Noology Read Online Free PDF Page B

faded with
age.
    “After you, my lady,” he says, holding
the door open with his right forearm. I barrel past, careful to jostle him in
the process. Now I take the lead, pulling the mangled fire escape down towards
myself. I begin to climb the creaking steps while avoiding missing rungs.
Eventually, we reach the rooftop and look out over the city skyline. In the
night, all is dark and quiet except for the sterile hospital. It glows like a
beacon promising a bright future ahead. Just beyond the pharmaceutical
manufacturing plant lies the compound of houses reserved for the tier two
doctors in Certet. Somewhere in one of the miniscule cottages, my parents are
fast asleep, refueling for the next hectic workday. At the edge of the city, I
can barely make out the metallic white windmills continuously churning in the
breeze and harvesting nature’s gift of electricity.  
    I traverse the concrete rooftop to reach
the garden. Once a small greenhouse for the residents of our building, the
glass has long since shattered and blown away across the endless forest floor
below. Shrubs and wild flowers have seeded themselves and a proliferation of
magnificent forms and hues now control this space. The tangled stems and branches
form a canopy of lush greenery that optimizes a wonderland. A few splintering
wood chairs are positioned near a towering rose bush adorned with ruby blossoms
that drip fresh dewdrops.
    I choose the chair closest to the
fragrant aromas and glistening petals, and slide into the battered frame. It
groans in protest, but holds up to my weight. My gaze immediately turns skyward
as I contemplate the stars and the heavens above. Immediately, I spot Orion,
the Big and Little Dippers, and even Venus in the stew of swirling celestial
points. A sigh of sheer contentment escapes me as I drink in Mother Nature’s
sweet serenity.
    “It’s strange to think that so many have
taken their lives on this rooftop, plunging to the unforgiving ground below,”
Tate interjects. I had forgotten he was with me in my delirium. I had also
forgotten the haunted past of this location. Many students had crumbled under
the pressure of criticism and judgment at this dormitory, deciding the only
course of action was to leap from the cement structure and plummet six stories
to the cold earth.
    “How could a place as mystical and
magical as this be tinged with such sadness? In the face of such natural
beauty, how couldn’t one stop to enjoy rather than carrying out the most disturbing
act of defeat?”
    As I am swallowed by a morbid reverence
for the horrific ends to which competition can drive man, dark spots begin to
enter my vision. They toy with my sight and project wonderful silhouettes
across the pearly moon. My body begins to tense and suspends my ability to
control it. I release all thoughts from my mind and drift into a pleasant
sleep.

 
    Piercing white light accosts me as I roll
over on the firm mattress. My clothing has been replaced by a paper hospital gown.
Strange, I think. Where am I?
    I open my eyes and see the source of the
sharp light: a fluorescent bulb hangs overhead. At that moment I realize I am
in the hospital for some ridiculous reason. A nurse enters the cramped room,
rustling papers as she thumbs through my medical file.
    “Good, you’re up. Gave your poor friend
quite a shock you did.”
    What friend? Where was I last? Let’s see,
the last thing I remember was falling asleep on the rooftop. Tate was there.
    “What’s wrong with me?”
    “Nothing much,” the nurse replied. “You
just got dehydrated and feinted. Did you take any drugs?”
    “I took caffenitrate a few days ago.”
    “That’ll do it. Honey, it is really
important when you take stimulants that you make sure to drink enough water and
eat enough food. Sometimes the extra energy they provide masks your body’s
natural signals, and people can go days without remembering to eat. They boost
your metabolism and speed everything up, so you need to