Graduation 3

Dear Imena,

Graduating is always nerve racking. Really, being in front of so many people is nerve racking. Today, I have a PhD on anthropology and education, I'm still teaching to this day, and I have been nervous at every graduation and for every first day of school with a new set of kids to teach. But I'm getting ahead of myself, this was years before I started teaching.

I waited patiently through all of the speeches, thank you's, and cliché inspiring words. My eyes surveyed the area constantly, and I was extremely alert to any shift in the room. If ghosts entered or left the room, the overall mood of the people in the room changed, or something moved suddenly I noticed it.

"ᴄᴀʟᴍ ᴅᴏᴡɴ, ʀᴏsᴇ." I heard James say in my head. I must have accidentally read his mind.

"𝐼 𝒹𝒾𝒹𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒. " I said to myself.

"ᴡᴀɪᴛ, ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴏᴜᴅ?"

"𝒩𝑜... 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝓂𝑒?"

"ʏᴇs. ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ. ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪɴᴅ ɪsɴ'ᴛ ᴀs ʙᴜsʏ ᴀs ɪ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ɪᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ."

"𝑅𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎? 𝑀𝓎 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝓇𝒶𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒮𝑜 𝒾𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓈."

"ʜᴍ. ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ʙʟᴏᴄᴋɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ʜᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇsᴛ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛs. ɪ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ ᴡʜʏ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ɴᴏᴡ."

"𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌. 𝒲𝑒'𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇."

"ʏᴇᴀʜ."

"ՏԹíɾíԵ, վօմ ղҽҽժ Եօ ϲɑӀʍ ժօաղ, ɑղժɾҽա աօղ'Ե ҍҽ հҽɾҽ." someone said.

"𝒥𝒶𝓂𝒾𝑒, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉. 𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝓌𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒽𝒾𝓂, 𝒽𝑒'𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒹𝒾𝒸𝓉𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒."

"ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ?"

"𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓂 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓌 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒."

"ɴᴏ ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ."

"𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉?"

I began to panic. My heartbeat sped up, my breathing was uneven, and the room began to spin.

"sᴘɪʀɪᴛ, sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟsᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴛᴀʟᴋ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪs. ᴡʜᴏ ᴇʟsᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪᴛ ʙᴇ?"

There was only one answer.

"𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓌, 𝒥𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓈. 𝐻𝑒'𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒."

- 𝒮. 𝑅𝑜𝓈𝑒