I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas presents. I put a lot of thought into them.

“Don’t push me cause I am close to the eddgge.”

“Oops.”

It was so normal he almost missed it- the way their muffled voices sounded as the unfamiliar trio passed by Dylan in the hallway. It was unremarkable- except then something clicked and the realization hit him. They were moving down the hallway and their voices faded with them- until Dylan found himself jogging to keep up. He had to, because this unremarkable, uninteresting act had become the most important thing in the world within two seconds. 

The whole world was silent as it fell down around Dylan. Rubble was collapsing all around him and there was nowhere to go- nothing he could have done to protect himself or prevent it. His mouth was open, as if to scream, but nothing came out. Nothing- except the burning of his lungs as he let another one go. The world was still falling and people were running by him, past him, shoving him out of their way. And among all this chaos there was nothing- just plain, eerie silence that made panic rise in his chest. 

Everyone was running and Dylan followed. He forced his feet to move forward, forced himself to ignore the pain in his torso, his head. He moved forward until he stumbled and fell, and then he picked himself back up. But his head was swimming and nothing made sense. This time when he tried to run, he only stumbled again. He leaned against the wall for support and tried to breathe but panic was making it difficult. 

Even the arena had more going for it than this sorry place