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Prompt: Sky

She had taken up the habit of sneaking onto the rooftop after hours when it seemed the entire city, or at least the school, had shut down for the night. After even the streetlamps had shut off so that the area was only lit by the gentle grace of the stars high, high up in the sky. It was… comforting, to perch on the edge of the roof and swing her legs in the air back and forth and stare up at the night sky with only her own thoughts and the sounds of nature as her companions.

The first time she came up here was an accident. She couldn't sleep that night

Too hot. Too cold. Blankets were stifling. Muffled laughter. Muffled sobs. Crickets chirping. Wind whistling.

So she decided to take a walk; just a short one, from one end of the corridor to the other. She had heard that doing something physical would calm the mind down for sleep.

New places. New faces. Foreign concepts. Classes tomorrow. Nasty quips of people behind their backs. What was a bitch anyway? Last she heard it was a female dog…

After a couple of circuits back and forth her feet eventually took her to the stairwell. That was when she heard Jim berating a couple of the upperclassmen for sneaking out. Her heart started hammering.

Couldn't be caught now. It hadn't even been a full day on Earth yet! And Jeremie would be so angry at her for getting into trouble so soon…

"Now I don't know WHAT you were doing out so late-"

"But Jim!"

"No 'but Jim's out of you!"

"But-"

"What did I just say?"

And so it went on, student trying to wiggle out of a tough spot with the teacher. It was all too easy to imagine herself in place of these midnight escapees. Her breaths came out in shallow pants as she struggled to keep quiet as she backtracked back up the stairs, only to remember that her room was a floor below, where the dreaded troll with a permanent band aid waited to snatch any wandering billy-goats.

She paused uncertainly on the steps, pale hand gripping the railing so hard that her knuckles turned white, torn between the sanctuary of her room and the safe retreat to unknown parts of the building. Her choice was made when clanks echoed up from Jim lumbering up the stairs.

The girl scampered up, and up, and up, and didn't stop until she practically ran into a door in the darkness. An 'eep' escaped past her lips.

"What? Who's there?" Jim's rough voice shouted from the darkness. Those heavy footsteps started to increase in speed. "No use being quiet, there's nowhere to go but down!"

She looked over her shoulder, eyes open wide to catch any available light. The image of an angry Jim-bull barreling up and smashing her against the door refused to sink back into the crevices of her mind. She quickly turned back around and swept her hands over the surface of the door, caught the handle, and pushed it open to be greeted with a rush of cool night air.

She nearly tripped over herself as the door yielded to her, but she turned that momentum into a lurching u-turn to hide behind the door. A scarce five seconds passed before the door again smashed open to reveal Jim, clad in a wife beater and dark grey sweatpants, looking and squinting at the barren landscape for his prey like a half awake bear.

Please go back down, please, please, oh please…

Apparently her little unheard plea worked, as after pacing a couple minutes in front of the door, Jim turned around with a grumble and headed back into the stairwell. A sigh exited her lungs, and the pink haired girl practically crumpled onto the ground in relief.

Aelita smiled a little to herself and smoothed her fingers over the soft fabric of her nightshirt. Jade colored eyes lifted up from the dark school grounds to the brilliantly lit sky. That night, after calming down from her close encounter with Jim, she had actually fallen asleep up here on the hard ground, playing connect-the-dots with the stars.

The rooftop had become her own little sanctuary, where she could go to be alone with only the sky as her company.