Chapter 1
"Okay class; please open your math books to page 78."
"You open your math books to page 78," I thought.
"Now let's get out our notebooks and do questions 45 to 70."
"You get out your notebooks and do questions 45 to 70."
It was a regular day at school. I sat at my desk like every other 6th grader in the stuffy classroom. At the beginning of class I tried to pass notes to my friend Jess who sat next to me but I got caught. So as the teacher talked more about the circumference of a triangle (I think), I resorted to staring out the window and daydreaming about a real adventure; one without circumferences and triangles. It was sort of a dystopian future kind of thing, like the Hunger Games. I imagined my town as District 12 and-
"Livia? Livia, can you please answer the question?"
"Oh, sorry," I shook back to reality. "Um, can you repeat that?"
The teacher sighed, potentially annoyed. "You really should have been listening but I will."
v
After math was science and that's always a bore so I decided to ask if I could go to the bathroom right at the beginning of class so I could devise a plan to escape.
"Mr. Layton, can I go to the bathroom?"
"Sure Livia just don't escape!" he said with a chuckle and somewhat suspicious grin. "But don't worry," he mumbled. "You can't anyway."
I quickly jumped out of the room and swiveled my head left and right. All clear. I carefully started to walk out to the main doors of the school. My plan was going great considering I had never in my life skipped class before; always the goody goody of the class. But my luck changed when I saw the principal about to exit the office right next to my destination. I threw myself into the janitor hallway which is long, empty, and, as you would imagine, full of janitor materials. I could hear the principal about to pass the hall as his whistles grew louder. I probably looked like a fool tripping over my feet as I tried to get as close to the wall as I could. I swung around, frantically looking for a promising door to hide behind. None of them seemed big enough until at the last moment, I saw the basement door. Perfect! The basement is huge! I sprinted down to the door and rattled the handle loudly, not caring if he heard me. It was locked. No, no! This can't be happening! I flattened myself against the wall. I knew the principal had heard me but I still didn't want my cover to be blown. But lucky for me I didn't need to hide because the principal passed right by the hallway like nothing had happened! I sighed quite loudly and slid to the ground.
"Hello?" the principal called as he stopped whistling and back tracked to the hallway. "Is somebody there?" No! Curse my loud sighs! I decided to give myself up and take the detention. There were no more doors to hide behind. I was slowly picking my guilty self up when I realized there was a door left. It seemed to appear behind me, but it looked spacious and nothing like a simple storage closet. It isn't over yet! I dived at the door and, yes! It was cracked open very slightly, so I jumped in and slammed it close. "Hello? Who is hiding? George if you're hiding again-," he stepped into the empty hallway. "Hmm I guess I must be hearing things again," he muttered with a frown as he walked off.
"Yes, saved by this beautiful room!" I happily whispered as I hugged the wall. "Ew, the wall is disgusting." I shook off my hands and decided to check out the room. It looked a lot like the basement would have; metal railings lined creaky, old stairs as I trekked down them. At the bottom, I was swept back with hot air as it overwhelmed my lungs. In the ceiling a leaky pipe was burst and trickled done into tiny puddles on the floor. In front of me were three doors, each one was dark blue with unlocked padlocks hanging from their handles. Unlocked padlocks? I asked myself. Who opened them? The air suddenly seemed even more humid and I struggled for air. I desperately wanted to go back upstairs to escape school entirely but I equally wanted to explore down in this basement replica. I decided to stay underground and pick the door to my right to open first. I mean it wasn't locked so what could stop me? I took a deep breath and turned the handle, preparing myself for whatever lay behind.
I sucked in my breath and covered my eyes as the door slowly slid open. I didn't hear anything frightening weird after a few moments so I peeked through my fingers. To my left, to my right, and in front of me was boxes. Boxes! All it was were boxes that meant no harm at all to me! It was such a relief to know that there were no dangers here. I sighed, letting out the breath I had been holding in for ages. I lightly walked to the other side of the room where another dark blue door sat. Feeling confident that nothing else would be there, I went through several rooms and doors seeing nothing but boxes, boxes, and more boxes. There was the occasional stack of papers or end of the year fun fair items, but that was all. I was debating if I should head back or not when all of a sudden I heard a low grinding noise of metal rubbing against metal. "What the…" I whispered and turned around. I squinted to try and see the very first door I came in through but it was blurry; like fog was covering the door. I sprinted towards the door, hearing more grinding sounds behind me each time I passed a doorway. When I reached the door I was breathless and sweaty. I slid down the door and collapsed on the ground. The cool ground felt so good and I almost fell asleep but I realized something. The door was closed and I had never closed it.
So first there were like millions of doors. I thought to myself. Then there was fog and boxes and the doors turned to solid metal? Okay, I need to find out what's happening. I decided to see if there were any air vents to lead to the room with the other two doors and the stairs. I began to try and move the stacks of boxes (which were officially my new worst enemy) to make the walls visible. About thirty minutes into lifting the boxes I heard a faint click and a little after that there was another click. One after one, the doors that had just closed and locked unlocked and swung open so fast I'm surprised they didn't fly of the hinges. I prepared myself for the click of the door behind me but it never happened and remained locked. I gulped and jumped up, swiveling my head around the small room. Okay I've officially gone crazy. I began to run through all the rooms again to see if there was anything new. Adrenaline raced through me from the sheer terror of being stuck in a school basement that's not even the actual school basement. As I ran I scanned the walls and boxes (my worst enemy) for anything new or different. I didn't see anything until I was about to go in to the next room. I saw a little sign near the ceiling on the left wall that said "1" and under it an unlocked dark blue door. Those definitely weren't there before. I made a mental note and went on. In the next room in exactly the same spot there was a sign that said "2". The next ten rooms after that were labeled in number order. The last room that had the similar sign said "12". At the end of this room was a closed door. It was still locked. Now only twelve rooms are open with signs labeling them and unlocked doors? What is going on? Deep confusion settled over me but also a realization. I had only one option now; go through one of the doors.
Hey! If anyone reads this (I hope so!), I'm sorry this is a short chapter. I'm working on more of the story don't worry but if no one reads it then I just won't publish another chapter. Thanks for reading!