The building smelt of floor cleaner and old paper when I pulled into the front doors.Too early for the brawl. Too early for the screaming and slamming of lockers. The building was vacant in a way that made every sound echo.My boots clicked on the tile, the echo off the lockers. The overhead fluorescent lights hummed... steady, cold, like they'd been running all night.I liked it this way. No group. No gaze.Only me and the thrum.I strolled down the hall, past posters of the previous month's football game, a torn-up promo for the talent show, and a "Be Kind" banner curled at the edges.My locker was directly ahead of me, the paint scraped close to the handle where I'd slammed it too hard once.At first glance, nothing was out of place.But I hadn't gotten close yet.It wasn't until I was actually standing right in front of it that I saw. The metal was scored deep, the scratches wide enough to catch the light. Letters carved in hard, sloppy lines, like whoever did it didn't care if
Last Updated : 2025-08-09 Read more