Warm rays of sun filtered through the room's closed curtains,  drawing peculiar patterns on the wooden desk. Gilbert watched this as if nothing else mattered and as if this was the last sunlight he would ever seen in his life.

He came back to earth as a buzz nearly scared the hell out of him. He picked his phone up.

I can see u, pay attention. His friend Antonio scolded him through text.

Right, he looked up and squinted at the figure at the front of the auditorium,  they were in the middle of a lecture,  how had Gilbert forgotten that so suddenly? He opened his laptop and made an effort to take notes. His hand drifted lazily across the black keyboard, pressing the keys one by one as he continued to slowly,  in a robot-like manner, look up at the speaker and back down at the screen. It was so tempting to close the laptop and immerse himself in the soft rays of light that played with the shadow of the trees that swayed idly with the wind. He rarely ever had the chance to look at the sun like this,  his eyes were too sensitive, and he also was in no mood to pay attention,  it was too hard.

He heard someone sit down in the seat next to him. He looked up and his pale eyes met bright, green ones. “Hello Toni. Where were you?”

Antonio waved and looked at Gilbert’s screen with a huff of disappointment, then back at his friend. “On the row behind you. Did you see my message?”

Gilbert gave him a half-nod.

“Gil, are you okay?”

The German sat up and chuckled “Yeah, I'm just tired.”

Antonio elbowed him “I told you to go to bed by nine,” He opened his notebook and handed it to Gil “here, you can copy off my notes. I'll fill you in later.”

“Thanks, man.” Gilbert thought about this,  he'd actually been feeling weird since Monday morning, the day after Ludwig and him had played basketball.

Gil shook the thought from his head and did his best to copy Antonio's notes into his laptop, he had to admit,  he owed his friend a lot. He looked up at the brunet and opened his mouth but was cut off

“Don't thank me yet, we still have four lectures to go.”

“Four!?” Gilbert sat up in his seat like a spring, looking alarmed.

Antonio laughed. “Yes Gil, good luck with that.”

Time, as well as Gilbert’s heart, raced quickly after that and before he could process everything that was going on, the second lecture was over. He had managed to take a few notes but had eventually given up and instead taken a recording of the whole thing. The aftershock of his friend’s announcement had already worn off and Gilbert started to feel woozy again, he was back to square one: sleep deprived and unfocused, but this time…

… when had the room gotten so hot?

“I have a fever.” He decided, putting a hand to his forehead. No heat, but he  felt like he was being boiled alive. What then?

Gilbert stood up just as everyone else began to leave the auditorium and raced to the exit. The colorful binders, backpacks and articles of clothing had faded to a blur. He raced down the stairs to the door blindly, and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he missed a step. He tried to call out for help but the fall happened all too quickly. He hit the floor headfirst.

Gilbert heard a couple of screams and calls for help. A dark figure crossed his field of vision and said something about getting help. But he could hear almost nothing above the rapid beating of his own heart.

“Gilbert!”

“Quick! Does somebody know CPR?”

“Wake up!”

“Gilbert,  please…”