for: open (@vievecorcitystarters)
location: classroom 1B, Vievecor Academy
Elena had reluctantly scrubbed, swept, and wiped down every damn surface in the room, but she hadn’t really been there for any of it. The whole thing felt like background noise—her body moving, her mouth running just enough to annoy whoever she was working with, but her mind was elsewhere. Stuck in that heavy, suffocating space where things didn’t feel real, only wrong.
"Just take the trash out, and you’re free to go.".
Elena didn’t move. Didn’t acknowledge the teacher as they stepped out, leaving her alone in the freshly cleaned classroom. The door clicked shut behind them, but she just stood there, staring at the overstuffed trash bag.
Her hands tingled. A creeping numbness crawled up her arms, spreading to her chest. She felt hollow, like she was floating just outside herself, watching.
Her fingers twitched. Her chest tightened. Her breath was coming short and fast, and before she could think, before she could even process—
The trash bag split open, spilling empty snack wrappers, crumpled paper and used tissues across the floor. A desk crashed sideways as she kicked it, the sharp crack of wood and metal rattling through the empty room. Her pulse roared in her ears, body buzzing with a strange, distant static. She turned, gripped the nearest chair, and swung, slamming it into the far wall.
Then her eyes landed on the teacher’s desk.
A black permanent marker sat there, waiting.
Elena moved without thinking. She snatched it up, popped the cap off with her teeth. Her hand shook as she pressed the tip to the wall, and the letters came out huge, messy, uneven—
She took a step back, breath still uneven, heart hammering against her ribs. Then, just as the marker clattered to the floor at her feet, the door slid open behind her.