The Clock Ticks

It seemed even time had stopped working, the silence was so heavy that not even a tick of a clock could be heard.

Chaos had seemed to unfold around the school, murmurs of the news cascading everywhere, yet Adam only wished to have nothing to deal with the current drama that drenched the school's hallway. A slipped from him while he walked towards his class, hearing the noisy chattered from others and noticing some looks shot towards him. Why should he care? The news was just a place to share the darkness that the world seemed to carry, this wasn't something new, so what's the point in the pointless chatter? Today was just like any other day, but he knew deep down this would be shocking news to hear. Mothers losing their kids to what? Some government experiment? One had to wonder if it was even real; the woman's story seemed impossible, made up by one too many drinks who in turn, decided to try to get national television for some form of attention, even then, sometimes murderers killed just for the attention, despite it being negative of course.

That kind of thing only proves one thing, why does anyone want to care anymore? The world is doomed, and the best anyone did was turn a blind eye, something people did, and went on their way. Hearing the useless chatter of his schoolmates only irritated Adam. None of the chatter from them would help in any way in the matter. Adam had left his own headphones at home. He should have brought them with him, but he had not expected such events to occur in one day, perhaps he'd be more sure to not forget something such as his headphones next time he went to school and some crazy story was on the news. Music had been the only thing that Adam could tolerate when it came to noise, so he was sure to remember next time if he didn't want to hear gossip from today's news.

Eventually, all this crazy nonsense of the news stealing newborns will be forgotten and everyone would go back to how things were. The woman's story created from thin air to gain attention would soon be a memory, which is how it always has been. Adam would put his hand into his pockets as he began to make his way towards his classroom, everyone else slowly dissipating as well, knowing if they were to stand there dumbstruck by the news that they would get detention for being out of a classroom without a hall pass, or a tardy note by the strict teachers that roam the hall thirsting for an opportunity to write up any child caught outside the "safety" of their own classrooms.

***

Time slowly ticked by, a bored look in his gaze as he watched the clock, pencil tapping his hand while the teacher sat in silence at their own desk, sheets of paper sat perfectly on his desk. What a nice day to have a random pop quiz, and luckily for him, he did not have to take it due to him joining school later on than most of the others who had time to prep for the beginning of the semester. However, to his dismay, he was not allowed to leave as there was going to be important information for them to know after this little quiz was done which meant he had nothing to really do other than to scan the room and look at everything that was stickied to the walls, decorations of sorts to make the room feel more like the subject that the teacher had chosen as a profession to teach. This classroom was decorated with American History posters laminated so they did not fall apart from overuse. A copy of the declaration of independence and all that other fun trinkets to make the room feel… more historic.

He continued to tap the pencil on the back of his hand while he watched the face of his classmates, all focused on trying to pass a simple quiz randomly given out to test and see how much they remember, a simple thing really, but he could understand why it would feel a bit complicated, especially if someone had not studied or paid attention to what was going on.

The silence of the room was almost unbearable for him. As the only thing that was heard was the occasional flip of a sheet of paper, the tapping of the keyboards from the teacher, or the ticking of the clock while everything seemed to go by slowly, the feeling of it made him think that time itself had stopped. To Adam's great pleasure, it eventually began to move.

The teacher rose from her desk before standing in the front of the whiteboard, giving instructions to her students to pass up the quiz papers so she could collect them from her students, and that if they needed a little more time give her the quizzes at the end of the class period, telling him that class would soon be over and the bell would release them from the iron grips of history, only to be made to go onto their next class. The never-ending cycle of a day for a student is just going from one class to another, then going home and doing homework before playing any games or doing what they want, and then going to bed to start the day over once more, going through the same thing again.

Soon enough the bell did indeed make its cry, and the students all got up rushing to leave the room, Adam himself included hoping today would pass by much faster than it has proven to have not been doing.

***

Soon enough, it was time for lunch and Adam's curiosity about what was on today's menu came to mind as he made his way down to the cafeteria, watching as groups of people seeming like close friends squished together chattering away which made Adam curiously crane his neck in an attempt to get a better listen to what they were talking about only for it to be of no avail, and so he shrugged and decided to focus his attention to something else.

As he neared the cafe, the smell of food hit his nose, pizza and something else, and yet the pizza had a funny cardboard smell to it, a failed attempt at making healthy foods in school. The funny cardboard smell would turn out to be that the pizza had been made using whole grain instead of white flour, and the possibility of it being brought in frozen in a package.

When he took a small bite, the taste was a bit bland and flavorless which was kind of gross but it was food nonetheless and so he did his best attempt to scarf down his food before he was joined by Safrina and her excitable friend, Emily. Saf (his tiny nickname for the girl) did not seem to be too pleased with the thought of sharing a table with the new guy but, Emily on the other hand was chattering away making friendly conversation.

To his and Saf's demise, another would join. Masa was what they called themselves, and they were oddly pretty for someone who appeared to be male, and yet the feminine structures of the other made it difficult to determine what their gender was. Their voice was a honey medium toned voice, not too high that they sounded girly, and yet not too deep to make them seem like a boy either, and it was soft.

They were oddly beautiful, and yet handsome at the same time, and for that reason, Adam had to come to the assumption the other was born a male and hid it quite well, which he found odd but would not question that any further unless necessary. Besides, the bell would soon ring and it was off to the next class. The rest of the day seemed almost like a blur. Soon enough, it was time to go home.