Smallara

The paper was too white. It glared up at her like an accusation.  Dayton sat at her desk, the wood still dented where she’d pressed her Guardian certification manual for hours every night last…

The living room lights glowed soft and golden against the late twilight filtering through the blinds, casting long, clean stripes across the hardwood floor. The news played at a low…

Dayton walked from the bus stop to her house. She didn’t live far from school but was on the border of needing bus or being able to walk. Normally she took the bus so that her and…

  The second floor of Roosevelt Middle School felt like a different world after hours. Gone was the cacophony of adolescent voices echoing off lockers, replaced by the institutional quiet…

The hallways of Roosevelt Middle had mostly emptied, leaving behind the familiar institutional quiet that settled over schools after hours. A few stragglers wandered toward the main exit, backpacks slung over shoulders,…

The final bell at Roosevelt Middle School rang with the sharp finality of a judge's gavel, sending three thousand students cascading through the hallways like water through a burst dam.…