Incognizant

3

I wake up in a dark room. What's going on? I remember being locked in the lab, trying to jimmy the lock on the door, eventually yelling for help as the hours passed by. Nobody responded. I don't know why; it was easy enough for me to eavesdrop on Alisha and Rav's conversation the other day. Did people think I was joking? Or maybe I'd waited too long and everyone had gone home by the time I started screaming. Though I could swear I heard people in the hallways outside... I hate my patchy memory.

I do remember giving up and falling asleep in the end. So how did I get here? Right now I'm too stressed to meditate and try to retrieve the memories. Maybe if I get up and look around, my surroundings will trigger something.

I stand up and scan the room. My eyes have mostly adjusted to the darkness, and I have a strange sense of deja vu. I can make out several large, regular objects placed in neat rows along the length of the room. I run my hand over the nearest one. Cool, but not cool enough to be metal. I look closer. Wood.

Wait a second.

I nearly laugh out loud. It's my own biology classroom! I'm still in school. It must be night. No wonder I had deja vu.

I feel faint. Probably because I haven't eaten anything in... I actually can't remember the last time I ate. That can't be healthy. In a sort of daze I walk out of the classroom and to the back door of the school, noting the way everything seems so much more stark and washed out in the pale moonlight. Regular corridors become caverns of darkness, familiar courtyard trees become twisted, gnarled claws reaching towards the sky, and colorful wall murals are bleached white. The deja vu is back in full force. It's strange that it's so strong though, since I can't remember ever being in school at night.

Just inside the doors are two security guards. I hesitate as I near them, feeling shy. Ridiculous timing, I know, but that's the way I am. Crippling social anxiety. So, once again, I end up hiding just around the corner and eavesdropping.

"Terrible business. Really."

"Two deaths in three years. We're going to lose our jobs at this rate."

"C'mon, Yaz, there's nothing we could've done about either. This girl died of some poison or disease or something... you saw her, she wasn't attacked. Not like that last one."

The man on the left shudders. "I still have nightmares. I've been so much more careful since then, and this still happens."

"That girl was attacked outside school grounds. This one was never even attacked. It's hard, man, but we can't blame ourselves."

"Still. On Thursday that girl was lying on that bench for hours. If only we'd gotten to her sooner, what if she survived? And the same with that other one. Me and Eddie went when we heard her screaming, right outside our walls, but we didn't run. And we were too late. She was covered in blood, stabbed between the ribs by those idiot drunks... I tried to help her, and watched the life leave her eyes. I tried, but it was too late."

The second guard clasps his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up. We all try our best."

My head swims, and a wave of nausea sweeps through me. Oh, no, I think I'm going to faint. I dive into a supply closet to my left and the world goes black yet again.