Outcast ✧ Phan

Ten

After what felt like an extended game of fifty questions with the lady, she finally told him to follow her to the office to check some phone records.

Dan walked behind her, listening to her high heels clicking and his sneakers scuffing in the abandoned hall. Dan had never seen a school so empty, nor had he heard one this quiet. It gave off an eerie vibe, and he was once more reminded how wrong something was right now with him still being here and not on the way home.

They entered the main office, which held a handful of rushing teachers shuffling around and grabbing papers or typing on computer keyboards. The monitor gestured him to sit down in a waiting chair. He did.

Dan watched her disappear down a hall, returning a few minutes later with a very serious looking man. That must be the principal. Dan thought nervously, knowing how he ran the school and how only bad kids had to go see him.

He was wearing a tan suit, coloured faintly by a pale red tie. His face had a gentle look as he finished speaking with the lady and was heading over to Dan, though he was aware that soft look could harden if it needed to. His hair was completely gone, leaving a shiny bald head in place.

"Daniel?" He said quietly, smiling in a I'm your friend, even though I'm a teacher kind of way while looking down at him.

"Y-yeah?" He squeaked, brown eyes wide as they met with the swampy green colour of the principal's.

He kneeled down to face Dan properly, then spoke in a tone teachers usually used on kids they thought were illiterate or something. "I'm Mr. Jones, the principal. Do you know why your mother isn't here?"

Dan shook his head, worrying again.

"Okay. I'm going to try and call a few numbers I have filed under your name, then I'll get back to you. You can wait here, and there's books on the table over there you can read. Do you understand?"

Dan followed Mr. Jones's now raised pointer finger over to a circular table surrounded by some uncomfortable looking chairs, where books colourful books toppled over in stacks. He looked back to the man and nodded. He would've probably been annoyed at how the man talked at him like he was speaking to a toddler had he not been so scared and worried.

The principal stood up and disappeared back down the hall he came out of, only this time there was nobody going with him. The monitor had left, so had many other teachers that were in here before. The only people remaining in the main room was Dan, a lady at a computer, and a man on the phone.

He glanced over to the book table, wanting to pass time but not feeling able to concentrate on anything else than whatever was happening around him.

The man on the phone let out a hearty laugh, which startled Dan. Weren't teachers in the office supposed to be working? He wondered, turning to look at the man, whose his eyes were wide and was sitting on the edge of his seat as if what the person on the other line was saying was something so important that a single word couldn't be missed.

Dan sighed, wishing his mum would hurry here. He was starting to hate school more and more without having Louise to talk to, and staying in a place you hate for longer than you need to isn't fun at all.

The principal came back after ten minutes, and Dan noticed how the man on the phone put on a duller face and leaned back in his chair when he passed him.

Dan looked up expectantly, but Mr. Jones just shook his head. "I'm sorry, Daniel. All the phone numbers were cut off. I'm going to have to call 999 to come and pick you up." He paused, looking at Dan's wide eyed and terrified expression with sympathy. "You know your address?" Dan nodded weakly, watching as he walked over to a phone on a desk and dialing the three digit number.