a place that does not exist

Chain climbed the school stairs, step by step, hands in his pockets.Hi, he thought to himself. My name is Chain.He looked at everyone around him. Smiles, hugs, laughter popping like popcorn. Everyone was so happy school was starting. Happiness... happiness is like a good virus, he thought. It transmits from one person to another until everyone's infected, only instead of fever you take photos and say "so good to see you."Or maybe happiness is like a TikTok trend - everyone jumps on it because everyone else does, not because they understand why.The bell sound snapped him out of his thoughts.Yeah, yeah, he told himself, picking up his pace, philosophy is cool, but math class doesn't wait for anyone to figure out what happiness means.He entered the classroom, found an empty seat toward the middle, slipped onto the bench.Okay, he thought, sitting down. Now all I have to do is sit at this desk and manage to integrate into this class.He sat straight, hands on his knees, eyes forward.The homeroom teacher - a woman with glasses and her hair pulled back - knocked on the lectern."We'll introduce ourselves one by one. Name and something about you."One by one, classmates stood up. Maria liked to read. Andrei wanted to be a pilot.Then his turn came.Chain stood up slowly."I'm not good at much," he said, "but I like playing basketball. Or football."He sat down quickly.Damn, he thought. I don't like football or basketball. Actually, I don't like anything."Basketball, you say?"Chain flinched. The boy to his right had turned toward him."Yeah?" Chain answered cautiously."You like basketball?"In his head: Shit."Yeah," he said out loud. "I like it. But why do you ask?""It would be cool to play basketball in gym class. Which team do you follow?"Chain felt the current pulling him."Yeah," he heard someone say with his voice. "We'll play basketball. And I watch games.""Enough talking!" The teacher interrupted. "You can talk during break."Chain stayed motionless.Huh, he thought. That was close.Chain sat on the bench and waited. The minutes dragged like tired snails. The teacher talked about rules, about the schedule, about responsible student life. Chain nodded at regular intervals, often enough to seem attentive, rarely enough not to tire himself too much.The end-of-class bell made him jump."Hey, Chain!"He turned. The boy to the right - the one with the commercial smile - leaned toward him."Gym class is starting," the boy said. "Want to play basketball, what do you say?"Chain felt something cold grow in his stomach."Wait," he answered, searching for words like coins fallen under the couch. "I feel a little... sick. You know, my head..."The boy looked at him worried."But you said you like basketball...""Yeah, yeah," Chain waved quickly. "Another time. Seriously. It's just that now..."He stopped. An idea was sprouting, timid, like a shoot through asphalt."Tell me," he said, lowering his voice, "is there any place in this school... where no one comes? Like, for months? A place that doesn't exist?"The boy looked at him strangely, but then something flickered in his eyes."The old storage room," he said. "In the basement. It's soundproof, no one knows about it. I found it when I was looking for a lost basketball. No one ever comes."Chain felt something relax in him."Can you take me there?"The storage room smelled of dust and old rubber. Chain entered first, feeling his way through the darkness. The boy with the basketball - Raul, Chain remembered he had said on the way - turned on his phone flashlight."See," Raul said, "really no one comes. These walls absorb sound. I tested it."Chain turned slowly, looking. Empty shelves. A deflated basketball in a corner. Absolute silence, dense, almost palpable.Damn, he thought. This is... this is perfect. A place where nothing exists. A place that doesn't exist."So," he said out loud, and his voice sounded strange, amplified by the silence, "normally, no one comes here, right?"Raul looked at him, and this time his gaze was longer."No," he said quietly. "But why do you want to know? You want to kidnap people here or what?"In Chain's mind, one word: Shit."I need to be more careful how I ask questions," he told himself."No," he said out loud, forcing a light tone. "No, just... I like the quiet. That's all.""I'm kidding, bro," Raul said, patting him friendly on the shoulder. "Kidnap people... what the hell. You're weird, but you're funny. Let's go, I really want to play basketball."Chain stayed a second behind, looking around once more. The empty shelves. The friendly darkness. The silence that asked for nothing in return.Almost, he thought.The sports field was a blanket of concrete and colored lines, surrounded by a metal fence that rattled with every breeze. Chain and Raul sat on a wooden bench, in the shade, watching others already running after the ball."It's hot," Raul said, wiping his forehead. "Seriously, you'll die in that jacket. What are you doing, staying in just a T-shirt?"Chain shrugged, taking off his jacket. The white T-shirt revealed his narrow shoulders, the thin line of his abdomen - not a bodybuilder's, not intimidating to anyone, just... someone who could carry a few boxes without complaining."I haven't practiced anything," he said quickly, preventively. "Seriously. No basketball, no football, nothing."Raul looked at him. Then looked closer."Yeah, but..." he paused, studying him with his eyes. "Your shoulders, bro... they're pretty built. For someone who hasn't practiced anything."Chain felt something warm rise to his throat."Genetics," he said, and his voice sounded too fast. "I mean... parents. My dad did... swimming. My mom... yoga? I don't know, maybe I eat a lot of protein." He stopped, searching. "Or maybe... maybe I just haven't stopped growing?"Raul raised his eyebrows."You haven't stopped growing," he repeated quietly, then smiled. "You're weird, Chain. I like you. Let's play."Gym class passed faster than expected.Raul made him enter the field a few times, and Chain discovered he was approximately as talented at basketball as he was at ballet dancing. Meaning not at all. After a few missed passes and a throw that almost hit the gym teacher, no one asked him to play anymore.Gym class ended.Chain and Raul headed toward the classroom, their steps echoing in the empty hallway. Raul talked about a recent game, about a player with a complicated name. Chain nodded at regular intervals.She is Mira, he thought in his head, looking forward, but not quite. She likes cats. Dogs, less. Virgo zodiac sign. Her dad is some billionaire or something. She has good relations with people from class 10B, specifically five from there. At school, her grades are average, at least until eighth grade. Now she's in ninth. With me.She's anxious. And I learned all this just by looking at her Instagram profile.Chain felt something tighten in his chest. Not pain, but... possibility.It would be worth getting involved with her. By the way, coincidentally in class she's to my left. So that makes it easy for me to communicate with her. Anytime.Raul tapped him on the shoulder."Hey, did you hear what I said?""Yeah," Chain said automatically. "Lakers.""I said Bulls.""Exactly. Bulls."Raul looked at Chain with an understanding smile."Ah... you were looking at Mira. I get it, I get it. She wants to become class president."Chain shrugged, a gesture he hoped came across as neutral."Interesting," he said. "And besides her?"Raul made a sound between a sigh and a laugh."Pff... I think besides her there's also Zane. From what I heard, he threatened to beat her up if she doesn't withdraw."Chain stayed silent for a few seconds. Just their footsteps on the linoleum."Ah..." Raul said, his gaze narrowing. "You're thinking. You're in love?""Let's go to class," Chain said, picking up his pace.Back in class, Chain sat in his seat. Mira was already there, to his left, with her notebooks arranged perfectly. Chain realized his heart was beating harder than it should have been for a conversation that didn't exist yet.He leaned slightly toward her."Today, after school," he said quietly, "Zane is going to follow you. And when he catches you alone..." he paused, "he's going to beat you up."Mira turned to him, eyebrows raised."So you'd better come with me," Chain continued. "Let's pretend I'm your friend. And let's go to a cafe, talk more."Mira looked at him as if he had just proposed selling land on Mars."Zane?" she said. "He would never do something like that."Chain nodded slowly."In middle school he beat up over five students from lower grades. Plus he has very aggressive behavior." He looked into her eyes. "Better not push your luck."At that moment, a shadow fell over their desk. Zane. His massive frame blocked the light from the window. He moved toward Mira, heavy steps, his shoulder intentionally hitting the edge of the desk."Soon," he said, his voice low, almost a growl, "you'll have a surprise."Then he left, nonchalant, as if he had just announced the weather.Everyone in class looked. Then they looked at Mira. Then at Chain.Chain turned to her."Told you," he said.Classes three, four, five. Chain spent most of the time looking out the window. He sat with his back straight, but his gaze drifted to that endless blue sky, wondering if his plan had worked. If he had convinced her. If he hadn't scared her too much.He thought about the storage room. About that silence that asked for nothing in return.He thought about Mira, about how she had lightly touched her hair when Zane passed by her. About how she hadn't looked at him at all, afterward.Almost, he thought. Almost made it.But now, at the end of classes, he would find out.Mira looked at Chain and said: "Let's go."At the cafe, Chain crossed his hands on the table."Zane wants to beat you up to make you withdraw from the candidacy," he said directly. "Better if we try to stop him together."Mira looked at him, confused."I have a plan," Chain continued. "You stay in the bathroom until everyone leaves class for gym. Then you come and put five million in Zane's backpack. After that you also leave for the football field when everyone will be in class. I'll complain that my money disappeared, that I had five million and it disappeared. Then Raul will say the last one remaining in class was Zane and that he thinks it could be him."Mira clenched her jaw."But how will Zane remain last in class?""Raul will be on our side," Chain said. "Exactly. He'll keep Zane in class. Then he'll tell him his stomach hurts and he needs to go to the bathroom, and to also take his special football shoes from his backpack. If they're not in Raul's backpack, they're in mine. Raul will go to the sports field and tell everyone he'll play football too, but Zane stayed a bit longer in class to get his shoes. Then Zane comes from class to the football field, gives Raul his shoes."Mira nodded slowly."It's crazy," she said. "But... I like it."The next day at school, the plan began.Mira was in the bathroom, waiting for orders from Raul. Everyone went to gym. Raul stayed in class with Zane, talking about a game, about football, about nothing that filled the time."Hey, Zane," Raul said, "my stomach hurts. I need to go to the bathroom. I won't get my shoes, you get them for me from my backpack. If they're not in my backpack, they're in Chain's."Raul left, hurrying to reach the field before Zane. Zane stayed alone in class. He went to Chain's backpack, searched for the shoes. Found them. Left class, in a hurry.On the field, Raul took his shoes. Pulled out his phone, sent an SMS.Zane saw. He looked at Raul, then at the phone. It's weird, he thought in his head. Raul made me stay two more minutes looking for his shoes, because his stomach hurts. But instead of going to the bathroom, he goes to the field to talk to the others. And immediately after I got to the field, he sends a message.Maybe it's paranoia, he continued. But sometimes it's good to be paranoid too.He gave Raul his shoes."I need to go to the bathroom," Zane said.He took off running toward class.Arrived, he found Mira. Rummaging in his backpack. Trying to put money in his backpack."So this is what you were planning," Zane said out loud.He beat her up.Chain, on the field, realized something wasn't working. Plan A failed. Zane caught on. He headed toward school.Zane finished with Mira. Left class. On his way to the exit, he met Chain."Raul and Mira tried to destroy me," Zane said. "But I realized and stopped them."Chain nodded."I also noticed the plan," he said. "That's why I'm here."Zane looked at him, slightly nervous."Huh? So you planned everything?""No," Chain said. "But I want to show you something. Come with me."Zane was interested in what Chain had said. So he followed him.Chain reached the storage room. Stopped in front. Stayed silent for five seconds. Total silence."What's there?" Zane asked.Chain looked extremely serious."Go in," he said.Zane entered. Chain grabbed a bat from next to the storage room door and hit him on the head. Put him on the chair. Everything was prepared in case Plan A failed. Tied him up and left for class.Mira saw him."Plan failed," she said."Yeah," Chain answered. "But don't panic. No one will find out we made a plan.""How so?""Don't get involved. Don't say anything. Act like this day never happened. I fixed everything."He took Zane's backpack from class and any other evidence that might have remained for the next classes. Went to the storage room, left the backpack next to sleeping Zane. Took his phone, took a photo of the clouds and posted on story: "Left class, I was bored."Put the phone back in the backpack.In his mind, a monologue: I did this so it looks like Zane skipped class and that he's not locked up somewhere in school. Damn.