The Phoenices Volume 1 - Expired

Chapter 24 - Elizabeth

We entered the school, our limbs beginning to thaw out slowly the moment the warm air flowed around our bodies. I stripped myself of my bag, pulling the huge stack of paper out and breaking it into four small stacks, handing it out to all the people in my group. We got two rolls of tape and headed to the far end of the third floor classroom section. I carried about 500 sheets of paper in my arms, a tape dispenser settled safely on top of the paper. We had a system, every four lockers we would each tape one poster, similar to an assembly line, but in reverse.

"How long do you think it'll take for everyone to pin all their posters up?" asked Henry, sleepily running his hands over his eyes while he waited for a few moments for Heather, the girl in front of him to, finish taping the page to the locker, her hands shaking a little due to the lack of sleep, some of the pages slipping from her arms and onto the floor. James, the fourth person in our group, clutched his papers tightly to his chest before stopping over to gather the papers on the floor, handing them back to the younger girl with a exhausted, yet friendly smile. She nodded, taking them back into the pile in her arms and finally sticking the poster to the wall before continuing on.

"I have absolutely no idea, but we're almost halfway done so I'd like to think the other are doing as well or better than we are." I answered Henry's question, pulling off another piece of tape from the roll and sticking it halfway onto the top sheet of paper, my eyes following it to the locker it was going to stick to for at least four more hours. I sighed, beginning the empty task again, reaching the end of the first hallway and heading around the corner, almost running face first into Nicalie and Maddie. Maddie began to stutter, reaching up to wind her short copper hair around her fingertips, her light golden brown eyes frantically looking everywhere but the group of students standing in front of her. Nicalie was standing stock still, her nearly black eyes staring into mine, fear etched on her features, her mouth slightly agape.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nicalie mumbled, looking down at her hands before swinging them a bit, grasping her wrists together behind her back,

"We had plans, what are YOU doing here?" I returned the question, inquisitively looking between the two girls. Nicalie blushed, the red strong enough to be seen through the dark chocolatey brown of the skin on her face and neck.

"We were at um, we were at early morning swim practice," Maddie lied, nodding her head to convince us.

"No you weren't swim ended last week with SEC's," I corrected them, my eyebrow cocking upwards. I heard shuffling besides me, Henry coming to stand next to me, obviously searching for signs of what they were actually doing. I saw his eyes travel down Maddie, stopping somewhere much lower than her eyes, and I slapped him with the back of my hand, and he slapped me back, holding his hand out to her.

"Hey can I see your wrist?" he asked, and I made the connection. Madison Doe was a name on the list, so was Nicalie Royce now that I thought about it. She reluctantly held her arm up for him to take, and when he pulled up her sleeve she looked away, the date on her wrist gently irritated and scabbing in some spots, as though she had tried to rip it off of her skin, or it cause her discomfort, which I guess to some extent it would end up causing her a great deal of pain. I sighed, holding hy hands out for Nicalie, and she followed the motions of Maddie, holding her wrist up for me to examine with slow reluctance. She let her eyes travel to the ceiling, exhaling dramatically while I looked at the date. It was still in black ink, so it was much harder to read, but it still clearly said November 21st, 2017. I sighed, frustration filling my body.

"You two should go sit in the CPA for a few minutes, we will be down there shortly, just wait there for us." I told them, and they both nodded slowly, easing their way through us as we continued our monotonous task, more conversation bubbling between the members of the group now as we talked about the other people in our school who had the same dates. We pinned a poster to the last locker, all of us dumping our remains onto Henry, as he was the biggest other than James, who was falling asleep on his feet. We all headed down the the CPA, opening the squeaky doors and setting our remaining papers onto a big stack, which was continuing to grow with each of the four groups that entered. We were the second group to enter, Nicalie and Maddie were joined by Ben, who was in on all of our plans at this point, and then shortly after Ben the group from the gym, which was led by Jeremy. We all headed up to the stage, sitting in a medium sized circle on the dirty wooden boards, scratched etched into the faded black paint on the ground.

"Who wants to tape the paper to the sides of the seat in the CPA" called out Marissa, boredom sounding clearly out in her voice. James reluctantly raised his hand, followed by Celia, and they were each handed a tape dispenser and a stack of paper, each going their separate ways up the aisles.

"So guys, we are going to stick to the bathrooms until the three lunches," Marissa began once again, "And the announcement will go off shortly before the end of 3rd hour. We will count out the papers, dividing them by three and throwing them off of the catwalk in the middle of each lunch, running away as fast as possible. Good so far?" We all nodded, Nicalie and Maddie slowly pulling themselves from the circle, trying not to associate themselves with the group.

"Are you guys done yet, some of the drama students arrive at like 5:30 if they want to get extra practice in, it 5:12 and we're on their stage," Sean Paul called to the two older students.

"I have 1, 2, 3, four more posters and then I'm done," answered Celia, somewhere in the shadows of the CPA.

"I have six more," answered James, much less enthusiastically the Celia. The small south korean girl seemed to have so much energy at some times, and literally none at all others. I sighed once more, my eyes dropping to the floor and my ears tuning out from the conversation the others were having. I already knew the entire plan, and I wanted to think about other things. I rested my elbow on my knee, my cheek on the heel of my hand, letting my eyes fall to the stage and my mind travel to unknown places beyond the limits of the real world. I felt the stage falling away from beneath me and the world darkening, small specks of bright white light flickering around me occasionally. I turned my head around trying to look at them, when i realized they were snowflakes, glittering in the deep, dark blue of a clear winter night. There was a flash of green in my peripheral vision, the northern lights shining in bright shades of purples and yellows, the purples fading to traffic light red, the green and the yellow filling into the traffic light, the red shining brightest, the honking of horns beginning to sound, as though they were being heard through water, then clearer and clearer until it was as if I was standing in the middle of the road on a busy New York City street. I looked around me, it seemed I was sitting atop the hood of a car, the driver slamming on the horn, a phone to their ear. There was still snow softly falling all around, the flakes landing on my lashes, collecting and accumulating across my entire body, unmelting. The cool calm surrounded me, until I felt my lungs began to burn with the need for oxygen. I began to dig myself out, frantically clawing at the snow, a warm breeze caressing my face as I surfaced. I was floating in the middle of a deep pool, unable to see any of the sides or the bottom. I looked around once more. I was in the ocean, the cool water lapping against my skin from all directions. I took a few deep breaths, taking one last large one before diving, swimming to the coral reefs, thriving with colorful fish and plants. I felt no need for oxygen now, it felt as though I could breath, even underwater. There was no pressure on my head, even though the light filtering from above the waves was dimmed and wavering, telling me I was many feet underneath the water. I swam to the surface once again, this time finding myself on the edge of a shallow hot tub, the air biting and cold around my exposed shoulders and neck, everything beneath the water comfortably warm. I looked back at the sky, the stars masked by light pollution, muffled traffic noise from the street below me. I climbed out of the hot tub, shivering at the contact with the air. I entered the house, my name being called by a familiar voice from somewhere in the house. I headed towards it, opening the door from which it came behind,my eyes falling back to the floor of the stage. I jolted my head up, quickly glancing around the circle, all of my friends eyes trained on me. I felt my eyelids drooping and I fought to keep them open, trying to pay more attention to the words being said.

"Yeah yeah what I'm listening," I answered the groups confused looks, some of them cracking small uncomfortable smiles at my response. I let a small, what I thought was somewhat natural smile spread across my face, giving all of the people in the circle that one look, the one that says 'what-are-you-looking-at-are-you-being-stupid'. They all quickly dropped their stares, looking down at their hands or anywhere accept for me. I sighed, pushing myself into a standing position, heading off the stage and to the seating, where I grabbed my backpack and headed out the doors to go find somewhere quiet to let myself think, without travelling through worlds. I rushed everywhere now, rushing through the school to find a spot to think, rushing through the worlds in my head, rushing through life. I had no time not to. I had no time left.

A/N: 1811 words according to NaNoWriMo