of granite stone lettering reading "Vesrough University" above the vine-covered entrance gates.
This gate is the only thing that separates the two sides of the cream-coloured twenty-foot walls that circle the entire campus perimeter.
But such a grand, beautiful entrance contrasts heavily with what you see once you are on the actual university grounds. Waves. Hundreds of thousands of disheartened students and lecturers clog every piece of open space from the biology labs to the sports centre.
I make a fast-paced B-Line across campus to my accommodation building. I reach my accommodation building, a boring grey structure five stories tall.
As soon as I enter, I'm tasked with sifting through another legion of mindless students going about their day in the common area. I swear, a short walk anywhere nowadays is equivalent in effort to a decathlon.
Reaching my flat on the third floor, I quickly punch in the key code to open the door. As I enter the flat, I look both ways down the hall. Empty. Either no one is in the flat right now, or they are all in their rooms. Nice.
I pass by the fifteen other rooms throughout the hall and enter the last one. The sixteenth, right next to the kitchen.
My safe haven within the safe haven.
***
My room is dark and drab upon entry. Blinds shut, everything neat and no extra clutter. I drop my shopping bag on my study desk and start unloading all of my food into my cupboard. With everything put away, I lay on my bed, finally able to relax.
The blank TV attached to the wall is my choice of a view whilst I empty my mind and stare deep into its dull blackness. I shouldn't be doing this, though. I had previously made a mental note not to lie down doing nothing, to not let my mind wander. Whenever I let my mind wander, it's not a pleasurable experience. It becomes a cause of concern.
I get up to retrieve my remote from one of my cupboard shelves and use it to turn on the TV. Best to distract myself before those thoughts start to return.
My eyes are soon occupied by the news channel. Better than whatever streaming service's serialised drama is making its rounds. The usual newscaster is on today. Tanned skin, pressed suit, quiffed brunette hair.
He seems even more concerned than usual. As if someone told him the worst news of his life. I can almost guarantee that whatever he is reporting on does not warrant such a reaction.
"Our most recent census dictates that within the next few months the Earth's population could reach staggering heights of fifteen billion people," he reports.
I walk closer to the TV, standing with my arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Like a semi-drunken father watching his football team lose by a considerable margin. The news station shows a video of people walking through the capital's city centre. It's so congested that not one person can even take a moment to stop walking. It's a wonder as to how those people manage to even breathe. The video ends, and I'm facing the concerned newscaster's face once more.
"This sudden rise in population seems to be creating increasingly severe levels of unrest between civilians, especially in metropolitan cities," the newscaster continues.
Another video is shown, this time of a less congested but more impoverished part of the capital city. The video shows people of the capital fighting for their lives in violent, bloody conflict amongst one another. Put this clip within the third act of a dystopian apocalyptic war movie, and it would not look entirely out of place. The video zooms in on a homeless man who uses a DIY hammer to bludgeon another man's head in a bid to steal a mouldy orange off of him. Nice, that'll keep people watching.
The newscaster returns. "With recent events such as this one, as well as the nationwide money crisis, talks of reinstating the Univmorta Programme are in order."
I feel my soul slowly seep out as the newscaster continues to talk.
There is no way in hell that I heard what I just heard correctly. The Univmorta Programme? No fucking way. Things are not that bad, surely?
The first time I heard of the Univmorta Programme was from my late grandfather. He was an intelligent man who had grown senile with old age, so you had to pick and choose which of his teachings were worth listening to. One of his most infamous stories was of an experiment carried out in the seventies in which a death match was held between all the students of one very unfortunate university, as a way to deal with the country's crippling debt problem, as well as what he called "General federal government nonsense". He isn't the only person who tells this story. I used to think it was all nonsense. It sounds ridiculous enough for it to be so. But I wasn't sure.
I look back up at the TV. Videos of violent city riots throughout the capital play on repeat. I clench my jaw and let out a deep breath.
"Perhaps this is our Genghis," I whisper to myself.
***
Hours later, I leave my room. It's afternoon now.
Seven out of my fifteen flatmates returned during my nap. They sit in the hallway, discussing something with each other. I walk through the column of men and women, avoiding eye contact with each of them in an effort to leave the flat without idle conversation.
One of them catches me, unfortunately. Poppy Haynes. She intercepts me before I can slip through the flat's exit door. She stares up at me with bright blue eyes, squinted slightly.
"Hey, Marcel," Poppy greets with a smile.
"Hey, Poppy," I greet back, forcing a smile of my own.
I let out an involuntary yawn. Poppy chuckles.
"What are you doing napping? Shouldn't you be prepping for tonight?"
"Tonight?"
Poppy prods me on the shoulder playfully. She chuckles at me again as she plays with her perfectly straightened brown hair. "Oh, please, don't act like it's not all you've been thinking about. Walking up that stage, collecting your award and all."
"Yeah, the awards ceremony," I recall vaguely.
Poppy shakes her head. She pushes my shoulder flirtatiously. "Yeah, right, like you forgot," she scoffs. "If I were getting an award, there's no way anything else would be on my mind."
I nod my head in agreement with her as I stare blankly at the floor.
"What else could you possibly be thinking about?" Poppy laughed.
The Univmorta Programme, I'm thinking. Our Genghis, I'm thinking. But I don't want to say that.
"Nothing really," I lie.
Poppy shrugs, accepting my answer.
"Let me take your mind off whatever it is," she suggests. "I think they are still doing half-priced meal deals at the Halloumi Lord restaurant on campus. Wanna go?"
Before I can give her an answer, she latches on, intertwining her arm with mine.
I sigh. "Sure, let's go."
***
Throughout our walk through the campus's main square, I see Poppy continuously look up to smile at me. I try not to pay too much attention to her. But not out of malice.
Poppy's a nice girl, a beautiful girl. But I don't feel like dating again.
Especially not after what happened with Lynn.
Anyone would need a break from relationships after having one with her.
We reach Halloumi Lord's, having to wait in a long line that stretches out of the restaurant.
Great, just great.
To take my mind off the long wait, I start to study my surroundings.
As I look around the campus's main square, I notice something by the administrative building.
A man wearing a suit and an earpiece is in a heated discussion with one of the university's board heads. I watch the two men talk, wishing I could hear what they are saying.
Eventually, the board head marches away from the man in the suit.
The suited-up man taps his earpiece. He laughs to himself, a malevolence about him.
He walks in the opposite direction. I can't take my eyes off him as he walks onward.
That's a bad omen if I've ever seen one.
I think our Genghis might be coming soon.