Challenge: Memorable Acquaintance

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews. I kind of fell off last year, so we'll see how I do with it this year.)

Prompt: A story about a memorable acquaintance

Heh. All right. 

This is back in college, when I was sharing a dorm room with a young man whom I'll refer to as J. J was a computer science major, extremely bright, and exactly my kind of odd. He loved playing with ideas, particularly about obscure esoterica: the illuminati, the idea that somewhere there was a list of all the really smart people on the planet, what if there really was a hollow earth, and like that. He didn't really believe in any of it, but the absurdity of it all appealed to him. And, of course, he was the destined savior of the human race. 

We all just pretty much took that last one in stride. He'd mention it every now and again, but it wasn't a regular topic of conversation or something he really insisted on. 

Anyway, the two of us were up very late one night, discussing the gods alone know what. Probably something vague and philosophical, possibly related to religion. I genuinely don't remember at this point. 

What I do remember is the very end of the conversation. I was already up in the top bunk, and he was sitting on the bottom bunk, and it was time to go to sleep. So he got up, crossed the room to the light switch (which was beside the door), and concluded whatever point he was making with, "After all, I'm the destined savior of the human race." He flipped the light off, then added: "Funny thing is, sometimes I actually believe that."

Then he crossed the room again (in the dark), tossed himself down onto his mattress, and missed by a good two feet, thus crashing into the floor instead. No harm done, but the timing could not have been any more perfect.