Emperor of Annihilation

SIXTEEN

she was sublime.

🦢

I walked down the hall, my footsteps echoing against the cold, tiled floor. Laughter filled the air, mingling with the usual sounds of student chatter. Curiosity piqued, and I couldn't help but feel that something was off. I had a sinking feeling that it was somehow connected to me.

As I approached my locker, a putrid odor assaulted my nostrils, growing stronger with each step. It was a nauseating smell, a mixture of decay and something indescribably foul. Confusion twisted my features. Is this smell coming from my locker?

But It couldn't be. I never left food in my locker or clothes for that matter, so there goes that possibility.

I took a deep breath, trying to brace myself, and turned the combination lock. The metallic clicks reverberated through the now silent hallway. I swung open the locker door and nearly puked.

Instead of my textbooks being on the top divider, there was a lifeless rat lying there. Its limp body, covered in matted fur. Its vacant, glassy eyes stared back at me, mirroring the shock and disgust that flooded my body.

I took a step back in my Mary janes, my legs weak and trembling as I did so. This explained why people were laughing. But who would've done this?

The laughter that had filled the air earlier now felt malevolent, like a chorus of mockery. I felt violated. Someone disregarded my personal space and invaded it.

There was nothing I could do other than pick up the dead rat with layers of tissues with gloves on and throw the body in one of the garbage bins outside.

My heart pounded in my chest as I ran to the nearest washroom where I washed my hands five times. Who would break into my locker just to put a dead animal inside? I was more mad at the fact someone had killed the rat more so then it's dead body being in my locker.

My first instinct was to tell the Headmaster and have him look into it, but as memories slowly flow into my mind, I remember what happened the last time. That night I was locked outside the dormitory in the freezing cold for the entire night.

Apart from the dog food and grease I had dumped on my head, I was left without food or water, so my throat dried up quickly. No one noticed. Nobody even cared anyway.

That was Freshman year. I'm in my last year of high school and yet nothing has changed. I'm still the same person I swore I was not going to be. A loser.

Bile rose in my mouth. I pushed myself off the counter and ran into one of the stalls where I puke my living guts out into the toilet. A wave of nausea washes over me and my body doubles over as I emptied the contents of my stomach.

My hair was grabbed and lifted into a ponytail as a hand patted my back. "I found out who did it."

Without turning to Autumn, I ask, "Who was it?"