> n
(Getting off my bed first)
I move north.
Outside of My Dorm Room
It's awfully cold out here in the hallway. None of the other guys from my floor seem to be around. Perhaps they're at another one of those parties I never get invited to. There's a door that goes down to the first floor straight ahead.

> n
I move north.
At the Top of the Stairwell
My room is on the top floor of the building - the stairs from here go down one floor to the courtyard. I'd better get a move on!

> d
I move down.
At the Bottom of the Stairwell
An open doorway here leads north in the direction of the courtyard. The door has apparently been removed. Some fellow inhabitant has puked on the tiles at the bottom of the stairs. Walking through this slippery little deposit does not add to the charm of my situation.

> n
I move north.
At the Back of the Courtyard
Ionesco Hall's interior courtyard - or "quadrangle," as I've heard some pretentious upper-years call it - consists of four patches of low, slightly unkempt grass separated by narrow gravel paths. The paths lead northward to the hall porter's desk and east and west to two side entries to the building. The air here is cool, damp and feels sort of creepy, like marsh gas, against my naked skin.

Nobody ever, ever walks on the grass here, for some reason. Pure superstition, I'm guessing. I mean, it's not like the hand of God is going to reach down and squash anyone who so much as bends a single blade of grass beneath his feet...
Straight to the north there is a small, decorative fountain.

> n
I move north.
Beside the Fountain
This is an ugly ornamental fountain that some rich alumnus donated to the University back in the 'seventies. It's just a round concrete pool with flat black stones at the bottom and a short metal spout sticking up from the middle, painted bright pink and dribbling warm water slowly downward along its side. The thinly trickling sound of the water as it oozes down the spout makes me nauseous...and also gives me a curious feeling of inadequacy, for some reason.

I think I saw something moving in there! Just a little beneath the surface of the water...

> n
I move north.
At the Front of the Courtyard
Here a broad wooden door stands open, leading northward to the main entrance to Ionesco Hall. Through the gloom of the building's main foyer can just barely see that the front door is open! I might just make it to that exam in time, if I really boot...

> n
I move north.
In the Foyer, By the Hall Porter's Desk
Hanging up over my head on the back wall of the foyer is the University's crest, engraved on a thick sheet of painted steel. To my right as I face toward the front door is a small, enclosed desk area where Lester Squeems, the aged Porter to Ionesco Hall, usually sits in a chair reading the paper and doing...well, whatever else it is that aged Hall Porters are supposed to do, I guess. He's not here today, though, and the door to his room behind the desk is shut fast.

Time's tight! The clock above his desk says 8:59! Must hurry! Must hurry!

> n
I move north.
On the Front Steps of Ionesco Hall
The wind whistles disturbingly around me. I'm standing on the great stone staircase of Ionesco hall. Before me is the main street of the University campus - Purgebody Avenue, complete with its usual aroma of street vendors' hot dogs and its endless, faceless army of students, each trudging, empty-eyed, toward who knows what destination. Curiously, they all seem to be traveling in one direction. There are only two directions one can go from here - down the steps into the onrushing tide of humanity, some of whom have already begun to snicker at my visible nudity, and back into the welcoming gates of Ionesco hall. I wonder to myself for just a moment whether it's really so very important to me to take this freakin' exam after all...

> d


As soon as I leave the grounds of the college I suddenly realize that I'm completely naked, and in full view of the public. There's a crowd of people walking by, and of course I recognize every one of them. There's Bucky from my Russian Grammar class, peering up at me from under his filthy ballcap. There's that sexy redhead I see in the library sometimes, who's always talking on her cell phone. They all turn their heads at once to look at me...and then just keep moving down the street, with disgusted looks on their faces, as though they've just seen a dead bird or a mound of dog poo. God, the shame...


Standing on Purgebody Avenue
A few stray leaves and fast-food wrappers drift aimlessly amongst the parade of gloomy-looking undergraduates that marches in endless procession along this narrow street.

Ohmigosh....through the dismal morning fog, I glimpse a hooded figure, making its way toward me with frightful, footless speed, and carrying a fearsome looking farming implement over its bowed and hooded head. Its face is hidden but there's no mistaking it - I'm being chased by Death himself!

> n
I move north.
Down a Moist and Unlit Alleyway
Having managed to cross the sea of bodies I now need to head north to the classroom where my exam is taking place - straight down an alleyway between two nameless redbrick buildings. This narrow walkway is a well-known location for hazings, molestations and sordid rendezvous' on campus after dark. No time to be nervous now, though - the Grim Reaper is hot on my trail!

> n
I move north.
Further Down an Increasingly Dank and Unpleasant Alleyway
The light seems awfully dim here, given that it's supposed to be early morning. Far ahead I see through the morning fog the vague outline of something that looks like a huge, dark wooden door.

Ugh - I just stepped on something soft and unpleasant. I look downward.

Also here is a soft and unpleasant thing. Death drifts along the asphalt towards me, silent and precise in his relentless pursuit.

> n
I move north.
Before the Great Wooden Door
This is it - my classroom. If I can just get through this door before the 9:00 AM bell sounds, I may be able to cheat Death - along with misfortune, humiliation, and the sort of flu you get from walking around the campus nude in a thick early-morning fog.

> open door
I pull hard on the cold iron handle of the door and step forward into...


Nothingness....

...and then I'm falling...falling...


[This ends the first part of "The Cave of Morpheus." To continue, please open the file entitled "tcom2"]

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