Quantum Harmonics

I was late!
Professor Wong would not be happy that I was coming into class late again. Oversleeping was a common disease among many university students due to a demand of trying to fit in all the classes they needed to pass. After all it made sense, you were paying for these classes to get a degree that you would have to pay for once you got a job in your field of study.
As I made my way down the hallway in a rush I felt something hit me in the stomach. The force was not enough to make me fall, however, it was strong enough to make me grab my stomach. What in the world did I hit?
A young, long-haired girl with an odd shade of pink hair was on the floor in front of me. She was quite small standing at a height of about one hundred twenty-one centimeters or so. The girl glared at me as she got up from the floor.
I found it odd she was dressed in a lab coat. Perhaps she was from one of the science labs?
“I am sorry. Are you all right?”
She did not answer. I noticed over her left eye was a black eye patch. Her skin was also quite pale, almost like that of a ghost. Under her eyes were heavy bags which told me this girl was not sleeping well. Without saying a single word the girl brushed off her coat and put her hands into her coat pockets. She walked past me, leaving me there to wonder.
After making it into the classroom I took a seat in the back next to my friend Ariel.
“You recall in our last case that the patient’s symptoms of poor coordination should be interpreted as part of a wider neurological or medical problem.”
Professor Wong began to write on the blackboard. The tapping of chalk against the it was a beautiful sound. As she continued with the lecture, I wrote down notes trying to keep up.
Suddenly, a man in a black suit entered the room. He looked as if he was from the Central Intelligence Agency.
“May I help you?” Professor Wong asked.
“Do you mind if we take this out in the hall please?”
The man flashed a badge and within a few minutes the two of them stepped out into the hallway. Who was that guy? Was our professor in trouble? Many questions started to form in my mind.
“Hey Emi, who do you think that guy was?”
“No idea.”
After some time had past Professor Wong entered the room, however, the man was not with her. I wonder what happened.
“Students, we will have transfer student join us.”
I was a bit taken off guard by the girl that came through the door. It was none other then the same girl I had bumped into in the hall. What was she doing here? She could not be a transfer student, she seemed way too young. The girl stood there in front of the classroom with her hands still in her coat pockets. Getting a good look at her �" and no longer having the feeling of being late on my mind �" I realized just how odd she was dressed, aside from her lab coat.
Her white dress shirt was messy and untucked as if she just did not care. Although I had to admit it did compliment her black skirt with white lace-trim. The knee-high socks she wore made me wonder if she had just threw something on after waking up. With a pink and white striped sock on her left and a black and white striped sock on her right. Even her converse were mix-matched with one black and white while the other was pink and white.
“Introduce yourself to the class please.”
“My name is Illysia Leilya,” she said without any apathy in her voice.
“Does anyone have any questions for Miss Leilya?”
The room was quiet.
“How old are you?” one girl asked.
“Twenty-four.”
“Why is your skin so pale?”
“Disease.”
“Why do you wear an eye patch?”
“Blind in one eye.”
She did not seem like the type to have normal conversation with others. My biggest question was, why was she transferring in this class?
“If all of you are done with your questions I would like to take my seat.”
No one spoke as Illysia made her way to the back of the classroom.
“Anyways, back to what we were studying,” Professor Wong said as she wrote on the blackboard some more.
The class seemed to drone on more then usual. After an hour and twenty minutes the class was over and in a way I was glad. While I did love psychology sometimes it was a bit boring sitting in a classroom day after day.
I noticed Illysia heading for the door rather quickly. As I packed up my stuff and headed for the door, I heard Ariel call my name.
“You want to go out for drinks?”
She always wanted to go out drinking. To be honest, I was surprised that she �" someone getting a Bachelor’s in Neurology �" would want to get any kind of alcohol at all. We studied the effects of alcohol on the brain which was proven to show that even a glass of any alcoholic beverage slowed the mind. While a sip wasn’t enough to inebriate a person �" make them drunk off their a*s �" it was proven that it did in fact destroy the human brain cells.
Declining her offer I decided that my time would be better spent studying for finals. The two of us went our separate ways. I made my way to the bus stop that was near the campus as it was the quickest way to get to my apartment. Coming up onto the bus stop I noticed Illysia standing there, her hands still in her pockets.
I stood there next to her. Damn, she was so short. It was a bit odd being alone with her, however, she did not seem to care. It was hard to believe that this girl was in my class. She looked more like a little sister than a university student. In fact, it would not surprise me if people somehow thought this girl was my sister. Well, maybe no one would… her complexion and hair color were completely different then mine.
“Do you know of quantum entanglement?”
Why was she asking me? This was a completely odd question that came out of nowhere. Physics was not my realm of studies. Personally, I found the concepts to be confusing and never found it to be interesting. The human mind was more fascinating to me.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon that occurs when pairs or groups of particles interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the other.”
Everything she just said sounded like a foreign language to me.
“What does that even mean?”
“To put it in layman’s terms, when two particles interact they are no longer independent. Another way of looking at it is that they are dependent of each other.”
“I… still don’t follow you.”
She was quiet for several minutes until the bus finally pulled up. As she got on, I followed behind her. Was she ever going to answer the question? The two of us sat down at the back of the bus where it was pretty empty. Why did this girl even want to study neurology? Why not just go into the field of physics?
“For example…”
Her sudden voice scared me a bit as it caught me completely off-guard.
“If you tie a ball together with one end of a rope and another ball with the other end and proceed to throw one ball the other ball tied will follow. They have become entangled with each other.”
Somehow, that actually made more sense to me then what she had said earlier. Maybe she should get a job as a teacher. The bus continued on as I found myself staring at her. There were so many things I wanted to know about her.
“You appear to have many questions.”
Was she able to read minds? The bus stopped. We were in the heart of the city in the downtown area.
“Come, let us get off here.”
After getting off the two of us made our way to a small café that I had never even heard of. Odd how I could miss a place like this. The two of us sat at the back of the café in a booth, looking over the menu. A server made her way to our table with a warm smile.
“What can I get for you two?”
“Milk.”
I continued to look over the menu. There wasn’t too much choice in the way of food or drinks.
“Hazelnut coffee please.”
The girl wrote both of our orders down and took the menus from us. Illysia’s blank stare made me feel as if she was seeing right through me.
“You can ask any questions you like,” she said resting her chin on her knee that she hugged close to her body.
“How old are you really?”
Of all the questions I could have asked her that was the first question I asked?
“As I have said I am twenty-four.”
Before I could ask another question the girl returned with two cups and some cream. Illysia took three cups of the cream and placed it into her milk and stirred it slowly. Part of me wished she had asked before just taking it but then again I never cared for cream in my coffee.
“Well, I would like to know what is with that eye patch and more about your disease but my most important question would be �" why did you transfer into our class?”
She took a small sip of her milk. After placing her cup down she continued to remain quiet. Was she thinking of what to say? Her eyes then stared into mine.
“Where do you see yourself after you graduate?”
“You didn’t even answer my question.”
“Quid pro quo, if you cannot answer my question then I cannot answer your question.”
I paused for a minute. What was the harm in telling her? Hell, who knows if it would even happen.
“I would like to get into neurological research after I get my Master’s.”
She started to pour a bit more cream into her milk.
“I see.”
Taking a sip of my coffee I wondered just what was on this girl’s mind. She sipped her milk once more and then looked down into her cup as if she was contemplating the volume of milk remaining in there.
“What if I offered you a job?”
“What kind of a job?”
This was quite shocking. Just who was this girl to be offering me a job? She took one last sip of her milk.
“I am looking for a neurologist to add to my team.”