Losing Eight Lives

6 | One Day

I sat there, chin held up by my arm resting on the desk, staring out the window. Study hall was quite boring that day. I had nothing to do. All my homework was finished, I didn't have a book to read and the library was closed for maintenance. I could've asked to go to the bathroom and just roamed the halls, but how fun would that be with no one to talk to?

So I sat there listening to Mrs. Nicholson take attendance. The view from her window showed a beautifully sunny day. The sky blue, the trees bare, giving an illusion of warm weather. But it was cold that day. You couldn't see the two feet of snow from her second story window, but it was there. And cold air blew in the icy wind, making the outside unbearable without a coat.

"Goodness, where is everyone?" I heard Mrs. Nicholson say.

Looking around for myself, I noticed only twelve people showed up out of about thirty. I wondered where the missing students were. Skipping? I laughed at the thought. If they were ditching class I wished more than anything I was invited.

A half an hour passed, with me just staring out the window in thought. I wondered about lunch, about Amanda--who was absent that day--about where my friends were, about where all those people who were supposed to be in this study hall were.

I would have chatted with people, but I didn't like anyone there. They were all either annoying or jerks, and I'd rather not get involved with them.

I noticed a few kids leave the room, for the bathroom or the nurse, or another classroom for help. Five left, and the seven of us who were still there were all looking around, unsure of what to do. It was Friday--everyone planned on doing their homework over the weekend.

Another ten minutes passed, and I started to notice something. All the people who had left--which would've been six now--never came back. Even those who went to the bathroom.

"Hey," someone whispered.

I turned my head to find Cam. He sat cooly next to me with his phone hidden in his hands.

"Do you think it's weird that half of us are missing?" he asked.

I studied him before answering. "You're seeing it too?"

"Yeah,"

"Everyone who's left the room hasn't come back yet," I pointed out.

He nodded, "I noticed that too." There was a pause before Cam spoke again. "What do you think is going on?"

I shrugged, "Maybe they're just taking a really long pee."

Cam responded with a light chuckle, and tipped his chair back so it balanced on it's two back legs. "I dunno."

The conversation ended, and another five minutes passed. Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something.

I quietly walked over to Mrs. Nicholson and asked to go to the bathroom. After signing out, I left the classroom and was glad for it. Anything was better than doing nothing at all.

I walked down the hall of lockers alone without a purpose, wondering which locker belonged to who. Halfway to the bathroom, another student entered the hallway and walked a few yards in front of me.

I jumped behind a corner in the wall and peered around it. To my surprise, it was Jace.

My mind made the decision before I did. I started to follow him--making my way through the hall, watching his shadow round a corner. I kind of smiled idiotically at myself. The fact that I had nothing better to do than stalk my boyfriend made me question this school.

The hallways are long so I kept this up for a while, observing everything--the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the lighting, the classrooms. I saw a speaker here and there, and vents were all over the ceiling. The library had a "closed" sign on it and the doors looked locked and shut tight.