Safety Within Mr. Payne (Teacher/Student Liam Payne)

Chapter Five

The cold morning went on. The sun begins to rise leaving a beautiful display of everything it’s light touches. Although, as the morning sun warms the skin of others, I’m still left cold and waiting for time to pass by in the blink of an eye. As I enter the cafeteria, I walk into the serving kitchen and grab a packaged muffin from the semi assorted selection.

I walk over the lonesome table I normally sit at during the free period of lunch and set my backpack down onto the open bench. Unzipping one of the pockets, I lightly place my muffin securely within it. As I look up to the clock, I see the time has shown the information that I have around 25 minutes until my first class starts.

I try to ignore the people staring at me. I had guess it was because of my choice to not eat my muffin at this very minute.

Today is Day A. I calculated the estimated time for Alice, Jennifer, and Sean to arrive at the high school. I looked at my schedule and read under the listings for the time of each period. Lunch will be starting by the time my presence will be requested in the main office. I check my backpack to make sure I had finished my homework that was given out before the previous weekend had started.

After the bell rang and what seemed like a stampede scurrying through the corridors, I made it to my Math class. On the first couple days of school, I have chosen a seat in the front of the class. I felt much less cramped and I’m more engaged into the lesson. Although, today I was off.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen in that very organized room. A lot of “What if?” questions flooded my mind. I felt terrified. If I wasn’t careful, I would have broke down shaking and receiving oxygen would have been abnormally difficult.

My math teacher at one point had to regain my attention as I was zoning out onto the wooden pattern on the surface of my desk. I felt embarrassed as everybody was quiet and easily staring at me.

Biology class took my mind off things as we all were deeply engaged into a lesson. At times, my mind would wonder off uncontrollably. With the physical activity with the labs we had to do, it was entertaining.

All morning felt dreadful. As if I were being dragged on a sled by someone with not the right amount of muscles to do the job. Somehow, it still felt like it went by quickly. Time goes by, and it can feel like an eternity or a flash of lightening. It can feel it can go on and on, but eventually the sun will set. I’m not sure how to describe how the possibility of it works.

I wince unnoticeably as the bell rings signaling us to transition to our own personalized schedules. I remain seated as the rest of the class floods out. The teacher stands up and searches through their draws within the large decorated desk. I felt like I was invisible from everyone. If I wasn’t physically here, not a single molecule would have changed.

Rather than waiting around, I stand up, push in my chair making sure the table is clean, and swing my backpack onto my shoulders. The silence in the room was like a pond, and my feet were the small stones that caused the ripples. Once I stepped out of the room I attend my biology class in, I close my eyes, draw in a breath, reopen them and begin to walk in the destination of where I’m soon to be reported.

I hear the halls echo my full name.

Sylvia Trace, please come to the main office. Sylvia Trace, please come to the main office.

The sound of an office phone collides with it’s home ending the viral message request from around the school.

I begin to walk briskly through the corridor and down one of the staircases that I had guested was the quickest way to get there. I’m greeted with an endless pattern of tiled floor as my dainty foot firmly taps onto it’s design. When I make the turn into the main office, the three people I have been waiting for stand together in a somewhat huddled triangle.