There are some people you just can't stop thinking about.
You see them once, then twice, and at some point your brain just decides they're important. You start noticing where they sit, who they talk to, when they leave class. You tell yourself you're only paying attention because you're curious.
That's what I told myself, anyway.
I knew her schedule. Not perfectly or anything. I wasn't following her around all day like some complete creep. I just knew enough. She usually left her last class through the east corridor, and from there she'd either head toward the main entrance or down toward the dorms.
Today, she went the other way.
I noticed it immediately.
The final bell had already rung a few minutes ago, and most students were leaving their classrooms in groups, filling the halls with the usual noise. Shoes against the floor, lockers opening and slamming shut, people shouting across the hallway because apparently nobody here knew how loud they were being. I stayed behind and watched her walk ahead of me, her bag hanging from one shoulder.
I followed.
I wasn't particularly good at following people. I knew that much. Earlier, I'd nearly walked straight into a teacher because I was too busy watching her turn a corner. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice.
I waited a few seconds before continuing.
She went deeper into the older part of the school.
That was weird.
There wasn't really any reason for students to come here anymore. Most of the classrooms were on the newer side of the building, while this section was mostly storage rooms, old equipment, and random things the school apparently couldn't bring itself to throw away.
She stopped in front of one of the doors, looked around, then opened it.
I waited for a few seconds before following her inside.
The room smelled like dust. There were old desks pushed against one wall, stacks of chairs, cardboard boxes, and a few pieces of sports equipment covered in a thin layer of dirt. A fluorescent light buzzed somewhere overhead, flickering every now and then like it was about to give up.
She was standing near the middle of the room.
Then she turned.
"What are you doing here?"
She already sounded annoyed.
I closed the door behind me.
"Nothing."
She stared at me. "Then why did you follow me?"
I didn't answer.
I'd imagined this conversation before. A lot, actually. In my head, I always sounded calmer. More confident. I knew exactly what I was going to say.
Standing there, I couldn't remember half of it.
She sighed.
"Daniel, seriously."
I hated when she said my name like that. Like she was talking to some little kid.
"You've been avoiding me."
"No, I haven't."
"Yes, you have."
"I've been busy."
"Doing what?"
"Stuff."
She gave me a look.
"Wow. Very convincing."
I felt my jaw tighten.
"You think this is funny?"
She frowned. "What?"
"You've been messing with me for weeks."
She actually laughed.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
"Daniel, I literally have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"No, I don't."
She turned toward the door.
"Whatever. I'm leaving."
I stepped in front of her.
She stopped.
"Move."
"No."
Her expression changed. She didn't look scared. Just irritated.
"Why are you acting like this?"
"I just want you to stop."
"Stop what?"
"You know."
"I don't."
"You do."
She shook her head.
"You're being weird."
That word hit harder than it should have.
Weird.
I hated being called that.
I stepped closer, and she took half a step back.
"Just stop messing with me."
"I haven't done anything to you."
"You know you have."
"I really don't."
She tried to walk around me.
I grabbed her arm.
She immediately pulled away.
"Don't touch me."
"I said stop."
"And I said don't touch me."
For a second, neither of us moved. I could hear a faint dripping sound somewhere behind the wall. One drop, then another. It was stupid, but somehow that made the whole room feel even quieter.
She shoved me.
It wasn't hard.
But I shoved her back.
That was the moment I should've stopped.
I know that now.
Instead, I reacted.
My hand struck her.
She stumbled backward.
There was a sharp noise as she fell.
Then silence.
I froze.
She didn't move.
My first thought was that she'd get back up. People fall. People hit things. She'd probably swear at me, call me an idiot, maybe even slap me.
Anything.
Just move.
"Sofia."
Nothing.
I took a step forward.
"Sofia."
Still nothing.
My heart started pounding.
I crouched down.
"Come on."
I didn't really know what I was expecting. I just knew something was wrong.
Really wrong.
I stared at her for several seconds before the thought finally reached me.
She's dead.
No.
That wasn't possible.
People didn't just die like that. Not from one stupid hit. Not because someone shoved them. Not because I lost my temper for five seconds.
I swallowed.
"Oh fuck."
The words barely came out.
I sat there. I don't know how long. Ten seconds, maybe. A minute. It could've been longer. My hands were shaking, and my head felt completely empty and completely full at the same time.
I looked toward the door, then back at Sofia.
Someone was going to notice.
Her friends would notice. Her teachers would notice. She'd been at school today. People had seen her. And I'd been seen following her.
My stomach twisted.
What if someone had seen us come here?
What if someone knew?
What if—
Stop.
I forced myself to breathe.
Think.
I couldn't just leave.
I moved her somewhere out of immediate sight and closed the door. It wasn't a solution. It wasn't even close. It just bought me some time.
That was all I needed.
Time.
I left the room.
By the time I reached the cafeteria, I'd almost convinced myself I could act normal.
Almost.
My friends were sitting at our usual table, and my roommate looked up when I walked over.
"There you are."
"Yeah."
"Where were you?"
"Bathroom."
He shrugged. "Cool."
I sat down. Nobody looked suspicious. Nobody was staring at me. Nobody knew.
I picked up my fork.
My hand was shaking.
I put it back down.
"You alright?" my roommate asked.
"Yeah."
"You look kinda pale."
"I'm tired."
"You've been tired for like three days."
"I haven't been sleeping much."
"Fair."
He went back to eating.
That was it.
He didn't question me.
For some reason, that made me feel worse.
I looked around the cafeteria. Everything was normal. Students were talking about the upcoming club festival, someone at another table was arguing about football, and a group near the windows was laughing so loudly that a teacher told them to quiet down.
Normal.
Completely normal.
Except I had just killed someone.
I looked down at my food. It didn't look real anymore. I tried eating anyway, but I couldn't taste anything.
"Has anyone seen Sofia?"
I almost dropped my fork.
One of my friends had asked the question like it was nothing.
"Who?"
She said Sofia's name.
I stared at the table.
"Not since earlier," another student answered.
"Wasn't she in class?"
"I think so."
"She wasn't in the last one."
"Maybe she went home."
My heart was pounding.
I kept my face down.
Maybe she had gone home. Maybe nobody would care. Maybe this would somehow just disappear.
That thought lasted about three seconds.
Of course they'd care.
People would ask questions. Her friends would look for her. Teachers would notice. The school would notice. And then someone would remember seeing me with her.
I forced myself to take another bite.
It tasted like nothing.
"Daniel?"
I looked up.
My friend tilted his head. "You good?"
"Yeah."
He stared at me for a second, then shrugged.
"You're acting weird."
I smiled.
It probably looked terrible.
"I'm just tired."
"Right."
The conversation moved on, and I sat there listening to them talk while trying not to look at the clock.
The rest of the afternoon was horrible.
Not because anything happened.
Because nothing did.
Every class continued like normal. A teacher explained something at the board, students complained about schoolwork, and someone asked to borrow a pen.
For about thirty seconds, I felt normal again.
Then I remembered.
The feeling came straight back.
I kept imagining someone walking into that room, finding her, calling the police, asking where I'd been. I couldn't concentrate.
By the time classes ended, I'd made a decision.
I couldn't leave her there.
I didn't know what I was going to do. I just knew I had to move her somewhere away from the school. Somewhere that would buy me time to think.
That was the plan.
If you could call it a plan.
My roommate went to bed around eleven.
I stayed awake.
The dorm room was dark except for the tiny light from his charger. I stared at the ceiling.
11:41.
11:48.
11:53.
11:59.
I turned over.
My roommate didn't move.
I waited another few minutes, then finally sat up.
I dressed quietly. Every little sound seemed ridiculously loud the zipper on my jacket, the floor creaking beneath my foot, the door clicking shut.
I stood outside for a moment.
Nobody was there.
I started walking.
The school looked completely different at night. During the day, there were hundreds of people everywhere. At night, the hallways felt enormous.
I kept expecting someone to appear around every corner.
Nobody did.
I reached the old corridor.
My hands were cold.
I stopped outside the room.
For a second, I considered going back.
Then I opened the door.
I won't pretend I was calm. I wasn't. I was terrified.
I knew I couldn't leave things like this.
I had barely started thinking about what to do next when I heard footsteps behind me.
I froze.
Then a voice.
"Woah."
My entire body went cold.
"Messy job you did there."
I turned around.
A guy stood at the end of the hallway.
For a moment, I couldn't place him.
Then I did.
Lukas Varga.
I'd seen him around school plenty of times. Same grade, different class. Popular. Rich. The kind of guy who seemed to know everyone.
I'd never actually spoken to him.
He looked at me, then at the room, then back at me.
My brain stopped working.
He knew.
He fucking knew.
I lunged at him.
"Jesus—"
Lukas stepped back.
I grabbed for him again.
"Relax!"
"Shut up!"
"Daniel."
I stopped.
He knew my name.
That somehow made it worse.
He raised both hands.
"I'm not here to snitch on you."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"You saw nothing."
"Right."
"I mean it."
"I know."
He looked almost amused.
That pissed me off.
"Why aren't you calling someone?"
"Because I don't want to."
"That's not an answer."
"Sure it is."
I stared at him.
He leaned against the wall.
"You've got a problem."
I laughed once. It came out shaky.
"Whoa really i didnt notice"
Lukas glanced toward the room.
"We should probably talk somewhere else."
"Why?"
"Because standing here isn't exactly smart."
he was right
"What do you want?"
He thought about it for a second.
"Honestly?"
"Yes."
"I was bored."
I blinked.
"What"
"Like mate there is nothing to do around here i was just bored out of my mind."
He said it like that explained everything.
Maybe for him it did.
I stared at him for a few seconds.
"You followed me?"
"No."
"Then how did you know I was here?"
"I was already in this part of the building."
"Why?"
"Just hanging around."
"Why"
"Dont worry bout it"
I didn't know what to say to that.
Lukas looked at me for another moment, then nodded toward the exit.
"Come on."
I didn't move.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Fine."
He shrugged.
"Then we can stand here until somebody finds us."
He wasn't threatening me he was acting like this was some weird inconvenience.
I finally followed him.
Outside, the air was colder than I'd expected. We crossed the parking area, and Lukas stopped beside a car.
I stared at it.
"That's yours?"
"Yeah."
"You drive?"
"Sometimes."
I looked at him.
"Do you have a license?"
"No."
I thought he was joking.
He wasn't.
"You're sixteen."
"Correct."
"Then how the hell are you driving?"
He opened the driver's door.
"Nobody really bothers you around here not really much to worry about."
"That's your explanation?"
"Pretty much."
I stared at him.
"You realize that's probably not how that works."
"Probably."
He got inside.
After a second, I got into the passenger seat.
The engine started.
"You like house music?"
"I dont care just drive"
The car pulled away from the school.
I looked back through the window. Prague High School slowly disappeared behind us.
I'd spent the entire day terrified of being caught. Now I was sitting beside the one person who knew.
And somehow, that felt even worse.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke. The city passed outside the windows: streetlights, closed shops, the occasional person walking home. Lukas drove like he'd done this a hundred times.
I watched him, he looked completely relaxed.
Finally, he glanced at me.
"So."
"What?"
"Why her?"
I looked away.
"I don't know."
Lukas kept his eyes on the road. "Cmon mate you know that aint true."
I stayed quiet.
He didn't push.
That surprised me.
After a while, I said, "I was angry."
"At her?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
I rubbed my face.
"I don't know."
That was the closest thing to an honest answer I could give.
Lukas nodded.
"Eh Fair enough."
I looked at him.
"You aren't scared?"
"Should I be?"
"Most people would be."
"I'm not most people."
I almost laughed.
It sounded like something an arrogant little dickhead would say.
We kept driving.
I didn't know where we were going. I didn't know what Lukas planned to do. I didn't know if I could trust him.
But i needed to get rid of 130 pounds of flesh in the next hours so i guess this was my best choice