Dave

"This is bullshit" Dave moaned, reading over the disciplinary report he had just received from the school secretary. The principal had been on his ass lately. Dave used to get away with everything: coming late, cheating on tests, even getting into fights. But something had changed. Principal Dave was acting different. Besides his nastier demeanor, his hurried, hunched gait, had become striding and upright, and his speech had become more halting, with more mixups than felt normal.

He looked back up to Dave to find that he wasn't there anymore. Who had he been complaining to?

He resumed his well-trodden path down 3rd floor hallway. Sometimes Dave would go to class just because he was bored of walking. This time he would return to class out of self-pity—who cared whether or not he ditched class? It wasn't like he'd be allowed to leave for college anyway. He was about to enter the classroom, but just as he turned the doorknob, Dave noticed that the lockers were on the wrong side of the hallway. Some curious eyes looked through the narrow window in the door as Dave pivoted and walked towards the anomaly. He heard tapping coming from the inside of the nearest locker. He looked around to see if anyone else could hear it, but the classroom had turned into lockers as well. The tapping had no discernible rhythm. Cautiously, Dave approached the slitted, cobalt-grey, metal box and tested the door. It was unlocked. He slowly opened the door to find a pitch black interior. Dave heard his hushed voice in his left ear, "mom said this would help," said Dave, as he shoved himself into the locker and descended, laughing in his halted way, into nothingness.