Alex didn't like mornings, but he liked silence.
That's why he always got to school early—before the halls filled up, before the teachers started calling his name like he owed them something. Before the noise.
He sat on the worn bench near the lockers, half-listening to the hum of the vending machines and the occasional distant footsteps. The quiet was different here than at the orphanage. There, silence was survival. Here, it was rare. Borrowed.
He pulled his hoodie sleeves over his hands and stared at the floor. Same cracked tiles. Same fake "inspirational" posters on the walls. Same worn faces walking in like clockwork.everything was just so fake, His routine was simple, keep your head down, don't get involved, and don't ask questions you don't want answers to. And that's is how he has always stayed out of trouble, But lately… he'd been slipping.Since Eva the new girl in his class arrived.
He didn't talk to her much, barely at all, but she gave him a strange look when their eyes met across the courtyard last week. Not a mean one. Not curious, either. It was like she recognized him.or merely wondering who this pathetic human is, and He didn't like that.
"Yo, Alex," a voice called out, pulling him from the spiral. It was Micah, one of the only kids from the orphanage who still talked to him regularly. He rushed down next to Alex, unbothered as always. "You good?",
Alex nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah."
Micah squinted at him. "You look like you didn't sleep."
"I didn't."
Micah snorted. "Again? You need to stop overthinking stuff. You'll start seeing ghosts in the hallways you know"
Alex didn't answer, he just looked at her from the corner of his eyes.That letter had been bothering him more than he wanted to admit. The one he wasn't supposed to have. The one with a language he still couldn't read or understand, no matter how many books he scoured at the library.He kept it folded in his back pocket anyway. Hoping to finally solving the puzzle.
"I saw that new girl today," Micah continued. "Weird vibe."
Alex glanced sideways. "What girl?"
Micah shrugged. "Transfer. Hoodie, headphones, total 'don't talk to me' energy. Kinda your style, she's in my class anyway."
Alex raised a brow but said nothing. He hadn't noticed her yet.
"Anyway," Micah said, standing, "bell's about to ring. Try not to zone out in class again. Andrew's got it out for you this week."
Alex got to his feet slowly. he always does ?" The two of them walked down the hallway together. The noise was building. Laughter. Locker slams. That restless energy schools always had before something happened.
Alex paused at the turn before heading to class, his eyes scanning the crowd. He didn't know why but he does so anyway. And for just a moment, he thought he saw her. A girl moving fast through the hallway, hoodie pulled up, headphones in. Just a blur. But something tugged at him. Familiar and strange, all at once. He blinked—and she was gone. So fast.
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Alex sat by the window, letting his eyes wander while Mr. Andrew talked about the Industrial Revolution. Outside, the sky looked tired flat and colorless, like it couldn't decide if it wanted to rain. His mind wasn't in the classroom. It was back in the hallway. That blur of a girl. The way she moved so fast within a second, like a frequency shifted and only he noticed. He hated how much he noticed things.
"Alex," Mr. Andrew called.
He snapped out of it, straightening up. "Yeah?"
A few heads turned. Mr. Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to tell us what led to the rapid expansion of factories during that time?"
Alex blinked, half closing his way as he stutter his answer "Uh… steam power. And… cheap labor?"
A low chuckle rolled through the room. Mr. Andrew sighed but moved on. Alex let out a breath and looked back out the window.
it happens all the time, he wonders why Mr Andre do's this every time After class, Micah caught up with him near the lockers.
"You okay?" he asked, nudging Alex with an elbow. "You spaced out again."
"I'm fine," Alex muttered. "Just tired."
Micah gave him a look but didn't press on."Come to the court later?"
Alex shook his head. "Not today."
He watched Micah walk off, laughing with another kid from the orphanage. They all had a rhythm—jokes, routines, stuff to anchor them. But Alex felt like his anchors were snapping one by one. He turned to head down the east hallway, the quieter one, and that's when he saw her again. Really saw her this time. The girl from before. Hoodie up, headphones in. She moved like she didn't want anyone to notice her..... She wasn't looking around. Didn't glance his way. But something hit when they passed each other just a brief second, a static buzz in the air, like two wires brushing.
Alex froze.
The girl kept walking, disappearing around the corner in the hallway without a word. And just like that, the hallway felt colder.
He didn't know her. She didn't know him. There was no reason to think anything of it. But yet she felt strangely familiar.
Alex swallowed hard. He didn't believe in omens or deja vu .