Climate Climax

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The sound of the bell rings through the heads of all the students throughout the halls and classes. This is when the rush happens. All the students get up and rush to the door; the teacher starts to yell to get out their last sentence even though it's drowned out by the ruckus. Manzee has always preferred to wait a bit. She stays in her seat and waits for everyone to pass, packing her things up neatly and making sure that all her things are organized.

After the class is mostly cleared out, she heads to the front of the class to see her science teacher, Ms. Allan. Manzee slows to a stop at the front desk, taking a breath before she begins to talk.

"Can I talk to you?" Manzee asks curiously, hoping for a signal to continue talking. Ms. Allan looks up suddenly, not expecting there to be anyone asking to speak to her, as typically everyone runs out of class without a second glance.

"Of course, what can I help you with?" Ms. Allan replies in a similar, curious tone, putting down her pencil to show Manzee has her full attention.

"I was hoping to talk to you about an idea to stop altitude difference," Manzee exclaims, not able to hide the excitement in her voice.

Manzee explains part of her idea, the sound of the next bell barely registering in her flooded mind.

"I would love to talk more about this," Ms. Allan explains, "but you have a class to get to," she motions to the unnecessarily loud bells that were installed in the school.

Now you may be thinking "what's Altitude difference?" Well to put it simply, the earth is dying. It's expected to go out completely in three months.

Manzee bolts down the twists and turns of the mile-long hallways to get to her English class, a split second before Ms. Ganet, the English teacher, arrives. She enters the class, slightly out of breath, and takes her seat beside Dalbyne, her younger brother. He chose to take higher classes, the other ones not suiting his growing mind.

She doesn't talk to him much at school, but it's nice to have someone at home that knows what you're doing in class, especially since not many people pay much attention, Manzee being with the majority.

Ms. Ganet always looks odd, and even though she's only in her mid-twenties, she wears clothes that look like they were from the 2040s. As she walks in today, Manzee notes the dark red skirt that hugs her thin torso, before flaring out loosely over her legs, stopping mid-shin, and a bright white silk blouse tucked into it. She's wearing bright red shoes, close to the same color as her bright red lips that look even brighter against her pale face.

As Ms. Ganet blabs about Shakespeare, Manzee fills her notebook with ideas of what could go wrong with the invention, and how to fix them. Every so often she looks up to see Ms. Ganet writing on the blackboard, which stands out on the baby blue walls of the newly painted classroom; all the rooms were painted over the Easter break and most people in the school were surprised by how quickly it had finished being painted. All other classrooms were painted white, but Ms. Ganet insisted that her class be baby blue, the same color as her eyes that were way too big for her face of small features.

Manzee continues to zone in and out of class, focusing on the project in her hands, knowing she can catch up later. Her brother's always been good at that, even though he's not a fan of her invention, he helps her out with schoolwork, keeping her from falling into the pit of failure as she dances clumsily around the edge. Punishment for falling might be worse than the piercing rocks below, serenading with the silent screams of those it's trapped.

Hearing the bell, she begins to organize and pack up her things, launching her bag onto her shoulders, and making way towards the door. She stops dead in her tracks as she sees those ahead fall still and silent. Paying more attention to the situation, she glances at the clock, noting the bell being significantly earlier than normal. Her ears perk up to the noise more, the bell ringing on and off in timed intervals.