Relay

            So a couple nights ago (Friday night to be exact) there was Relay for Life. Relay for Life is a non-profit organization that gathers donations for cancer research. The main event for Relay for Life occurs on an evening and happens over the course of 12 hours, from 6 pm to 6 am the next morning, but most people leave around midnight. The Northeastern Relay for Life was in Matthews Arena and there was a “track” (it really just was an oval of tape on the ground) over the floor that was used to cover the ice rink. Around the track there are tables with activities that are run by all kinds of organizations and all the profits are given to the Relay for Life.

            I went to Relay for Life because my fraternity (Pi Kappa Phi) needed a big appearance since we are brand new to Northeastern. We set up a table that we called “Chuck a Husk” in which we had these tiny stuffed huskies that people had to throw into a board with holes in them. If they scored enough points, they got to keep their little husky. This was all really fun, and there were so many people there it was almost overwhelming.

            At midnight, the Relay for Life Organization set up a heart-wrenching presentation about how cancer has affected so many people’s lives, and this almost made me cry. After the presentations, though, every was leaving for the night except the brave few that were hubristic enough to attempt the whole stay. I don’t truly understand why I decided to.

            After the presentation, when everyone started to go, it just felt wrong leaving after watching that. So I decided I’d stay for an hour or two more with a couple of my brothers from the fraternity. Suddenly the arena felt so much emptier. By two am, I started to feel tired myself, and so I started walking the track just to keep myself going; that was with four hours to go. Despite how late it was there were only about 11 of my brothers left here, and I felt the need to stay.

            Four in the morning was when we all got delusional. Walking in circles when you’re that tired is hypnotizing, but sitting down without falling asleep was impossible. The game of musical chairs that the organization set up was thrilling, but didn’t make a dent in my drowsiness. But I could not give up. I was one of the 9 Pi Kapps left at that point and I had made it this far I was never going to leave. So I just kept walking.

            The music that was blasting saved us I think. As I was walking with my brothers and some fun songs came on we just started dancing. In fact almost everyone left in the building was just dancing and yelling along to the music because we just stopped caring. When six am rolled around, I made the quickest escape from the building, trekked through what seemed to be a blizzard and just passed out in my bed.