By Eleni Cooper
I drop into the corner seat in the very back, the rattling of heaters and machinery taking up every last speck of space in my brain. I tap one pocket, then the other. My headphones are at home. The clang of the heater builds, five chatty girls pile into the bus, and the driver hits a curb. My brain is filling with lead, my ears feel like they’re bleeding as I curl into myself. Escaping is a futile effort. Without my shield of white noise layered under indie pop or classic rock, the world is a piercing crescendo of sight and sound and sensation, far too much. Everything is so loud. The driver hits a curb again. I rip at my cuticles until they bleed.
Eleni Cooper is a sophomore communications design student minoring in information management & technology. Eleni has been a dancer since age five and enjoys exploring new methods of creative expression from drawing to photography to bullet journaling. They design for The Outcrowd (SU’s only LGBTQ+ magazine), and can often be found on the third floor of the warehouse working on projects or attending AIGA events with fellow comm designers.
