Lesson One - A Monster School Fic

Chapter Twenty Six - Rooftop Talk

CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains discussion of severe depression including suicidal thoughts. It is not a plot-heavy chapter and you should be fine to skip it if need be, I will summarize the contents at the bottom.

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Thursday night, you couldn't sleep.

You gazed idly at the moonlight that reflected off your door, eyes half-lidded as you mused over your day. Nothing in particular was wrong, at least not that you were aware of, you just weren't tired enough yet to go to sleep. Other than the shock you'd gotten when your teacher had fallen asleep during class, your day had been largely peaceful. You'd had fun in class and spent time with your friends, in a place that you were slowly coming to think of as safe.

It had been nearly three weeks now since you'd arrived. What was it that Herobrine had said, back in your first gym class after Soliel had burned your hand? That the monster students usually took three or four weeks to get used to the player, right? And that after a month the class was usually all friends. You still weren't so sure about Jace, and maybe Soliel, but with everyone else you could definitely see yourself being good friends with them for the rest of the school year.

Who else weren't you particularly close with? Your thoughts strayed to Azara, whom you'd barely spoken to except for the night that you played freeze tag. Greyson, too, you rarely ended up in contact with, and Silt and Kaden you really only talked to when you hung out with their respective friend groups. Even Silvia, your roommate, who was currently fast asleep sprawled out in her cobweb hammock, you didn't have more than an acquaintanceship with. You made a note to try and talk to them at least a little more.

Through your door, you heard quiet footsteps making their way down the hall.

You perked up, lifting your head to listen more closely. Who would be up at this hour? Your first thought was that it might be the zombies playing freeze tag again, but the footsteps were walking, not running, and it would be rude for them to do so without inviting you anyway. Maybe 303 or Herobrine? Herobrine better be sleeping tonight.

It only took a moment for curiosity to get the better of you, and you slid out of bed, making your way carefully over to the door and easing it open to poke your head out into the hall.

The hall was dim, as was standard for the middle of the night, but when you turned to the left you managed to catch a glimpse of a dark blue bat wing vanishing around the corner. Morpheus? You slipped out into the hall and shut the door behind you, tiptoeing down the hall after him.

You followed him through the halls and towards the front of the school, musing over his actions as you went. You knew you technically weren't forbidden from leaving your rooms at night, and Morpheus had claimed that he didn't need to sleep, so far all you knew maybe he did this every night. Still, he'd seemed uncharacteristically tired the last couple of days, and you had a feeling that something else was at play.

You paused in a doorway, leaning around the corner to watch as Morpheus pushed open the front door and headed outside. You frowned, a little bit of anxiety starting to pool in your stomach. What was he doing? He wasn't leaving... was he?

A moment after the door swung shut behind him, you'd made up your mind to confront him, and you hurried forward to follow him outside.

You pushed through the door and shut it behind you, stepping out onto the front steps and searching the lawn for any sign of your friend. A moment later, you realized abruptly that this was the first time in several weeks since you had seen a clear sky, and your head tipped back in astonishment.

You had been raised in the middle of a large city, meaning that it was always bright outside regardless of the time of day. This was, in part, to discourage monster attacks and make it safer for people to travel and work at night, but it had the side effect of greatly reducing the number of stars that you would be able to see. You had traveled to visit family in less developed areas on occasion, but none of them had offered such an unobstructed view of the night sky as this.