THE HALLWAY LIGHTS

The hallway is already full before the bell rings. Lockers click open and closed. Shoes slide across the floor. Someone calls a name that is never answered. Above everything, the lights are already on.

They run the length of the ceiling in straight white lines, bright and even. Most people walk beneath them without ever looking up.

Lucy steps out of the classroom and stops just inside the doorway.

The sound is there immediately.

Not loud. Not sharp. Just steady.

A thin constant humming, like a string pulled tight and left that way.

Lucy moves closer to the wall as she walks. The lockers feel cool through the sleeve of her sweatshirt, and she lets her arm brush against them lightly, feeling each dent and seam pass beneath her elbow. The humming above her stays the same, but the lockers give her something else to follow.

A group of kids moves quickly down the hallway laughing about something that already happened. One backpack swings wide enough to bump against Lucy’s hip. She steps back once to make room and then keeps moving forward.

The lights continue humming overhead.

Lucy counts her steps quietly to herself.

In.

Out.

Farther down the hallway, someone slams a locker shut. The sound jumps through the air once and then settles back into all the others.

At the corner, one of the ceiling lights flickers unevenly. Bright. Dim. Bright again.

Lucy stops walking until it steadies.

Then she continues down the hall.

At the drinking fountain, she presses the silver button and takes a sip. The water is cold enough to hold her attention for a few seconds. Nearby, a teacher opens a classroom door. Papers shift against each other. A chair scrapes once across the floor.

The humming remains above everything else.

By the time Lucy reaches the classroom at the end of the hallway, the sound feels farther away. Still present, but no longer pressed close against her thoughts.

Inside the room, the lights are lower and quieter.

Lucy takes her seat beside the window and places both hands flat against the desk surface in front of her.

Then the bell rings.

The hallway empties.

The sound stays where it is supposed to.