I sit in the back seat of the car watching time go by, slowly and then all at once. Outside it’s dull and the air is cold. As I look out the window, I see unfamiliar faces. I wonder what they’re thinking or doing at that moment. We all have different pathways leading is in different places. Our pathways cross and drift apart.
When I get to school, I get my Social Studies binder and start copying down the lesson. Nobody in class, seems to be listening. They teach us about the Fall of Rome.
When the bell rings, my friend Gabriella taps me on the shoulder.
“Come!” She says, looking excited. She’s been my friend for nearly seven years. She’s always been the energetic type, even at 9:00 in the morning.
“What?” I haven’t gotten much sleep in the last 48 hours and I’m still aching from dance last night. I walk down the hallway to my locker. She follows me.
“I wanna show you something,” she says again, “you can’t tell anyone though. Okay?”
“Yes, umm, okay. . .” I say, hesitant. I can’t thing of anything that Gab would need to show me, let alone keep a secret.
However, I follow her.
She leads me down the hall, to the janitor’s closet. Classic.
“Why are you taking me here? I need to go, I have second period. Show me later. There’s nothing here anyway, Gab.” I murmur.
“No,” she sounds serious and her dark brown eyes look directly into mine, ” forget about class. I need to show you something.” She flings her backpack down on the ground until she finds a key. She inserts the key into the keyhole of the janitor’s closet and motions for me to follow her. I follow her into the closet. There are empty cans and hanging brooms in the wall. It smells horrible. I don’t think anyone has been here for a few months, maybe years. Everything has a thick layer of dust on it.

To be continued…