(Josie Sayz: I finally got around
the writing the dream that I had just over a couple of weeks ago. I was wearing
my current uniform, holding the keys to an old job, while using them to unlock
the doors to my secondary school… and this seemed a completely normal thing to
do. However, I kept bumping into my ex everywhere, and I was scared that he would
think that I was following him, when I wasn’t. Oh, and I have written all of
this as a part of my Jane Chronicles series.)
A fast-paced, soft thud vibrated
the ground. Elongated shadows engulfed her. As the sun attempted to creep over
the horizon, her path lightening enough to see where she was going. Wind gusted
around her. The red head clawed her fingers through her flailing fringe and
clipped it back against her temple. Tugging at the cuffs of her siren factory
fleece, Jane increased her pace down the dark and dreary streets.
Keeping her
head low, Jane focused on the path ahead. She sidestepped a loose slab and
strode over several puddles. A pair of shoes came into focus. Flickering her
sight up, Jane felt her cheeks burn a deep scarlet, as a familiar person
crossed her path. A stern daggered glare on the stubbled face, of her
ex-partner, James, burned into her vision. Forcing a swallow, Jane returned her
sight to her shoes and increased her pace. ‘He seemed so angry with me,’ Jane
worried, as she kept her head down. ‘I didn’t mean to see him on my walk to
work. I didn’t do it on purpose,’ she told herself. The corner of her eyes
glanced to her left, in the direction he was plodding. His silhouette grew
smaller. Lowering her shoulders, Jane released a breath that she had not
realised she was holding.
The dark
night sky brightened to an illuminous blue, as she arrived at her destination.
Towering above her, twenty, six-foot tall windows lined the ground floor of
the first half of the building before her. Protruding from its centre, a
six-story high, cylindrical tower glistened against the glow of the rising sun.
As Jane neared the centre of the building, the tower’s black brick work
gleamed, as though sparkles of precious minerals were lodged inside the stone
structure. To the left of the entrance way lay another stretch of twenty,
six-foot tall windows blocking out the symmetrical structure of the building,
Pulling out a
ring of keys from her pocket, Jane looked down at the set in her hand. Multiple
chub keys were wrapped in a piece of paper, each highlighted in a different
colour, and were sellotaped to the stem. Two other chub keys, one brass, the
other silver, in colour, remained uncoloured, as did two yale keys. A smirk
poked into the corner of Jane’s mouth. ‘These are the keys from ‘The
Neverlandian News’ office that I used to work at.’ As she approached the front
door, Jane looked up at the sign: ‘Arcturus High School’. Her right hand moved
by itself, inserting the correct key into the lock. The front door opened.
Unlocking the
front door to Arcturus High’s main entrance, with her keys to ‘The Neverlandian
News’ office, while wearing her siren factory uniform, Jane arched her head
around at her surroundings. To her left, the same cobalt chairs that she remembered
sat in the receptionist area, just as they had done over twenty years ago. The
receptionist's hatch was still the same wooden board, as it always had been. To
her right, a photographic collage of year groups, classes and teachers,
throughout the ages, decorated the noticeboard.
Stepping
through the reception area, Jane let herself into the main school corridor. A
deep admiral blue carpet, with slate-grey flecks lined the floors, complete
with chewing gum stained blobs. Jane's eyes danced with a soft flutter, from
left to right, as she observed her surroundings. The main school hall entrance
remained opposite the reception area. Along the corridor, to her left, lay
empty classrooms, and to her right was the teacher toilets, the staircase, the
Drama Studio, and then the courtyard leading towards the boys locker area. A
soft smirk prodded into the right corner of her cheek. 'Just as I remember it,'
she mused.
With the ring
of keys in her hand, Jane unlocked the side entrance to the building. Then, she
traversed towards the back of the school, trapsing through the science
department corridor. A tingle emanated from her chest, as she passed the marble
staircase, then crossed over the courtyard and towards the canteen. Here, the
carpet changed to a deep bottle green and the lighting overhead grew ominous. A
small shudder crept up her spine. ‘There are a lot of dark memories attached to
this corridor,’ Jane remembered, as she reminisced of her time at Arcturus
High.
A small
stroll down the PE and library corridor led Jane back around the school in a
large circle. Ending her main door unlocking duty at the last front entrance,
Jane unlocked the English corridor’s entrance and made her way up the
staircase.
Chatter began
to build, as students made their way inside. Bodies bustled about, bumping into
one another. A soft puff of air exhaled through Jane's nostrils, as a warmth
spread from her chest. 'Who would have thought a buzzing building full of
teenagers would spark a warm memory,' Jane mused, as she retraced the steps of
her childhood. The right corner of her mouth prodded into her cheek, as the red
head climbed the steps of the English corridor. Glancing into each classroom
window, as she walked by, the warm tingle spread. 'It hasn't changed a bit'.
The floor,
underfoot, vibrated, as herds of teenagers stampeded down the floor below. As
Jane approached the corridor containing the year group noticeboards, she slowed
her stride to admire them. The same five colours that represented the five year
groups, from twenty years ago, still remained. A pastel sapphire-blue outlined
the year sevens’ notice board. A soft blush represented year eight. Year nine
were met with a cheerful shamrock green. The bright dandelion yellow, with a
hint of metallic, still reminded Jane of gold. And last amongst the
noticeboards was the iridescent glow of the platinum-snow.
Returning her
attention to the corridor ahead, the colour drained from Jane's face. The dark,
stubbled hair. The shuffled walk. The daggered glare. Jane’s heart dropped to
her stomach. ‘James… again?’ As a fierce thumping beat in her chest, Jane’s
feet rooted to the spot. ‘Oh no!’ she cried to herself. ‘James is going to
think that I’m following him. I’m not!’ Lowering her head to her PVC charcoal
dolly shoes, Jane powerwalked into the modern foreign languages corridor. ‘What
on earth is James doing inside Arcturus High?!’ Jane cried to herself. ‘I didn’t
see him on purpose. I didn’t see him on purpose. I didn’t see him on purpose,’
she repeated to herself over and over again, as she peered into the next
corridor. Students were already lining up outside of their IT classrooms.
Turning back
on her heels, Jane followed some students inside the end modern foreign
language classroom and took a seat at the back of the room. A cheerful, warm,
robust lady, with a nest of greying blonde hair stood at the front of the
classroom. “Guten Morgen, Frau Burgman,“ announced the students in a monotone
singsong tone. Beaming to herself, Jane joined in, as a flurry of warm memories
in Frau Burgman’s classroom fluttered to the front of her mind.
“Heute ist
Donnerstag, der 20. August. Heute werde ich deine Lieblingsfarbe erfahren,“ Frau
Burgman addressed the class. A warm grin stretched from ear to ear across Jane’s
face, as this was one of her favourite sentences to learn, way back when she
was in Frau Burgman’s classroom. “James, was ist deine Lieblingsfarbe?”
Jane blinked
hard in disbelief. The stubbled, dark hair on the head of the male sat in front
of her. Lines puckered Jane’s forehead. Stretching her spine as tall as she
could, Jane peered down over the person in front of her’s shoulder. The
markings of a stickman holding a rainbow was tattooed to his left wrist. The
icy shudder that Jane had felt moments earlier, down the corridor, returned. ‘No!’
Jane cried to herself. ‘Not James again.’ As if James could read Jane’s
thoughts, he threw his head over his shoulder, snarled his nose and daggered
his eyebrows.
Then I woke
up.
-
Josie -
