WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE.

EMPTY HALLWAYS AND FLYING TIME.

I stand in the dull hallways of my school, as always. It's a repetitive thing, honestly: I just come here every day and go home to do homework. Then I sleep and come back. I want action, I want something new. To be quite frank, I always dreamt of making a difference in the world, changing things in this town. I honestly have no hope I'll be able to anymore. It's gotten tiring at this rate.

I feel a small tap on my back, and turn around to spot a small girl with light brown hair and fairly pale skin, along with big blue eyes. She looked... familiar. Iris always talks to her.

"Miss ?"

She speaks to me in a very soft and meek voice. Surprisingly, she wasn't wearing the student council uniform, so I could be sure she was just another student. Nonetheless, I reply.

"Yes? Is there something you need?"

She takes a breath before speaking.

"Yes, actually. I, uhm... was wondering if you could walk me to my classroom. I'm scheduled for a new class, and I uhh... I wasn't sure where to go... sorry if I disturbed you."

Oh, so that's what she needed. I nod and ask for her schedule, to which she gives me. I examine the neatly folded sheet of paper that had nothing else adorning it other than the black printed ink which read: 'Ms. Bringham's classroom. First period. Room 503.'

Wait a moment. I recognize that room. It was the small but quite loud classroom across my 3rd period class. A meek and small girl like this one would get eaten alive in a room like that. I felt somewhat pitiful, but she'd most likely end up getting the rowdy children causing the racket in trouble anyways. To be honest, I didn't really care about what happened to her, but I enjoyed overthinking about it.

"I know that room. I can take you to it, follow me."

I toss the paper back to the petite girl and she scrambles to fold it back up neatly and put it in her cardigan's pocket as I begin to walk to the classroom. She follows not too far behind, both of us not making any conversation. Silence is better than an awkward conversation anyways, I think to myself. The walk wasn't quite far anyways.

We arrive at the classroom and I can already hear students yelling. It hurts my ears and baffles me how we're in high school yet they still act like children. I nod to the girl as she enters the class and I begin to walk back to my own room, attempting to get away from the noise quickly.

Somewhere on the way, I end up finding myself unfamiliar with the halls I stand in. The bell's going to ring any minute, and I'm standing mindlessly in the hallway. I assume I got distracted or something, because I could've sworn that I was on the right track. Nonetheless, I try walking around to another hallway down the corner. Still unfamiliar. The halls are vacant and empty, and the overhead light slightly flickers. I start to run across the seemingly never ending corridors frantically, trying to find where I'm supposed to be. I don't know where I am. I'm lost. Lost in my own school.

But just then, I spot a tall figure at the end of a long hall. It's approaching me slowly, but surely. As it gets closer, I see that it's an older looking male. Pale skin, light gray hair, and a black suit with a dark gray oval pin on his suit pocket. His hands are behind his back, and despite all of the wrinkles across his face I can spot a smile. I feel so moved, yet I stay put. Something about him and his aura just seemed... comforting. I barely even noticed he got close to me until I smell his floral cologne and see his hand in front of me. I look up at him and he's smiling. Of course, this was an awkward situation, and in no way I would even consider grabbing his hand at the moment. I guess he could tell, because he spoke up.

"You're quite lost, yes dear? I can take you back."

I furrow my eyebrows and look up at him, puzzled. Who the hell was this man?

"Who are you?" I speak, not even catching myself saying it until I did.

"Mr. Brackket. Your family wanted me to come get you. We have very special opportunities for girls like you." He responded, seemingly calm.

"... Opportunities?" I questioned, dumbfounded. I feel like I'm in a movie, to be honest.

"Follow me and you'll see." He motions to follow him as he walks back to the end of the hallway. He turns back to see if I'm following, and I reluctantly do so. I had a good amount of time to turn back and walk away, but it certainly didn't feel like that. Things seemingly flashed before my eyes in an amount of seconds, and I was suddenly in a whole other building, and not a school one either.