Ordinary People

Conrad has a trigonometry pop quiz. His classmate, Suzanne Mosely, is certain she will fail and agonizes over the quiz. Conrad tries to comfort her, telling her that it won’t matter if she fails. Conrad is as surprised as Suzanne is to hear those words coming from his mouth. Conrad thinks back to the last time he took trig, the semester before he attempted suicide. He turned in an incomplete assignment and then skipped class, both of which were completely out of character for him. A few days later, he attempted suicide while in Florida for Christmas vacation.

That night, Conrad has a nightmare. He’s walking along the beach and suddenly finds himself inside a tunnel. As he walks, the tunnel grows smaller and smaller until Conrad feels claustrophobic and trapped. He awakens with his heart racing.

He tells Dr. Berger about the dream the next day, but he is not too interested in the nightmare’s details. Instead, he instructs him to lie down on the floor to gain a new perspective. Conrad admits he has been having trouble sleeping, and Dr. Berger suggests that he should cut down on schoolwork. Conrad protests; he is behind enough as it is.