104 Away

A Whole Separate City

Marcie carefully pushed open the door to her dorm and peered inside wearily.  Aubrey, Peyton, and Ann were only visible as bundles under blankets, the only sound in the room noticeable was the peaceful hum of breathing.  With a nervous sigh of relief, she tip-toed across the carpeted floor, holding her breath, afraid that one subtle movement would disrupt them, like setting off a bomb.

Turning on her heels and shutting the door cautiously, she glanced around her shoulder and almost jumped out of her skin. She swore she could see the white of an open eye from Aubrey's bed. Marcie blinked twice, her mouth agape, and the flash of the eye was gone almost as quickly as it had come. Heart beating faster than a race car, Marcie tiptoed over to her dusty wooden dresser and pulled it open,  the creak of wood brushing on wood made her wince. 

Quickly, she tore off her clothes and threw on the default nightgown that St. Hared's had given every girl. It swished around her bare legs, making her shiver in the cool night breeze.

Wait a minute,  Marcie thought, suddenly standing straight. Why is the window open?  The memory of Mimi dangling out the window was triggered, and for a moment Marcie thought another girl was hanging off the window sill. But, as she crept closer, there was no one there, and she figured one of the girls just wanted a nice breeze blowing through. Nervously, she locked it shut and leaped into bed, throwing the scratchy grey cover over her body and squeezing her eyes shut.

The sound of an alarm clock made Marcie jolt upwards, almost making her dizzy. It had been a couple of days since she met Mimi, and the school had finally returned to the "normal" way it had been before.  Classes were resumed, homework was constantly assigned and meals were the same blandness they had been before. Not that Marcie was complaining. This was by far a huge step away from a student falling out of a window, or windows randomly exploding and putting lives in danger. If anything, Marcie was happy for the time being.  

All though she wasn't talking much to the girls, it wasn't like she was completely ghosting them. Every so often she would put on a strained smile when someone cracked a joke, or when talking about how much homework they were being given. 

As Marcie was walking down one of the busy corridors after the bell, squeezing her books to her chest, she heard someone chuckling in front of her. Glancing upwards, she inwardly groaned. One of Jonas's 'friends', Courtney, was standing in front of her with her hands on her hips, and her girl posse holding her books behind her and snickering, sharing rude glances with each other. "Well, hi, Marry!" She beamed, her voice nauseatingly sweet.

Marcie rolled her eyes. "It's Marcie, Courtney."

"Whatever you say, Marley," Her friends snickered as she held up a hand to glance at her nails, her blonde hair swishing behind her. "Anyway, I was wondering what you and your freaky friends were up to." Marcie met Courtney's eyes, confused. 

"I don't know what you're talking about," 

Courtney groaned, stomping one foot. "Don't play dumb." Marcie noticed the entire hall was empty, with no teacher, and no student in any classroom. A horrible feeling was growing in her stomach.  "We all know you planned this. If anything, you pushed that girl out of the window. As soon as you walked into the hall, the glass randomly erupted everywhere! And I'm guessing you weren't hurt at all, were you?"

Marcie scowled, and as if on command, the cut on her cheek stung. "Actually, Courtney-" She was interrupted when Courtney leaped forward, sticking her hands out and pushing Marcie backward into the wall. But the hard feeling of a wall behind her never came. Instead, she ended up on a freezing tile floor, landing on her tailbone. She cringed and lazily blinked open her eyes, seeing spots in her eyelids. She distantly heard a door shut and the giggles of Courtney's 'friends'. Then she heard Courtney laugh mercilessly.

"Oops!" Marcie could almost hear a smirk in Courtney's voice. "Sorry, I can't find the key." 

Devastated, Marcie barely paid any recognition to the sound of footsteps running away and down the hall. Hurriedly, she pushed herself upwards, getting dizzy from the speed of standing. Once she had regained control of her eyes and body, she backed up and charged at the door, she hammered her shoulder to the dark metal. Nothing. 

Marcie collapsed down after a few more tries, her heart racing, and the feeling in her stomach growing at a rapid pace. She felt sick. Anxiety was whirling through her brain, crashing against the walls of her mind and sweeping away thoughts. "Hello?" Marcie pleaded, crashing her fist against the metal of the door,  waiting for someone to hear her. "C'mon, not now!" 

Nothing.

Abrubtly, she stopped and stood absolutely still.  Marcie realized that there was a shaft of sunlight shining against the tile floor, and yet she hadn't turned on a light. She spun on her heels to face the source, and a bit of her hopes grew. A window, not very big, the exact size of a square, was on the wall, behind a shelf full of storage. She stepped towards it, and hesitantly grasped the rail of the shelf, pulling her body up to it and stepping onto the bottom rail. The metal was cold and uncomfortable, but she gripped it tightly, and adjusted herself to look through the window. It was obvious someone had forgotten about it, because it was dusty and sealed absolutely shut over time. And idea popped into her mind. Maybe, if she pushed hard enough, she could pop the window open, jump through and just sneak through the main enterance. It was a long shot, but she had to make it. She stretched her arm out and wiped the dust off the window, and peered through the now clear glass. The large pine trees were all Marcie could see, as they stretched out for miles on miles. But as she gazed across it all, her heart dropped. There she could see a girl, around her age, standing under a tree, and smiling.  She was somewhat familiar.

Suddenly, the girl paused. Then she slowly turned her head so she was staring directly at the window. Marcie's heart flipped. Addie Fray. 

She ducked down so 'Addie' couldn't see her, and held her breath, waiting. Slowly but surely, she peeked over the window sill. Addie was gone. Marcie blinked, and Addie appeared in the same position, except closer.  She blinked again, and she was closer by at least a yard or so. Marcie squealed, and jumped, forgetting she was balancing on the shelf and fell backward. It took her a hot second to realise the shelf was coming down with her. There was a deafening crash as boxes of supplies and tools fell to the ground, and glancing up, Marcie rolled out of the crash course for the metal shelf just in time. Dazed, she blinked her eyes open as her head rolled to the side, exhausted. 

A silver glint caught her eye. It was a small key with twine wrapped through it like a keychain, a few inches away from another box of tools and supplies.  Marcie grinned. At the blink of an eye, she had the key in her hand and was at the metal door, jabbing the key end into the deadbolt lock, and with a loud click, the door swung open. She was about to throw the key back at the messy shelf, but thought otherwise.

I could use this. She smiled, and shut the door behind her.