Airplanes | Spruceworth 6.1 | Wattys2019

Chapter 29: Music Room

Chapter 29: Music Room

       I wasn't ready for this day at all and it definitely didn't help that I barely got any sleep that night. Once again, I was up most of the time because of the flashbacks from the Halloween carnival.

       At least this time, Grant willingly stayed up with me every time I was awake. While I didn't talk to him how I was feeling about those stupid flashbacks, it still felt comforting for him to be awake with me.

       As we got closer to the school, I began slowing down my pace before eventually coming to a complete stop. Grant stopped as well, turning back to face me. "Ollie, it's going to be okay," he said. 

       "No, it's not," I said. "I don't think I'm ready to go back. Not yet."

       I was about to walk away but Grant gently grabbed my hand. "Hey," he said softly, resting his hand on my cheek. "I know it's going to be hard for you to see the damage in the school but that will only be until we get into the school. None of your classes are where the damage was."

       "But I'll still be reminded of what happened," I said. "The last time I was in the school, I almost died. Someone tried to kill me and I don't think I'll ever get over it. And there's some classes where I don't have any friends in there so I'll just feel really alone an--"

       "Ollie," Grant interrupted. "If you're really not okay with going back to school, you can just go to your teachers and get the work you'll miss today, and then you and I can go in the music room. Ms Parth always let's us just chill out in the music room if we don't feel like going class."

       As much as I didn't want to be in the school at all, the more I stayed away from it the longer it would take for me to go back. But if I had to be in the school to get used to it again, staying in the music room would help. That way, I didn't have to be around a bunch of people and worry about all the eyes on me.

       "Are you sure it will be fine for us to be in there during class?" I asked.

       "Yeah," Grant said. "Ms Parth knows that it's natural for teenagers to skip and she would rather them stay in the school then get into trouble outside of the school, so she's perfectly fine with us just staying in the music room. Is that what you want to do?"

       I nodded so Grant intertwined his hand in mine before we continued walking to the school.

       I stopped again once we got close enough for me to see the damage done to the school. Windows and doors were broken, including one of the main entrances to the school everyone took. The walls surrounding those windows and doors were extremely burnt, and from what I could see inside the school, everything in that corridor was destroyed.

       My chest began clenching as tight as it could as my heart started beating faster. I was finding it more difficult to breathe, wanting to just head home and not even stay in the music room.

         I thought I would be fine just staying in a room away from everyone but I guessed not.  

       Staying in this building, even away from all the damage, was only going to make me feel a lot worse. 

       "Grant, I don't think I can do this," I said. 

       Grant didn't immediately try to convince me that I could. Instead, he pulled my to one of the benches in the courtyard, one that was facing away from the school, and sat the two of us down.

       "I know it's going to be extremely hard for you to go into the school without even thinking about what happened to you," Grant said. "But you have to start somewhere."