Breathe

Chapter 12 - On My Computer Screen

 I left the room and headed to the library. After asking for help here and there, I made it to the southernmost section of the school, where the attendants office was. I went past those doors, however, and kept walking until I reached two doors that was almost entirely made of glass. Then, I went through the doors and with my pass in hand, went to the counter where a man stood.

He was organizing what looked like sheets of paper—maybe someone's printouts—and was attentively doing that until he noticed me. He looked up and his tired eyes looked me over in a somewhat skeptical manner. Once he was done, he looked up at me and asked, "Is something wrong?"
I handed him a pass. "No, I just came to deliver my pass."

He took it, eyed it over, and then looked at me. "Tough day, huh?"

"Tough day?"

"Yeah, tough day." He threw the pass somewhere else and started typing on the computer near him. "You just came back to school today, huh? Must be tough—I hated skipping school when I was your age. Made me feel guilty. I felt worse going back though."

Not really one for small talk, I simply forced a courteous smile. "No, not really. I only had to go to one class today, if you'd even call it that."

"Credit recovery class, right?"

"Yes," I assured.

He stopped typing. Then, he sighed. "I hated that class. It's boring watching over them. And you have to watch over them because they're in there for a reason... usually bad reasons." He continued typing. "I'm glad I was moved here. Sucks that Miss Autumn had to leave though. She was cool."

I didn't say anything after that. He didn't, either. All he did was continue typing and typing and typing away on his keyboard. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang. And I, thinking I was supposed to be given something, impatiently waited for him to stop.

Thankfully, he did stop. He stopped and gave me a confused look. Then, as if our conversation before never happened, he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Am I not supposed to wait for permission to access the library?" I asked, my tone sounding a bit irritated.

"Oh, that?" He looked back at his screen. "You've been able to go to the library since you gave me your pass."

Are you joking?

I bore a smile and nodded. "Thank you."

He nodded back. "Glad to help."

I walked away.

Curiously, I explored the library. There only had a few shelves—completely unlike the libraries that I knew of... which are only shelves in books. I stopped by one shelf in particular because I recognized one of the books on display. Grabbing it, I looked at the cover. The Moon Child, huh? I haven't read this one in ages and for good reason—the writing was overly sentimental and the protagonist was an emotional train wreck. Also, one of the characters left a bad taste in my mouth; she simply seemed too innocent. Far too innocent for a girl living in a dystopian world at least. I put it back.

Looking around a little bit more, I noticed a little clearing in the middle of the shelves and peaked. Immediately, my eyes lit up. There they were: the computers. On top of tiny, isolated desks were some computers—some rather ancient looking ones, however—that looked to be functional. Not wanting to attract any attention, I walked to one of them and sat down and explored it.

Click. Click.

My eyes wandered all over the screen, following the tiny pointer as it moved all around until it found the Internet browser. Then, I clicked it maybe once, maybe twice, maybe thrice—too many times to count, really. Multiple windows popped up, and I exited them all until I reached the last one: the only one.