"I just couldn't resist."
"Only sacred things deserve to be messed with."
It all ended with a dead kid near the train tracks.
Six years later, the story repeats itself and two long-forgotten friends might find out that when death tries to play match...
- I'm so happy because today I've found my friends, they're in my head -
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My eyes keep focusing on the clock right above the door in the corner of the room, ticking so slowly I feel like something might be wrong with it. Minutes seem to ease off, the needles running slow as my thoughts escape the four walls of the classroom to run free from my teacher's uninteresting mathematical blabber.
I am in the midst of imagining all the corpses in the basement of my home running free from their refrigerated lockers to play hide-and-seek with my dad, when my daydreaming is suddenly interrupted by the intercom screeching loudly. The teacher, Mr. Anderson, jumps out in surprise when the voice of our secretary shrieks over his monologue.
"Sage Stewart, please come to the secretary office immediately."
25 pairs of eyes turn my way, narrowing in jealousy as I flee my plastic chair to leave the classroom without a look back. The day is coming to an end, but as usual, the last period is the hardest to bare, especially when talking about trigonometric functions.
I walk to my destination in deserted corridors, eyeing the little Jesus with his head upside-down at the other side of the hall, still looking the wrong way despite the janitor trying all day to get him off of the beige paint.
As I come to a halt in front of the secretary's office, I'm surprise to find Crystal there, leaning against the front desk with a pleading gaze, faking a cough as best she can and rubbing her teary eyes. I almost scoff at the sight, thinking there is no way our old secretary will fall for her tricks.
"I swear, I wasn't there during fourth period because I was sick!"
The lady on the other side of the desk removes her glasses and tucks some grey hair behind her ear.
"Miss Thomas, you're telling me that you and Mister Carter over here were sick together in the third-floor boy's bathroom during fourth period?"
She blushes and turns to Lucas Carter, who is stiffly sitting on a plastic chair against the wall and gawking back at her. My friend presses her lips in a line, probably realizing she is on her own to get out of this mess.
"Sage Stewarts!" calls the secretary when she sees me grinning behind Crystal.
I immediately lose my smile, taking a step forward while Crystal blinks helplessly towards me.
"Your father called, he said he had to go to some kind of convention earlier than he thought and not to worry when you come home and he's not there," the old lady announces, and I nod.
"Okay, thanks."
I'm about to turn around and go back to class, but then take one glance at Crystal and faces the secretary once again.
"Just so you know," I tell her, "Crystal might be too shy to tell you, but she was feeling queasy all day. She's been having those...digestive problem... and if the boy's bathroom was the closest to her class, she maybe didn't have the time to get to the girl's bathroom in time..."
