-Vaughn Blackmore:
The cafeteria is always loud in a way that never fully settles into background noise. It's not just the sound of people talking or trays clattering against metal counters—it's the constant pressure of it all mixing, like the room itself can't decide where one sound ends and another begins. Every step inside feels slightly heavier, not because of anything physical, but because of the way the space is always full without ever feeling alive. It's just routine, repetition, bodies moving because they have to, not because they want to.
