ContamiNation

Diamma

Diamma

I've always wanted to do this. I jumped on the garbage can and reached up to grasp the signs' pole. Hoisting myself up, I maneuver myself onto the concrete covering over the shop entrance.

Maybe it was a twist of fate or luck or just the universe screwing with me but I happened to be on a spare when shit hit the fan.

Now I'm sitting alone on the corner-not-corner-store's roof across the street from my school. I made it just in time to see the last school bus turn the corner onto a main street at the bottom of a hill. For all about half a second I wondered if I should follow it—nab a car and go after them. But after a full second I decided I won the jackpot.

I'm free of school, I'm done, I'm out, and I'm never going back. And I'm never going back to the silent law they wrote, I will sing in every tempo, Every last chromatic note. For I, I remember her, I remember music. And I remember love, Love—

"Aw, shut-up!" I said to myself, "Damn Disney songs."

I shook my head and stood. Time to rob the school, I smiled.

The top of the store was about 15 feet from the ground but the awning was only about 10. I jumped down to the awning and leaped off that.

My legs collapsed out from me. I swore. I didn't break anything but I must've looked stupid. Groaning, I picked myself up and limped over to the school.

My left ankle has been weak ever since I twisted it and was stuck in a cast for 3 weeks. On the plus side, whenever I twist either of my ankles they hurt for five minutes and then it's fine.

On the side of my school is a window into the basement. The window leads into a classroom that's almost always closed—locked—but the window, they usually leave that open in the summer for whatever reason.

I kneel down and slide my hands in the inch wide gap, feeling for the tabs on the window. I pull them in and push up, arms shaking. The window strains upwards slowly.

Once it's up, I shimmy in feet first, on my stomach, swinging my feet around, reaching for the radiator. I catch it and stand, getting the rest of my body into the room.

I hop down to the carpeted floor and start walking for the door. After a quick check to make sure the hallway is empty—silent, I twist open the knob and open the door.

Going door to door looking for anything I can use, but unfortunately most are closed and locked.

I turn and—

"Fuck," I face palm. "The office." Rolling my eyes, I run off towards the stairwell.

Office is locked, seriously? I check the second door—locked.

I run a few doors down to Mr. Lukanimero's computer class. He's a pretty chill dude if his door is—nope, locked. I run to every class until I find one that's open.

Library—library, I'm a dumbass. They keep all the broken school supplies and shit in there until the pick up comes to take it away. I grab one of the broken chairs, take the metal leg, and slam it repeatedly into the office's door knob.

It pops out and the door swings open. My arms ached but I got in, that's all that matters.

I spend the next few hours going to every room taking anything that could be used as a weapon (taking a few backpacks with me to fill up). With the locker lists I have every person's locker combination as well. And if it doesn't work or there isn't a combination for that lock I break it open with the locker clippers I unlocked from the janitor's office. Eventually I give up on the list all together and just break into the lockers. It's faster.

Food, bags, clothes, shoes, books (my favorite), and even some weed (again, a favorite) I steal out of the lockers. Except some shoes were not practical or my size.

I cleared out the second floor and doubled back around to the mini janitor's closet that I knew held the ladder to the roof. From there I could gage my surroundings. Then I'd secure the area.

In the art room I took Ms. Dillion's notebook. I wouldn't have if there was another like it but it was the only one that had an attached pen, small size (that fit in a back pocket), and flexible cover. Pulling it open I began to write a list.

     1. Doors (1-15)

     2. Classroom windows.

     3. Basement.

     4. Pool.

     5. Archer room/Archer's room

     6. Rope (Dollarama)

     7. SU

After taking in my surroundings (no zombies around me for a few blocks) I ran around the roof figuring how to get from place to place unseen from the ground. Then popped down to the basement locking down any rooms I didn't need; and any windows in rooms that I did need.

After triple checking everywhere and locking the connecting doors in the middle of hallways (I always complained about them because they were in random places for no reason but now they make extra protection) I got prepped to rob the Dollarama next door to the school.

I took a deep breath to steal myself and crawled out a slant window in the back of a classroom, in the back of the school. I needed to have at least one window open, if it came down to it and I couldn't get to the right key to open the door in time.

The bright grass on the field mocked me. It's too beautiful for a day like today. But things never happen the way you want them to.