The Train To Nowhere

chapter 3 - into the forest

Time ceased to exist. The clock seemed to stop moving as we sat in our tutor in complete silence. Suffocating silence that froze me in the immobile, space-less time that passed in his classroom. We had been subjected to one Saturday detention, spent writing an essay on "why I should not partake in a fight with my classmates" and all I had written so far was a few sentences on what happened, even though I knew that wasn't really the task. Ben kept staring at the door as he sat across from me on a separate desk. Occasionally he would raise his hand to ask Mr Kennedy a dumb question or twiddle his fingers. There wasn't much else to do.

There were others in the classroom with us, but not many. Just a mousy-haired Year Ten girl, a small, skinny and sheepish-looking Year Seven who's desk reached up to his chest and a very large dude in the corner who I think was in the year above me. He was a bit dodgy looking, rather pudgy and hiding his face under his raincoat jacket, which he had refused to take off. He was softly humming to himself, while he scribbled some stuff on his paper that I was pretty sure wasn't the essay set. I rested my head in my palm as time slowly but surely ticked by. At least we got to leave in twenty minutes, which still seemed like a lifetime away, but at least not the age of the earth.

I doodled something in the corner of my page and kept glancing up at the clock, as I had been for the past three hours. It was times like these where I just wished I was anywhere in time but right in the present. I texted Noah under the table and muted my phone. I was safe from Mr Kennedy's eyesight as he was focused on his paper he was marking with clear concentration, his brow furrowed and his forehead all wrinkled downwards. Noah texted me back saying he was busy going into London to see a football match with his dad. I rolled my eyes and considered my options. I could go back home and get my Psychology homework out the way, or I could ask around some more to see what other people were doing. Maybe Rosie was free? I knew getting back home to study was probably the better option, but after a Saturday detention, all I wanted to do was just run through the woods and let loose with some people I knew.

I tried Rosie next, then Phil, Ahmed but I didn't dare text Ben. He was in the classroom with me as well, so obviously not. I also texted a guy who I talked to a lot in basketball other than Noah - Isaac. And of course he responded with a yes, I'd known him almost as long as Rosie and I knew he would be reliable. Phil confirmed and so did Ahmed. Rosie still hadn't replied yet, which I was surprised by, but I didn't think much of it. After all, she lived next door. I could always just knock and ask face to face later on.

Ben's chair squeaked as he rocked on it, and I could hear the click, click, clicking of the mousy-haired Year Ten girl as she pushed the spring of her pencil up and down every few seconds with her thumb. The pudgy, faceless guy just kept humming, his volume not rising but neither was Mr Kennedy's head. He seemed lost in his marking and too focused to even lift an eye to us. I wasn't complaining, but I did wish he would tell them to just shut up. I scratched the scab on my forehead. It had cleared up mostly since Monday now, but it was itchy as hell. Everything was so boring. Time ceased to exist...

"Alright, everyone," Mr Kennedy coughed a little moodily, placing his Biro carefully down on the desk. "You can go now." Almost simultaneously, all five chairs screeched on the polished floorboards as we got up from our desks and headed for the door. "Apart from you O'Neil!" I heard him call as we walked down the corridor. The pudgy, humming kid groaned loudly and stomped back to the classroom while I laughed a little under my breath. As I left through the automatic, glass, double doors and out on to the town street, the chilly air tickled the hairs on the back of my neck. It had certainly got colder since this morning, when the sun was warm and strong. There was something slightly odd about coming out of school without kids walking with you nearly shoulder to shoulder and the loud, busy sound of the crowd. I'd had plenty of detentions in my time at Woodshire Secondary School, but never a Saturday, so this was new.