Wilkins Station (F)

[Skylacticon]

More student-life type writing because that's where I'm at mentally and physically. Hope you might like.

🪴🪟🗒️

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The Martin building, like many of the other Warden University buildings, was buried smack dab in the middle of a concrete jungle. It was close to some of the city’s finest art galleries and museums, and all that came with an urban setting, including Davie’s Diner - which beckoned flocks of students with delicious smells of fried food that wafted down the street. They were able reach Carrie Camino in the midst of her 3PM lecture,  which was held in a small stuffy room on the ground floor. She could already picture herself marching up the street to grab a chicken sandwich once the class was done.

 

As she took her notes, she heard a quiet, sharp sniff come from the row in front of her. She blinked down at her notebook. Another sharp sniff, sounding a bit more harsh. Carrie’s attention drifted a bit, as the sound would recur, becoming more frequent and… thick. Carrie’s eyelashes fluttered with a few rapid blinks, trying to reign her attention back to the concepts she was taking notes on.

 

Then, she heard a soft, tired-sounding sigh, and couldn’t help but peek upward. It was Bella - a skilled photographer in her arts program. Carrie’s focus was mostly painting, but she admired Bella’s style and creativity. She’d seen beautiful collages Bella had made, that were made of drawings and photographs all by her. She had reddish brown hair and brown eyes, and was a very focused individual.

 

“*hsnff!* g’hehh…” Her exhales were becoming more audible, beginning to pant between stuttering sniffles. “*sdff!* *ah-ahemm*…”

 

As Carrie snuck another peek in her direction, Bella lifted a curled knuckle to rub hard at her nose. She appeared desperately itchy - her brow furrowing slightly as she kept rubbing.

 

“*sddff!* huhh…”

 

By the time she’d managed to stop rubbing, her nostrils had adopted a deep, irritated red hue. Bella coughed quietly and sniffled again. Carrie noticed her effort to keep focused, listening intently to the professor’s lecture. Carrie envied that kind of focus. Sometimes she’d zone out in the middle of class, and miss entire sections that the teacher was trying to cover. Like now. Her ears picking up on every deep sniffle, every long breath out.

 

Carrie noticed Bella pause in her notes, her posture straightening, her red nostrils flaring. Her shoulders rose, and then fell, in a yawn-like fashion - pausing, unsure. Then, her chest swelled with a more decisive breath, and her hand flew to her face.

 

“huhdt’gxXckkt!!-CHieww….”

 

There we go. I mean, it was stifled, but it was some form of needed release.

 

Carrie could see Bella lean back in her chair and dry her eyes with her pale green hoodie sleeve. Bella sniffled again, wetly, her head shaking with what looked like resignation as she geared up for another sneeze.

 

“h-huHdt’GxXRckk!!-chiuhhh… *sddrff*”

 

The third syllable of that wrenching stifle was slightly vocalized, a sign of the effort it took. Bella’s sniffles were quite wet now. Carrie watched at a diagonal as she struggled to stay focused, panting and sniffling thickly.

 

Then, after a few seconds, she muttered two words: “…Scuse be.”

 

Ooh. She sounded congested already.

 

Carrie fidgeted with her pen. Her gaze drifted over to the teacher, who was seated at the desk at the front. He didn’t seem to have much sympathy for allergy-sufferers in the spring. He kept the windows open whenever the mood struck him, letting all the lovely noises of the city outside underscore his lectures. That wasn’t all they let in.

 

Outside, the trees were blooming. They were quite beautiful, scattering white petals all over the sidewalk. Along came the wind, and the sound of leaves and branches rippling against each other.

 

“aht’kTCHGG!! -huhhh… *snrff*”

 

Another fairly well contained stifle, followed by more liquid sniffles.

 

Bella leaned forward in her seat and continued to make notes, typing away on her laptop. She kept sniffling harshly, nostrils flaring and twitching. She sighed again, softly, and took in a long sniff. “…*snnddrFFh*….” both drenched and itchy. Then softly, she let out the breath through her mouth. “huhhhh…”

 

At the end of class, Carrie tucked her notebook into her backpack and stood, pulling on the straps. Just as she made her way past Bella, she heard another sneeze - itchy and allergic, and tired, this time barely stifled- “hhept’kdDJSCHH!!-ioo… *snrk!*”

 

Gee. Carrie heard something hit the floor and clatter. A small, plastic blue container piece of a pencil sharpener came rolling over to Carrie’s feet. She stopped and glanced over, seeing that the fall had caused the sharpener to pop open and scatter its contents all over the floor.

 

“Oh, by gosh… *snnrk*”

 

Carrie bent down and picked up the blue bottom piece. She straightened and turned to Bella, who had crouched and began trying to clean up the mess, pushing the pencil shavings into a pile with a folded piece of paper. Carrie frowned slightly, with sympathy. She stepped over to her.

 

“Here,” she said gently, holding out the container piece of the sharpener.

 

Bella’s eyes flicked upward. Her expression was soft and dazed, eyes red-rimmed and glassy. Her red nose twinged as her gaze fell on the sharpener piece, and her tired expression broke into a sheepish smile.

 

“Thagk you, *snrff!*” Bella took the blue plastic container and put it on the desk, where she’d put the lid with the sharpener.

 

“And, bless you,” Carrie breathed, with a soft grin.

 

Bella tilted her head and gave a soft laugh. “*snnrk!* Thagk you, *snrff!* Oh mbad…” She laughed again, nervously. It wasn’t a sound Carrie hadn’t heard much before. It was cute. As Carrie casually lingered, Bella shook her head, still sweeping the shaving with a folded sheet of paper. “Dumb allergies…” she muttered casually.

 

Carrie’s lips pulled into a sympathetic smile, and she pulled a proof-of-transit slip that she happened to have in her back pocket. She didn’t have a need for a physical proof of payment - usually she used them to make origami, but they seemed useful in this case too. She joined Bella crouched down and helped her gather the pencil shavings. “Here, wanna put them back?” she suggested, holding the container.

 

“Sure,” Bella sighed.

 

“Here, maybe if we put them together-“ Carrie said, pushing her transit against Bella’s paper to pick up the shavings. Together, they managed to scoop some into the container. As they swept more shavings to scoop, Carrie heard Bella mumble something and grin a little. “Huh?”

 

“Wilkids Statiod,” Bella breathed. “I used to lihh-“ Her hands froze as her speech paused, her red, sensitive nostrils flaring. She turned her head away, eyes shut.

 

…Then, she relaxed. Bella sighed and drew in a liquid sniffle.

 

“…hhuh. *sdrf!*” She raised an index finger to rub her nose. “Sorry. Ooh,” she blinked a few times, her eyes glassy. Her gaze fell back to the pencil shaving. “*snnrgk* I used to live dear- hih-! I used to… -ughh, sorry, *snrff!*” Her breath began to hitch again, and she turned away quickly, eyes pinching shut.

 

"It's oka-" “hhurrRR’ESSSCHHIEWWw!!!”

 

A strong, wet-sounding sneeze. Bella let out another breathy, winded sigh, and sniffled thickly.

 

“Bless you!”

 

“*snnrgk! ah-hemm* Excuse be,” she panted, sounding exhausted. “God. *k'hmm* I used to- *sdrf!* I used to live dear there, *snrk!*”

 

“No way,” Carrie offered, carrying on the casual conversation before checking in with her. “I moved into my current place last semester and it’s right by the station….” The corners of Bella’s lips tugged upward a little. “Are you okay?” Carrie asked, in a more gentle tone.

 

She hoped the question didn’t sound too pitying or anything. Bella let out a soft breath, and a tiny grin formed on her lips.

 

“Yeah, s’ just by allergies. By dose is just, *sdrff!* ugh, it’s killig be today.” It twinged as she spoke, a deeply irritated, angry shade of red.

 

Carrie gave a sympathetic hum of acknowledgment. “You should get out of here. The windows have been open, so. That can't be helping.”

 

“Yeah,” Bella breathed, looking more tired than annoyed at the fact. “I should go take sobe dedicide… Baybe take a dap,” she went on softly. Her poor flushed nose wrinkled, as they tilted the final scoop of pencil shavings into the container.

 

“There we go,” Carrie said softly, putting the lid on top. She got to her feet, and waited for Bella to rise. Carrie handed her the full sharpener with the lid loose on top. “Here, you might wanna empty it now.”

 

“*snff!* Thagk you,” Bella beamed gratefully at Carrie, her itchy eyes gleaming.

 

“No problem,” Carrie replied breezily.

 

“Serves be right for dever ebtyig it,” Bella scoffed, and sniffled thickly. Carrie walked with her over to the trash can, where she dumped its contents. Afterward, she snapped the lid onto the container and made sure it was closed.

 

“See you dext week,” Bella said with a shy wave.

 

“See you. Take it easy,” Carrie waved back, with a gentle grin.

 

Bella grinned back appreciatively, her sore, teary eyes twinkling before she turned to leave. Her eyes, Carrie noticed from this short glance, weren’t actually brown - they were this ambiguous shade of greyish greenish blue, that seemed to stand out with the surrounding white all pink and bloodshot. Which- was probably not the most appropriate thing to be discovering and staring at now, if wanted to still appear remotely normal. Carrie let out a soft breath and turned to leave down the opposite end of the hall. ‘Take it easy?’ She frowned up at the ceiling. Letting it go, she lowered her chin and released a gentle sigh.

 

As she walked, she saw the trees outside through the big windows. Beautiful white petals curled over the branches, swaying, scattering themselves delicately across the grass. Carrie could already smell the weed as she approached the back door of the building.

 

Then a faint, bursting echo from down the opposite way- “hEHdt’ISSCHHhiuh!! *sdrf* …”

 

The door clicked as Carrie pushed it open. The outside air was warmer than it had been in a while. Rich with the scent of earth, and tree blossoms, and the ever-inviting smell of deep fried food calling from down the street.

Edited March 22 by Skylacticon

[Chanel_no5]

It's not really my type of setting/characters, but your way of writing is always wonderfully engaging and vivid, and the allergy descriptions are lovely! (the spellings are fantastic!  )

 

 

[Botek]

Well I can say that atmosphere is just great 

[starpollen]

I agree with Chanel - fascinating spellings!  Hoping to see this continued. ☺️

[NoV]

On 3/22/2024 at 1:11 AM, Skylacticon said:

Carrie noticed Bella pause in her notes, her posture straightening, her red nostrils flaring. Her shoulders rose, and then fell, in a yawn-like fashion - pausing, unsure. Then, her chest swelled with a more decisive breath, and her hand flew to her face.

Nice interaction between these characters - I especially likes this description of a build up