Chapter 5:
I sat down in an uncomfortable metal chair directly across from Jaan. He took his seat on the other side of a cheap plastic looking desk. He rummaged around in a tan metal filing cabinet tucked neatly underneath. Jan’s office was small, but neat. There were no windows, and on his foggy glass door there was a plaque that just said: Counselor #4.
I realized that I needn’t bother asking Jaan if he had seen the shadow man in the hall. I had asked my mother enough times to know that his answer would just be a confused ‘no.’
“So, Isatou, Welcome,” He said with a friendly voice.
“You can just call me Isa.”
“Okay, Isa.” He looked up at me warmly and lifted a folder in the air. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a new student here. Where are you from?” He took some pages out of the folder and set them into a photo copy machine and pressed a button.
I looked behind me at the door, thinking about the man in the hall and wondered if we were truly safe behind this thin glass door. But something in the air had changed. color had returned to the world around me.
“I’m from Senegal. Its a country in we-”
“Ah, West Africa, yes. You must miss it there?”
I was taken aback. He knew where Senegal was? This was an uncommon occurrence in the states.
“Well, I’ve actually only been a couple of times. But yes, I do really miss it.”
“It must be difficult not being able to visit, now with the international travel ban.” He pushed his wide glasses up on his nose and looked down at one of the papers that had ejected from the printer.
“Yes, you could say that.” Jaan, a very informed man it seemed. It felt nice to be speaking to someone who I didn’t have to explain my plight to.
“Well, Ms. Diawala,” He handed me a few papers neatly organized into a folder and pointed to one of them, ”This is a map of the school. I don’t think you’ll find it difficult to follow. You will only need to make your way to four separate classrooms, and they are all mandatory.”
I nodded my head.
“And this is your schedule.” he pointed to another sheet of paper in the open folder. “As you have already seen with the other girls going to class, compliance in this school is… Well lets just say they take it very seriously.” He looked at me in the eye with a straight face. “I recommend being on time. When you hear the count, make sure to get in line, and make your way into class. Can you do that for me?”
“Okay,” There really wasn’t another answer. I could sense that he was trying to help me, not scare me.
“Allright, that about covers the basics. Any questions for me?”
“Nope,” I say confidently, knowing that a million things would probably come up at a later time that I would have no idea how to handle.
“Good,” Jaan said as he stood, “Now let’s get you to class before we both get in trouble.” He walked over and opened the door to his office, waiting for me to walk through. I stood nervously, wondering if the shadow man would be waiting for me again. Jaan noticed my hesitancy to exit and said “Don’t worry, new students are granted a grace period to walk the halls. It would be crazy to expect you to know where to go right off the bat, wouldn’t it?”
I exit first into empty school halls. It looks different now: brighter, more colorful, at least as much as it could for a gray hallway. Jaan walked in front of me and waved me over, indicating I should follow. “Your first period is going to be a social studies class. You teacher is tons of fun, I’m sure you’ll have a blast,” He didn’t even bother hiding the sarcasm in his tone. It seemed like he was as big of a fan of the state school as I was currently. “After today, I recommend you don’t spend any time in the halls after class starts.”
We turned the corner and came to a door tucked between even more lockers. I could hear a drawling voice inside. “Here we are Isa, Good luck.”
Before Jaan opened the classroom door he turned, looked down at me and whispered, “Isa, I know you saw something, and you are not crazy,” He opened the door and gave me a final warm smile, “I promise.”
Click for: Chapter 6 – Coming soon
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