The final bell cut through the stale air like a sharp blade. Kris shifted against the cool metal of their locker, fingers twitching lightly at the edges of their sleeves. The hallway buzzed around them, students shuffling, voices rising and falling like a distant storm. But Kris stayed still, a shadow behind their long bangs.

The heat from the sun blasted in through the windows, washing over the linoleum floor and making the air thick and slow. It was better than the cramped math classroom, where numbers blurred into nothingness and the clock ticked too loudly. Here, in the edge of the crowd, Kris could breathe a little easier, hidden beneath the hood pulled low. Maybe they could escape back into another dark world again.

Their heart thudded faintly, a slow rhythm, barely noticed. A loose thread on their sleeve caught between their fingers, and they pulled at it, careful not to meet anyone’s eyes. Waiting, quiet, not quite wanting to be noticed, yet unable to look away from the doorway where Susie would appear any second.