The Curse of Time

Your prize for attending high school is...suspension

"Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead"
-Benjamin Franklin

*****

Nicholas

"So it's true."
"She is dead."
"Does he know something?"

Those were the happy greetings I received as soon as I stepped into the school.

I knew she was going to die. The time when I was screaming at the top of my lungs, the entire class saw her body falling from the roof. She had fallen a few yards away from a group of students who called the paramedics and many of them emptied their stomach at that sight.

The girl's name was Katie. She was a freshman and also one of the girl's who was bullied a lot because of her stutterings.

She was taken to the hospital but I knew it was too late. Today she was pronounced dead even after the doctors tried their best.

I was sent back home after that small 'episode' and even after being relieved from the stressful school work- I could not concentrate on anything. Even now I heard faint whispers but most of them felt like the soft murmurings of the air and the gossip people were having behind my back.

Everyone was surprised by my sudden screaming.
The most shocking part was that no one laughed or started teasing me. They were horrified by my pleadings that seemed to echo throughout the hallways of the school.
"She is dying...help her...help me." I let out a piercing scream.

I shook off the memory from my head- I have started to go crazy.

My friends asked how I was feeling and everything but I sensed that they were creating a distance from me.

I could not even blame them.

I reached for my locker, punched in the combination and opened its door. I began keeping my books in the locker until my hand felt a metallic substance in the bag. I poked my hand into the bag's contents and that's when I realized what I had touched.

A small pocket knife.

Panic rushed through me as I quickly removed my books for my mathematics class, tossed the bag into the locker space and slammed its door shut.

I muttered, "What even-"

"You alright?" A concerned voice interrupted me.

I turned seeing Isaac raising an eyebrow at me.

"Of course," I replied with a ragged voice. I should thank my stupid screaming for that.

His eyes studied me for a moment. "Whatever."

I caught someone's eye around the corner until she turned to her friends and whispered something in their ear.

"Don't pay attention to them," he said waving his hand like it was the most normal rumour to ever occur.

"What do you want Isaac?" I asked icily. " You think I am a weirdo, a psycho?"

He sighed in defeat. " Dude, we all have those moments, don't let them get to you."

Then I remembered what had happened in the English class.
He was there as well and during the midst of the chaos, I noticed that he was the only one who did not seem too bothered with what I was going on. His face was filled with pity.

Like he knows what I am going through.

" Do you know something I should know as well?" I genuinely asked.