have you seen the "[location] gothic" (more eldritch, really) meme going around, and is there any way we can convince you to write one for oxford? i feel like your writing would be the perfect fit! also: oxford.
Oxford Gothic, huh? Okay, letâs see if Iâve correctly understood the rules of the game.
- You wake at 5am to voices from next door. Coldgrey light trickles under your curtains. They have come to take your neighbourdown to the River. You roll over and try to get back to sleep.
- Every time it rains, the streets fill up withwater. It rains often.
- You have a friend in the college to the north.You wish you could visit her, see if sheâs alright, but itâs so far away.
- The library basement has no windows. Tall greenmetal cases creak and grind; as you stand watching, the path ahead of youclamps shut like a mouth. You must find another way. The ceiling lights hum andflicker, and the air still smells of mould and water from the flood. The bookshave no titles, just numbers in fine gold print on flaking brownish spines.XIX. XXI. C. Is there someone else down here?
- You meet a young man dressed in black. His faceis drawn and fearful, and there are deep shadows under his eyes. You notice thesingle white flower pinned at his lapel, and you nod, and you tell him âGoodluckâ. He tries to smile.
- A tourist asks you for directions to OxfordUniversity. You try to explain that she is inOxford University, right now, just the same as you are; that it is all aroundher, above her head, beneath her feet, that her question does not have ananswer. You spread your arms out, helpless. The tourist does not understand.
- They are singing in the chapel. You try to makeout the words; they are asking for mercy, or release. A marble panel lists thenames of all the dead. The chapel doors are closed.
- You are hungry, and you want to eat. There is a pieceof bread in front of you, and a knife. But you cannot eat yet. The candles flicker and thehall is silent as a girl whose name you donât know gets to her feet and startsto speak. You do not understand the words. You cannot eat yet.
- The Menâs Firsts have won blades.
- You have been in the library all evening. Thelibrary is six hundred years old, and haunted. You need to get out, so you goto the pub. The pub is five hundred years old, and may also be haunted.
- You are standing in the street. You feel flushedand a little dizzy. How did you get here? You were in college, in your friendâsroom. You can hear a muffled, rhythmic thumping, and what might be screams. Youlook up; the sign above the doors says THIRST. You do not want to go inside.Your friend tugs on your arm, and laughs.
- A group of old men in long black gowns passes quietlybeneath your window. The gowns flutter and ripple in the wind like flags.
- The book you need is in the Gladstone Link.
- A sheet of paper is pinned to a door in quad.You hurry past. They have announced Collections.
