Chapter 10

Going through a routine change, no matter how little it was, could throw someone off balance. It was some minutes past seven, and the school was just as sleepy as its students at that time. The sun was still rising, and its bleak rays filtered through the ceiling-to-floor windows of the empty hallway. 

Elsie, for the first time in her life, found herself in school at such an early hour. A thermo flask filled with steaming coffee nestled in her outstretched hands. She walked daintily, like a ballet dancer would, to reduce the echoes of her footfalls and slipped into her homeroom.

Granted, she wasn’t the only student around, but that didn’t stop her from shutting the door tightly and keeping her pepper spray within reach. She plunked into her seat and exhaled. She didn’t think this through at all — she just wanted somewhere quiet to still her thoughts, not this ghost of a school.

She took a gulp of the coffee, wincing at the scalding temperature, and set the fla