The auditorium was packed. Hundreds of college students all talking among themselves while waiting for graduation to start. A young woman with brown hair and emerald eyes turns to the male sitting next to her, his brown eyes focusing on hers as she attempts to speak over the chatter.

  “Today’s the day, huh?”

  The male nods, a smile crossing his face as a loud high-pitched noise emanates from the speakers, connected to the microphone that resides on stage. The dean was waiting for only a few seconds as the chatter died down and the ceremony officially began.

  “Another year for the books, and a wonderful array of bright minds ready to head into the world and pursue their dreams.” The dean opened, his gray hair shining under the spotlights pointed directly at him.

  “In these past few years, I have seen many of you overcome the obstacles of your trade, and while some did not complete their schooling, I could not be more proud of the nearly two hundred of you who have.”

  The speech continued, then moved on to the valedictorian, and the salutatorian before finally getting to calling the graduates up to receive their degrees or certificates. He had stopped paying attention, warranting the brunette female to get his attention when it was their turn to line up next to the stage. She stood in front of him, her surname coming before his in the alphabetized line.

  “Dakota Williams!” He jolted, torn from his thoughts as his name was called. His steps were deliberate as he ascended the stairs of the stage and walked onto the stage to shake the dean’s hand and receive his degree. His photo was taken, and he stepped down the opposite side of the stage to meet his friend back in their seats. Only a few minutes later, the rest of the students had been given their degrees and the dean took up the microphone again.

  “Congratulations, class of 2030!”

  Mortarboards flew into the air with the congratulations, everyone in the auditorium cheering for their last day of school, and the first day of true adult life. Dakota threw his cap with the rest of the graduates, excluding himself from the loud cheering that surrounded him. His degree stayed firmly in his opposite hand as he attempted to catch the cap as it fell back down, quietly laughing when his female friend caught it for him, her own hitting her on the head.

  “Nice catch, Eva.” He said, a smile still resting on his lips. The brunette handed Dakota his cap before leaning down to pick up her own.

  “Thanks, now let’s beat the crowd outside so we can start getting our dorms packed up. You’re heading back home for work, right?” Eva’s face was bright with joy, her smile reaching up to her eyes.

  “That’s the plan.” Dakota started to lead the way out of the auditorium, Eva following closely behind him. The two of them weren’t the only ones with the idea to try and get out early, with about half of the students also filtering out the double doors and into the hallways, most going out to the courtyard to meet up with family. Dakota’s family was several states over, so he had asked them to stay home for his graduation and simply watch the live feed that his college streamed online. He would be flying back in two days, having already booked the flight several months earlier after their graduation date had been confirmed.

  “I’ll meet up with you later for a celebration dinner with the others!” Eva exclaimed as she ran off down the hallway that led to the female’s dormitory, leaving Dakota to nod and head to his side of the dorms.

  The door to his shared dorm room was unlocked, thankfully saving Dakota from having to dig around in his pocket for the key. He hadn’t done laundry recently, putting it off until he got back to his parent’s house. The floor was covered in dirty clothes, a mixture of both his own and his roommate’s, excluding any undergarments that had been piled at the foot of their respective beds.

  A delicately framed male with sandy blonde hair sat on the bed opposite Dakota’s, the shorter male glancing up from his book to look at the taller male, still in his bright orange academic regalia.

  “Did you skip the ceremony?” Dakota shut the door before pulling off his gown and unceremoniously tossing it onto the dark green sheets of his bed.

  “I didn’t want to hear my dead name, the dean agreed to give me my certificate in about an hour.” Dakota just nodded and started to clean up the clothes scattered across the floor, occasionally asking if a shirt or a pair of pants was his roommate’s while piling the respective items by owner. Following the organization spree, Dakota checked the time.

  “Oh shit, Ian don’t you have to meet up with the dean?” Dakota looked to his roommate who scrambled to get up, hopping while putting his shoes on and dashing out the door in a late panic. Dakota laughed to himself as the door swung shut, continuing to clean his items from where they had been placed in his dorm and securely packing them up in boxes, leaving them just outside his dorm room door for an employee of the shipping company that the college had hired to grab and send out. Before he knew it, it was time to meet up with his friends for their dinner.

  The restaurant was packed with college graduates and their families, leading Dakota to stand awkwardly at the front while looking around for his friends. He was startled from his search as a brown-haired male walked up to him and placed a hand on Dakota’s shoulder, cracking a wide smile.

  “Dakota! Good to see you again, man!” The other male threw an arm around Dakota’s shoulder, the two of them being much more similar in height than any of the others in his friend group.

  “Hey, Jackson. Lead me to the rest of the group, would you?” Dakota threw his arm over his friend’s shoulder as the two of them walked to the back of the restaurant where the rest of their friend group sat. Eva and Ian spotted them first, waving the two over before the other at the table registered their presence.

  Dakota slid into the booth next to a young woman with black hair, her blue eyes trained on her mobile device before Jackson gathered their attention.

  “Tonight, we eat and drink in celebration of Ian, Eva, and Dakota graduating college. We drink even more in an early celebration of Dakota’s twenty-fifth birthday!” Jackson slid into his seat next to Ian as he spoke, raising a glass of beer in cheers. The others around the table lifted their glasses, including the female to his left, having set down her phone to join in on the conversation.

  “Happy birthday Dakota!”

  The night before had been filled with good food and drinks, leading Dakota to wake up the next morning with a terrible hangover. He spent the first half of his day lying in bed, scrolling through the social media apps on his phone while waiting for his headache to subside. Dakota had decided to skip breakfast that morning, only getting up around one p.m. to get himself dressed and head to the cafeteria for lunch.

  Dakota paused in front of his bathroom mirror, his black hair was a mess from lying on his bed for so long, and his normally bright green eyes looked dull with tiredness. The bags under his eyes faded only slightly after splashing his face with water, deciding that it would have to do as he brushed out the medium-length hair he had. He would pack the rest of his items after lunch.

  Ian and Eva met up with him at their regular table, hidden in a back corner of the cafeteria that always seemed quieter than the rest of the busy hall. Both of them looked to be in a similar state to himself, their movements slower with hangovers for themselves.

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  “Good morning, you two,” Dakota said, walking up to the table after snatching up a few things to snack on. “Last night was fun, huh?”

  Eva only groaned in response, leading Ian to lift his head from the game had had been engrossed in. The two had stayed out significantly later than Dakota, Jackson having walked the young man back to his dorm when he started to lose his balance after the fourth beer. Dakota had fallen asleep rather quickly once his head hit the pillows, totally missing if Ian had even returned to the room the night before. He assumed not with how much more tired his roommate looked in comparison to Eva.

  “Ian stayed the night in my dorm, we stayed up way too late,” Eva mumbled, seizing the opportunity to steal one of Dakota’s snacks from in front of him and scarf it down. She coughed, eating too fast.

  “Don’t die, it’s bad for your health.” Ian retorted, resulting in a snort from Dakota, and another coughing fit from Eva as she tried to laugh with food still in her mouth. The three of them broke out in laughter together as the bell rang for the 2 p.m. classes to start, signaling the end of normal lunch periods and the start of the second half of the day. Dakota took that as his sign to get back to his dorm and finish packing.

  The rest of what Dakota had packed was mostly the clothes that went into his suitcase and were taken with him on the plane trip back to his home state. His flight was scheduled for later in the afternoon of the next day, and Dakota was up and ready to go by 10 a.m., meeting up with Eva who had offered to drive him to the airport. The short drive was broken up by several red lights and at least one crash in the middle of the road, some unfortunate soul being injured or worse by the residence of an ambulance at the crash.

  “I hope to the Gods that whoever that is didn’t get too badly hurt,” Eva said, her eyes never leaving the road in front of her as they passed the crash. Dakota looked past her and out the driver-side window, his curiosity morbidly piqued. He didn’t verbalize what he saw, knowing that his friend wouldn’t want to know that someone had died in that crash, the black tarp that rested over the body mostly hidden by the ambulance.

  Eva dropped Dakota off at the front of the regional airport, waving him off and wishing him luck before she drove away and Dakota walked inside to check in. His flight wasn’t going to leave for another hour and a half, plenty of time to get through security. He would also have time to stop and grab a meal before his flight, but while trying to decide what to get after passing through security an arm wrapped around his shoulder.

  “Hey, buddy!” Jackson startled Dakota out of his thoughts, giving the other male a perplexed look.

  “What are you doing at the airport?” Dakota wasn’t sure why Jackson would be there, he had lived in the state of California his whole life, and moving halfway across the country didn’t seem like something that he would do on a whim.

  ‘Then again, Jackson is one hell of a wildcard.’

  “I’m going home with you! I can’t leave my best friend alone in this abhorrent world.” Dakota laughed, glad to have his best friend with him for the next steps in his life. Jackson had been there for him in every other situation after meeting in some core classes for college, despite that he dropped out after the second semester of his first year. The brown-haired male had been the one to help Dakota realize that he had been in an abusive relationship with his now ex, Nate.

  “I appreciate it more than you know, Jackson.”

  The two managed to switch seats with another passenger so they could sit together, made easier with Jackson having booked a middle seat in economy. Dakota always booked window seats, leaving the aisle seat to an odd-looking man. The friends talked the entire flight, only broken up by one of the two of them taking short naps in the uncomfortable chairs. By the time they landed, it felt like no time at all had passed.

  “Dakota! Oh, my sweet boy, we are so proud of you!” Dakota’s mother pulled him into a hug as soon as they met up by the baggage claim, his father standing close behind her with a smile on his face. Dakota appeared more similar to his father with black hair and a wide jawline, having gotten his green eyes from his mother.

  “Who might this be?” His father spoke, gesturing to Jackson who stood nearby.

  “This is Jackson, my best friend aside from Karla. I met him while at college. Jackson, this is my mom and dad.” Dakota introduced them once his mother had let go of the death grip of a hug she had him in.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Williams. I’m Jackson Torres.” He offered a hand to shake, Dakota's father taking it to shake while his mother pulled the young man into a hug much like she had done with her son. Jackson had no option but to hug back as the two males of the family laughed.

  “Well, well, well, look who’s back in town!” A female with dyed bright red hair walked up to the group, a smaller girl with brown hair following behind her.

  “Karla!” Dakota nearly tackled her into a hug, ecstatic to see his childhood friend again after several years out of state. They had called as often as they could, but nothing would beat a good hug.

  “Don’t forget about me!” The smaller female spoke up, not much shorter than Karla. Her hair was brown like Dakota’s mother's, and her eyes brown to match their father's.

  “How could I forget about you, Amber? You’ve had a few growth spurts since I saw you last.” Dakota offered her a hug, which she took and squeezed him tightly. Amber was significantly taller than when he had last seen her at age thirteen, almost the same height as Karla now. He introduced Karla and his sister to Jackson before gathering his suitcase from the baggage claim belt and following everyone out to their cars.

  “We’ll take your bags, go with Karla and Jackson and we will meet you at the house.” Dakota’s father took his suitcase and tossed it into the trunk of their Range Rover, leaving no room for discussion as he hopped into the driver’s seat. Dakota looked to Jackson, who shrugged and got into the back of Karla’s Beetle. He got into the passenger side, buckling in as Karla started up the car.

  Jackson ended up staying in Dakota’s family home for a few days while getting ready for his new job and offered to pay rent much to Dakota’s parent’s dismay. His mother wouldn’t allow it, telling Jackson that all he had to do was help with the household chores. His father on the other hand would secretly take about $100 from his son’s friend each week since the younger male was staying practically for free and found it irresponsible to not pay for their hospitality.

  It had been three days since Dakota had returned home to his parents, officially the day of his 25th birthday. He woke up that morning to the small breakfast being made, Jackson, Karla, and his other three family members were already in the kitchen when he walked down the stairs to greet them.

  “Good morning birthday boy!” Dakota’s mother placed a plate of hot food on the island and kissed him on the forehead before resuming her cooking spree. Bacon, eggs, and pancakes sat on the plate in the shape of a smiling face, drenched in maple syrup. Jackson appeared to be halfway through his second plate already, with Karla and Amber close behind. Dakota’s father was standing with his back against the counter, a mug of coffee in his left hand and a book in his right. He had been reading cheesy romance novels for months now after Karla had introduced him to a book about Hades and Persephone.

  “Isn’t it a bit weird to be reading a book about previous Gods?” Dakota spoke up, eyeing the book cover that was adorned with golden acanthus leaf patterns and purple orchids. His father briefly looked up at him as he spoke.

  “Historians only have a vague understanding of the Gods before ours, and this is a work of fiction, Dakota.” He went right back to his book, a small smile crossing his lips as he read something within. Dakota didn’t want to know what could make his father so interested in the book.

  The day continued, after breakfast the group of family and friends went out to celebrate by taking Dakota on a shopping spree at the mall, playing a few rounds of games at the retro arcade, and finding a good restaurant to have dinner at. By the time they had gotten home, it was nearly 9 p.m., so the family sat down to watch TV and share a few drinks before Karla had to head home for the night.

  The news was playing, more of a background noise to the conversation that the family shared while winding down for the night. Dakota had tuned it out until Jackson shook him to get his attention.

  “And today’s prophecy lottery has concluded! Happy birthday and congratulations to Dakota Williams of Louisianna! Your new employer will contact you soon. Have a great night everyone!”

  Dakota stared at the TV as his photo popped up, his black hair and green eyes from his ID reflecting at him as the information settled in. Below his photo said ‘Assigned to God Calvin Moreno’.

  “Fuck.”