The Boy I Met On the Roof

Speech

A week had passed since Rebecca had made her offer, waiting for one of the seemingly random school-wide speeches. Usually, they consist of some kind of public punishment for someone that fucked up especially severely, but sometimes, Sterling used to give those grant rants about sin and salvation, yelling about how suffering makes you more likely to be "gods favourite", that pain cleans the soul, washing away impure thoughts and envy, and that the painfully empty stomach of everyone gave away for more room for the holy spirit.
Funny considering he wasn't the skinniest man; the kitchen cooks special meals for the staff, and the smell of meat, potatoes and fucking vegetables, something he never thought he would have missed, swam through the air, always just barely out of reach.
The head chef, a burly woman who constantly scowled, always put the staff food on top of the glass barrier separating them from the students. She grinned as the kids salivated over the mere possibility of having a proper meal, though no one ever tried to swipe it away, knowing that they'd most likely end up worse for wear.

Sometimes, Dustin questions whether or not Sterling hired sadistic adults on purpose or if they just turned that way after working here for too long. Most likely a bit of both, considering that there had always been a strange aura around the building; it wasn't something visible or even something anyone could exactly pinpoint, just a strange feeling. Something akin to when you're hurled up in blankets and someone from outside touches you with their too-cold hands. 

Like when you're sleeping peacefully and your angry mother barges in and tears the blankets off your body, leaving you vulnerable to the world.

Like when you're little and really want the stick swimming in the river, so you lean forward, falling into the cold, dirty water head first, not understanding why you suddenly can't breathe anymore.

The speech this week was to be made by the school nurse, a blonde woman with piercing blue eyes and a dainty build, though despite the "nice, middle-aged lady" appearance, all the students agreed that she was the closest thing to the devil that exists on earth.
Unlike the others, she wasn't physically violent, or at least she wasn't in the typical "I'm angry so I hit" way; just like Sterling, she had her favourites, her "bunnies" as she called them. Always picking the skinniest and most ill-looking ones out of the bunch, petting their hair and smoldering them in sweet pet names, giving them a little something from her medicine cabinet to make them feel better, usually synthetic opioids, knowing full well they always return for more "medicine" and affection, and then, after toying around with them, she leaves, because they got boring.

Don't be mistaken, if, for some reason, one of her little ones leaves her before she leaves them, she doesn't shy away from outright violence, making up for her lack of muscle strength by using sharp objects, like all the scalpels she owns despite the fact she can't perform surgeries, both for the lack of a place to perform them and the fact that she is just a nurse.
Everyone knows to avoid her because even if you do not belong to her beforehand, she will find a way to make you hers and make it seem like it was your choice all along, trapping you in her web of half-lies, faked empathy and emotional blackmailing.

During the speeches, the entire school is empty, all crowded in the cafeteria, and while there are some guards, most are placed beside the entrance to the cafeteria itself, so if you manage to hide away while they round up everybody, you are on your own.
The trio agreed to meet at the door of the first story of the basement, and Dustin managed that well enough, sitting criss-cross on the right-hand side, hands slicking back his too-long hair.

"There you are!" Rebecca called out, making him flinch even though he tried his best to play it off, offering him her hand and helping him stand up, because even if it appeared to have healed, his ankles and knees still hurt. It isn't anything unusual, no injury he ever had healed quite right, coming out crooked and weird.
"Are you ready? I brought my camera just for today!" she said, holding up a five-by-ten-centimetre digital camera.
"Where is Noah?” he asks, looking around to see nobody anywhere near them.
“He's still limping a tad, give him ten more minutes,” she answered, leaning against the wooden wall behind her, arms crossed in front of her chest; not knowing how to respond, Dustin hums.
“You know…” she starts, twisting a stray strand of hair around her finger: “I wanted to say thanks, for…kinda saving my life.”
Shrugging his shoulder, Dustin sighs: “Wasn't really my intention, it just kinda happened.”
“Still, you did.'' The girl quips, looking at him with wide dark eyes, irises like black marbles, appearing brown only in direct sunlight, smiling at him in a way that might have been flirtatious if the rest of her expression didn't scream distrust.