Secrets of the Third Dimension

WHAT?! Wait, how? No... UGGH!

Alissa's p.o.v

The shrill cry of the bell sounds, signaling the end of first period. I pick up my books and walk out of the classroom door into the chaotic sea of people shoved into an elongated narrow space called a hallway.

Passing period always gives me anxiety. The people everywhere, the loud noises, the possibility of anyone noticing me, the possibility of me seeing Jezell and getting flustered... The possibility of someone noticing my reaction to Jezell... It's horrible.

I start the twenty foot walk to my locker with my head down, drawing in my sketch book. I can't stop thinking about Jezell, so I continually draw her. I'll try to draw a random person, and it turns out to be Jezell. Even if I try to draw a male, I decide to add long hair and make the futures more feminine, BAM, Jezell.

Once I finally reach my locker, I see something taped to it. Its a photo of me and Jezell- Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit! How could someone have seen this?! How?! No no no no no! My god! Please tell me no one else has seen this! Why would someone do this?! I start hyperventilating. Oh no! I start tapping left right left right to calm myself down. Breath. I remind myself. In... Out... In... Out... In... Out... In... Out... IT'S NOT WORKING!

Ok... Calm down, Lissa. I attempt to calm my breathing again, In... Out... In... Out... In... Out... In... Out... In... Out... In... Ou- and that's when the tears start to rush in. This isn't working... To the restroom... If I can walk... I start stumbling down the hallway toward the bathroom so I ca-

WAIT! I can't leave the picture taped to my locker! I turn around and head toward my locker again, trying to keep a damper on my tears. Fuck, where's my locker? Um... I'm lost, did I go to far.... Not far enough? I just collapse against a row of lockers looking at the floor. Then, the floodgates open.

I don't know how long I'm in the hallway. No one even notices me. I feel like I've been here for hours... Pretty soon the hallway is empty and I'm laying in the middle of the elongated narrow space barely touching both walls while scratching myself trying to hold onto anything.

After minutes, maybe hours, I hear footsteps.

"Lissa?" An soft, feminine, yet deep voice asks.

"Go away," I attempt to scream, but it comes out as barely a whisper.

"Liss, it's me," the voice says again.

"I don't know anyone named me," I reply sarcastically, hoping that they will just leave me to wallow in my own despair.

"It's Jezell," she replies, the eye roll evident in her voice.

"Zell!" I cry jumping up from my spot on the floor and launching myself into her open arms.

"Shhhh," she soothes stroking my hair, "I'm here now. Just calm down."

"Why are you in the hallway?" I ask, suspicious all of the sudden. Anyone could wear a Face Squared cloak and mask to pretend to be Jezell and see how I interact with her.

"Dreanel told me that you were in the hallway sobbing because, as everyone knows, she knows everything that happens at this school... Always," she laughs... I'm not quite convinced that the person is actually Jezell.

"If you're actually my g-" I catch myself, "Jezell, then tell me something only she would know."

"Well... Let's see," she replies, "You love dancing, and are amazing at it even though you think you're horrible, you don't have a favorite color because you think it's unfair to pick one," then her voice drops to a whisper, "you're planning to run away with me when the time is right... To escape."

"It really is you, Zell... Or I have a stalker... But I'm pretty sure it's you," I say and she laughs.

"You, my love, have trust issues," she states, and I blush, "Now, are you going to tell me why you were laying in the middle of the hallway, ten steps from your locker, having an anxiety attack?"

"The picture!" I exclaim. Wait... I was only ten steps away from my locker... Not spending anymore time to ponder, I rush to my locker and tear down the picture. I walk the ten steps back to where Jezell is sitting and hand her the photo.

"Aww," she sighs. Looking longingly at the photo, "how'd you get this picture?"

"I don't know," I reply, "it was taped to my locker... So I started panicking because if any teachers saw this picture of us we could both go to jail.... And just the thought of you having to go through that... I collapsed! You know passing period gives me anxiety anyways."

She laughs, "so this kiss... It really did look like how it felt." I start blushing... Again.

"This illegal kiss," I remind her, a subtle warning to be careful. There are cameras in the hallways at school, they're usually turned off while students are in class to conserve electricity but you never know when someone might decide to check to make sure there aren't any "ditchers" or resistance attackers.

There have been several people reported roaming our school armed with weapons from the old world (Simple weapons like, hand lasers and vaporizers) but, when their picture is run through the database on all of our citizens, there aren't any matches.

I personally think it's something the society made up to scare everyone. I mean, honestly, who uses weapons that are that outdated to try and be threatening? They're to dangerous. Neither weapon even has the simple ability to stop the blast before it hits. I mean no wonder the whole society went to shit! They were idiots li-

"So, I think we have to tell Archer," Jezell states snapping me out of my mental rant.

"WHAT?!" I demand, "Wait, how? No... UGGH!"

"He knows I'm hiding something from him so now he's forcing me to tell him, and you know he can tell when people are lying," she sighs.

"Ok... But what if he turns us in?" I question fearfully.

"I don't think he will," Zell tells me, "I just... Like know in my core that he'll accept us and even maybe help hide it."

"I'm not sure, Zell," I state... Then hesitantly continue, "but I trust you, so... If you really need to, then you have my permission... Just... Be careful. Know who you're around, if there are any cameras and... If there are any spies."

"I promise I'll be careful," she says, then she sets the picture down and kisses my cheek. She moves her face toward my lips and as I start to kiss her back, I look down at the picture and notice that it's face down. It looks like there's something wri-

"Shit!" I exclaim jumping back and snatching the picture off the floor, "Zell! Someone wrote something on the back of the picture!"

"Wait... What?" She questions, "What does it say?"

"I don't know... It's in a language I've never seen... But some of the words are the same..." I reply. She takes the picture out of my hands and looks at it.

"That's weird," she states, "it's in English..."

"But... No one speaks English anymore... It's not even legal to learn another language for fear of awakening the death God..." I think aloud.

"Good thing I never follow the rules," she states.

"What?" I question. How would she have learned another language? I see her eyes scanning the foreign words and symbols. After she reaches the bottoms, she starts from the top again.

"Liss..." She says looking up at me out of no where, "someone is trying to kill me."