The hallway was buzzing, a low hum of voices and footsteps blending together into the background noise of another chaotic school day. Lockers slammed shut with rhythmic certainty, a muffled beat that carried through the halls, and students leaned into each other as they talked about everything and nothing. I felt like I was moving through it all on autopilot, my feet carrying me to my next class while my head was somewhere else entirely.
After everything that happened last night—the call from my cousin, the suffocating fear that followed, Gabriel’s well-timed distraction—school was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it gave me something to focus on, something that wasn’t the voice in my head whispering worst-case scenarios. A curse because the second I let my guard down, ever
