The Girl With No Last Name (The Girl #1)

Tardy

Chapter 10:
Tardy

Searching for stuff is so not my thing. I mean, how can I find something if I don't even know what it is?

Walking through the almost vacant hallways, I search for some place where I can pray. I search every room, looking left and right, through the whole floor to no avail. I then proceed to the next floor, helplessly searching for a blind spot.

While looking through the third and last floor, I find a ladder in a very small and crowded room. The place is filled with useless big objects; broken tables, pourous pipes, remnants of what used to be a children's swing...etc. The place is coated in dust. I recognize all of this in just a second, but what really catches my eagle's eye is a rusty old ladder in the very back of the room.

Curiosity fires through my system, and I slowly walk towards the ladder. I run my eyes on it, reaching the top. A small trapdoor lays in waiting. I debate internally wether or not I should climb this thing.

My reasonable side argues that it's my first day here and I don't want to get in trouble. I also need to find a place to pray.

My less noble, more curious, and more fun-concerned side retorts that through the trapdoor I might find a decent place to pray. And one little peak won't hurt.

But then what about the class? What if I'm found in here? That would be one awkward situation that I better steer clear from.

Just a quick look, then I'll go down.

Alright, just for a few minutes okay?

Okay.

After my pact with myself, I start climbing the rusty old ladder. It's hard on my fingers and my hands end up getting badly scraped. Ugh! When I reach the top, I reach for the trapdoor handle with one hand, keeping my other tightly wrapped around the rail. I silently plead and hope to God that I don't fall.

Light floods the room as I let the trapdoor open. I nimbly climb through and automatically close my eyes to shield myself. While doing so, I quickly but thoroughly sift through the souls appearing in my vision, making sure no one is getting near. I slowly open my eyes, seeing nothing in the beginning, but then my eyes adjust after a few seconds.

I'm practically astounded.

I'm on the roof of the school building! Soft strokes of warm wind lightly caress my face and the exposed skin on my arms. The streets with their crowds and cars and people seem so distant. I hear nothing except the sound of the wind playing with my hair and the peaceful and occasional chirping of the birds. It's amazing, what I'm feeling. I'm feeling like a bird on its first flight. Like a prisoner seeing the sun for the first time in years. Like a blind man seeing his family for the first time ever.

I'm feeling free.

No fears, no secrets, no super genius, no rumors, no bullies, nothing. I'm just plain ol' me. A 6-year old girl feeling free.

I decide right now that this would be the place where I pray each day. My place.

I put my hijab on and start getting ready for prayer, maintaining internal peace, and clearing my intentions.

***

After prayer, I fold my hijab and take one last look at the breathtaking view before opening the trapdoor and slowly climbing downwards.

The amount of inner peace I'm experiencing right now makes me forget for a minute that I might be late for class. I remember that I have Social Studies right now in room 20. I practically run as I here the second bell sound throughout the school. The sound feels ominous to me. I run as fast as my legs would carry me, trying to remember my way to class. By the time I've arrived, two more minutes have passed. Crap. A very perfect first-impression. Really. Note the sarcasm.

I take a deep breath before knocking twice on the door and opening it slightly, my heart hammering in my chest.
"Um... I'm so sorry for my tardiness, professor. I was just praying and I was searching for a place to pray and..." My jaw literally drops when I see there's no teacher in the class. Yet. I'm sure I looked very sane talking to myself. It's my lucky day. I hurry inside before the teacher comes and notice that a couple of people give me weird looks as I pass. Oh well, I'm getting used to all the fame!