The humming of engines and the drawn-out, monotone, lifeless, voice of channel 17.9 anchor filled the boringly bare corridor—the walls, a strangely discolored beige, sucked the life of anyone young looking at them, and my nose kept twitching since coming here.
The waiting area was as boring as Mrs. Applebottom's art classes, a great feat considering the woman made something as simple as drawing a stick figure boring.
My eyes wanted to pop out of my skull, searching for anything interesting and entertaining since this place didn’t have drawing books, and Mom didn’t let me bring my toys. An injustice, it was not my fault I fell asleep before cleaning.
We were sitting here for what felt like hours, and only two people were called. An old woman who stank so much that I could still smell her on the bench, like a ghost made of a foul stench of sweat and old fish while the other was an annoying guy in Lumiwear clothes which kept changing colors so erratically that it made my eyes burn and almost gave me a headache.
After the annoying guy finally left, we weren’t left alone for long, two boys came together, one of them fell asleep as soon as he sat down while the other pulled up his phone and seemed to be reading something.
The boy on his phone was cute, he had light blue eyes, and the tips of his blonde hair were painted red.
“I want to leave!!” I whined, kicking my legs and pulling at the leaves of the potted plant by the side of our bench.
“Stop it.” Mom scolded me in a low voice as I started to draw circles in the dirt of the pot.
“There’s nothing to do!!” I complained, cleaning my hand on the cushions of the bench, throwing my head back in annoyance, and heaving a long, loud sigh. I could feel my life being drained with every breath that I took here.
With an angry sigh, Mom rummaged through her handbag, bringing out her phone, an old Luminex Star, and a pair of headphones. “Here,” She handed me her phone, which I eagerly picked up, “I downloaded some episodes of the cartoons you like.”
As if on cue, the annoyingly brightly clothed guy walked out, a grimace on his face and red like a tomato. A lady in a rather fancy-looking uniform walked out of the room right after, looking at Mom before gesturing for her to enter, “Mister Otto is ready to see you.”
Giving me a last look, Mom said, “Just stay put, this will be over soon.” She then followed the woman.
Giving a detached, “Righty,” I leaned against the bench, trying to get comfortable on the stiff cushion as I started watching the videos Mom downloaded: ‘Guardians of Justice Remake: Heroes Reborn’
My bladder wanted to explode, two episodes went by, and there was no sign of Mom. I couldn’t stop rubbing my legs together as the urge to pee got stronger, I already needed to go when we left home, but Mom said this would be quick. She practically dragged me out of the house before I could properly wake up.
Come on! What’s taking so long? Ignoring the urgency from my body, I looked at the clock which now read ‘10:20 AM’. Each episode was around twenty minutes, so I knew that I had been here for more than two hours since we left home at eight.
I would be late for school! Today we would be doing an obstacle course at P.E., and Mr. Johnson was fun, differently from Mrs. Applebottom. He had a lot of war histories.
With an annoyed grunt, I got off the bench, patted my clothes, and looked around.
The pretty boy was gone, leaving behind me, the sleeping boy, and an old man who got here while I was distracted. The old man was strange looking, his back was so curved that he looked like the letter C, with fingers so bony that they looked like witches' wands and white hair that looked like grains of rice sprinkled on his head. Getting close to him, I asked for directions to the bathroom.
The old man was startled when I spoke to him, he then looked around, “What is a young lady like you doing alone here?” He asked, ignoring my question.
I didn’t need to move my head up when talking to him with how short he was, his eyes seemed strangely cloudy like they were filled with bubbles, “Mom is looking for work. Bathroom, I need to go. Now,” After finishing, I remembered something important, “Please.”
It took a few moments, but he slowly got up, “If you’re asking politely,” the corners of his eyes wrinkled with mirth as he gave me an almost toothless smile, “What does your Mom do?”
The man was slow, moving like a crunchy leaf, his whole body creaking with each step he took, “She voices superheroes and narrators. Like the person that does the re-caps in cartoons, the colored shows that play on TV,” I explained to him since maybe he didn’t know what cartoons were.
Something that sounded like a laugh left the old man, before he stopped, taken by a coughing fit that made me step closer to him, ready to catch him, but, he held a hand out to stop me. “Don’t worry, it's normal,” after a few moments, the coughing stopped and he started walking again, “So she’s a voice actress?”
“Yes!” I said proudly, my chest puffing out, So he knows what cartoons are!
“She is all kinds of people, everyone in my class gets jealous when I tell them that,” Getting closer to him, I whispered in his ear, “But I think she likes to play villains a lot more than heroes,” I told him Mom’s most scandalous secret, which made him freeze in place before going through another laughter-induced coughing fit.
After walking around for a while, I finally noticed what tickled my nose since getting here. This place stinks, everything smelled strangely sugary as if someone smeared chocolate and then tried to cover it up with perfume and Clorox.
“Why does this place stink so much?” I couldn’t deal with the misery of the smell, and finally asked the old man.
“Old perfume and makeup.”
“Mom’s perfume doesn’t smell like this, and she’s oooold, not like you, but old. Also, her makeup smells and tastes like peach and not like this.”
“Young lady…” His brows raised slightly, "Have you been tasting makeup?” The old man asked with a strange twinkle in his eyes and a strange smile.
“Nooo…” I smoothly lied, diverting my eyes from him.
“I won’t tell, kids do that type of thing,” The old man said with a grandfatherly smile.
“I’m not a kid!” I huffed, “I’m almost nine, just a few more months and I’ll be in the fourth grade,” I explained to him.
“Sorry, young ladies do that type of thing,” He corrected himself with that strange smile on his face.
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“Better!”
We finally got to the bathroom, which for some reason was on the ground floor. The old man and I had to walk down two flights of stairs to get here, “Why is it so far?”
“Poor planning,” The old man said before turning to leave, “You should know how to get back from here.”
Giving him my thanks, I walked inside. The conversation helped me forget how urgently I needed to pee, but now it all came back at once.
There was a strange feeling in my chest as I walked back from the bathroom. A tightness in my heart, as if it was being squeezed like a grape. It only got worse with time.
–Thump–
It felt like my heart exploded, freezing mid-step, I clutched my chest. My throat burned, and it felt like I had spikes inside of me, piercing me with every step. I almost tumbled to the ground, my legs nearly giving out, but I used the wall as support.
–Thump–
I dropped to the ground, my breakfast lurching in my stomach as a painful burp brought pieces of it out and into the ground. It felt like my chest was about to burst from the inside, my heart pounding against the spikes in my chest.
–Thump– –Thump–
There was a ringing in my ears, and the world went dark for a second. When I came back, there were people around me and my breakfast in a pool on the floor and dirtying my shirt. Someone with very cold hands tried to pick me up but was stopped by someone screaming at them.
I just wanted to go home more than ever now. After leaving here I was going to ask Mom to let me stay home, I didn’t want to go to school today.
–Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump–
My body spasmed with each beat, it felt like a hammer trying to break my chest from the inside with each heartbeat. I felt and heard my bones creaking, my skin itched as if I was covered in ants.
–Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump– –Thump–
My mouth was clenched so tightly that my teeth hurt as my eyes rolled back in my head, and I blacked out.
I don't know how long I was passed out, but someone was now lightly tapping my face.
My eyes slowly opened like heavy doors.
The world was less blurry, and shapes became more distinct as I met the gaze of the sleeping boy, he was blurry but I still knew it was him by the shirt, and he was awake now, it wasn’t right to call him like that anymore. My mouth opened, but I couldn't form words.
Adults surrounded me, their mouths moved but I couldn’t hear anything. After a while, the sleeping boy picked me up and started carrying me. I tried to speak, but I felt too weak, my body barely had the strength to move a single finger.
–Thump– –Thump–
Strength slowly came back, like a blocked pipe being cleaned and allowing water to flow again, and as the strength came back so did the fear. Something was wrong obviously wrong, “Please…” I tried freeing myself from the sleeping boy, but he hugged me tighter, saying something that I couldn’t understand, “My Mom is here, let me go.”
He ignored me, carrying me further away from where Mom was waiting for me.
At the same time that the world kept swimming, it slowed down, the colors gradually bleeding out, the beige walls becoming a worse drab gray, the persistent smell finally disappearing.
Like a toy running out of battery, the boy slowed till he froze, his arms locking around me like a metal cage.
I continued trying to free myself, but I couldn’t make his arms budge, “Please. Let me go,” I pleaded to the boy as my heart beat like it was ready to burst out of my chest and tears threatened to fall.
Strength steadily filled me again, the sensation of extreme sickness fading like the taste of vomit in my mouth, but the boy’s arms still didn’t move.
“Mooom!” I screamed desperately, my face red and arms shaking as I kept trying to spread the boy's arms, but the pleas were met by silence.
A booming sound echoed as the building shuddered, cracks appeared on the walls, spreading like tree roots as powder fell from the ceiling.
“Let me go!” I squeaked, punching the chest of the boy holding me, and bit his arms, my teeth sank into his arms, filling my mouth with the taste of metal. “Moooom!” I cried, my strength waning and my struggle became feebler as more and more cracks spread through the walls, in time with the booming.
Tears streamed like a river as pieces of the ceiling continued to crack, and pieces began falling to the ground with loud thumps. One falls near me, I close my eyes and squeal in fear.
A strong smell of rust rises, my chest quivering with each sobbing breath as I slowly open my eyes, my eyelids feeling like coffin lids. “Mommy…” A large piece of the ceiling is embedded on the ground by my side, looking almost like a bolt of lightning, crushing someone underneath it. I can only see their mangled arm and head poking out, expression still frozen in concern.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Wailing, a sudden strength filled me as I kicked, punched, and bit with everything I had, “Mom! Mommy!” I continued howling, giving everything that I had.
I felt like a crazed animal, blood leaked from my mouth as his fingers broke against my teeth, filling my mouth with the taste of salt and metal, the sound of cracking bones echoed as bruises filled his arm as quickly as the wall and ceiling broke.
Finally, I broke free, falling to the ground with heaving breaths, my body spent.
A more deafening boom than any other made everything shake, the building, and my whole body. Like brittle clay, the whole building started to fall apart, starting with the floor beneath my feet.
My brain finally stopped working, halting like an overworked engine. It was too much; a sudden strangeness invaded my body while I was weightless, stuck at the start of the free fall. Closing my dazed eyes, I screamed, wishing for the end of this nightmare. Feeling faded from my body, the sudden wind kicked from the collapsing of the building, the erratic beating of my heart, the feeling of my hair standing on end, the burning of my eyes, one by one everything faded into non-existence.
My body bounced off the ground, before being pushed down by a great weight.
There was nothing but darkness for a few moments until my eyes opened, they didn't exactly open as much as they willed everything around me back into existence.
The familiar feeling of the eyelids moving was gone, together with everything else.
There was an alien lack of anxiety as my hands moved across my body, or tried to. They were firmly stuck to my sides, allowing little more than only the ability to wiggle them.
The scraps of my school uniform barely hung to my skin, which felt uncannily smooth, like laminated paper. My head was firmly stuck in place, something was putting pressure on it.
Around me was nothing but rubble and pure, unforgiving, darkness.