Ten Minutes

9:17 a.m. the Monday after graduation, Casey Conner returns to Herrington High. He trudges the 63 steps from the east entrance - passing the bathroom where he and Zeke…

Right. Keep moving.

The locker - no longer his - stands open in the row with all the others, indistinguishable to someone who hasn't seen the damned thing from the inside.

Yeah. Still moving.

123 steps, including a right turn brings him to the battered door of the darkroom. He pauses to check the door out of habit and is both relieved and not when he finds it locked. He feels the phantom weight of the key he no longer has a right to carry.

Deep breath, then. And moving…

Two turns and 314 steps later he arrives. He removes the camera from around his neck, ignoring the sudden cold that ghosts across the back of his neck. A breath, shoulders back and he reaches for the doorknob. 16 brisk steps and he's facing the secretary who looks like she escaped from an exhibit at the nearby history museum.

She creaks a greeting at him and waits.

His voice remains steady and clear as he identifies himself and explains his presence. He can tell she doesn't comprehend, but she smiles anyway and accepts the camera he offers. It belongs to the school, he repeats, and he's no longer a student there. She just nods again and continues to smile, the camera clutched in her hands. He thanks her and turns, his back still straight as he exits.

The return is faster without the extra weight. Nothing presses against his neck or chest and he wonders if he's breathing too fast without the restriction. He doesn't register the darkroom, the locker or the bathroom as he passes. Without slowing he passes through the east exit into the mid-June sunlight.

Descending the stairs he feels oddly light and just barely resists the urge to throw his arms out and float. He settles for looking up into the cloudless sky and smiling. The task he's been dreading is over and he…

... laughs.

It's 9:27 a.m. the Monday after graduation and Casey Conner has places to be - and none of them are Herrington High.

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