Deep Indigo

Something told Mara they should've hurt. A strange whisper in the back of their mind said that they should have been in terrible pain, but nothing felt out of place. A tingly feeling settled into their limbs, but it was more like getting injured in a dream; their brain telling them something was wrong when in reality, nothing had happened.

The outside world filtered in slowly as they opened their eyes and propped themselves against a wall. The first strokes of morning poured through the frosted windows, almost tricking them into thinking that they were at home and just fell asleep in a weird spot. It wouldn't have been the first time.

But, their sleep-idled brain couldn't explain away the rows of desks in front of them.

They shot up, scanning the room and ignoring the fuzziness in their leg. Sunrise reflected off of the cold tiles, coloring the space with warm highlights and cool shadows. Despite coming here every day, Mara had never seen it like this: empty and sterile. To be fair, they've never woken up at dawn in their homeroom before, but there's a first for everything, right?

Walking over to their desk, another strange thing stood out at them: a yellow rose. Huh? There weren't any holidays coming up and even if there were, who would give them flowers? Mara's stomach turned. The blossom was light in their hand and cast a shadow over its stem with no note attached. Avoiding any rogue thorns, they let the flower fall back to the table and rubbed their light-green eyes. So this is someone's bright idea of a prank?

"-anything for us to work on today?" Mara froze as a tired voice cut into the room.

Of course. Within a random classroom, there'd be nowhere to hide. "Not really. I didn't think we'd have school." Turning the handle and pushing the door open, a pair of students walked in with a stack of papers in hand. Out of all days for the student council to use this particular room for their meeting.

They looked down at their desk and tried to appear like they were looking for something in it. Maybe if Mara could act like they had a reason for being here at the crack of dawn, their peers wouldn't interrogate them.

"Oh, hey..." They waved, their hand barely poking out of their brown and white sweater.

"Sure, it's not the first time a student's passed in the middle of the school year, but this has to be the first time it's happened on school grounds." The taller of the two set down her stuff at a front desk without giving Mara a second glance. Or a first glance for that matter.

The other sighed and took out a laptop. "Yeah, the entire back parking lot is closed off. You'd think the teachers wouldn't want us at school right now with a whole investigation going on."

There was only so much time Mara could waste looking through an empty desk with no materials on them. Seriously, who'd leave a rose and then take all of their stuff? Maybe the girls saw something. "Hey, have you seen anyone around here..."

"Wait, weren't they in this class?" Steps trailed over to them. "Mara Lamb, right?"

"That's my name."

"I think so. Someone even left flowers for them."

The gnawing in their gut intensified. "Umm...I'm right here? Why are you talking about me in third person-" Ice shot through Mara's veins as one of the girls stepped closer to their vigil. No, not closer. Through them.They jumped back. The student council members started to examine their spot, but they were too freaked out to care. Mara could write off the pair not noticing them, they were never very social around their classmates anyways; even the silent treatment could be explained away, but that? That doesn't happen. People don't just clip through the map whenever.