Frostbitten Past

I I

"Boring." Andorra picked at the sad salad on her tray. "How were yours?"

Right then, the power went out completely, washing the cafeteria in a blanket of semi-darkness. The only window in the room belonged to the exit door. It allowed for a single shaft of sunlight to shine in, and everyone seemed to stare at it, transfixed.

"Huh." Was all Kyle could say.

Another tray slammed down next to Kyle's. "Why are you sitting here? This isn't our table?" There was a bite in her tone that had been restrained last night. She eyed Andorra with a sneer. "Are you adopting the new girl or something?"

Andorra bent her head in shame and embarrassment. Her cheeks burned red.

"Shaniah, you are free to eat at your table." Kyle waved his hand. "Or you could join us."

"As if," Shaniah hissed, but she didn't move. She stood there, eyeing both Kyle and Andorra. "What's up with the power?" She said at last, as if she was hoping conversation would lure Kyle back to their table.

Other students around them seemed rowdy with the power outage. Easily excited as they rose in volume. Andorra's head seemed to pound with an incoming headache at the sound alone. She rubbed a temple as Shaniah went on about the inconvenience.

Andorra stood up. "I'll see you later," she offered to Kyle. She moved to throw her salad away, and then she abruptly left the cafeteria. Her head throbbed as she left, the dark hallway stretching out in front of her. A seed of fear dropped in her chest as she inched closer to her locker. As she reached it, she heard the slam of the cafeteria door. "Wait, Andorra!"

"Kyle, you cannot be serious," Shaniah lamented after him.

Andorra moved past her locker, putting more space between her and Kyle. Her head was pounding, and she found herself in the stairwell. She could hear Kyle coming down the hallway, too dark for him to see her, and Andorra descended the stairs.

She wasn't sure why she chose the basement. Perhaps she knew Kyle may go up to the second floor instead. Andorra surged forward in the dark, her eyes adjusting rather well, and she swore she could see someone lingering just ahead of her.

Fear gripped her throat. She took a step backwards, towards the stairs, watching as the figure moved, putting space between them.

"Andorra?" Kyle was suddenly right behind her. She jumped in fear, heart pounding, and she spun on him.

"Someone is down here!" she hissed.

"Really?" Shaniah squinted into the darkness. "How do you know?"

Kyle held her gaze. Even when Shaniah stepped forward into the dark, he didn't look away. Almost as if he were trying to gauge whether or not Andorra was lying.

"Maybe a custodian," Shaniah suggested. "Should we see for ourselves?"

"No." Andorra stepped closer to the stairs, breaking eye contact with Kyle. "Leave me out of it."

Shaniah rolled her eyes. "What a baby," she said, her nasty tone echoing down the hall. "Let's go, Kyle. This is kind of like a mystery!"

"Last chance," Kyle offered. He held his hand out to Andorra, but she shook her head and gripped the stairway railing. She wasn't going anywhere near whoever was lingering in the dark down there. Custodian or not, she wasn't doing that.

Shaniah was already half way down the hall. "Look! The control panel is open. I told you this was a mystery!"

Andorra's heart was pounding. Kyle was already moving towards Shaniah in the dark. Seeing that moment as her chance to escape, Andorra hurtled herself up the stairs and back into the main hallway. By that point, with lunch ending, students were mulling by the lockers, sending relief into Andorra's chest.

But dread still lingered there. Whoever had been in the hallway had not looked like a custodian.

Andorra was shaking by the time she reached her locker. She was grabbing her things for her next class when Kyle arrived, silent enough to give her a scare.

She placed a hand on her chest. "You scared me!"

Kyle held out a thin glass vial. "Look what we found down there, by the breaker."

Andorra reached out to take it, turning it over. "From the science lab?"

"Maybe Shaniah is right. Maybe this is a mystery. Why were you down there, anyway?"

Andorra didn't know how to answer that. How could she tell Kyle she had been running from him specifically? She didn't want to sound rude, and she didn't want to sever what little attention he was giving her.

"I thought I saw someone go down there," she lied. "Do you think it was a science student messing with the power?"

Kyle tilted his head. Pursed his lips. "I don't know what I think."

Andorra gave the vial back to Kyle. Strange that someone would drop that, like a clue someone was meant to solve. Or maybe it had been an accident. Whoever it was had Andorra on edge for the rest of the school day. She had no idea however how much worse it would become.